American Idol‘s latest season is nearing its end, and the music competition unveiled its Top 3 contestants during Sunday night’s program. It was Elton John night as the Top 5 took on tunes from the iconic singer’s extensive library. They also performed a selection of other songs, including a few originals. Ultimately, the Top 5, which was originally supposed to be a Top 4 — Laci Kaye Booth was saved by the judges during last week’s elimination — was whittled down to three contenders. When it came time to reveal who America voted for in the final moments of the episode, Wade Cota, Booth, Laine Hardy, Alejandro Aranda and Madison VanDenburg stood beside host Ryan Seacrest to learn their fates. Announced first as part of the Top 3 was fan-favorite Laine Hardy, who competed in the previous season, while Madison VanDenburg was next up on the list. Aranda was the last name to be called, and he rounded out the trio of contestants who will be featured in the upcoming hometown visits. Sadly for fans of Booth and Cota, it was the end of the line for those talents. Even still, all of the contestants put on phenomenal performances. Below, see their best performances of the night. Alejandro Aranda performs “Blesser” Madison VanDenburg sings “Your Song” Laine Hardy performs “Something About the Way You Look Tonight” Wade Cota sings “You Are The Best Thing” Laci Kaye Booth performs “The House That Built Me” And while some fans may be thrilled with the Top 3, we want to know if that’s the case for you. Did America get the vote right? Let us know in the poll below, and don’t miss the final episodes of American Idol on ABC. American Idol, Sundays, 8/7c, ABC<doc-sep>Nonetheless, this was a stronger top six than last year’s crew. There was not a true dud performance tonight. A couple disappointed but I was wowed by at least three or four. My ranking of the top 12: 1- Jeremiah “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” 2- Alejandro “Poison” 3- Wade “Through the Valley” 4- Jeremiah” Somewhere” 5- Laine “I Don’t Need No Doctor” 6- Laci “To Love Somebody” 7 - Madison “I Surrender” 8- Wade “With a Little Help From My Friends” 9- Alejandro “White Rabbit” 10- Laci “Open Arms” 11- Laine “Johnny B. Goode 12- Madison “Piece of My Heart” Lauren Daigle, the Christian artist, provided some great coaching advice for the show stopper portion. The first half was in honor of the 50th anniversary of Woodstock. Madison Vandenburg "Piece of My Heart" Janis Joplin. Janis was edgy. She brought heartache to this song. She sang the song with a goopy smile. It was a nice cover but she's just 17 and I didn't really feel a connection with the lyrics. Judges gave her equally goopy praise. This song has been covered at least seven times before on "Idol," from Carrie Underwood to Jax. Oddly, I thought Crystal Bowersox had done it but she only did it on the "Idol" tour. Grade: B Laine Hardy "I Don't Need No Doctor' Joe Cocker. A perfect bluesy song for Laine to chew on. He brings out the charm and locks in with just enough grit to make it work. Lionel: "You care creating the core of who you are." And yes, Laine wore a cool jacket. Katy provided some useful advice is to sing a song that will scare him, to go outside his comfort zone. Grade: A-minus Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" Joan Baez. Having his parents show up last week seemed to have loosened him up. Of course, being a church child, he picked a song he knew well and was able to turn into a gospel rave. He was comfortable, he was warm, he was on target. He is as safe as can be. Grade: A Laci Kaye Booth "To Love Somebody" Janis Joplin. She owned this one and sounded gritty great. I liked the vibe though Katy was right: she was a wee bit too stiff on stage and that might cost her in votes. Lionel also said she didn't seem to be working the crowd. Grade: A-minus Alejandro Aranda. "White Rabbit" Jefferson Airplane. Early Jefferson Airplane was very trippy. That is perfect for an EDM man like Alejandro. Not my kind of music but Alejandro blends that 60s drug-induced atmosphere with some modern heat. Grade: B-plus Wade Cota "With a Little Help From My Friends" Joe Cocker. Given how much he sounds like Joe Cocker, he of course had to cover Cocker. It's a clean cover but it's such a great arena song, it worked well for him and he embraced it 100%.He moved around the stage with verve and would have been even better if he had been able to lay the entire song. Grade: B-plus Gabby Barrett (third place