Episode 'American Idol' Season 10, Episode 28 - 'The Top 6 Perform' Recap

Tonight's theme is music from living legend Carole King, whose songwriting spanned the decades and has been performed by music giants like Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion and even Amy Winehouse.

The Idols come out, and Jacob looks like Willy Wonka. A special mentor is in this week, and it's Babyface. Babyface?! Turns out he has collaborated with Carole King, so I guess he's relevant...even though I can't remember the last time Babyface was relevant. I believe it was for the "Phenomenon" soundtrack.

Jacob Lusk:

Jacob is up first and chooses "Oh No, Not My Baby." Looks like he put in a LOT of practice preparing this song, which could be a good thing or a bad thing. Looks like it's actually a pretty good thing: he rocks it, and it's the most animated performance that we've seen out of Jacob for a while. Fitting, since he's dressed like a cartoon.

Steven tells Jacob "it's about time you shook your tail feathers." All of the judges agree that there were a couple of weak points, but the energetic performance made up for it. Hopefully the shakiness doesn't cost him too much: Jacob was facing elimination last week with Stefano and dodged a bullet.

Lauren Alaina:

Lauren's choice is "Where You Lead." The mentors push her to break out a bit and push her range, and she hits a pretty killer note. Even more shocking that Lauren's gusto is Miley effing Cyrus, who walks in to face Lauren after Jimmy said she sings better than she does.

The performance is a little dull, but then she pulls a random dude on stage...then ignores him. Wait, now she's sitting next to him. He looks uncomfortable.

The judges say that she had a little extra swagger and she was pushing herself. I didn't see it...Randy did mention, though, that the song was a little safe and boring. They noted the break in her voice on one of the notes, but said that she pushed through it and it showed her character. That's a generous way to spin it.

Seacrest, just to make things more awkward, brings the guy (his name is Brett) back on stage and makes some jokes about statutory rape. Classy.

Haley and Casey (Duet):

Haley and Casey are the first duet, and the growlers chose "I Feel the Earth Move Under My Feet." A good choice for both of them. Casey really attacks the song, but Haley seems to be marking through it a little bit. Or, maybe she just pales in comparison to Casey...hard to say.

Steven: "Hey weirdbeard, how in love with Haley are you?" Awkward.

Scotty McCreery:

We're reminded that Scotty keeps doing boring songs, and can't break out of his country-ness. Jimmy and Babyface try to get him to stop country-izing his performance with "You've Got A Friend."

In the actual performance, he's still doin' the country thang. It's as if Conway Twitty is on the stage. Which says a lot about Scotty's vocal ability, but not a lot about his ability to do something different or be energetic or engaging. I will say this though: he didn't hold his mic all weird! Yay Scotty! You did it!

Randy notes that he did push up into a tenor range, but kept falling off the notes at the top (doin' the country thang). The others agree. You know, this show might as well just clone one of the judges twice and have those three judge everything.

Side note: there were actually two promos for "Breaking In" during that commercial break. I'm still not going to watch it.

James Durbin:

Durbin's in trouble, as he won't be able to sing a metal song tonight. "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" is his choice, a love ballad. Looks like he can still manage it, though, as Babyface said he was "blown away." Jimmy is seriously hyping this performance...let's see if James delivers.

He definitely puts a lot of heart into it, and nails some of the high notes. Others are just a bit of a reach for him and he's a little flat, but that won't matter. The crowd goes nuts. Steven notes that it was the first song he made out with a girl to, and it was in a bowling alley, and he didn't strike out. Steven isn't so good with the sports metaphors. Or, you know, talking in general.

Anyway, James looks like the favorite for the night. Randy says it was one of the best performances of the last few months. Big boost for Durbin tonight.

Lauren and Scotty (Duet):

Once again, Lauren and Scotty are teamed up for a duet. Luckily, they can't do a country song! They can't! It has to be Carole King! Ha! Jerks! Seacrest, meanwhile, is out to make things awkward again, with hints at incest. He's really on fire tonight. The country kids go with "Up On the Roof"...I guess James Taylor is as close to country as you can get.

J.Lo says that Lauren "sang her brains off." What, you can't say "butt" on Fox now?

Casey Abrahms:

Casey chose "Hi De Ho," a difficult song technically but definitely the right style for Casey. He growls his way through it...there's a lot of talk-singing, but a good amount of embellishments that make it musically interesting.

The judges all agree that Casey put on a good performance. In fact, Steven says that it made his scalp itch. He looks like his scalp itches often.

Haley Reinhart:

Haley chooses "Beautiful," and Babyface says she picked it up quickly. After a quick technical snafu, she starts the performance. It's good, but might not be enough at this point in the game...although the ending is impressive. Steven says "I just saw God," which knowing him has probably happened quite a few times in his life.

There's some dissonance among the judges (for once) when Randy says that he thought the beginning was a little boring. I agree, but J.Lo does NOT.

Jacob and James (Duet):

The odd couple of Jacob and James choose the upbeat "Something Tells Me I'm Into Something Good," and personally serenade J.Lo, who very deftly crosses her legs just in time. Phew. That was close.

Honestly, a pretty rockin' performance from the guys even though it maybe wasn't the cleanest thing. They were kind of all over the place...and when Steven Tyler says so, you know you were really all over the place.

That's it for the night, we'll be back tomorrow with the results, and one of the performers will be voted off. Put your money on Haley.