'American Idol' Season 11, Episode 29 Recap - 'Top 7 Perform (Again)'

Last week on "American Idol": drama! A last-minute save! Jane Lynch approves! T.S. Eliot quotes! What?

Yes, I'm fascinated to see if the racism of the "American Idol" voting audience comes into play again this week, and once again puts the two best singers in the competition in the bottom three. Please, go ahead. Prove me right, and prove Randy (who thought that Jessica's fans just got lazy) wrong.

Seacrest comes out and briefly eulogizes Dick Clark, doing his best caring human impression. "Without him, a show like this wouldn't exist," he says. Whoa, don't go making us wish Dick Clark died earlier, Ryan.

1st Performances:

Hollie, who should have been eliminated last week, continues her run of TERRIBLE decisions by deciding to do "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele. I said this about "The Voice," and I'll say it here: even if this wasn't one of the most overplayed songs of the last year, it's still a bad idea to try to do Adele. Adele does Adele. Everyone else just attempts to come close.

Then again, it's hail mary time for Hollie, whose days are numbered. She at least does something kind of interesting with the song, starting with the chorus, a capella, and then bringing in the instrumentals. She's much more on pitch this time than in previous performances, and the vocals are strong. She's overthinking it less, which is good.

The judges love it! Steven says it was "perfect" (generous), JLo is thrilled that Hollie finally took the note they've been giving her for the past five weeks, and Randy says "it wasn't perfect but it was near perfect" and gets booed. THE AUDIENCE WILL SETTLE ONLY FOR PURELY POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT. OFF WITH HIS HEAD.

Colton is up, and his hair now has a big red streak on his already stupid hair. He's doing "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga, and Jimmy seems to think that Gaga sings from the very bottom of her soul. I don't hear that, but okay. In any case, it looks like Colton is taking a week off from the piano ballads, and his cowboy boots and weird goth coat support that fact. It's a passably inventive arrangement, and it works. Then again, Colton could sing anything and get votes at this point.

The judges love it! Randy says we just saw a Colton Dixon concert, Jennifer is "looking forward to the next Colton" tonight.

Elise is next, who Jimmy says has a "vacation home in the bottom three" and notes that she doesn't seem to have a loyal fan base. Yep. She's doing "No One," by Alicia Keys, which will hopefully give her a bit of a boost. She has to do something to combat the fact that she's not a cute teenage white boy.

She's kinda stuck center stage for the performance, because they wanted to aim a big fan at her and make her dress and hair all flowy and dramatic.

The judges love it! JLo has goosies! Steven wanted a song with a better chorus, but agrees she "sang her tooshie off." Randy likes that she stuck with the melody this time.

Phillip time, who is doing "You Got It Bad" by Usher, which he announces right after Jimmy says "keep doing what you're doing." Usher is not what Phillip has been doing. Still, it's actually not far from what Phillip usually does: he sits center stage (sitting, not standing! How new!) and growls his way through a ballady version of the song.

The judges love it! Steven says something about chump love, suckah, JLo calls it "so sexy," and Randy calls him a "true artist."

Jessica has to convince all the dumb teenage girls out there that she's good, so she decides to do Alicia Keys' "Fallin." Jimmy thinks she should open up and connect more. I'm not sure that she does that in the performance, but she does sing the hell out of the song. Again. As always.

The judges love it! Steven notes the passion, Jennifer loves the way that Jessica "plays with songs," Randy says he's not even sure that Jessica knows how good she is.

Skylar, whose time also seems limited on this show, is taking on "Born This Way," with a country twist... which involves some pretty awful added lyrics about "making it country." Apparently Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga were the only two available artists this week. Skylar sings the song well enough, but it's lacking something. There doesn't seem to be much of a story to it.

The judges love it anyway! JLo says Skylar is like a boxer when she sings, Steven has nothing but nice things to say, and Randy says she's "so beyond ready." What, to leave this show and start an actual career?

