Tell Her About It

The Top 10 is down to the Top 9. America voted on Billy Joel night, and as Erika Van Pelt put it, it was time to "go big or go home."

The contestants opened with a group performance of "For the Longest Time" and we saw their new Ford video, "You Found Me." But there was no hiding from the results, as Ryan called Hollie, Skylar, and Elise to center stage.

On Wednesday night, Hollie had performed "Honesty," and Randy complained that he could "feel her thinking." Steven said he thought that she was "a little pitchy."

Jimmy wasn't surprised by their comments. "I knew from the beginning that Hollie might have a hard time interpreting that song," he said. "You can't get two individuals more different than Hollie and Billy Joel. I think that was by far her worst night of the competition. She may have seemed like a sweet diva caught in the headlights."

Skylar sang "Shameless," and Jennifer called her "fearless." Randy said he "wasn't sure if it was her best, but it was pretty good." As for Jimmy, he WAS sure it wasn't her best. "She's gonna have to get more creative to win this," he said.

Elise sang "Vienna," and Jimmy was concerned because "no one knows the song." But she wound up earning a standing ovation from the judges, despite being in the bottom three for the last two weeks.

"You were all over the place, and you still stayed in the room," Steven said. "That melody was so fantastic, just brilliant." Jennifer said she was so happy for Elise that she wanted to "shake" her. Jimmy agreed that she pulled it off, saying, "She came to that stage with a confidence I have not seen in her — something transformed in her." As Jennifer likes to say, he got "goosies."

After a nationwide vote, Ryan announced that Hollie is moving into the Hollywood Hills mansion . . . and so is Skylar and Elise!

After Lana Del Rey performed "Video Games" and Joe Perry came out to surprise Steven for his birthday ("I'm Rip Van Winkle, so I'm told I'm much too young to be this old," Steven quipped), it was time to get back to the results. Ryan called DeAndre, Joshua, and Jessica to center stage.

On Wednesday, DeAndre sang "Only the Good Die Young," and Steven thought it was "a little too happy." Randy "wasn't jumping up and down," but Jimmy said someone was: DeAndre!

"Someone was jumping up down and too much," Jimmy said. "I told him to try to have a good time, [but] don't go out there and frolic! I think it's really gonna hurt him."

Joshua sang "She's Got a Way," and Jennifer didn't love his approach to Billy Joel's song. "When you sing his lyrics, you should really, really feel that," she told him. "I felt like you were singing it, but you weren't really singing it." Jimmy agreed. "This song, I felt like he didn't understand it. How does Joshua win American Idol? I gotta figure that out."

Jessica performed "Everybody Has a Dream," and Steven raved, "When God was giving out vocal cords, you were so at the front of the line." Randy called it "perfection." And Jimmy agreed that "Jessica did a great job last night." In fact, Billy Joel himself said he enjoyed Jessica's rendition of the song.

Dim the lights . . . After a nationwide vote, Jessica and Joshua were safe, but DeAndre was in the bottom three.
The contestants then took a break from results as last year's third-place finalist Haley Reinhart performed her new song, "Free." Next, Ryan called Erika, Heejun, Colton, and Phillip to center stage.

Colton sang "Piano Man," and Jennifer "had goosies from head to toe." Billy Joel emailed and said Colton did a great job, and Jimmy agreed with Billy, saying, "He killed it. Last week I said there might be third horse in race. Jessica, Joshua — maybe Colton is that third horse."

Phillip sang "Movin' Out," after rejecting fashion advice from Tommy Hilfiger and performance advice (to ditch the guitar) from Diddy. The judges enjoyed it, but Jimmy argued that the contestants on Idol should "take all the advice you can get."

Erika sang "New York State of Mind," and Jennifer also loved the vocal, but she suggested that Erika "let loose" a little bit. Randy loved her new short hairdo (which Tommy Hilfiger suggested). "It's hot!" he proclaimed. Jimmy was also impressed with the performance and the haircut.

"Tommy, you got a girl the day before the show to cut her hair to sing in front of 20 million people," he marveled. "I've never seen that in 40 years of the record biz. As far singing, she deserves to be at the top."

Heejun Han stripped off his tux to sing "My Life," and Jennifer called it a "breath of fresh air," even if he didn't quite "hit the vocal." Steven warned him that at some point he'd have to "take it more serious," and Jimmy thought Steven was "pretty angry."

"I think he felt Heejun disrespected the entire process," Jimmy said. "I think it will bite him in the butt. It was more like four minutes of a bad Adam Sandler movie that goes straight to DVD."

Heejun fought back, though. "Ripping off clothes was a metaphor, literally saying, 'This is who I really am, a guy trying to help the kids back home.' I'm not trying to be a star, I'm really happy where I am," he said.

After a nationwide vote, Colton and Phillip were safe, but Erika and Heejun joined DeAndre in the bottom three. Ryan quickly sent DeAndre to safety, leaving Heejun and Erika in the bottom two. Jennifer reassured Heejun that he is a star. Then Ryan informed him that he was safe.

Finally, it was up to Erika to "sing for her life." She performed Whitney Houston's "I Believe in You and Me," but the judges decided to not use their one save of the season on her. The contestants were visibly upset to lose Erika. As Jennifer put it, "Everybody who goes home at this point is a loss."