Top 7 Results

Welcome back. After a pretty decent night last night another contestant will be leaving the competition, as long as the Judge's Save is not used. We picked Burnell, Lazaro and Janelle as our Bottom 3, with Lazaro going home. He messed up his lyrics during his duet with Angie, and although he had a relatively solid solo performance it still doesn't really measure up to the rest of the competition. So we have all that going on tonight, as well as a slew of musical performances. So let's get started:

Top 7 Perform
Altogether the Top 7 perform Queen's "Somebody To Love".  Somehow the performance actually wasn't terrible. Since Top 10 began the full group performances have been pretty disastrous. Plus they let Candice hit the big booming note towards the end of the song, so that helps.

Top 7 Ford Promo/Photo-shoot
So this year instead of commercials we just see little segments of the contestants going to do something, but obviously driving there in their Ford Cars. This week was a photo-shoot, last week they drove to a school to mentor some kids. Meh...

Jimmy Iovine's Take On The Top 7
Burnell=He got it all wrong. So behind the beat was like he was singing in the West Coast and the band was in the East Coast. Obvious that he did not study. He most likely will be Bottom 2.
Angie & Lazaro=They missed the point of the whole song. It was cabaret, like a variety show.
Kree=Did pick the right song. But her pinched nerve really inhibited her, but she still sang with dignity. She did really great.
Candice & Burnell=Burnell had the right song, but Candice was incredible but Burnell fell through the trap door as soon as she showed up in the song.
Janelle=Did a competent job. Really good, great performer, puts her right in the middle of the pack, about 4th place.
Lazaro=Didn't like it as well as the judges. Did a reasonable job, but reasonable isn't not enough for this point in the competition. His voice isn't ready yet. Puts him at the Bottom of the pack.
Amber, Janelle & Kree=This wasn't great. 3 great soul singers made it seem like an outtake of Grease. Only thing good about it was Amber's jeans.
Candice=Candice sang a classic but it didn't have the melody that she needed. She is in the Top 3 of those left but this wasn't her Top 3 performance.
Amber=Improving every week. On her way to having the whole package. She is definitely Top 3.
Angie=Pleased with her performance. Beautiful and confident. Sang magnificent. The wind machine was a little much. Sometimes she sings from her head not her heart.
Final Take=Top 3 is Amber, Angie and Kree, but loves Candice. If America gets it right than Lazaro would be going home.

Musical Performance # 1
Casey James from Season 9 is back. He made it all the way to Top 3 in that season. He was a countryr guy with a lot of blues. We learn he has done fairly well in his career, but compared to the American Idol winner Lee DeWyze and the majority of the crop that season Casey has done outstanding. The song he performs is definetly in his element, so well done for him.

Judge's Top 3
Each of the judge was asked for their Top 3 performers from last night. 
Keith=Kree, Angie and Amber
Nicki=Kree, Angie and Amber
Randy=Kree, Angie and Amber
Mariah=Kree, Amber and Candice
This was an interesting segment to have. I know it's all because they have extra time this week, but I liked seeing where the Judges were thinking because it made me get a sense of where they would go  depending on a Judge's Save.

Results #1

Kree Harrison

Top 3....SAFE

Angie Miller

Top 3....SAFE

Lazaro Arbos

Top 3...SAFE

Musical Performance #2
Carrie Underwood returns to perform. We see a snippet of the first time we saw Carrie Underwood on the show. Tonight she is performing her new song "See You Again". It's probably not my favorite Carrie Underwood song, but I just like when she comes back to the show. You do forget that she started her sometimes. It's been a long time, but it's nice she comes back. Word has it that Kelly Clarkson will also make an appeareance on the show. I know Idol's ratings have diminished over the years but 10 or 12 million people to see and hear you is still an attractive opportunity for any musical perofroamcen.

Results #2

Candice Glover

SAFE

Amber Holcomb

SAFE

BOTTOM 2
Janelle 
Burnell

SAFE?

 

Janelle

Last Place?
Burnell

Did The Judges Use The SAVE?
No. Burnell is Going home. Despite Keith's upset,  the judges were not unanimous. Burnell deserved another week over Lazaro, but only one more week. The 5 ladies at this point deserve to be in the Top 5. Burnell had some really nice moments but just didn't deliver week to week. This week was definitely one of his worst and he was first to perform, so no surprise there.

Final Thoughts

*Lazaro Top 3??? Really? It's pretty incredible. It's not that he was so bad, but it's that Amber and Candice did so well last night. Lazaro was the 7th best singer of 7 singers left and next week he'll be the 6th best singer of 6 singers left. This trend will continue until one of the ladies will be wrongly knocked out. You could see the shock on the judges and many of the contestants' faces when we learned he was Top 3. None of them have really great poker faces.

*The remaining ladies will recieve the save next week if they are voted off, Lazaro will not. The save is only good through Top 5, so unless one of the girls is in trouble next week than the Judge's Save might not be used for the first time in the history of the Save being introduced in Season 8. Given that the judge's must be unanimous for the Save to work, I am not shocked that Mariah and Nicki can't agree on something together.

That's it. Another male is gone, Lazaro remains, seems like I said this last week but it's the truth. Please come on back here next Wednesday after another new episode of Idol. Check out our favorite performance at the end of the blog and until next time, see ya!