By Lindsay Strouse

 

It’s getting down to the wire this week on American Idol, as the Top 4 contestants fight to stay in the competition. Jamie Foxx is returning as a mentor to help the contestants sing songs from the silver screen. In addition to singing their own song, the contestants will be paired up for a special duet.

 

Foxx decides to give each singer either a “contestant” shirt or an “artist” shirt after his one-on-one session with them. Here’s how it played out:

 

Lee DeWyze – “Kiss From A Rose” by Seal
After his session with Jamie, Lee gets handed the coveted artist shirt. Once he hits the stage, we see why. This is a great song for his voice and he keeps gaining more personality every week. Even though I can’t say this is the best performance he’s ever done, his surge in confidence boosts him up. He definitely could have done a bit more with the song, but I agree with Kara—it doesn’t take away from the fact that he is a GREAT singer.

 

Michael Lynche – “Will You Be There?” by Michael Jackson
Jamie first hands Big Mike a contestant shirt after he had a rocky start with the song. I’m afraid to say it didn’t get much better on the stage. I mean, any song that has a choir singing in the background is going to add to it, but without them, he would have fallen flat. After seeing so many great performances from this guy, I feel like he fell short tonight. Simon didn’t like the performance because he didn’t know what the movie Free Willy was about or how the song was supposed to connect to a whale. Moving on…

 

Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox – “Falling Slowly” by Glen Hansard
Thank goodness for these duets tonight because they blew the individual songs out of the water. Everything about the way this was performed was perfect—standing face to face, singing their hearts out…it was beautiful (sorry for the corniness, but it’s true!). I mean, I was getting choked up at the end after seeing how much they put into it. This is the type of performance I would want to download and watch over and over again. They truly brought out the best in each other and Crystal admits that Lee has been her “musical” crush from the start.

 

Casey James – “Mrs. Robinson” by Simon and Garfunkel
Casey gets the artist shirt after seducing Jamie Foxx, but will he seduce the audience? Well, I think it seduced the ladies at least. He gave a very laid back performance, but managed to keep my attention throughout the song. And is it just me, or could Kara have been a possible inspiration for this choice of song? An older woman seducing a younger man? Hmm...Well, Mrs. Robinson, I mean Kara, loved it. The only thing I can say is that because of the laid back manner, I don’t know if the performance will stick in people’s minds at the end of the night.

 

Crystal Bowersox – “I’m Alright” by Kenny Loggins
Do I even have to say whether she got an artist or a contestant shirt? Crystal chose the right type of song to bring the mood back up after some not-so-great reviews. This girl’s voice is crazy—I don’t know how she doesn’t blow her vocal cords out! I mean, what is there to say except she put on yet another great performance? She took the song and made it better. See you at the finish line, girl!

 

Michael Lynche and Casey James – “Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman” by Bryan Adams
The boys bring their guitars onstage with them to close out the night with another incredible duet. I’m not going to lie, it was a little cheesy in the beginning with Casey’s closed eyes and slightly pitchy vocals, but once Big Mike entered the song, they soared. These two sounded great and their guitar skills were on point! The judges loved them as well as everyone else in the audience.

 

Be sure to tune in tomorrow night, Wednesday at 9/8c on Fox to see who makes American Idol’s Top 3.

 

(Image courtesy of Fox)

 

Follow Lindsay at twitter.com/LindsayStrouse

 

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