Aretha Franklin’s granddaughter is publicly responding to not advancing to the next round following her American Idol audition.

Grace Franklin, joined her dad and Aretha’s son, Kecalf, on TMZ to share how she was disappointed after being told “no” but that the words from Lionel Richie gave her a positive outlook on her budding career.

The teen first performed the Fugees’ “Killing Me Softly,” before being asked to sing something stronger to better showcase her voice, to which she chose her grandmother’s song “Ain’t No Way.”

She was ultimately turned down from moving on to the next round with a split decision from the judges.

Richie’s parting words with the young artist was that he didn’t want her to stumble too early in her career and wanted to focus on her stage presence and delivery.

“I’m a good artist, I know that, but I do know I need to work on some things,” she shared with TMZ. “The fact that he did not want me to stumble and fall too early really stuck with me because I [got] exactly what he was saying.”

While she doesn’t plan on making a comeback to American Idol in the future, Grace says that she has connected with producers and other artists since her audition.