She performed on the "American Idols Live" tour with the other season 3 Idol finalists during the summer of 2004. She did a few independent performances in 2005 in support of Blue Skies.
She started off as the first person to perform in the top 32, and was the 2nd person voted into the finals, after eventual winner Fantasia Barrino. However, she ended up in the bottom 3 in 3 of the first 5 weeks. The surprising thing was, starting from the top 7, she never got into the bottom 3 or 2, gradually becoming one of the front runners in the competition following the elimination of Hudson and London.