Well, I guess I have to eat a bit of crow. I called out Haley last week for being a fake and she went out and had the best week of her young American Idol life. Haley was a favorite of mine early in the Hollywood week, but it seemed that she was worse once she made the show. She definitely tried to sexy it up a bit when it looked like she was a goner and that was smart. And now, she’s come full circle. She looks like the girl I enjoyed from Hollywood.

And shout out to my boy Jacob. Keep being you and use that voice for good.

Let’s get to the hotlist.

Hotlist
1. Lauren Alaina – She needs swagger lessons so she can run away with this thing.
2. Scotty McCreery – He can make this an all young-ins final two.
3. James Durbin – James might be plateauing.
4. Haley Reinhart – I still see her coming up short.

The Defeated
1. Poor Young Ashthon Jones
2. Poor Karen Rodriguez
3. Poor Naima Adedapo
4. Poor Thia Megia
5. Poor Pia Toscano
6. Poor Paul McDonald
7. Poor Stefano Langone
8. Poor (and bearded) Casey Abrams
9. Poor Jacob Lusk

J. Lo Booty Alert
J. Lo gave us that money look tonight. Thank you dear, that’s what I’ve been waiting for all season.

For the first song tonight, it’s about songs that inspire the contestants. For the second songs, it’s from the Leiber and Stoller songbook.

Big Game James Durbin is singing Don’t Stop Believing and it might be because he’s from the Bay Area and a big Giants fan. At least, that’s what I hope. Well, this is just not all that good. With all of James’ charisma, you’d think he could’ve made this fun, but he didn’t really do anything special with it. Steven says, “Nice going.” J. Lo says it was a great song, great job, and great performance. Randall says it was a high degree of difficulty and he did it.

greenmelinda says:

James Durbin doing Journey on American Idol was so bad, it makes me want to apologize to Glamberts for ever comparing him to Adam Lambert.

Haley Reinhart is singing MJ’s Earth Song. Um, this is not a good idea. Where was Jimmy to tell her this was a terrible idea? She does a fine job with it, but it’s one of MJ’s lesser famous songs and isn’t really a pop song. Ok, now I get it. She wanted to scream and grunt. J. Lo says she could feel her feeling, but knocked the song choice. Randall says the song didn’t really suit her. Steven says they’re both wrong and not to believe J. Lo and Randall. He just saved her ass.

KimmyEason says:

Haley, MJ just rolled over in his grave with that and you look like a Tiny Miss Corn Festival Beauty Queen… #gohome #idol10

Scotty McCreery is next with Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) by Alan Jackson. This kid is freaking brilliant. He touches on the post 9/11 Bin Laden feelings that currently exist and he hits on what seems to be a simplistic song for him to sing, but he knocks it out of the park. It’s the antithesis of what Haley tried to do. Randall says it was the perfect song choice. Steven says it was (surprise) beautiful. J. Lo says she’s in love with him.

ny4carrie says:

Wow Scotty McCreary did amazing on that Alan Jackson song about 911. Amazing performance for him. Really nice! 🙂

Lauren Alaina is singing Anyway by Martina McBride. It’s nearly as brilliant as Scotty’s song choice, but following Scotty here is the problem. She does go for a big note in the end, which has been her kryptonite lately, and she really looks like she’s feeling her moment on the stage. Out of the first four performances, it’s my second favorite. Steven says she broke his heart. J. Lo says it was a great vocal performance. Randall says Lauren is back and in it to win it.

mhayles24 says:

Lauren Alaina – Anyway, my fave Lauren performance!!! I Hope She wins American Idol 2011!!!

Lady Gaga is mentoring the contestants for their second round of songs. Again, I hope to not see any meat suits. She looks like Marilyn Manson for whatever reason. And that’s not really a good thing. Haley is back up with I (Who Have Nothing). Gaga helps Hales with the dramatics. Jordin Sparks performed this song during her championship run. Holy s***, baby girl done growed up. Damn, I’m not sure she could do any better than that. J. Lo says it was amazing and one of the best performances of the year. Randall says she just had a moment. Steven says she Reinharted herself into the middle of next week. No, I’m not exactly sure what he was talking about.

ohsmartie says:

She looks PISSED and she sounds AWESOME! GET IT GURL #idol

Scotty is up and I think Gaga scares him. He’s singing Young Blood. He’s going for loose and fun with this performance, but it was nearly overconfident. I’m not sure what I think about the song, but for this show, I’m not sure it was necessarily perfect. Randall says he’s like a season professional now. Steven says he made Gaga’s ya-ya, go la-la. J. Lo says he’s really hit his stride.

mrbjorke says:

This isn’t the best from Scotty. It’s just too weird of a song for him. #idol10.

Lauren is singing Trouble by Elvis, which could be either really fun, or really uncomfortable. It was a little too much stage-showish for me. I didn’t like it as much for the same reason I didn’t like Scotty’s second performance. Also, they changed up the song too much and took out the really cool, dude-ish aspects of it. Steven says it was well done. J. Lo says it was a seriously good performance. Randall says big ups.

tati1120 says:

Lauren.. doesn’t have the attitude, or voice to pull this song off. #idol

James is singing Love Potion Number 9. Gaga wants him to loosen up a bit more and actually moved his hips for him. I’m not sure James had that huge performance like the three others did, but out of the “fun” performances, this was near the top. J. Lo says it was great and he put his James on it. Randall says he’s peaking at the right time. Steven says it was a beautiful thing.

TaraAshley says

Thinking it’s going to be a Scotty / James finale.

pennySBDelia says

JAMES singing “Love potion #9” way to rock it dude! AMAZING!!!

This is a tough final four to predict. I’m certain that Lauren is probably their best bet to sell bonkers type records. But her lack of confidence is hurting her. Haley may have hurdled her tonight, though Lauren is more consistent. I think James took a step back. Can Scotty really win this thing? Seacrest out!

Photo of Lady Gaga is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license