April 28: In this photo released by FOX, the remaining contestants on the singing competition series, "American Idol," clockwise from back row left, James Durbin, Lauren Alaina, Jacob Lusk, Scotty McCreery and Hayley Reinhart are shown in Los Angeles. (AP/Fox)
Randy Jackson was right -- pop music was not the right direction for Jacob Lusk.
America sent Jacob back to Compton on Thursday, the night after he disappointed Randy with his "corny" performance of the Jordin Sparks-Chris Brown duet "No Air."
Jacob has been in the danger zone for the last few weeks -- and he definitely had a "rough night" on Wednesday, as Jimmy Iovine put it -- so we can't imagine anyone was shocked by Thursday's results. The bubbly gospel singer seemed to take the news pretty well though, saying he was excited to put out some "good R&B music."
But while Jacob was resilient as usual, Lauren Alaina appeared absolutely devastated to be in the bottom two.
It was her first time in the bottom anything, and Lauren could barely contain the tears from rolling down her face, even after the commercial break. We actually liked her performance of "Unchained Melody" (in spite of the choppy arrangement), but Jimmy had a point about how she pulled back on the big note.
Scotty McCreery was safe, even though we agreed with Jimmy that he "came up a bit short on 'Always on My Mind.'" And Haley Reinhart definitely has some serious momentum going for her, from seeming like the most likely cast-off a few weeks ago to looking like a potential winner now.
But James Durbin remains the only contestant who has never been in the bottom of the pile, despite the fact that he basically got onstage and cried on Wednesday. (Jimmy said he's been a "9" or a "10" in the last five weeks, but he was only an "8" on Wednesday, which was exactly how we felt.)
Photos: See the 5 Top "American Idol" contestants, then and now.
So who's the most likely "American Idol" right now? It's a tough call. Scotty is by far the most polished, James is the most powerful performer, Haley has the "coolest" voice (you can imagine hearing her on the radio), and Lauren is the most relatable in a pop/mainstream way.
A couple more thoughts on Thursday night's show:
--Did anyone catch James reading off the teleprompter alongside Ryan Seacrest? A part of us really wanted to believe that Ryan made it all up as he went along.
--Jennifer Lopez is #1 in 18 countries . . . but is that because they're loving "On the Floor," or because they like seeing her writhing on the floor?
--Jennifer D'Angelo Friedman, PopNews Wire
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