Last night, the first group of twelve performed solo. Tonight, those contestants must team up with previous Idol contestants to perform duets to leave a final impression on the judges. I’m not sure exactly who picked the songs that the contestants had to sing, but for the most part, it seemed like the choices were poor. Anyway, at the end of show, five must go home.

Lauren Alaina is the first to return to the Idol stage with Emily Brooke. The two took on Carrie Underwood’s “Flat On The Floor,” and unfortunately for Emily, the results were just not what she needed. After her flat performance the night before, Emily needed a standout duet. Next to Lauren though, her lack of experience showed. Sorry Emily, I think this is the end for you.

Thomas Stringfellow reminds America that his girlfriend broke up with him right before the show started, and Nick Fradiani tells him the same thing happened to him. The two duet on “Man in the Mirror.” Thomas’ squeaks have seriously been decreasing, which is great for him. But next to Nick, and with the chosen arrangement, Thomas seemed a little out of his element.

Ruben Studdard came back to team up with Stephany Negrete for “Superstar.” Whoever picked out Stephany’s dress should be fired. Stephany does a fine job vocally, but her problem is that she’s singing with Ruben. She comes off as a glorified featured singer, but the judges don’t agree with me. The judges all enjoyed it. Harry says there were some note issues, but that the emotions always trump that. I didn’t see emotion, so I’m just confused.

Sonika Vaid and Caleb Johnson joining forces for “Skyfall” may seem like a strange competition, but the result was truly magnificent. I’m not sure what changed in Sonika, perhaps having someone stand net to her helped, but she looked comfortable. Plus, her lower harmonies were outstanding. Harry says that she still seems nervous, and I agree. But, the growth so far is noticeable. Hopefully she’ll continue to loosen up.

Scotty McCreery joins Jenna Renae for his song “See You Tonight.” It seems like a huge disadvantage to have a contestant sing a winner’s song, and Jenna didn’t step up to the plate. Scotty is so consistent, so every time Jenna’s vocals failed, it was obvious.

La’Porsha Renae is joined by Fantasia for “Summertime.” The combination is so predictable, but that doesn’t take away from the power in the performance. I’ve never been a huge fan of Fantasia’s voice, so for me, La’Porsha dominated that song. Harry said it was a battle of runs, which it was, but it was phenomenal.

Lauren Alaina comes back for another duet, but this time with Mackenzie Bourg. I’m a little not okay with her flirting, but I’ll let it go because the two sing a nice version of “I Hope You Dance.” The two seem to be singing two completely different versions of the song, but it somehow works together. And yeah, okay, maybe I was imagining that he was looking at me the way he was looking at Lauren, but whatever… Harry said that this performance was “sweet” but that he was thankful for last night.

Nick Fradiani and Gianna Isabella take on his song “Beautiful Life,” which, for lack of better words, sucks. This song is not a duet. The arrangement is messy. Gianna looks uncomfortable on stage. She’s much better than this, as she proved the night before. Again, who’s making these choices?

Ruben comes back, this time with Avalon Young. While Stephany didn’t exactly hold her own next to Ruben, Avalon was able to. The difference in Avalon’s tone really held up against Ruben. She was dressed up a little more than usual, which added to the show of it all.

James VIII and Caleb Johnson sing the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter.” Just like his performance the night before of Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown,” James showed he’s a great musician. He could do amazing things in a band, but as a solo artist, his voice just does not stack up. Caleb was amazing, and the attention was all on him when it should have been the other way around. I would one thousand percent pay for a ticket to a show if the two formed a band, though.

Any credit I gave Jeneve Rose Mitchell last night is out the window after her duet with Scotty McCreery for “Gone.” She was uncomfortable as she ran around the stage blushing. I’m not sure what else to say, but their performance was just bad. Keith said it was “Bizarre,” which is probably the nicest thing to say about that performance. I’m still not understanding why the judges love her so much, especially after that performance.

Fantasia and Jordan Sasser sing “I Believe,” and again, was just bad for Jordan. He was oversinging every bit while he tried to stand next to Fantasia. So while she was singing aggressively to emote, Jordan was singing that way to compare. The judges were far too kind, and noticed that they weren’t really dueting. Again, I think this is where we finally say bye to Jordan.

Now it’s up to the judges to decide who makes it through. La’Porsha, Sonika, Avalon, Gianna, Thomas, Mackenzie, and Jeneve all make it through to the next round.

This means that we say goodbye to Stephany, Jordan, James, Emily, and Jenna.

I wasn’t going to continue my American Idol recaps after seeing just how boring these contestants are. With few exceptions, the Idol hopefuls have nothing going for them other than a nice voice. I complained about how terrible the X Factor contestants were, but at least they were entertaining. Idol on the other hand is the most entertaining when judges Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban, and Harry Connick Jr. get into arguments. With all that being said, without the ENTERTAINMENT factor, the audience, so far, has been spot on with eliminations. So, I decided to restart me recaps. So, here we go.

