Episode 'American Idol' Season 10, Episode 34 - The Top 3 Perform Recap

After the shocking elimination of James Durbin, the Top 3 finalists remaining are Lauren Alaina, Scotty McCreery, and Haley Reinhart, whom we see returning home in an opening so dramatic that you'd think they were war heroes or something. Can we all remember that they're teenagers singing in a contest please?

Scotty kisses the ground and instantly regrets it.

Hey! There's a shot of Elijah Wood and Jason Gann (in his full dog costume) in the audience, clearly there to promote their summer comedy series "Wilfred" on FX. Elijah looks absolutely thrilled to be there...is he in character, or does he just hate this show?

There will be three rounds of performances tonight: the first with song choices from the contestants, the second with choices from Jimmy Iovine, and the third with the choices from the judges. Get comfortable. There's going to be a LOT of singing.

For the first round, Beyoncé is here to mentor the finalists...and premiere her new music video, of course. Promotion, people. Makes the world go 'round. Elijah Wood can tell you that.

Scotty (Contestant's Choice):

Scotty is going with "Amazed," and pushing himself into his higher range. He's doing okay with it, but stretching a bit. In any case, Beyoncé just called him a "cutie," so he can probably die a happy man now.

Scotty does a great job with the performance, and hits the high notes just fine. It's nothing fancy, but it never is with Scotty...he leans on the fullness of his voice and his creepy charm. I feel like I'm back at a high school dance with this song going on.

Steven loves it, J.Lo says he's using his vibrato now (I didn't hear it), and Randy name-drops Boyz II Men, which is kinda sad.

Side note: those backstage interviews are getting repetitive. It's like interviewing athletes after games, they just say the same thing. Do you think the contestants are sick of it? I'm waiting for one of them to just go "blah blah blah blah" to see if anyone notices.

Lauren (Contestant's Choice):

Lauren's choice is Faith Hill's "Wild One," which Beyoncé thinks is a great choice for her. It's good that she's choosing an uptempo song, considering the judges chose the most overly sappy, slow-country song for her.

Anyway, Lauren and her space boots come out and perform, and she does a fine job vocally, but as always she doesn't "perform" it much. The judges think she was having fun with it, but I didn't see it. The difference between Lauren having fun and Scotty, Casey or James having fun is a big one.

Haley (Contestant's Choice):

Haley chose "What Is and Should Never Be" by Led Zeppelin. I can hear the judges already complaining about not knowing the song, and I can already see myself wanting to strangle them. But thank god for Haley not giving in and choosing a crappy pop song. Thank Haley for some good music on this show. She also says that her dad will be playing the guitar.

The performance is vocally great, but she's spending too much energy dealing with getting down all of those stairs...and she falls halfway through the song! She does the walk behind the judges that seems to be a requirement for all contestants, and trips going back up the stairs.

Randy ignores the fall entirely, but Steven asks "Haley, did you fall for me?" They all loved the performance, which is great...if they had complained about the song choice, Haley might have murdered them right then and there. In fact, all three judges think that Haley won that round.

Scotty (Jimmy's Choice):

"Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not?" is Jimmy's choice for Scotty. For the performance, Scotty brings out the guitar and performs it old-school, standing front and center with an acoustic around his neck. He even throws in a little Haley-esque growl, something we don't hear out of him often.

The judges all love the performance. J.Lo really loves it, like to a kinda creepy level. Randy notes how he liked the "engaging the audience without doing a lot of stuff" a la Garth Brooks. Agreed. They also all think that Scotty should buzz his hair. Disagreed.

Lauren (Jimmy's Choice):

As Lauren's audition footage rolls, she's backstage getting makeup on her legs because her pantyhose ripped. Ah, live television. In the audition, she says that her parents' song is "Don't Want To Miss a Thing"...didn't she say it was something else just a few weeks ago?

Jimmy chooses "If I Die Young" by Perry for Lauren, noting that he thinks it's perfect for her voice and range. We'll see if it's really in her "sweet spot" like Jimmy thinks it will be.

Sure enough, the song seems perfect for Lauren, right in her range but high enough to show off a bit. Plus, she has a dude playing a mandolin. She does seem to miss a spot in the song...maybe she forgot where the edit is? Ah, she missed the key change. Yes, the judges make note of it and note how it affected the rest of her performance a bit.

Haley (Jimmy's Choice):

"Rhiannon" by Stevie Nicks is Jimmy's pick for Haley, which will be interesting to hear Haley sing. It's not necessarily that Haley's voice rings of Stevie's, but she has enough color and character to pull it off.

Sure enough, she does a great job with it, and doesn't fall down either. Which I'm surprised at, with that ridiculous fan blowing at her the entire time. Seriously, she looks like she's on the back of a pickup truck going down a freeway. It's a low-key performance (Randy calls it "somber"), but a good one. J.Lo was hoping for her to take it a little farther, but says that it was a nice contrast with her other performance.

Steven thinks that Lauren took round two, but Jennifer and Randy think that Scotty won it. Jimmy says that Scotty's performance was "like Bruce Springsteen and Garth Brooks had a baby." Also, Neil Sedaka is sitting next to Jimmy, and the audience applauds for him. How nice of them to pretend to know who Neil Sedaka is.

Beyoncé's video is next, and her dance moves are seriously strange. Also she has giant hyenas.

Scotty (Judges' Choice):

"She Believes In Me" by Kenny Rogers is the judges' choice for Scotty, and we get a look at him getting the message. He looks unsure about the choice, giving a shrug to the fans around him. I second that shrug...it's really a ridiculously sappy song, and the chorus doesn't even suit Scotty's voice all that well. He does what he can with it.

The judges love it (they'd better, it's their pick), and they reveal that they wanted him to hit that big chorus. He did pull it off, even though it was a stretch. It won the judges over, but I'm not sure it won any of the audience over.

Lauren (Judges' Choice):

Lauren's song is "I Hope You Dance," which was a hit when Lauren was what, four years old? Plus, it's a song sung by a mother to her children, so maybe not the best choice for a 16-year-old to sing. Just as with Scotty's song, it's beyond sappy but has a big chorus for Lauren to show off with. She sings it well, and doesn't forget any key changes this time.

Jennifer says that Lauren gave her "goosies from head to toe." All of the judges are thrilled with the performance, and it sure enough was a good one. J.Lo thinks Lauren won this round already, even without having seen Haley. We'll see if she changes her tune.

Haley (Judges' Choice):

Haley will be singing "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morissette, the first judges' choice that I really agree with. The attitude and style is great for the growly Haley.

My question about this one was how they would edit it. Answer: "would she go out with you to a theater?" Ha. Classic. That changes the stakes of that line a bit. Now, maybe I'm just a fan of Alanis and it's been long enough since the 1990's that I'm finally happy to hear this song again, but I think Haley sounds amazing singing it. She maybe gets a little too growly at the end, but that was a heck of a lot more entertaining than the other two performances. The verses were a little low, but the choruses were spot-on.

The judges all agree that the low parts fell off a bit, but the choruses couldn't be matched. Steven says that Haley won the third round, J.Lo and Randy both think Lauren took it.

This one is going to be really tough to call. It has felt like Haley has been on the bubble for weeks now, but she keeps hanging in there and tonight was one of her strongest yet, falls aside. People seem to love Scotty and Lauren too much to let them go, though. One way or another, I'd put my money on a girl going home tomorrow.