There are only 5 Idol contestants left, and Randy Jackson is really looking for who is “in it to win it.” \u00a0I think he has used that phrase at least 8,000 times this season, 1,000 of which were during the opening minutes of tonight’s show. \u00a0The guest judge was Cheryl Crow, Jennifer Lopez dressed like she was the bride in a sci-fi wedding, and the contestants sang two songs – how did they do?<\/p>\n
James Durbin<\/strong> – James’ first track was a “contemporary song” apparently by the rock group 30 Seconds to Mars. \u00a0I would have mistaken it for any number of modern praise and worship songs, though. \u00a0Maybe it was just the poor source material, but Durbin sounded really off during the first performance. \u00a0He was dressed to sing metal then he sang pop and as a result the whole thing just felt off.<\/p>\n His second song choice was the ballad “Without You,” which James really connected to on a personal level due to being away from his family for the show. \u00a0The song stayed mostly in James’ lower register where he tends to have problems staying on key, and when the song finally kicked in he still struggled. \u00a0It was an emotional performance, but someone should tell the judges that a performance isn’t good just because there is real emotion behind it. \u00a0Performing should always be emotional, and on American Idol it should also be on pitch.<\/p>\n Jacob Lusk<\/strong> – Jacob’s opener was the Jordin Spark’s track “No Air.” \u00a0I was really hoping that we would get to hear him rock some “Battlefield,” but I guess I am behind on what is considered contemporary. \u00a0The song is a duet and Jacob decided to sing both parts, which wasn’t a great decision. \u00a0The song was super high and Jacob struggled with landing the pitch throughout. \u00a0Not one of the best, Jacob is better than that performance.<\/p>\n For his second track Jacob chose “Love Hurts,” which was a bit of a departure for him. \u00a0The arrangement was beautiful from the harps to the falsetto, and he gave one of the top performances of the night. \u00a0There was a hiccup in the middle, but the performance was so on that I had forgotten about it by the end. \u00a0The mentors really had to push Jacob into this one, but he needs to keep listening to them. \u00a0He has ridiculous singing talent but will need creative people around him to maximize his potential.<\/p>\n Lauren Alaina<\/strong> – Lauren kept Jacob’s American Idol self-promotion going \u00a0by performing Carrie Underwood. \u00a0She was the first contestant of the night to actually sing her song well, and it was one of the best vocals that she has done during the season. \u00a0Lauren will certainly do well in country music, but unless she works to separate herself from the artist she covered tonight she will be forgotten quickly. \u00a0Right now she is too much Carrie Underwood part 2 and not enough Lauren.<\/p>\n “Unchained Melody” is a hot jam of a ballad, and it was also Lauren’s second performance. \u00a0Her singing was certainly on, but the arrangement was severely lacking both in form and fullness. \u00a0 It just didn’t support her vocals like it should have, but it was nice that she didn’t come out and become Lauren Underwood again. \u00a0I wonder if she was singing to Scotty?? \u00a0OMG!!!<\/p>\n Scotty Mcreery<\/strong> – Scotty reminded us that Montgomery Gentry is still a band by performing their current single “Gone.” \u00a0Scotty strutted all of his country might for this one, taking it to the bottom of his range and all the way to the top. \u00a0He had a lot of fun tonight and it showed, he even got a little aggressive! \u00a0I imagine his country music career will be much longer than that of his love interest Lauren. \u00a0So sad!<\/p>\n Scotty rocked his favorite artist Elvis ballad-style. \u00a0There sure were a lot of ballads in the second round, apparently all the songs of yesteryear were slow jams? \u00a0Anyway, Scotty really played it safe this time. \u00a0We all know he is in the next round, but this wasn’t a performance that was “in it to win it.” \u00a0I fell asleep.<\/p>\n Haley Reinhardt<\/strong> – Apparently Haley managed to land a Lady Gaga song that hasn’t been released yet. \u00a0While the performance was good, performing a song that no one has heard before won’t be great for Haley’s voting. \u00a0It was a decent enough track, but if she wanted to do Gaga it would have really paid off to do a current hit like “Born This Way.”<\/a> Kudos to her for taking a risk though!<\/p>\n For her second act Haley took on “House of the Rising Sun.” \u00a0It began as a sultry a capella track and morphed into the full on rock of the original. \u00a0While Haley is no Jerry Lawson and the Talk of the Town<\/a>, this was a great vocal and one of Haley’s best by far. \u00a0Haley and rock music are just meant to go together and she nailed it from the beginning to the end.<\/p>\n Overall the show was pretty dull this week without Casey Abrams mixing it up. \u00a0Scotty, Haley, and Jacob gave the best performances of the night, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see one of them head home. \u00a0That’s just the way Idol works these days!<\/p>\n What did you think?<\/p>\n Related – American Idol Top 6 Recap<\/a><\/p>\n Follow the Prophet of Pop on\u00a0Twitter<\/strong><\/a> and\u00a0on\u00a0Facebook<\/strong>!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are only 5 Idol contestants left, and Randy Jackson is really looking for who is “in it to win it.” \u00a0I think he has used that phrase at least 8,000 times this season, 1,000 of which were during the opening minutes of tonight’s show. \u00a0The guest judge was Cheryl Crow, Jennifer Lopez dressed like…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,116],"tags":[462,233,581,255,464,164,509,571,227,570,282,354],"class_list":["post-505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-idol-fever","category-music-on-tv","tag-hailey-reinhardt","tag-haley-reinhardt","tag-is-james-durbin-married","tag-jacob-lusk","tag-james-durban","tag-james-durbin","tag-jennifer-lopez-idol","tag-jerry-lawson-the-sing-off","tag-lauren-alaina","tag-lauren-alaina-carrie-underwood","tag-scotty-mcreery","tag-who-got-kicked-off-idol"],"yoast_head":"\n