Idol Live with Nicole!! Top 7!!

Tonight's theme is "Songs from the 21st Century". This will most likely be the most current music we hear this season. However, contestants seem to do not so hot with current music (i.e. Stefano with "Just The Way You Are"), so hopefully tonight's eppy isn't a train wreck and they pick some smart, great song choices!

Intro to the show features a brief recap of the contestants auditions (no singing parts tho). Let me just say that I like Ryan Seacrest, but I honestly would laugh if he ever fell down the stairs as he was being introduced (as long as he didn't get hurt of course!). Someone has a sign that says "James, you are the next Steven Tyler". Pretty sure it was meant as a compliment. Hopefully they mean musically and not look wise. Reunion of the eliminated contestants from the Top 13! Ashthon, Karen, Naima, Thia, Pia and Paul!! Aww good I need a Paul performance for some entertainment tonight!! They are performing "So What" by Pink. The 6 girls perform first and Paul comes out for the second half...with his rose suit and all. Let me just say I feel bad for Paul because I am sure he is not too comfortable singing this type of song. I'm thinking it wouldn't have been his first choice! I think he messed up the words too. Its actually a little painful to listen to. Can't say I miss Naima too much either. Pretty sure we just got a screen shot of Mark Ballas (of Dancing with the Stars fame) in the audience since rumor has it he is dating Pia now. The judges all praise the performance and Steven tells them they just made America rethink their opinion. No Steven, I have top disagree! Oh yea, I don't feel bad for Pia anymore at all. She has been signed to a record deal, performing on Dancing with the Stars soon, and now dating cutie Mark Ballas (after breaking things off with her pre-Idol bf). No more sympathy for you Pia!!!

Scotty Mcreery- "Swingin" by Leann Rimes. The pre-performance clips this week feature the contestants talking about one another. This should be great since you all know how much I am loving this group!! All the contestants are making fun of the way he talks, holds his microphone sideways, and his eyebrow moves. Weird song choice for Scotty. Seriously, he had 11 years worth of country songs to choose from and he picked this!?!? I am glad to hear something upbeat by Scotty this week though. Of course now that the contestants all pointed it out the only thing I can pay attention to is how he is holding the mic. He sounds okay, but this is probably my least favorite performance of his, strictly because of the song choice. Sounded good throughout and glad to hear something different, but not my fave at all. Steven wants him to boot scoot a little more, but he liked it. Jennifer loves his story telling quality, but like me she didn't understand his song choice. Randy says it was so safe and kind of boring. I agree with this, but keep in mind RANDY was the one saying LAST WEEK to Scotty that he liked that he kept to his roots and said if its not broke don't fix it. Quit contradicting yourself Randy!! Glad the judges are actually giving criticism this week though. I'm positive he will be safe though, probably get more votes because the judges didn't like it.

After commercial we get to see Scotty being greeted backstage by the other contestants. He tells them he knew they were going to say something. Lauren says there's 15 million little girls pointing their finger at Randy right now.

James Durbin- "Uprising" by Muse. Casey tells us James is the rocker of the group, in case we didn't already know that. They all make fun of his scraf tail. Stefano says the first time he saw it he wondered if it was a joke or if he was for real. I'm sure the rest of America is right along there with you darlin'! They then all mimic his scream and back bends. Jimmy loves his song choice this week. Well this is already interesting. To start we get some drummers from a marching band to lead him out. The drummers then drum behind the judges, which seems like it would be a distraction to them and a view blockage to the audience that they are standing directly in front of. Luckily they are only there for about 20 seconds though. James is singing pretty well on this song though. The drummers seem to be distracting me too much too I guess. Quite the interesting outfit he has on tonight. Some high pitched shrieking going on. Well that was different, but good. Oh good, after the performance the drummers play their way off stage. Jennifer says that will be the best theatrical performance of the night. Randy of course says Muse is one of his favorite bands. I'm pretty sure Randy feels the need to say he loves every artist that is performed on Idol that you wouldn't typically hear. He seems to love a lot of the non-pop singers. He wants James to follow the direction of Muse when he gets a deal. Says this will probably be the best performance of the night. He then name drops the lead singer of Muse (of course). Steven tells him to stay out of his closet. Calls it Mad Max meets Storm Troopers on Melrose. WTF is on Steven's cheek?!!? Says that he loves that he is "out of his mind beautifully so". He will be SAFE!!

Oh good, the drummers are now back with Ryan!!!! (Sarcasm)

Haley Reinhart- "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele. The other contestants all mimic her growl and her arm raise while singing. Stefano says he and Haley have a love/hate relationship and I believe him because they didn't seem to share much love with each other while chilling in the bottom 3 last week. Based on rehearsal, this could be a good week for Haley. She is performing on a stool behind the judges table. Yup, I was right. The beginning is pretty darn good! Sounds like she is getting a little short of breath while singing. Chorus sounds nice with her growling. She is doing the arm raise too. Love her red and white polka dot dress!! Great choice for her! My fave of the night so far, who woulda thunk!? Randy says she chose a perfect direction for herself. Calls the chorus a little sharp, but still great performance. Steven also loved it (shocking!). Jennifer says it takes a lot of guts to perform a song that is currently at the top of the charts, but she liked it. She should be safe, although possibly bottom 3 just based on history. Not eliminated tomorrow though!

