by Gabrielle Abrams

 

Two contestants will be eliminated from American Idol so the Top 11 all have to be at the top of their game - and they were just that. This week, they had to sing songs by Elton John.

 

Scotty McCreery - "Country Comfort"

Scotty doesn't let us down tonight with his crooning southern tone. He brings out the guitar tonight and sings the song beautifully as he always does. He hit a nice, deep note to finish off his performance. He gave a nice shout out to his grandmother during the performance. Randy said that he felt he was at Scotty's concert.

 

Naima Adedapo - "I'm Still Standing"

She definitely can do something different weekly and knows how to make the song her own. She made this song into a reggae song. Although entertaining it didn't allow her to show off her voice as much. Randy and Jennifer agreed that the song shouldn't have been turned into reggae.

 

Paul McDonald - "Rocket Man"

He brought his guitar out tonight and the usual white blazer with the flowers. Beginning was a bit off with the words hardly audible. The chorus was alright but Paul never really showed off his voice with this song and was a little pitchy. Steven Tyler said he wouldn't like Paul if he hit every note right.

 

Pia Toscano - "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me"

Another ballad this week for Pia, but I don't believe anyone would disagree that she can sing a beautiful ballad. Backed up by a gospel really allows the song to have a layered sound but the wonderful thing with Pia's voice is that she doesn't allow herself to be drowned out by them. Randy stated that Pia slays the ballads every time.

 

Stefano Langone - "Tiny Dancer"

The song sounded great, up until the chorus. He sounded like he was straining his voice a bit, as if the song wasn't quite in his singing range. He sounds so great when he goes lower, but he always seems to stay in the upper range. He connected more with the audience and kept his eyes open more which means he listened to the judges.

 

Lauren Alaina - "Candle in the Wind"

She took things slow tonight, changing up the way we normally see her. It was a nice change of pace. She picked a song that meant something to her and you could see it in her emotion. She also picked a song that stayed nicely in her vocal range. Jennifer and the rest of the judges agreed that she sounded gorgeous tonight.

 

James Durbin - "Saturday Night's Alright"

He started off in the audience tonight. He got the audience moving and kept his always entertaining performance going. I was a bit distracted from his singing when the piano burst into flames. But James brought another rock filled song though it didn't sound as strong as other performances. But no one can rock out in this competition like James. Randy likes that fact that James enjoys himself and that is great in a performer.

 

Thia Magia - "Daniel"

You can tell she has an emotional attachment to this song and that definitely worked for her tonight. It was a very sweet song and showed off her voice in just the right ways. Thia always sings and performs as if she is older than she really is, which shows a lot of potential for her. Randy thought she was too safe tonight.

 

Casey Abrams - "Your Song"

After being saved last week he decided to take it down a notch. He kept himself still in the song but made the song tender and really emphasizes his voice. He kept his normal growl in there, hitting it once, but the best part was the high note he hit at the end. The judges all said that the best thing they've done was saving him.

 

Jacob Lusk - "Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word"

Jacob continues with his streaks of amazing songs. He can belt it out like no other. It is a bit difficult to watch him though as he looks like he is in pain when he sings. But it's worth it because of the sound that comes out of his mouth. Randy wants him to go "all the way up" at least once in every song.

 

Haley Reinhart - "Bennie and the Jets"

She started out on the piano crooning to the song. She picked it up as the song went on. She used her "growl" a little much for me throughout the song, though I do know it is something that is not the easiest thing to do while singing. The song fit her well though her moves made it seem somewhat like a karaoke performance. Randy thought it was the best performance of the night.

 

 

Tune in tonight at 8/7c to American Idol on FOX to see what contestants make it to the Top 9.

 

(Image courtesy of FOX)