‘American Idol’: Lady Gaga Performs “Alejandro,” Aaron Kelly Says Goodbye

Robbie Daw | May 6, 2010 8:08 am

Given his dismal rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “Blue Skies” on Tuesday night, Casey James seemed like a shoo-in to get the boot on last night’s American Idol results show. (“I honestly thought this was pretty bad, and a bit patronizing,” our guest blogger Elliott Yamin said of Casey’s performance.) Alas, it was 17-year-old Idol pipsqueak Aaron Kelly who was voted off—while Lady Gaga stole the night with her skin-baring performance of “Alejandro.” Watch below!

As we predicted, Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze remained safe this week. The stage was set for a surprise when Casey James joined them on the lucky side of the stage, while Michael Lynche—who turned in a stellar take on Ol’ Blue Eyes’ “The Way You Look Tonight”—found himself in the Bottom Two with Aaron Kelly.

Aw, that was quite a hug Big Mike and Aaron shared, and hopefully the whispered words of encouragement eased the blow for the teen singer. At any rate, he seemed to take it all in good stride.

Here’s Lady Gaga’s unedited performance of “Alejandro,” which seemed a bit off:

Maybe it’s the just that the squeaky-clean American Idol setting didn’t work so well for scantily-clad Gaga’s arty display with her shirtless male dancers? (To that we say good on her for shaking things up!) Wonder what Simon thought of it all?

Either way, the performance doesn’t seem to have had much of an immediate effect on “Alejandro.” As of this morning, it’s still stuck at #11 on iTunes, where the song has been hovering for the past week.

Sinatra Week mentor Harry Connick, Jr. also performed last night. Here he is covering the Beatles’ “And I Love Her” (the recorded version of which appears on Connick’s Your Songs):

Next week the remaining four contestants take on the songs of the cinema, with mentor Jamie Foxx. Be sure to Auto-Tune in!