‘American Idol’: A Blondie Bids Adieu

Carl Williott | March 16, 2012 5:15 am

Last night’s American Idol whittled down the contestants to the Top 10 instead of the Top 11, thanks to Jermaine Jones’ oopsy-daisy of concealing the five warrants out for his arrest. It was a crucial cut in the Idol universe because once you hit that hurdle, you’ve made the summer tour. We had an all-female bottom three with Erika Van Pelt and, for the second week in a row, Shannon Magrane and fellow blondie Elise Testone. Elise was the only head-scratcher here, and the judges excoriated Idol Nation for punishing her after her great performance of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”. Did she survive to sing another week? Find out below.

We started with a fashion-stravaganza as host Ryan Seacrest unveiled J.Lo’s Vogue cover, which by some incredible coincidence landed on newsstands today! We also got the legitimately interesting news that Tommy Hilfiger is coming in next week to serve as the contestants’ “image advisor.” Hopefully he’ll stop Hollie Cavanagh from dressing like a matronly widow.

In another exciting development, Seacrest read an email from Percy Sledge praising Joshua Ledet‘s performance of his song “When A Man Loves A Woman”, saying “Joshua did a wonderful job, he scored a 10 in my book.” That high praise led us into Demi Lovato’s backing-track-heavy performance of her new song “Give Your Heart A Break.”

Demi Lovato, “Give Your Heart A Break”

Next, as the results rolled out, Jimmy responded to all the flak he got from the judges last night for seemingly leading some of the contestants astray with bad song choices. Iovine argued that in the end, it’s still the singer’s choice, so don’t blame him, ‘kay?

Top 8: Joshua Ledet Phillip Phillips Skylar Laine Colton Dixon Jessica Sanchez DeAndre Brackensick Hollie Cavanagh Heejun Han

With Elise on the bottom, we got the return of her infamous stank-eye, which surely contributed to her poor finish in the voting. Classic chicken-or-egg scenario. But to vent some of that anger, she at least got to rock out to Season 5 fave Daughtry’s “Outta My Head.”

Daughtry, “Outta My Head”

Seacrest then saved Elise and she rightfully strolled over to the Summer Tour side of the stage, with Erika soon following her. You know what that means: our first “sing for your life” of the season! Unfortunately for the 16-year-old hopeful, the whole thing was even more labored and warbled than last night’s iteration. Not surprisingly, the judges kept their one save in the vault and bid adieu to Shannon.

Next Week: Tommy Hilfiger drops some fashion knowledge. And on results night, Season 10’s Haley Reinhart returns to sing her new single “Free”, and Lana Del Rey’s pre-taped performance of “Video Games” airs. (Of course it was pre-taped.)

Should the judges have used their lifeline on Shannon? Sound off in the comments, or on Twitter and Facebook.