Joshua will be singing "I Believe" by Fantasia. He makes some unconvincing statements about this show being his dream. Then again, he never seems enthusiatic about anything. The performance is fine vocally, but I question the ability of this song to live up to Joshua's vocals. All I hear is a kinda boring melody and vaguely inspirational lyrics about dreams and stars.

The judges love it! Randy loved the restraint, Jennifer feels "blessed" that Joshua is in the competition, and Steven says he could sing the phone book, which actually elicits a chuckle from the audience. Seacrest notes how that was Fantasia's victory song, and asks if that was some foreshadowing. Joshua goes "ehhhhhhhh" and I wonder if he knows what foreshadowing means.

2nd Performances:

Hollie comes back out with "Son of a Preacher Man," and unfortunately goes right back into her usual thing. Everything seems very calculated, she doesn't seem to understand what she's singing about, and as a result the song is pretty boring.

The judges love it regardless! The cameraman loses his camera! Jennifer and Randy both think this was better than the first round, which is incorrect!

Colton's second number is Earth Wind and Fire's "September," as evidences by the tree and leaves on the stage. The song is heavily Colton-ized, changed into a piano ballad, which works but seems like it could be done with any song if forced enough.

The judges don't love it that much! Steven thinks the song wasn't powerful enough for Colton's voice, and Jennifer and Randy agree. I think it's more than it was just ANOTHER power ballad, which gets repetitive after a while.

Elise's soul selection is "Let's Get It On," which starts out on a couch on stage. The chorus seems perhaps a bit low for her, but the rest of it works pretty well. Then again, I think I'm realizing here that it was always Marvin Gaye that sold it, and not the song itself.

The judges don't love it! Jennifer thinks that Elise doesn't like to show emotion too much, and that the audience wants to see that Elise is a person. That's actually pretty fair. Steven thinks Elise struck a note with men across America, but needs to kick it up a notch.

Phillip takes on "In the Midnight Hour" by Wilson Pickett, and I'm actually a bit surprised that he hasn't done it before this point. Then again, it seems a little too peppy for Phillip, and he seems less than totally comfortable with it. Plus, there's not much to it without his embellishments, which could have had a bit more range. Still, an entertaining performance.

The judges love it! Randy praises his consistency, Jennifer praises that "little step" he does, and starts getting a little cradle-robbery. Steven calls it, and Phillip, "brilliantly awkward." That about sums it up.

Jessica chooses Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness," and even the beginning is impressive. The girl somehow manages to sound like a brass instrument before the trumpets even come in. I'm not sure if that's a conscious idea on her part, but if it is, it's brilliant. She continues to kill it throughout, adding some serious growl and grit.

The judges love it! And rightly so. Steven praises her for "stepping out," and Jennifer reinforces that Jessica should connect more.

Skylar comes back with "Heard It Through the Grape Vine," but of course it's the country version, which I hate. The song loses all its seething attitude when you change the rhythm and tempo of that chorus.

The judges love it! Randy says that Skylar has no problem connecting and feeling, which I can agree with. The attitude and emotion is always there.

Joshua finishes things up with "A Change Is Gonna Come" by Sam Cook. He has some impressive runs in there, though some of them might be a bit much. Still, it's a good performance, with a nice arc to it.

The judges love it! He gets a brief standing ovation, Steven says he has stretched his voice to the limit, Jennifer praises his restraint and pleads with voters not to send him home. Randy says that the "talent on this show is better than any show on TV." Take that, "The Voice," I guess!

That about wraps it up. The judges don't make any predictions, and after last week, I don't know that I can either. Jessica has easily redeemed herself, but you never know if her singing actually has anything to do with the voting. Joshua may be in trouble with two performances that we good but not particularly flashy. I always think Hollie is in trouble, but she just got so much positive feedback that she may be safe AGAIN. As for Elise... well, good luck. She'll need it.