‘American Idol’: Katy Perry Gives “A Part Of Me,” Elise Testone Gets A Send-Off Salute

Carl Williott | April 27, 2012 5:00 am

American Idol‘s live elimination show on Thursday night (Apr. 26) was “over the top,” as Steven Tyler would say, bursting at the seams with three performances and a field trip (the contestants descended into the second circle of Hell a/k/a the TMZ offices). Before we learned that raspy rocker Elise Testone had tallied the fewest of the week’s 58 million votes, we were treated to the debut of the Queen Extravaganza, as well as performances by Katy Perry and Season 10’s Stefano Langone. Read on to see how it all played out.

The web-curated musicians in the Queen Extravaganza started things off with “Somebody To Love,” showcasing the lead singer’s uncanny vocal impersonation of Freddie Mercury. And although the backup singers seemed to be finding their footing, one of the guitarists did a back flip! So it was that kind of performance. Sure it wasn’t Queen, but it was still captivating.

It was good to see Ryan Seacrest was back to his amped-up self, after a rough Wednesday night in which he missed dress rehearsal because he was hooked up to an IV fighting a stomach bug. And that was before the entire nation found out his girlfriend Julianne Hough has the hots for Phillip Phillips. But we knew Seacrest was back to peak form when he tossed to Phil’s highlight reel, deadpanning that it was time to see how it went down “with ladykiller, here.” Phil appeared to be a lock for the bottom three, but Ryan was denied his cosmic retribution, because those ladies really come out of the woodwork for Phillip-squared.

Next, Season 10’s Stefano performed “I’m On A Roll.” Maybe it’s just because we have KP on the brain, but it felt like a dude’s version of a Katy Perry party-starter, (without all the twee boy band mugging you get with the One Directions of the world).

Stefano, “I’m On A Roll”

Of course, that was just a paltry appetizer for Perry’s main course. Ms. Perry dropped on-stage from the ceiling in full sexy fake Marine fatigues and purple hair (pretty sure that violates military code) to perform “Part Of Me.” Her latest meticulously engineered earworm included an extended nightvision military dance sequence. Like we said, it was an overblown night.

As for Jimmy Iovine’s critiques, they were pretty much in line with our views. However, he was ruthless with Skylar Laine‘s second song — as was America because she found herself in the bottom three.

Unsurprisingly, Hollie Cavanagh and Elise joined Skylar. But it came down to Hollie and Elise, a bottom-dwellers’ duel that ended the show’s streak of two consecutive results-show shockers. The voters ultimately decided to keep the tiny, technically skilled Hollie over the raucous, mercurial Elise. Elise left the show doing the song that resulted in her top moment of the season, “Whole Lotta Love.”

One thing before we start drooling over next week: In the TMZ segment, Jessica Sanchez admitted to having uploaded over 200 videos of herself singing on Youtube. Internet Army, FIND THEM. That is a direct order from First Lt. Perry!

Next week: Jennifer Lopez takes the Idol stage — perhaps to “Dance Again” in a perfume bottle?

Did you think Hollie would outlast Elise? Sound off in the comments, or on Twitter and Facebook.