The Top 7 Perform Songs From the 21st Century: The Performances

Welcome to this week's edition of my performance recaps for American Idol. As always, I will give my honest, unadulterated opinion about the performances of the American Idol contestants, and other interesting tidbits. I hope you have enjoyed these blog entries over the past few weeks, and I will continue to post these until the winner is announced. This will probably be a year-round blog, by the way. 


Without further ado...the performances of the Top 7 tonight

Before the performances, Ashthon Jones, Karen Rodriguez, Naima Adedapo, Thia Megia, Pia Toscano, and Paul McDonald were welcomed back to the stage to perform. They performed "So What" by Pink. The performance was horrible, their voices didn't sound good together at all.





The Performances

1) Scotty McCreery: "Swinging" by Leann Rimes, originally by John Anderson

• 1-866-IDOLS-01, Vote to 5701, or Americanidol.com
• Predicted wrong, thought he would sing a Josh Turner song
• I am interested to see what he does with this song. It's a little out of his comfort zone, so I am liking that. 
• I am glad that this John Anderson song is finally getting to be performed on American Idol. 
• I think that this performance is pretty good. Just not something I expected him to sing, at all. 

Drew: Dawg, you slayed this song. You gave it your country tone and made it your own. Every week, you are consistently awesome. Bravo!! However, you were a little safe this week. I wanna see you step out of your comfort zone more.
Steven: Scotty, I love you, I love your voice, I love Leann Rimes. He is good.
Jennifer: I love your storytelling quality when you sing. You need to pull out your big guns. You have a decade of music, country music.
Randy: At this point in the competition, you gotta bring it pretty hard. It was pretty boring for me. With this amount of songs you could have sang, you could've had a Scotty moment.



Prediction: Scotty has an amazing voice, but every week, he continues to play it safe. If he doesn't change it up just a little bit, he is in danger of going home this week. Although the performance was pretty good, it was a little boring, even though it came from Scotty, who is consistently awesome in the country scene. The whole point of being an American Idol is to change it up. He could have sang something a little out of the box, but he didn't. He may have just messed up in the competition. He should be safe, but barely safe.

2) James Durbin: "Uprising" by Muse

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• Predicted wrong, thought he would sing an Aerosmith, The Darkness, The Killers, or a Coldplay song
• This is an awesome choice for James, he should do amazing on it.
• I knew he had it in him. He sounds contemporary, and the performance sounds amazing. 

Drew: James, you killed it tonight. First chills of the night. The screams near the end of the song was unreal. Awesome performance.

Steven: You stay out of my closet now. Mad Max meets Melrose. That was crazy good. Sounds like you are going in a T. Rex direction.

Jennifer: Wow, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that that was the performance of the night. That was amazing.

Randy: Muse is one of my favorite bands. I hope you follow this direction. It makes you a whole different kind of artist. I think that this is probably going to be the best performance of the night. 

Prediction: Randy and Jennifer are right. This performance could be the best of the night. James was amazing. He perfectly encapsulated all that I like about him as a performer. He even sang a note that I didn't even think was possible. I have never heard anyone sing that high before. MOST DEFINITELY SAFE!!!

3) Haley Reinhart: "Rolling In The Deep" by Adele

• 1-866-IDOLS-03, Vote to 5703, or Americanidol.com
• Predicted right on the artist, but wrong on the song.
• This one should be interesting also. The contestants so far tonight are picking interesting song choices. 
• This one is awesome. Hot one right here. Surprised that such a strong voice is coming from someone one that young.
• Loving this one!! She got my vote tonight!!

Drew: Loving the soulful sound in your voice. You are an awesome storyteller in the way that you sing. Keep doing what you do!!

Steven: I thought it was a great performance as well. Slow at the start. It was beautiful.

Jennifer: It takes a lot of guts to take on a record that you either have to sing like or do better than the original singer. There were moments that you did. 

