American Idol: Everyone’s In It to Win It

I never thought I would ever make the following statement this season, but I thought each of the remaining contestants actually did pretty good last night. Who knew that “Carole King Night” on American Idol would bring out the best in the contestants? I surely didn’t.

Let’s just go down the line and start with Jacob Lusk, who sang “Uh Oh Not My Baby” last night. Other than the last note getting kind of weird at the end, I thought this was the best Jacob has sounded all season. I don’t think singing first last night is going to do him any favors, in fact, it will probably send him packing tonight. And taking a nose-dive into Steve Urkel’s closet wasn’t help him out either. What in the world was that outfit? Definitely plaid gone wrong.

Following Jacob up was Lauren Alaina, who sang “Where You Lead,” which once upon a time served as the theme song to the show Gilmore Girls. What was it with the outfits last night? Lauren looked tragic. I thought her vocals were alright. I think this was a great song choice for Lauren, but I think she needs to let go and stop trying to please the judges. And if anyone else’s voice would have cracked trying to push for a high note, they would have been called out for it in a in a non-loving fashion…last season, anyways.

Scotty McCreery was up next singing, “You’ve Got a Friend.” My brother was in the room last night, while I was watching Idol last night, and he predicted that Scotty is going to have girls all over him as soon as this competition is over. It must be the way he moves his eyebrows. Or the fact that his vocals were fantastic last night. Scotty had a pretty flawless performance. Part of me wishes that we could just call winner now, instead of waiting for May 25 to roll around to hear him sing whatever version of “No Boundaries” Idol comes up with him to sing as the confetti shower rains down.

I’m not even going to front about James Durbin’s performance of “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” I thought it was pretty good. There, I said it. I did think that it was better in the beginning and lost it’s way some towards the end, but overall, it was good. I believe James had what some might refer to as an “Idol Moment.” I hope he now understands that he doesn’t have to go up into his crazy range to make an impression on the audience. I prefer this version of James.

Casey Abrams performed “Hi De Ho” last night. I loved how the musicians were on the stage with him, because it created a whole different atmosphere on the stage. I like the personable side to Casey. Overall, I thought the vocal was a little too growl-y for my taste, but I thought his performance was really good. He was super entertaining last night, and that’s why the audience likes him.

Haley Reinhart wrapped up the individual performances last night with “Beautiful.” I am really hoping that people are jumping on the Haley train, because even though she’ll probably land in the bottom three, I don’t want to see her sent home. I thought she did fantastic last night. I thought her voice did the song justice. I loved that the crowd booed Randy Jackson when he tried to say otherwise during his critique. That might have been my favorite moment of the night.

Moving on to the duets that were sprinkled throughout the show last night. These were pretty much unnecessary space fillers (By the way, an hour-long episode of Idol would have been just fine, producers.), but a couple of them were actually pretty good.

Haley and Casey sang, “I Feel The Earth Move.” These two definitely have some chemistry, which is definitely a good thing, since the big rumor is that they’re dating. I loved how they utilized the stage and worked the audience. They really got down with their growl-y selves.

My favorite of the three duets was “Up On The Roof,” which sung by Scotty and Lauren. Their voices complement each other so well. I love that Idol keeps pairing them up. I have to wonder if it’s their not-so-subtle attempt at foreshadowing the Final 2. I wouldn’t be surprised.

The last duet of the night, which closed the show was Jacob and James’ “I’m Into Something Good.” Holy hot mess, Batman. This performance was best described by season seven Idol contestant, Michael Johns who said in his guest blog for The Hollywood Reporter, “It wasn’t a duet, it was like a let’s-kick-each-other-in-the-nuts-and-see-who-can-sing-higher contest.”

On that note, give or take the final duet of the night, last night’s Idol was the most enjoyable performance night of the season. What I loved the most is that each contestant seemed to be in it to win it.

Alright Idol fans, what was your favorite performance from last night, and who do you think is headed home?