Inconsistency has been Elise Testone’s biggest issue on “American Idol” and she struggled with it again tonight. Thursday Season 11 gets cut to its Top 5 and it’ll likely be another stressful night for Testone in the “Bottom 3.”
The show opened with all six singing a Queen medley with original band members Roger Taylor and Brian May and Testone seemed in her element. After that each performer did one Queen song and another song of their choice.
The Kinnelon native chose “I Want It All” as her Queen song and the judges loved it.
”I just wanted to own it, sing with conviction and passion and just do justice to Freddie and Queen,” Testone said after her performance.
”You’ve found your stride,” Steven Tyler said. “That’s what we’ve been waiting for.”
“That was you in your element,” Jennifer Lopez said. “I said last week, find the right song and you’re gonna murder it, and you did.”
“To me that was one of your best performance to date,” said Randy Jackson.
Then came her second performance and she chose Jimi Hendrix’s “Bold As Love,” which Jackson and Tyler did not think was a good choice.
Jennifer Lopez, though, loved the way Testone sang it.
When talking to about picking a song he didn’t think anyone would know, Tyler told Testone, “You can’t pick cherries with your back to the tree.”
The performances of the night belonged to Joshua Ledet, who got two standing ovations from the judges — his 11th and 12th of the season. Skylar Laine impressed with two good songs. Those two are starting to look like the new favorites to make it to the finale.
The only other standing ovation couldn’t have been predicted, going to Hollie Cavanagh in the final song of the night. Cavanagh has looked like she expects to be eliminated each week but has survived thanks to her voters. She struggled again with her first song, but brought the judges to their feet with her version of “The Climb.”