NEWS'American Idol' Recap: Phillip Phillips, Jessica Sanchez & Joshua Ledet: Who Will Make it to Finale?
May 17 2012, Published 1:39 p.m. ET
Just one week until the big American Idol finale. Can you believe it? Where has this season gone!?
Before they got down to business, our final 3 were treated to a celebrity homecoming full of parades, concerts and seeing their families. From Joshua Ledet feeling overwhelmed at filling up an arena, to Jessica Sanchez performing for the Navy to Phillip Phillips crying as he saw the mobs of people that came out to see him, it has been quite an emotional time for these three talents.
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But now it was time for them to sing their way into the finale with three songs each. They had a song from the judges, a song from mentor Jimmy Iovine and finally, a song of their own choosing. Let's see how they did:
Joshua started out with a pick from Randy Jackson. Randy chose "I Would Rather Go Blind," and this choice could not have been more perfect for Joshua's killer gospel voice. The way he played to that old-school microphone, Joshua was born to sing that song. Next came Joshua's choice of "Imagine," which is an incredible song and has had many talented people perform it in the past, most notably, season 7 runner-up David Archuleta. But we don't know if this was the right song for this moment for Joshua. It didn't showcase his vocal prowess like he always does, it just felt like it was coming across too light. Joshua closed out the night with Jimmy's choice of "No More Drama," and he nailed that song like nobody's business. Wow! Joshua just sealed his spot in the finale. His voice just slays everyone else.
Next up was Jessica with Jennifer Lopez's selection of "My All," and boy was this the wrong choice for her. This is a girl who has not shown any excitement in her performances, even though she has an amazing voice. And this just continued that pattern; this song really hurt her chances. Jessica tried to change it up with "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing." We liked seeing her sing a fun up-tempo song and it did show off more of her personality... but some of those notes at the end didn't help her cause. To close out the night, Jessica sang "I'll Be There," and finally, we saw why so many people love Jessica so much: It's her amazing voice. But it might be too late, we think it will be Jessica's time to go.
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In the glorious pimp spot was Phillip, who was actually looking a lot better after looking pretty ill in the past few weeks. His song choice from Steven Tyler was "Beggin'" and we proclaim, "Phillip is back." Everything we loved about Phillip from his first audition was out there and on full display: the change of the melody; the excitement on his face as he performed; the energetic stage presence. We loved it. And that continued with his take on "Disease." It was great and continued to showcase his raspy voice, but what we don't get is why the judges were so down on it. It was classic Phillip. Phillip closed out the show with Jimmy's pick of "We've Got Tonight," and it was too contrived, trying too hard to get Phillip a moment. That just wasn't him. It just isn't "Phillip" if he's without his guitar. We hope this doesn't hurt him.
Who do you think will go home tonight? We pick Jessica. Find out tonight at 8 p.m. ET on Fox when season 8 runner-up Adam Lambert, and Lisa Marie Presley will be there to perform.
