"American Idol": From best to worst performances
They had to tackle John, a man who has straddled decades with an effortlessness that belies his considerable talent. Oddly, it was the women who seemed far more comfortable with John's songs than the men.
Here they were, from "best" to "will they still be standing come Thursday?"
Pictures: "American Idol" Season 10
Special section: "American Idol"
1. Haley Reinhart, who has been on the cusp more often than the Portuguese economy, suddenly decided to break out a new image - that of Michelle Pfeiffer in the "Fabulous Baker Boys."
This proved to be strangely astute. She took "Benny and the Jets," a dull song that John must have penned over a beer and a sandwich, and began draped seductively on a piano. She proceeded to turn this somewhat mechanical song into a sultry, sexy, bluesy, late-night raspfest.
Her physical movements are still a little on the wonky side, as if she has spent too much of her life designing software. However, when Randy Jackson told her it was the best performance of the night, he was fairly near to telling the truth.
2. Pia Toscano, despite deciding to sing a ballad, despite being encouraged by the judges (especially Randy Jackson) not to sing a ballad, took "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" and turned it into something strangely fresh and alluring.
Yes, Toscano is more Vegas than "slayed us," but she still proved that she is professional to the core, and powerful at the core. Even Tyler had to reprimand Jackson for telling her not be an utter balladeer.
3. Lauren Alaina gave fellow contestant Scotty McCreery a lesson in country. Her "Candle in the Wind" brought out high feeling, where McCreery brings out mellow beige.
Steven Tyler declared he loved her. Jennifer Lopez reminded him she was just 16. But, after some rocky times, Alaina showed that she has power and control that might turn her into a country diva before she becomes as old as, well, Taylor Swift.
4. Jacob Lusk again drifted into a level of pathos that might be too sophisticated for the "Idol" voters. He took a song that needs a little length and tried to elicit tears in a mere two minutes.
At one point near the end, it seemed like he himself would offer a wet cheek or two. In truth, though, he did everything he could to bring floods of tears to as many states as possible. Give this young man the right song and he will snap you out of your stupor and confront you with your heart.
5. Perhaps all eyes, ears and fears were on Casey Abrams - he who overreacted so much to being saved last week, that some worried whether he would have sufficient energy - or sanity - for more.
He chose the greatest Elton John song of all time - "Your Song," For a considerable time, he sang as if the autocue operator was working at a slower pace than his own. He attempted restraint, which, strangely, seemed to put as much strain on his voice as the screeching of previous weeks.
When he tried to reach a change of emotion that John delivered so wonderfully when performing this song with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (while dressed as the offspring of Bach and Mozart) Abrams seemed to falter. Randy said Casey was "absolutely brilliant." Steven said one of the finest moments on the show was saving Casey last week. "You sing different every time and I love that about you. It shows you are a true artist," he said. With the judges help Casey probably changed enough people's minds. Probably.
6. If Scotty McCreery someday fails to attract the country audience, he will certainly have a small career as a George W. Bush impersonator. The faces he pulls are so redolent of the last president that sometimes you expect him to declare that he's the decider and he's invading Uzbekistan.
His declaration that he loved his grandma during his performance of "Country Comfort" (hey, look, there's "country" in the title) smacked of shameless pandering to southern grandma-lovers, which might, for some, have turned the channel or the stomach. But his rendition was assured and his final bass note was a very pleasant shock-and-awe-shucks that will garner him millions of votes.
"Nothin' I could say to you that an old-fashioned pair of high-heeled cowboy boots wouldn't fix," mused Steven Tyler. Was he suggesting McCreery wasn't country enough? Or was her wondering whether he could stomach any more of this retro-crooning?
7. Thia Megia, too young to drink and barely old enough to drive, offered "Daniel." Megia is pleasant. She sang pleasantly. Pleasant is forgettable. Many will have already forgotten how pleasant she was, even before the voting lines opened.
8. Stefano Langone took on "Tiny Dancer," a ditty that graced the Super Bowl in a beer commercial. Again, this is a song that needs to sprawl across its length, sucking you into its whirlpool. In the two minutes given, Langone was forced to omit large chunks, turning it into a staccato theatrical number.
He tried to show he had listened to the judges' criticism that he was not connecting with the audience by reaching for Jennifer Lopez's hand at the end of his performance. The judges told him it worked, but the important hands are the ones over keyboards submitting their votes.
9. Paul McDonald offered a casual "How y'all doing this evening?" before delivering an equally casual rendition of "Rocket Man." When he got to the chorus, he tried to pretend that this was his song. He said to the audience: "Y'all ready?," encouraging them to sing the chorus with him. It was both forced and false. McDonald hasn't made it. He hasn't earned to right to treat an audience like his fiefdom. He has to win them over. He didn't.
This was a mere bar performance, one that led Steven Tyler to ask whether McDonald had been watering his jacket. Yes, this week he sported the rhinestone with the flowers jacket. "I think you're holding back," said Lopez. The problem may be that McDonald isn't holding back. This is all there is.
10. James Durbin, on the other hand, decided to commit his hair and his spiky ego to "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," a song with which he fought for the whole performance. At one point, he stood on the piano, as if believing that he could somehow deliver a dramatic effect that John managed several times before he was a parent. It smacked of campiness. It smacked of parody. It smacked of karaoke in an Irish pub in Slovenia.
Despite attempting to inject a little Uriah Heep circa 1974 near the end, Durbin looked like a relic that didn't deserve worship. Despite the judges' enthusiastic applause - Steven called it a "great rock and roll performance" - this moved the soul about as much as wet popcorn.
11. And then there was Naima Adedapo, who has flirted with failure, as if in the belief that failure has a trust fund somewhere. This week, she produced perhaps the bravest, perhaps the most ridiculous performance. She took "I'm Still Standing" and pretended that Bob Marley was still alive. This takes some imagination, perhaps more than there is within her grasp or that of the voters.
While Tyler offered a possibly encouraging "Boom Shakalaka Baby," Jackson was possibly more accurate when he told her: "It kinda came off corny."
TOP THREE: Haley Reinhart, Pia Toscano, Lauren Alaina
BOTTOM THREE: Naima Adedapo, James Durbin, Paul McDonald
