'American Idol' reaches final 5 by dismissing Elise Testone
Raspy-voiced rocker Elise Testone was sent home on 鈥�American Idol鈥� Thursday night after a bottom two that had Elise and Hollie Cavanagh waiting to see who had gained more votes to stay through another week.
The show began with a quote from Freddie Mercury, the late lead singer of Queen, the rock band whose songs the six remaining contestants had taken on this week. And with the flash of the opening logo, the one that looks like aliens are about to beam down into the American Idol dome, "American Idol" got ready to whittle six singers down to five.
The Queen Extravaganza, a Queen cover band handpicked by Brian May and Roger Taylor, delivered a rendition of 鈥淪omebody to Love鈥� with May and Taylor to start things off, with a helpful hashtag suggestion from Fox in the lower corner ('#QueenonIdol') in case anyone felt like picking up their smartphones. For a minute, it looked like singer Marc Martel, who handled the Freddie Mercury part on the cover, wasn鈥檛 going to hit the high note at the end of the song, but he did a gorgeous job. Original drummer Taylor looked like he was having a blast.
Before any results revelations, there was the official Ford music video featuring the six "Idol" contestants, which was set to "Magic" by B.o.B featuring Rivers Cuomo, and a segment in which the six contestants went over to get "media training" from TMZ staffers. Mostly what we learned from this was that Elise feels she struggles with smiling but not looking fake.
Then host Ryan Seacrest called down Jessica Sanchez and Elise Testone, and mentor Jimmy Iovine offered his thoughts on each contestant. Iovine said Jessica鈥檚 choice of 鈥淏ohemian Rhapsody鈥� was a bad one, but that for her follow-up, 鈥淒ance With My Father鈥� by Luther Vandross, she 鈥渦nderstood the words, but she also understood her audience.鈥� He had less kind words for Elise. 鈥淪he鈥檚 a great singer, made bad choices,鈥� Iovine said of her musical selections for the night.
Jessica was safe, Elise was sent to the metal stools in the corner, and season 10 contestant Stefano Langone performed his song 鈥淚鈥檓 On A Roll,鈥� complete with back-up dancers. He joined the dancers for a brief routine during the instrumental part of the song, which sounded somewhat like you just scored on Super Mario.
The next round of two contestants 鈥� Hollie and Joshua 鈥� revealed that Joshua was safe, a conclusion Iovine said in his segment had better be a foregone one. If Joshua went home, there was 鈥渟omething wrong with the competition,鈥� Iovine said.
But Hollie went to sit with Elise before Katy Perry performed 鈥淧art Of Me,鈥� which involved Perry and her backup dancers dressed in military-themed costumes and kneepads and entering from the ceiling on ropes. In case Perry鈥檚 metaphor of 鈥淟ook at me, I鈥檓 sparkling鈥� was too subtle for the audience, a large light with sparks coming off it was lowered from the ceiling.
When Skylar and Phillip came up last, Iovine had criticism for both of them, calling Skylar鈥檚 second choice of 鈥淭attoos On This Town鈥� by Jason Aldean as 鈥渟elf-indulgent鈥� and citing Phillip鈥檚 comparisons to Dave Matthews by fans as a reason not to do a cover of the Dave Matthews song 鈥淭he Stone,鈥� the song Phillip chose for his second performance. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a mistake,鈥� Iovine said.
But Phillip was safe and Skylar was in the bottom three 鈥� and Hollie and Elise barely made it back to the front before Ryan declared Skylar safe and sent her to the couch.
When Elise鈥檚 elimination was announced, there were boos from the audience, and the judges gave a standing ovation. When she performed her final song, 鈥淲hole Lotta Love鈥� by Led Zeppelin, judge Steven Tyler leaned into the microphone to sing along with her.
Did Elise deserve to go home this week, and were you surprised Skylar ended up in the bottom three?
