Leah Marlene Feels Like 'The Biggest Winner' After 'American Idol' Loss

American Idol has finally crowned its 2022 winner after a star-studded finale, emotional performances from the Top 3, and a homage to the legendary Bruce Springsteen.

Competing for America's votes and the record deal with Hollywood Records were Leah Marlene, HunterGirl, and Noah Thompson, beating thousands of hopefuls to the highly-prized Top 3.

After America voted, Thompson was revealed to be the winner, with HunterGirl coming in second place and Marlene in third.

Despite coming third place, Marlene has shared a lovely message with her fans, thanking them for their unwavering support. She also insisted she felt like "the biggest winner" and would not change a thing about her Idol journey.

She also insisted that this will not be the last Idol fans had seen of her.

"It's kind of the end of an era today and obviously feeling all the things," Marlene said through big smiles in an Instagram video that she shared shortly after the final came to an end. "I have so many thoughts and all that jazz, and it's gonna take me quite a bit of time to process it all and actually put it into eloquent words to share.

"But as of now, I just want to say thank you from the bottom and the top and all of the sides in my entire heart. This has been the most beautiful and incredible journey of my entire life and to be able to share it with other people who I love with my whole heart and witness their growth too."

"I was so emotional tonight, it was just like 'wow'," she continued. "I have a lot of reasons. I can't even go into all of that but I'm just so, so grateful for this entire journey and it's really, really hard to close this chapter and say goodbye but that is because it was so so so beautiful and amazing.

"That said... guys, this is the only the beginning for every single one of us and this is where the real work starts and I hope you guys will stick with me because I am ready to work my ass off and make this dream a reality in the real world.

"That's all. A great big thank you, [from] every part of me. I feel like the biggest winner, the luckiest person in the world to have experienced everything I have experienced with the show. I wouldn't have wanted anything to go any other way than it has. Thank you."

For the American Idol finale, Marlene performed Springsteen's Cover Me, leading judge Katy Perry to comment: "You turned that into your song" adding: "Such a groove...you are the whole package."

She then had the opportunity to perform her own song Flowers, about her personal struggles with her mental health. The judges had nothing but praise for Marlene, with Luke Bryan calling her performance "tremendous."

Unfortunately, Marlene was eliminated before she got to perform her third song, a revisit of her favorite performance of the series so far.

However, she did get the chance to perform alongside judge Katy Perry following her elimination. Together, they sang Firework and Marlene's dad even joined them on stage to play acoustic guitar.

One thing is for sure, a lot of fans are not happy that Marlene did not win the competition and many have been taking to Twitter to share their frustrations.

One fan tweeted: "Leah Marlene is the new Haley Reinhart. The most talented of their season but ending in third place. #AMERICANIDOL."

Another fan of Marlene's wrote: "Leah Marlene is going places. She can now do what she wants and isn't obligated to #americanidol for anything like the winner will be. Silver linings "

A third fan added: "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO ! LEAH MARLENE SHOULD HAVE WON #americanidol. JUST NO"

American Idol is streaming on ABC and Hulu now.