When Haley Reinhart talked back to the judges after they critiqued her performance of “Earth Song” last night, I figured that was her death knell-she’d be a goner for sure this week.
But after nearly 24 hours, I’m not so sure. Mouthing off to the judges is never a good thing, even when justified. Idol viewers hate that. But my twitter feed has been overwhelmingly sympathetic to Haley, as has any number of Idol alums. When ex-Idol judge, Ellen Degeneres tweeted “don’t listen to the judges”, that got me thinking that the casual viewer may actually be as pissed off with the judges as many of the Idol faithful.
I don’t think Haley is going home tonight. I think Lauren Alaina will be heading out the door instead.
And I say that, because Lauren had performances that weren’t terrible, but not exactly barn burning either. Scotty McCreery is untouchable this week, not only because he hit that momandapple pie sweet spot with his Allen Jackson cover, but he is, at this point, generally untouchable.
James Durbin wasn’t as good as the judges said he was, but he was pimped pretty hard and his high-energy performance of “Love Potion #9” that closed the show was entertaining enough to get viewers to pick up the phone.
I think Lauren is destined to fall through the cracks this week. What do you think? Who is going home on American Idol tonight? Take the poll below!
Ryan Seacrest tweeted today, “Tonight will be a VERY interesting #americanidol. Good luck @LAlainaAI10, @JDurbinAI10, @SMcCreeryAI10 & @HReinhartAI10