Randy: So, listen. What I'm looking for is what direction you are going in as an artist. You chose a perfect direction for you. I think you have that amazing thing that Adele has as a singer.

Prediction: This is indeed the return to the Haley that I fell in love with. The competition has now officially started. I have a great feeling that all of the contestants have picked songs that truly define themselves as an artist, and that they know who they are and what they can do. Possibly in the Bottom 3, but safe!

4) Jacob Lusk: "Dance With My Father" by Luther Vandross

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• This is one of my favorite songs, I cry every time I hear it.
• I had chills again on this one. I cried again tonight.

Drew: You did amazing tonight. I could feel the emotion in your voice. WOW!!

Steven: Luther Lusk. You are so good. You remind me all of the time why I love music. Your daddy is up there listening to you.

Jennifer: It's hard to perform when you have a song that means that much to you. You have to have enough control. Emotionally, it was a beautiful performance.

Randy: Just vocally, it was good, but it didn't make me jump up and down. I need to see the return of the old Jacob. I feel like someone put a restraint on you. Go for it!! I need the church kid back!!!

Prediction: Jacob sang that song beautifully tonight. I give him credit for hanging on to his performance tonight, when there was a minor slipup. I would have never been able to perform that song without tearing up or not finishing the song. I applaud Jacob for his performance. I cried like I do every time I hear that song. It made me think of my grandfather that passed away three years ago, and how my mom, my aunts, my grandmother, and everyone misses him so much. I believe that he is still here with us, looking down with delight. Will probably be in the Bottom 3 again, but safe!

5) Casey Abrams: "Harder To Breathe" by Maroon 5

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• I missed this performance, so I am unable to post my critique or praise for it. However, I will below once I watch it.

Drew: What an amazing performance. You amaze me every week. I look forward to what you sing each week. Keep doing what you do. 

Steven: Casey got soft lips (after Casey kisses her)

Jennifer: You changed so many people's minds. I love it man.

Randy: Always surprise, surprise, surprise from you. I enjoyed it.

Prediction: Should be safe

6) Stefano Langone: "Closer" by Ne-Yo

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• Not feeling this performance, he needs to go home.

Drew:Not feeling this one, pack your bags.

Steven: Good job. Really good.

Jennifer: Speaking for the girls in the audience, you had your swag going on. I really felt it, it felt like a real performance. It was more you than anything else. Really good job.

Randy: I thought it was going to be, "It's going to be a little kind of karaoke". You did a very good job singing the verses. You took your time, I was really proud of you.

Prediction: Should have went home three weeks ago. Every week, he performs the exact same way, over and over again. He whines so much when he is singing. I can't stand him at all. In the Bottom 3, possible going home. 

7) Lauren Alaina: "Born to Fly" by Sara Evans

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• I love her, she needs to let it all go.
• I love this performance, she sounds amazing as usual. 

Drew: Loved this performance. You are an amazing singer who can sing any song, you could probably sing the phonebook and it would sound good. 

Steven: Lauren, I heard you say on that trailer. I'd love for you to sing some more Alison Krauss, Shania Twain, Faith Hill.

Jennifer: You do have such a special voice. So much character. It really is beautiful. Why don't you sing the big notes. Try it. Let it out!!

Randy: My friend here Miss Lopez is right on. You can sing anything. Every now and then glimpses of the audition come out. Challenge yourself Lauren, you are amazing.



Prediction: Lauren needs to open up more. She has an amazing voice. She doesn't even know the kind of earth-shattering voice she has. She needs to let her fly next week. 


The Bottom 3 Tomorrow Night

1. Jacob Lusk
2. Haley Reinhart
3. Stefano Langone

Going Home

Stefano Langone

The Top 6

1. Jacob Lusk
2. Haley Reinhart
3. Lauren Alaina
4. Scotty McCreery
5. James Durbin
6. Casey Abrams

To Download The Performances From Tonight

UNTIL TOMORROW, D-RIZZ OUT!!!