Songs from the 21^st Century is a mixed bag because there are some old songs (Jacob) that no one wants to believe are from this century. Next year I hope they do Songs on America’s Top 40 Right Now. Anyway, the judges tried their hand at judging tonight and it wasn’t too bad. While Steven Tyler still told everyone they were “beautiful,” I felt like there was something brewing deep inside. Don’t count out Steven Tyler on the judges panel. He’s a judging dark horse. Also, it was nice to see that Idol voted off will.i.am.as.i.suggested. (That sentence really angered my spell check.)

Scotty McCreery – “Swingin’” – This was my fault for paying attention to his performance this week instead of writing it off as a deep-voiced, ghetto hand-gestured, face-muggin’ country fest like I usually do. It felt lazy. Wasn’t he just talking for half of it? Did he go to the William Shatner School of Singing? Not good. Maybe he isn’t destined to win it all.

James Durbin – “Uprising” – He’s known for his self-proclaimed vision? Well, he had a lot of vision this week. The first vision was fingerless gloves. The second vision was to use marching band drummers which hasn’t worked since Drumline. The next vision was to sing it exactly the way the guy from Muse told him to in an email. Is it time for Lasik yet? It’s unfortunate because the vocal wasn’t bad. He just spent the whole time talking about all the crazy ideas in his head (that were placed there by other people but we won’t say that).

Haley Reinhart – “Rolling In The Deep” – This was my favorite of the night. It’s a current song! Like a lazy dog that wants its owners to think it’s protecting them from unwanted visitors, she had just enough growling. Randy said there were a few notes that were sharp. I thought they were flat but then again, neither of us are musically qualified to say so.

Jacob Lusk – “Dance With My Father” – I’m going to dangle this fish here and then at the last second I’m going to take it away. You can starve forever! No fish!

Casey Abrams – “Harder To Breathe” – The main talk about this performance is going to be the JLo kiss at the end and that’s for the best. This was a misstep for Casey. Last week was so good and he can really do anything. I was hoping he would take a song and make it jazzy. Instead we got Screaming Case again. He’s entertaining no matter what but you expect so much because he’s musically special. Like a horse with wings that can play the piano.

Stefano Langone – “Closer” – He was good this week even though I don’t like this song. This is the kind of music he can make. It’s Wannabe Usher or Wusher. He can do his little pop and lock moves. It’ll be great. His fans will each bring a microscope and they can take turns putting his tiny stage on a slide. “Are those amoeba background dancers? Fancy.” It’s funny cause he’s small.

Lauren Alaina – “Born To Fly” – She continues to require oodles of praise from the judges.  Maybe we can get Ben Affleck to tell her she’s sitting on a winning lottery ticket. Maybe she has the Memento disease and we should tattoo “Lauren is great” all over her body. Maybe next time I can do Movie References from the 21^st Century. Whatever it is, she needs to do it because she’s our only hope of stopping Scotty from winning this. America deserves an American Idol whose music won’t be playing in a Texas Roadhouse while waitresses do a mandatory dance to it instead of getting my soda refill.

Bottom 3:

1. Jacob Lusk 
2. Casey Abrams 
3. Haley Reinhart

Going Home: Jacob Lusk