Jessica Sanchez: Still A Front-Runner on “American Idol”
Wednesday, April 4, 2012, 8 p.m. (ET) “American Idol” contestants Jessica Sanchez and Joshua Ledet sang a duet (“The River Was Deep”) on the show tonight. The judges’ remarks echoed the feeling that these two are the front-runners. Randy Jackson, in particular, said, “Two of the greatest singers to ever hit this stage,” and Steven Tyler agreed: “That was so fine.”
In addition to their duet, their individual performances were outstanding, eliciting comments like, “Your voice is so fantastic!” for Jessica and “Lordy!” and “Crazy” for Joshua. He was praised for his “powerhouse performance” as was Jessica, when she sang “How Will I Know?” attired in a blue jeans jacket.
PHILLIP PHILLIPS
Also doing well tonight was Phillip Phillips with a Genesis song, “That’s All.” Comments included, “That was pretty great. Another great performance. Great song choice.”
SKYLAR LAINE & DeANDRE BRACKENSICK
Skylar and DeAndre also had good nights, with Skylar closing out the program with her version of “Wind Beneath My Wings” and DeAndre singing a DeBarge song, “I Like It.” Jennifer Lopez singled DeAndre out for praise.
Skylar looked particularly good this night, in a long, deep rose-colored gown, with a few streaks in her hair dyed the same shade. Since she looked pretty rough at rehearsal and has dressed in less-than-flattering outfits on other nights, her make-over deserves special mention. Randy, besides commenting on how well she sang, also commented on how nice she looked. Skylar got a standing ovation.
The two that are definitely in trouble are Hollie Cavanagh, who sang “What A Feeling” from the movie “FlashDance” and Elise Testone, who sang a Foreigner song, “I Wanna’ Know What Love Is.” Both were criticized for being “out of tune everywhere, for me” (Randy). Steven said, “I’m not sure that was the right song for you tonight,” referencing Elise’s choice of songs. Randy also said, “It was pretty pitchy till the end.”
Who, besides these two girls, might end up with the lowest number of votes?
COLTON DIXON
For me, it would be Colton Dixon, who sang “Time After Time,” but the girls who vote seem to like Colton. His drummer (Rex) received rave reviews for the up-tempo arrangement Colton chose. It is also true that DeAndre has been in the bottom three more than almost anyone else, but he did very well tonight.
DUETS & COACHES
Other pairings that entertained were Skylar and Colton singing “Islands in the Stream” and Hollie and DeAndre dueting on “I’m So Excited,” and Phillip Phillips and Elise singing Tom Petty’s “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” receiving rave reviews like, “Beautiful” (Randy) and “As good as it gets.” (Stephen Tyler)
Tonight’s celebrity coaches were “No Doubt” band members, led by Gwen Stefani, as the contestants performed songs from the 80s.