Self-assured but mediocre singer Sanjaya Malakar was cut from American Idol this week despite a strong Internet buzz over his flamboyant personality accented with crazy hair. Vote for the Worst and Howard Stern were urging people to continue backing unlikely Idol Malaker, but those campaigns only went so far and he was sent packing.

Here’s Sanjaya’s goodbye video:

In a thoughtful post-cut interview, Sanjaya shows how he was able to make it into the final seven on the show even with some cringe-worthy performances. The kid has a great attitude and knows how to use it. When asked about Simon, he was gracious and said he learned a lot from him. He even admitted to reading the blogs to see what people are saying about him.

Sanjaya is looking forward to some kind of entertainment career – he’s keeping his options open and isn’t committing to a single path – and is thinking about hiring a bodyguard now that he’s become so famous

What have you learned most as a result of being thrust into fame like this?
I think I’ve learned not to let any negativity get you – just to keeping on trucking, I guess. And try to find the positive in everything.

What would you say to Simon?
Well, from the beginning I think that Simon saw potential in me, and when I didn’t fulfill that potential, he was kind of disappointed. So I just want to say to him that he’s an amazing person, and what he does is awesome. He’s very opinionated, but I learned more from him than anyone else while I was on the show.

Is it true that you had a habit of reading the online blogs to gauge your performance? What kind of an affect did that have?
Well, I read the blogs more to balance myself, because it was kind of impossible not to hear stuff, and often times it was negative. So I kind of balanced the negative and the positive just to keep my self grounded.

Was it frustrating for you that your hair got almost more attention than your singing?
No, because at a certain point, that had kind of become my thing. Because I think that everyone looks for something to grab on to with each contestant, so I feel like my hair was that for me.

With all the hair and the hats and everything, was your philosophy at a certain point just to go for broke?
My philosophy was just to stay true to myself and try to put my personality out there – and that’s all.

You had the sense that the tide was against you. Did you ever consider quitting or dropping out in deference to your fellow singers?
Not at all, not at all. I was going to stay as long as I possibly could and just work every week and try to learn from everything that happened.

What will you do next?
I’m definitely looking at a music career but I also want to venture into acting and modeling and possibly Broadway or something because I want to get the full entertainment business.

At the end of the interview, Sanjaya said he’s “definitely ready to hire a bodyguard” and is “looking to do that right now.”

Many of the past top ten Idols have gone on to decent careers, and with Sanjaya’s presence and star quality, he’ll be sure to make something of himself and to supplement his vocal talent with his larger than life hair, I mean personality.

Sanjaya’s will be a guest of People Magazine at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner on April 21st. TMZ reports that music insiders say he’s not really Broadway material, but that he could have some kind of career as a children’s television host or on a sitcom.