First up was MK Nobilette singing Pink’s “Perfect.” I was really impressed with MK last week with her rendition of “To Make You Feel My Love,” but this week was a flop. I’m sure she wants to be on Idol as much as the next contestant, but she has zero stage presence. Last week, her inward energy worked for the song. But this week, not so much. It didn’t help that she retreated even more after she messed up going into the second chorus. Also, is Idol taking notes from X Factor’s backup singers? Because they were heard, sometimes more than MK… The judges gave her some harsh criticisms, especially Harry and Jennifer. But that’s what makes this season bearable!

Dexter Roberts showed a tinge (but not really, at all) of creativity with Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise.” Week after week, I never seem to remember this kid’s performance by Thursday, and I always forget his name by Wednesday. Not exactly a good sign, but has 100% to do with his lack of originality in his performances. He slowed down the beginning of “Cruise,” which was the one and only time he changed things up. And it didn’t really quite work. I still can’t understand anything he says. Harry was brutally honest and told him it wasn’t a good performance and that “unless you’re going to be bigger than the song, you’re going to become generic.” Well put.

Jena Irene gave the very first EDM performance on idol with Zed’s “Clarity.” While I was a little uncomfortable with how much Jena was running around all over the stage, I have to give her props for being able to run around and still sounds great. Her voice is so unique, and I love that she make subtle changes to the melody. The judges loved the performance, but Jennifer gave solid advice and told her she needs to learn how to hold the middle more. Keith also said her performance was the best of the night, which I’m sure was not hard, considering the first two…

Alex Preston delivered one of the best renditions of One Direction’s “Story of My Life.” He made the song a bit more folky, which allowed him to showcase his personal style. Those high notes in the chorus were perfect, and his small changes in the phrasing made the song all the more beautiful. Alex is one of the few people on the show who just knows what type of artist they are, and owns it… much like another idol, Phillip Phillips. (Who is one of the only recent Idol winners who’s killing it right now…) Anyway, I’m sure many people will complain that he never puts his guitar down, but WHO CARES. He’s great at what he does, let him do it.

Malaya Watson sang Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man.” Malaya has a powerhouse voice, and has showcased it to the extreme the past few weeks. This week, she held back, and provided a nice rendition of the Bruno Mars hit. However, she’s still boring to me. She’s predictable. And maybe it’s her over-the-top personality, but she annoys me. Maybe that’s her age though, and she’ll learn to hold back on her outrageous-ness as well.

Caleb Johnson was up next with Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory.” I wrote down, “Boring. Boring. Boring.” And I couldn’t tell you much else about his performance. Keith said, “I didn’t dig the half time feel of it. Energy wise- it felt an unbalance.”

CJ Harris needs some vocal coaching ASAP, although there’s a chance he won’t be staying for another week to make use of the coaching Idol provides. CJ was off pitch for the entire performance of Hunter Hayes’ “Invisible.” While last week, the judges said it’s okay to sometimes be off pitch if you have a passionate performance, this week it just kind of hurt everyone’s ears. Harry gave a quick vocal lesson and tried to explain what being off pitch means, and hopefully CJ decides to use the lesson if he stays next week…

Jessica Meuse sang Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks,” and as I have not been sing the beginning, I was not impressed. This is 100% a preference thing, but I just can’t stand Jessica’s voice. The nasally tendency, with a vibrato that never seems to go away (very goat-like) is just not my thing. While this performance was hands down one of her best, I’m still not a fan. Harry said her performance was “one dimensional,” which got all the judges arguing over whether or not the smile on Jessica’s face throughout the performance was appropriate. I loved that. More arguing from the judges please.

Majesty Rose took Avicii’s “Wake Me Up” and made it pure folk. The song was soft and subtle, and allowed the beautiful tone of her voice to come out. While I enjoyed the performance, this girl needs to be more consistent. Last week she bombed with “Let it Go” from Frozen, which was an odd song choice to begin with. Harry enjoyed it, while Keith didn’t like the arrangement. Jennifer told her, “Tonight I saw something in you that i’ve never seen, and that was fear,” followed by words of wisdom that confidence is key, regardless of anything that’s happened.

And the last performance of the night was Sam Woolf with Fun.’s “We are Young.” I want to shake some sense into this kid. He has an incredible voice. His pitch is perfect, and I could listen to a record of his all day. But, his performance skills are awful. He’s a shy kid, which is obvious with his discomfort in answering Ryan Seacrest’s question after the performance, “Where would you rank this performance for you?” His answer, a super awkward “Second.” Regardless, if Sam wants to be a performer, he needs to get over the stage fright and come out of his shell, just like Harry advised.

So my prediction: Bottom three will be MK, CJ, and Dexter, with MK going home.

What do you think?