The American Idol Top Seven performed songs from the last three years last night, and drew mostly praise from the three judges for their contemporary covers.
A couple of singers were still a bit underwhelming, though, making for what should be an interesting, unpredictable results show Thursday evening.
How did Skylar Laine, Colton Dixon, Jessica Sanchez, Joshua Ledet, Hollie Cavanagh, Phillip Phillips and Elise Testone do? Let’s find out …
Elise Testone has been a bottom three mainstay, but the judges are rooting for her after a rousing performance of Lady Gaga’s “You and I.”
How hard are they pulling for her?
“That was the perfect song for you,” said Randy Jackson, who declared Elise “back” and urged voters to finally recognize her talent. So pretty hard.
Skylar Laine opened the show with Kellie Pickler’s “Didn’t You Know How Much I Loved You,” earning praise for per perfect pitch throughout.
Randy said, “You’re going to have a hit with a song like that.”
Phillip Phillips was one of two contestants whose marks weren’t stellar. J. Lo was un-wowed by his take on Maroon 5′s “Give a Little More.”
“It wasn’t everything that I know that you can give us,” she says. Randy agreed: “I don’t know if it was that ‘wow’ kind of a moment.”
Colton Dixon said preparing a soulful version of “Love the Way You Lie” was his toughest task to date, but according to Steven Tyler, he nailed it.
“You are such a rare talent,” the rocker said. “You could have recorded that right now.” It was one of the more unique covers of the night.
Jessica Sanchez sang Jazmine Sullivan’s “Stuttering” and set the bar high. “You sing like nobody we’ve ever heard sing,” Jennifer said.
That’s high praise, and should be enough to carry her on.
Joshua Ledet danced and sang a high-energy version of Bruno Mars’s “Runaway Baby,” which earned a standing ovation from the judges.
Jennifer praised him for effort, which she said was “so dynamic, it takes control of the audience, it’s so much energy. It’s not just the vocals.”
Hollie Cavanagh‘s G-rated performance of Pink’s “F––kin’ Perfect” was lacking and may leave her singing a farewell song tonight, sadly.
“It wasn’t perfect but it was a lot better than it was last week,” Randy said, doing his best to console her. “You got to be proud of that.”
Vote on who you think was the best of the bunch below:
Who do you think is going home tonight? Share a comment on this week’s top seven American Idol performances in the comments below!
The Hollywood Gossip
