Skylar Laine is not upset her time on “American Idol” has come to an end as she knows her journey has just begun.

The 18-year-old country rocker from Brandon, Miss., says she was also not surprised she was the one sent home, even though fellow bottom-two contestant Hollie Cavanaugh, who has landed in the bottom five weeks in a row, was sure it was going to be her.

“ I just got a gut feeling when I came back up there and I stood there and I told Hollie, ‘I think you’re going to be surprised,”’ Laine remembers. “Because she thought she was going home and she was like, ‘No I’m not,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, you’re going to be surprised.’ And I said, ‘I told you so afterwards.’”

Laine says she used her time on “Idol” wisely; she knew she wanted to one day be a country music singer, and used her weekly performances on the show to promote herself in that way.

“It was definitely a conscious decision (to sing songs in a country music style),” she says. “I’ve accepted the fact that if I get to make an album and I have singles out, they’re probably only going to be played on country radio because that’s just the way it is and that’s the way my songs are going to sound.”

“And I’m fine with that because I want to make real country music, honky-tonk songs and just the good old country stuff,” she adds. “And that’s what’s going to make me happy and that’s what comes out when I write.”

And after Thursday night’s results show, Laine is more determined in her belief her dream will one day come true. She tells us that Season four “Idol” winner Carrie Underwood (who performed in the same episode) commented on Laine’s future in the industry backstage.

“I think that (Carrie Underwood) was so sweet about it,” Laine recalls. “She actually said in one of her interviews ‘I think that the country community has already welcomed (Laine) with open arms’ and that just means the world to me. All of her comments were sweet and I was just so happy to hear them.”

With that in mind, Laine is already playing around with some ideas on what she’d like to put on her first album.

“It would be my dream to write with Miranda (Lambert) and do a duet,” she said immediately. “And Justin Moore is another one of my inspirations. Miranda and Justin are my idols and I would love to do a duet with both of them and write with both of them, and hopefully one day I’ll be able to.”

Before she tackles that project, Laine’s preparing to reunite with her fellow contestants and meet all of her fans when the Top Ten go on tour after “Idol” wraps at the end of the month.

“I’m looking forward to meeting fans on the tour because they are the ones that have gotten me this far,” she says. “They’re the ones that are still supporting me now even though I’m not on the show anymore. I’m just looking forward to meeting them and seeing all the places that we’re going and finally feeling like I’ve made it by being on a stage giving a concert.”

American Idol airs Wednesdays at 8pm ET on CTV and the results show airs Thursdays at 8pm ET on CTV two.