‘American Idol’ Recap: Sam Woolf Sings His Last Song, Keith Urban Performs “Good Thing”

Lisa Timmons | May 2, 2014 6:28 am

The American Idol performances on Wednesday night were themed “America’s choice,” meaning that viewers used various social media to communicate their song requests to the contestants. And sure enough, all of the songs were selected by the fans for their favorite of the five remaining contestants. Thursday’s results show started off with the promise of a “shocking twist.” Sadly, for Sam Woolf, it never actually delivers. What we do get, however, is a performance from judge Keith Urban.

Ryan Seacrest opens the show by teasing us with a massive, on-air twist. Shortly thereafter, the judges stride onto the stage. Angelic in white, Jennifer Lopez is center stage, with Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr. on either side. They take their seats at the panel and Harry takes this opportunity to give the kids a pep talk.

During their “roundtable recap,” the remaining five chat about the events of the night before. As usual, they are incredibly friendly and seem like they’ve really bonded during their weeks together — or so they would have us think. This dinner leads into a Ford Escape product placement fake party full of extras. While it’s still a commercial, at least it looked like they all had fun.

Now, it’s Keith’s turn to perform his song “Good Thing,” from his new album Fuse. I miss his old face and hair, but I’m enjoying his trademark shoulder dance immensely. After the commercial break and back at the panel, Jennifer calls Keith cute and he blushes. He’s a regular Sam Woolf.

Now it’s time to hear from former judge and current mentor, Randy Jackson. His reactions are that Jena Irene had an amazing night and that Alex Preston’s rendition of “Say Something” was stellar. Randy says that Jessica Meuse’s voice was strong, as always, but that her stage presence still needs work. According to Randy, Sam had “a very interesting night” and Caleb Johnson “tore the roof off the whole thing.”

After Randy’s appraisal, Ryan beckons the finalists to the stage to to explain the big twist. He presents the them with two options: either the person with the lowest votes goes home or no one leaves, causing two people to be axed together the following week. It’s up to the contestants to vote and it has to be unanimous or no dice.

During the commercial break, the kids submit their anonymous votes to Ryan. He reads off the tallies live and it’s three yeses and two nos. The finalists, who seemed to really like each other, couldn’t agree to keep the gang together for an extra week. Ouch. We then learn that it’s freckle-faced Sam Woolf who is heading home.

Nobody appeared all that surprised, except for JLo, who gives good sad face. Sam does a great job of keeping it together while he performs his last song, “It’s Time,” from Imagine Dragons. While Sam is probably sad to leave the competition, at least he can finally return home to his closet full of normal clothes. No more fedoras, weird boots and complicated shoes for him.

Sam gives his buddies a group hug. They loved him, but not enough to keep him in the game another week. For all their friendly banter at the dinner table, these kids are full-on Hunger Games mode. Now, there’s some blood in the water. Let’s see things get cutthroat with only four contestants left.

Get an eyeful of even more pop music coverage, from artist interviews to exclusive performances, on Idolator’s YouTube channel.