American Idol Season 11: The Top 10 Perform Recap

American Idol Season 11: The Top 10 Perform

1) DeAndre Brackensick - "Only The Good Die Young"

I'm not quite sure what would have been a good fit for DeAndre from Billy Joel's music catalog but I was just not buying this at all. One thing I did enjoy with this performance however was the noticeable lack of falsetto overkill from DeAndre so it still managed to be a perfectly enjoyable rendition. I just don't think it really stood out in either vocal or performance quality. Only Randy was really on point about DeAndre's performance. It really was just okay and DeAndre will almost certainly be in the Bottom 3 this week.

2) Erika Van Pelt - "New York State of Mind"

Erika opted for the "anthem" route according to her.  And then she proceeded to get a whole new hair cut and hair color. Love Erika but hate the makeover and I found her performance to be decent but not mind-blowing. I still think she's in trouble here on out but she could steal a few places with incredibly strong performances and I'm just not sure if this was one of them. I agreed with Jimmy; the judges are in the heads of both the singers and the audience and I've always felt like Erika's voice has been held back, not over done and I think this was a classic example of that. Now, I do not recall Pat Benetar being a comparable analogy with Erika so on top of that misguided comparison and Randy's contradicting his own previous advice about over-singing, this can only be categorized as a giant question mark and I think this will cost her a spot in the bottom three as a result.

3) Joshua Ledet - "She's Got A Way"

I've had very mixed feelings about Joshua all season long but I must say I enjoyed his contorl much better this week and he didn't overdo anything. I felt he showed proper restraint and vocal charm and when he sings like this it isn't nearly as off-putting. So naturally this was the perforamnce that J. Lo decided to nitpick over it. Then again, everyone else seemed to hate it probably because he wasn't going crazy with it. 

4) Skylar Laine - "Shameless"

This was a perfectly predictable but perfectly suited song choice for any country singer because this song is so easily adaptable to a country rendition. Still, I found this to be Skylar's most susceptible performance so far. It had some rough and understated patches to it. I don't think she's in trouble anytime soon so I seriously doubt we'll see her in the bottom three.

5) Elise Testone - "Vienna"

I shared Jimmy's concern over Elise doing a deeper cut from Billy Joel's catalog. Having said that, she was by far the bst of the night up to this point and if she's in the bottom three again then America needs to have a giant bucket of hot coffee poured over its face. Ryan invited two of her voice students up onstage next. Elise definitely killed it and given the overall lackluster performances up to this point, Elise's chances of remaining on the show another week look much better right now. The judges gave her a standing ovation and I think she could be quickly establishing herself as this year's Haley Reinhart so we'll see over the course of the next few weeks if this holds true.

6) Phillip Phillips - "Movin' Out"

After feeling Phillip was just so-so the past couple weeks, I really, really dug his version of this song and he proved once again why he's the one to beat in this competition. The crowd went nuts and J. Lo's comment about taking out aggression on his mentors was spot on. Randy gave him the Scotty McCreery treatment about sticking to his guns and staying true to himself and Phillip made it clear he's all about the actual music which was great.

7) Hollie Cavanagh - "Honesty"

Hollie is such a personal favorite of mine so I am once again disappointed she elected to go with yet another ballad. I really want to see her go up tempo and rock out and now I fear that she's too locked into ballads that she could end up getting "Pia'd" if she chose to mix it up. I also think it would have added another dimension to her performance. It was another solid vocal performance for her but I also am not so sure it was her best. She's too strong a singer to be in any true danger this week in all likelihood but I do fear it could be her undoing. I agreed with Steven about Hollie being unusually pitchy tonight. Randy's criticism was the most accurate of all. I definitely think Hollie was over-thinking it too much. It also proved that this has been a particularly tough week for the singers and it's tough to decipher how much of that is Billy Joel and how much of it is just the singers being at the Top 10 phase of the competition, perhaps feeling a little faitgue for the first time, and perhaps even feeling a little too overconfident having secured a spot on the Top 10 summer tour.

8) Heejun Han - "My Life"

I must say that this was my favorite Heejun performance to date. The attitude, the not so subtle jab at the judges and critics in the song choice. We've all been trying to figure out who the Haley Reinhart (who was in the audience tonight with her parents since she's performing her debut single "Free" tomorrow night on the results show) of this year is, if at all, and it might actually turn out to be a guy and that could be Heejun. Steven's advice about taking the industry more seriously might be in order though because he's right - the industry will kick him in the ass.

9) Jessica Sanchez - "Everybody Has A Dream"

Jessica proved why she's one of the four or five realistic contenders with a chance of not just winning the competition but to be a truly viable star once done with the show. Randy talked about the necessary consistency to win it all and despite a misstep with last week's performance, it was definitely the standing ovation worthy performance that it ended up being and her runs at the end were especially amazing. That was superstar quality.

10) Colton Dixon - "Piano Man"

Colton's vocals and piano were really good but I must confess I found the rest of the musical arrangement to be severely lacking and the judges, who often will give the loudest applause to whoever is in the pimp spot, didn't get up to give a standing ovation. J. Lo accidentally said Puff instead of Diddy about her ex-boyfriend. I still think Colton did a fantastic job but the band kind of failed him in my mind. 

Elise, Phillip, Jessica, and Colton were the best performances of the night. DeAndre, Erika, and Joshua are probably the bottom three this week. Hollie had an off week but she's not in any real danger barring some shocking development. 

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