‘American Idol’: Joshua Ledet Rises Above As The Top 13 Men Sing For Your Votes

And now it’s your turn, America! Last night American Idol went live before the studio — and national — audience, as the Top 12 men sung for their supper, i.e. your votes. So far this season, the guys have come out strong, leading us to suspect that a dude will take the Idol crown for a fifth year in a row. But the competition is a a bit more crowded this year: In a tricky twist, producers brought back one of the male contestants eliminated last week. Find out who after the jump.

Call him Lucky 13: Jermaine Jones got a second chance last night, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be safe for long as only six of the Top 13 men will make it to the next round. Here’s how they did.

Reed Grimm chose a jazzed-up version of that other singing competition’s judges’ song “Moves Like Jagger”. Though he’s emerged as a clear front runner in recent weeks, the arrangement was weird and he forgot to change one of Adam Levine’s dirty lyrics while pounding away on his drum kit yet again. The drums are fine and all, but this schtick is getting old fast.

Adam Brock swore there’s a large black woman trapped inside his body, which is why he chose to sing Aretha Franklin’s “Think”.  Despite the ringer the judges put him through last week, Brock proved his worth (at least on this show) with the kind of edgy, bluesy performance that is de rigueur for his ilk at this stage in the game. Cut to a few gross white chocolate jokes from the judge’s panel — AND SCENE!

Deandre Brackensick turned in a serviceable and forgettable take on Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Reasons”, leaning a little too hard on his falsetto. As with all the contestant so far, the judges laid the love on thick. But let’s just come right out and say it: That mess of curls may get him all the way to the Top 5, but it’s not the haircut of an American Idol winner.

The same can be said for skunky Colton Dixon, who goes with “Decode” by fellow Tennessee band Paramore after pointing out, once again, how upset he is that his sister got cut in Las Vegas. He can’t be that shaken up about it, though, because he rocked out during his time on stage, being the only act of the night to crank out what could loosely be considered choreography. And by “choreography” we mean he stood on top of his piano. Steven Tyler told him, “You truly are a relevant artist today.” Ok!

Jeremy Rosado is this year’s nice guy, if that wasn’t blindingly clear already. The lovable teddy bear chose “Gravity” by Sara Bareilles, giving it a velvety, Luther Vandross-like quality that will keep him around till next week. Or maybe it won’t? Yeah, it will.

Aaron Marcellus belted out Jackson 5’s “Never Can Say Goodbye” with perfect pitch and a stellar big-note finish, earning him the first standing ovation of the night. Aaeron Marcellus, “Never Can Say Goodbye”

Chase Likens, this year’s token country singer, gave it all he’s got on “Storm Warning” by Hunter Hays. He moved around on stage, which led us to believe he’d been doing this for years professionally but won’t be doing it for long on the American Idol stage.

Creighton Fraker, the quirky, unemployed New Yorker, sings Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” with an orchestra silhouetted behind him. He squawked and screeched and growled his way through it, but totally on pitch and enjoyable if you’re into that sort of thing. Randy certainly is.

Creighton Fraker, “True Colors”

Phillip Phillips , who either has the meanest — or most hilarious! — parent’s ever, went with Dave Matthew’s version of Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight”, even though that probably isn’t a real thing that happened ever. It was strange at first, as all of Phillip-squared’s performances have been, given all that antsy foot shuffling he does. But the raw grittiness in his voice has started to grow on us, like moss.

Phillip Phillips, “In The Air Tonight”

Teen dream Eben Franckewitz was pitchy on Adele’s “Set Fire To The Rain”, which, hold up, WHAT IS HE DOING ATTEMPTING AN ADELE SONG? He’s 15! He knows nothing of heartache and strife! Well, maybe next week he’ll have his first taste.

Heejun Han sounded solid, if flat, on “Angels” by Robbie Williams. The judges jumped all over his song choice (Steven Tyler even started singing “Hey Jude” for some reason), but that isn’t really the biggest issue Heejan faces. It’s his pronunciation. Angels better be on his side this week.

And then came Joshua Ledet. Oh, thanks heavens for Joshua Ledet! If there is another male winner of American Idol this year, Joshua will be the reason why. He gave us Jennifer Hudson’s “You Pulled Me Through,” and Steven declared him, “The voice the world’s been waiting to hear.” Accurate!

Joshua Ledet, “You Pulled Me Through”

Jermaine Jones — LUCKY 13! — put his rich baritone to work on Luther Vandross’ “Dance With My Father.” It’s a safe song and a safe performance that won’t be enough to bring Jones into the next round. Oh well!

Worst Of The Night: Despite his adorableness, Eben Franckewitz’s pitch problems will likely send him home on Thursday. 

Best Of The Night: Joshua Ledet, if we hadn’t made that clear enough yet.

Tomorrow night:  The Top 12 Women — or will there be 13? — will attempt to out-sing one another.

In a pool of such talented artists who do you think surfaced as the guy to beat? Sound off in the comments, or on Twitter and Facebook.