season 16) "I Hope." A pretty decent song and she sang it with plenty of urgency. She is now part of Warner Brothers Nashville and is engaged to fourth-place finisher Cade Foehner. Show-stopping songs with guidance from Lauren Daigle, now a Grammy-winning Christian artist with pop crossover appeal. She auditioned for "Idol" season 9 and got cut just before the top 24. Madison “I Surrender” Celine Dion. I like her voice, don’t love it. She has power but she doesn’t hit me on a deeper level. But she did powerhouse herself through this without too many issues. Katy is right: she felt this song more than some other ones. Grade: A-minus/B-plus Alejandro “Poison” an original song. This is the right time to rise to the occasion and he did. Sure, he whispers but his tone is lovely and he is so confident and in his own zone during his own song. Plus, his guitar playing is incredible. While the judges often blow smoke, they are right: this is his best vocal to date. Grade: A Laci “Open Arms” Journey. Like Alejandro, she has never had any real vocal training so Lauren was helpful. She gave it a much different interpretation than Steve Perry and it was pretty good. Was it enough to keep her around? No. When she tried to belt, she simply lacked the power to pull that off. And she knew it. Bottom line: the competition for votes is too great. Grade: B-plus Jeremiah “Somewhere” Barbra Streisand. He shows off his range and power by tackling Barbra. He followed Lauren’s advice to ensure that he connected with every word in the song. This was yet another powerhouse performance and that last note! Wow! Grade: A Wade Cota “Through the Valley” Shawn James. Lauren helped him get all the bad negative energy out of him, the worries about messing up. He didn’t mess up. Instead, it was another bravura moment tonight. He took that song and absorbed it into his soul. That was incredible. Katy: “You finally started believing in yourself.” Grade: A Laine Hardy “Johnny B. Goode” Chuck Berry. This is an odd choice. It’s fun and it forces Laine to move around (a little) but vocally, there isn’t much to it. It’s more a guitar song. And he is so smooth and effortless, the entire performance feels like the end of a cover band party, not the end of a night of great “Idol” performances. Grade: B<doc-sep>Last Night’s ‘American Idol’ Results Has Fans Up in Arms For a Reason You Might Not Expect Julia Delbel 2 years ago Share Julia Delbel | Talent Recap On last night’s episode of American Idol, six became four…and then five. Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon and Laci Kaye Booth were the bottom two vote-getters in this week’s live vote, but this episode was also the last chance for the judges to use their “save” to keep an eliminated contestant in the competition. They ultimately used it on Laci, leaving Jeremiah as the sole elimination of the evening. And fans are NOT happy about it. The weird thing about this isn’t that fans are upset, it’s who they’re directing their outrage at. While the save was between Jeremiah and Laci, meaning the whoever out of those two didn’t get it would have to be the one leaving the competition, Laci seems to have generally avoided being the target of the backlash over Jeremiah’s elimination.. He was robbed! He is way better than Wade! Come on! 🤦‍♀️ I don’t like this new voting system on Sunday! Unfair to those on the west coast. pic.twitter.com/1ViHmDk5HE — Renee B 🌊 (@LivingGB) May 6, 2019 #AmericanIdol Seriously? I cannot believe Wade keeps advancing, and I cannot believe the stupid ass decision to not save Jeremiah. I also don't get the whole voting format. People are voting before all the performances are even complete. — Michael Monahan (@mmonahan02) May 6, 2019 Wtf?!? Why is Wade still in this competition!!!! This is God awful ridiculous!! — #BLM JUSTICE FOR BREONNA TAYLOR (@streamfantasy_) May 6, 2019 American Idol Judges got it wrong. Jeremiah should NEVER have gone home. It should have been Wade! — Pic Kirk (@pickirk2) May 6, 2019 America really messed up the vote this week for @AmericanIdol … Wade should have been sent home. #getittogetheramerica #whisperingwade — Sarah (@super_seruh) May 6, 2019 https://twitter.com/hogfan1981/status/1125382437071138818 Yes, it’s Wade Cota who the fans have mainly been directing their grievances towards, just as they’ve been doing every week. Wade has yet to be one of the bottom vote-getters, so he obviously he’s obviously a favorite of many viewers, but he definitely seems to be