Jacob Lusk- "Dance with My Father" by Luther Vandros. Okay am I the only one that doesn't compare him to Luther?? Scotty says the universal term for Jacob is "diva". I absolutely agree! Lauren agrees with him. They then make fun of his "yaggaty yeas" aka his over the top performing. Oh goodness he is crying during his rehearsal while singing. Alright, I will cut him some slack since he lost his father. He makes it less than 10 words in before he gets emotional. Takes out his inner ear piece before he gets to the chorus. I've noticed people doing that before, they must not be able to hear right with them in. Decent vocals, but I'm not a fan of the high note at the end. Dang you Jacob, I feel bad judging you since your dad is passed away! Steven says it was beautiful. Jennifer says he needs to know how to control his emotions while performing. Says "emotionally" it was a good performance though. Randy says he agrees with them on the "emotional" part, says vocally it was "good", but it didn't make him jump up and down. Wants the old Jacob back though. Tells him not to hold back anymore (thanks Randy I'm not going to appreciate that if he is hear next week). He says he missed the words at the beginning because something was wrong with the track in his ear, not emotions. Hmm that could be true since he removed his ear piece. I'm calling him bottom 3. 

After commerical Ryan talks with Mark Ballas, but won't say what show he is from. I'm guessing since it is their biggest competition huh. Ryan then asks if there are "any favorites" this season and he says Casey is his favorite. Ryan says "that's a curve ball" once again referring to the fact that he is dating Pia.

Casey Abrams- "Harder to Breathe" by Maroon 5. The contestants all talk about how "weird" he is...while wearing a beard. They then make fun of his weird instrument playing and dancing. Entertaining! Vocally he sounds good, but he is still making the weird, creepy faces. Playing guitar this week. This is one of his better performances and much better than last week, but still kinda boring to me. Ending is a little off key too. At the end he gets way into Jennifer's personal space, which would totally make me uncomfortable. Oh yea and then he kisses her. Steven says he did what he has been trying to do for four months. Jennifer says Casey's not playing fair. Says she loved it...the performance! Randy says he loves that its always about surprises with Casey. He then says he was a little nervous about hearing him do Maroon 5 since the Nirvana thing was a little eh. Although I am pretty sure he liked the Nirvana thing when Casey did it... Tells him to continue to take chances. Steven says something that gets bleeped, but Casey looks totally shocked by it so I wish I knew what it was!! Apparently he loved it though. Ryan now has on the fake beard, which Casey takes off of him and apparently leaves the glue behind.

Stefano Langone- "Closer" by Ne-yo. Lauren says he tries to be a ladies man. Scotty says he is confident about himself, he's not afraid to go to the pool and take his shirt off...slowly. Jacob says he will flirt with a piece of paper if he found out it had estrogen in it. Casey says he has a very hot quality to him. Lauren says he doesn't need to try so hard, he's a cute guy. James says Stefano is a big flirt. So glad he is doing an uptempo song!! It got Pia voted off, but at least he's doing it! Well this is already better than the Bruno Mars song from the start. He takes the inner ear piece out too. Well that was pretty darn good if you ask me! He sang uptempo and did well with it and he actually moved around a lot on the stage. Nice job Stefano!! Randy thought it was going to be bad karaoke, but says he did a very good job and smoothed it out. Steven said really good. Jennifer says he really had his swag going on. She really, really liked it. I think she wishes she got a kiss from him rather than Casey...I would at least! Well he should be safe based on vocals and performance, based on history though he will probably be bottom 3.

Well an hour and twenty minutes into the show we learn that Steven has lipstick lips on his cheek from his daughter. Finally! I was seriously wondering what that was :)

Lauren Alaina- "Born to Fly" by Sara Evans. The contestants all make fun of the way she talks and how much she talks. Jimmy says he was motivation her last week by telling her she was better than Miley Cyrus. DJ Tanner sure is a great singer!! I'm putting my money on her or Scotty as the winner this season. Well this isn't my favorite of hers, but she is doing good regardless. Steven says she is so good naturally. Wants to hear her sing Faith Hill or Shania Twain next time. Jennifer says she has color in her voice. Tells her to sing the big notes next time, she can do it. Randy says she can sing anything. She CAN sing the big notes. Tells her she must believe. She will be safe!

Well it was actually a pretty good night! No train wrecks, that's for sure!

Faves of the night: Stefano, Haley

Bottom 3 prediction: Jacob, Haley and Stefano (based on history). I have a feeling my boy Stefano will be going home tomorrow :(. At least he gets to leave on a high note though!

David Cook and Katy Perry on tomorrow's show!!