'American Idol' Season 11, Episode 31 Recap - Top 6 Performance Night, Queen Style

Tonight's performances, as we're told, will features the music of Queen. For a second I'm really excited, because Queen is awesome and has a pretty deep pool of great songs to choose from. Then I remember that this is "American Idol," and we're going to have to hear Skylar sing a Queen song. Plus, can anyone match Freddie Mercury? No.

The kids actually get to sit down with Roger Taylor and Brian May of Queen, who give them some tips on performing and stuff. It's awkward but it seems helpful. Then, the two of them join the Top 6 on stage to perform a surprisingly low-energy medley of "Fat-Bottomed Girls," "Another One Bites the Dust," "We Will Rock You," and "We Are the Champions." Well, I guess that eliminates those as options for the night.

I'm actually intrigued, for once, to see which direction these kids go with this assignment. Queen has a lot of very theatrical songs, the kind of stuff that doesn't always fit this show. Heck, rock in general doesn't always fit this show.

First Performances:

Jessica is the one to take on "Bohemian Rhapsody," which might be the best example of what I'm talking about when I say "theatrical." To attempt to fit the scope of the song, the whole thing is switched over to black and white, and Jessica's singing face is put up on the screen behind her in multiple, kinda like the video.

Ah, here's how they're solving the theatricality issue: they have Jessica just skip right the f*ck over the interlude between the slow verses and the big rock part. So basically, everything from "I see a little silhouette" to "So you think you can stone me" is cut. Lame. Totally ruins the build-up to the big rock moment.

The judges love it kinda! Steven says he thinks Freddie Mercury would be proud (meh) but doesn't know if rock is really Jessica's thing (yeh). Randy is more of a fan. Hopefully she has a better song to work with next time around, seeing as they cut all the good parts out of this one.

Skylar is next, with "The Show Must Go On." She does pretty well with it, but is clearly less enthused to be singing Queen than she usually is to be singing country songs. Welcome to how we feel every time you sing country, Skylar.

The judges love it! Steven thinks she was "over the top" tonight, and Jennifer got her goosies. I didn't hear what they heard, but okay I guess.

Joshua comes out with, of course, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love." He pretty much had to do the most old-fashioned sounding song in their catalog. It's a really solid performance, he gives it his own twist, he's right on pitch, there isn't much negative to say about it.

The judges love it! Randy pretty much calls it perfect, Jennifer considers Joshua to be her favorite part of the show, and Steven once again speaks on Freddie's behalf.

Elise takes her opportunity for a rock song and runs with it, choosing "I Want It All." She also has a tambourine with her, and spins it around like she's working at a Benihana or something. It's another solid performance, but will it be enough to save poor Elise tomorrow?

The judges love it! They all agree that this was a great song choice for Elise, and she had room for her runs and everything. Nobody compliments her on her awesome tambourine skills.

Oh, apparently the songs from the medley aren't off-limits, because Phillip comes out with "Fat-Bottomed Girls," which is a good choice for him. Just a little bluesy, and plenty of opportunity to do his growls and slides. Another pretty good performance, though I admit I'm tiring of Phillip's whole "thing."

The judges love it! The obligatory awkward moment from Steven considering the subject, Randy liked it but wasn't "jumping up and down." BOOS FROM THE AUDIENCE HOW DARE YOU RANDY.

Hollie finishes up the first round with "Save Me." Of course she nabbed a ballad. It's a safe choice for her, as she might as well be singing another Celine or Whitney song. She's a little shaky on the big note, but not terrible overall.

The judges kinda love it! Steven says she was great, Jennifer tells her once again to connect more, and Randy says it was solid but she needed to take more chances.

Second Performances:

The contestants are free of their Queen chains, and can pick their own songs for the second round. So Jessica chose "Dance with My Father," because her dad is an Iraq vet and will be deployed to Singapore. Casually mentioning that your dad is a solider, eh? Clever. Meanwhile, it looks like the kids will be doing their interviews about one another for this round. Phillip suspects Jessica is an alien.

I have to admit I've never been a fan of this song, and it doesn't help that I've heard some crappy versions of it on shows like this. Of course Jessica sings it the opposite of crappy. I'm not sure this is in standing with Jimmy's promise to get her more age-appropriate songs.

The judges love it! Jennifer thinks it's the best she's ever heard that song performed (does that include Luther Vandross?). Steven isn't sure Jennifer can sing a song badly, and Randy is impressed as well.

Skylar is up next, and Phillip has another gem in saying that Sklar never stops talking, and you can Google that. Hollie inadvertently calls her fat. Of course Skylar chooses a country song: "Tattoos On This Town" by Jason Aldean. It's good, it's a country song, blah blah.

The judges love it! Randy uses the word "ginormous" and pretends that he just made it up. Jennifer makes some kind of rambling statement in Skylar's favor, and Steven loves it, but warns her to find songs that take her voice to "that place" instead of safe choices like that one. That'll be tough to do with country songs, given their usual melodic simplicity.

Joshua is up next with "Ready For Love" by India.Arie, a slow jam in contrast to his first song of the evening, which is a good idea. It's remarkably short, which doesn't really leave him much time to make an impact, but he still manages to with some nice runs.

The judges love it! Randy is speechless, but not really. Jennifer doesn't know what to say either, but of course she actually does. She calls it "transcendent." Steven wants to send him to the moon.

The contestants all seem irrationally annoyed with Elise, who apparently laughs after everything she says. They're also annoyed by her little hand thing. Herein we discover a new strategy late in the game: point out the other contestants' annoying habits in hope that the audience now notices them. What did Elise do to everyone to deserve this? Is she a total bitch to everyone?

She takes on "Bold as Love" by Jimi Hendrix, and does it nicely. There are a lot of nice little runs and moments of grit, she interprets it nicely. She might be missing the melody a bit, but you can't tell since she's doing so many embellishments.

The judges kinda love it! Steven says she needs to pick a well-known song. Jennifer disagrees because she thought Elise did such a great job, but Randy didn't like it, saying he thought she was "boxing with the song" again.

Phillip is called "boring" and an ugly singer by his peers. They also accuse him of making up the whole kidney stone thing. The Dave Matthews comparisons will clearly continue, as he chooses a Dave Matthews song in "The Stone." Is it about his kidney stone? I am unimpressed, and it looks like the judges might be too.

The judges don't really love it! Steven gets a little worried about the melody and everything, and Jennifer worries that it was too obscure. Randy, possibly just for the sake of disagreeing, disagrees.

They cut quickly to Seacrest's girlfriend, who is losing it as Seacrest talks about her swooning over Phillip earlier. Then she sees the camera, says "oh sh*t," and tries to hide.

Everybody says that Hollie talks weird. "I don't speak Texan," says Phillip. Hollie has opted for "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus, because apparently she's incapable of singing anything other than ballads. Fortunately, she seems much more connected to this one, and does a little happy dance when she finishes and the judges give her a standing ovation. That was cute.

The judges love it! Randy thinks it was the perfect song, Jennifer loved everything about it, Steven does a mixed English and Texan accent.

That wraps that up. We did it, guys. We made it through Queen night, and their musical legacy is still mostly intact. I would imagine that we'll see Hollie, Elise and Phillip in the bottom three tomorrow, likely with Elise going home, deserving or not.