the least favorite of a lot of people who have been supporting the other contestants. But what is it about Wade that makes him specifically targeted to this level? The most common answer seems to be his singing voice. He’s not as strong technically as a lot of the other contestants – both eliminated and remaining – and while there’s clearly a market for singers with his type of raspy voice (Rod Stewart, anyone?) it definitely doesn’t have the same kind of widespread appeal as, say, some former winners; even though the genre country music doesn’t appeal to all people, pretty much everyone can at least agree Carrie Underwood has a great voice. The same can’t be said for Wade. There’s been a lot of debate over whether American Idol should be “rewarding” contestants for being the strongest vocalists of their season or being the best overall artists and performers, even if their voices are weaker and/or has less universal appeal than those of some of their competitors. There really is no clear answer for this, but when there’s been this much backlash over the overall results of a season, it may be time for the producers (and in this case, the network) to rethink the voting method. Yes, I’m back on that again. Is it any wonder the show is seeing results like these when half the country is being deprived of the ability to develop an informed opinion before voting and those who are able to aren’t being given time to digest the performances they’ve seen to them before the window closes and the results are announced? Between the live voting and the judges not really giving much for anyone to take away and work on, there really isn’t enough emphasis on the progression of the contestants as singers, performers, and artists. It feels like people have been voting based on old performances, including stuff we saw before the live shows even started. And if that’s what the results are going to be based on, is there even a point in continuing to have the contestants do all of that rehearsing every week to take on new challenges that aren’t even going to impact the voting?<doc-sep>
The Sunday May 5 episode of “American Idol” spotlighted the Top 6. Each of these half dozen finalists sang two tunes: one from the summer of 1969 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock musical festival and another chosen as inspirational by Grammy-winning Christian singer Lauren Daigle, who got her start on the show. As the show was seen live from coast-to-coast, America cast votes for their favorites in real-time. The results were revealed by host Ryan Seacrest at the end of the two-hour episode. The top four vote-getters — Alejandro Aranda, , Wade Cota, Laine Hardy and Madison VanDenburg — moved on in the competition to be crowned winner of season 17. The bottom two — Laci Kaye Booth and Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon — were to be eliminated unless the judges chose to use their single save of the season. After a nerve-wracking few moments, Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie opted to throw a lifeline to Laci. Do you think this was the right decision or was Jeremiah robbed of a place in the Top 5? Take a look at the list of songs that each has sung throughout the competition and then cast your ballot as to who should have moved on to the Top 5 on May 12. Laci Kaye Booth Top 40: “Georgia on My Mind” by Ray Charles Top 20 Solo: “I Want You To Want Me” by Cheap Trick Top 20 Duet: with Brett Young on “Mercy” by Young Top 14 Song 1: “I Miss You” by Blink 182 Top 14 Song 2: “As Long as You Follow” by Fleetwood Mac Top 10 Song: “I See the Light” from “Tangled” Top 8 Song: “Love of My Life” by Queen Top 6 Song 1: “Open Arms” by Journey Top 6 Song 2: “To Love Somebody” by Janis Joplin SIGN UP for Gold Derby’s newsletter with experts’ latest predictions Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon Top 40: “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac Top 20 Solo: “(To) Make You Feel My Love” by Bob Dylan Top 20 Duet: with Cynthia Erivo on “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper Top 14 Song 1: We All Fall in Love Sometimes” by Elton John Top 14 Song 2: “Almost Heaven” (original song) Top 10 Song: “Candle on the Water” from “Pete’s Dragon” Top 8 Song: “Who Wants to Live Forever” by Queen Top 6 Song 1: “Somewhere” by Barbra Streisand Top 6 Song 2: “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” by Joan Baez DISCUSS All things “American Idol” with TV insiders in our notorious forums