In addition to dealing with the judges' comments and watching other contestants succeed, the thing that probably psyched me out the most was dealing with comments from people backstage.

The week I sang Blondie's "Call Me" during dress rehearsal, the judges (who are there taking notes about what to say during the live show) gave me weird looks.

Byrd, the show's singing coach, said, "Carmen, you need to go for a walk to calm down."

I didn't know I was uptight. A member of the crew took my arm and walked me outside, saying something about "relaxing" and "not worrying" if my song didn't sound good. I was completely floored. I never thought it sounded bad.

On Wednesday night, Byrd came up to me again and said, "Your performance last night sounded so out of tune, I wanted to get up and turn off my TV."

Again, I was completely floored. Later that night, my Utah vocal coach, Dean Kaelin, called to see how I was doing. I told him about what Byrd had said. He was as shocked as I was.

"Carmen, I just had a friend of mine who's also a vocal coach call me to say he thought your performance was pitch-perfect," Kaelin said. "We both agreed it was one of your best so far!"

I was really confused. I wanted to believe Kaelin but couldn't understand why Byrd would tell me the opposite. It definitely messed with my mind. I ended up performing poorly the next week as a result of negative thinking.

I really hope David Archuleta doesn't let the negative comments get to him. The Murray teen is incredible, one of the best. I actually clapped on Tuesday night after his performance of "You're the Voice" and was shocked to hear Cowell say he didn't like it.

If I could give the remaining nine contestants a bit of advice, it'd be this: You've absolutely got to be mentally strong to be a serious competitor. In the voters' eyes, you're only as good as your last performance. Stay positive and make every 2 1/2 minutes of stage time count.

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Utah recording artist and actress Carmen Rasmusen-Herbert came in sixth place during the second season of "American Idol." She wrote about her experiences in her book, "Staying in Tune." Her first full album is "Nothin' Like the Summer," featuring the single of the same name.

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