This past week on American Idol the contestants had to sing songs from "Then and Now" ("then" being defined as the '60/'70s).  Each contestant got to sing two songs tonight, which is actually one of my favorite times of the season.  Overall, I thought the contestants did extremely well.  Even Haley did a good job, and I really don't even like her.

Scotty McCreery

Scotty started his night off with an Elvis song.  This is probably my favorite Scotty performance ever.  The enthusiasm and the stage presence he had was amazing.  He completely set the stage ablaze.  Out of all the contestants remaining, I believe he has the best overall performance.  He is going to take the Idol crown for sure.

Lauren Alaina

Lauren completely rocked the staged.  Like I said with Scotty, I think this was her best upbeat performance ever.  She's FINALLY starting to get her confidence built up, and it truly showed this week.  She sang 'Flat On the Floor' by Carrie Underwood, and I don't think it could have been any better suited to her voice.  This will definitely be the type of artist she will become.

Scotty McCreery

Not a bad performance from Scotty.  Of course he chose to sing a ballad to show the other side of himself, but it was just a little average.  When he sings ballads I really want him to show off his range and show us things we've never seen before.  He seems to associate slow tempos with restraint and control, but he really needs to just let loose with one of these one time.  He would soar.

Lauren Alaina

Lauren also chose to go with a ballad, and I thought she did extremely well.  The judges were a little tough on her for holding back, but I thought it was beautiful.  She really shows off the diversity of her voice with this, and I am glad she chose this to sing.  I truly hope she makes it to the Finale, but I feel like James will take her rightful place.

Overall, it was a really good night.  James' crocodile tears at the end of his second song really annoyed me.  Please, he just wanted sympathy votes.  Build a bridge and get over it.  I also wasn't very keen on the idea of Haley performing GaGa's 'You and I' which hasn't even been released yet.  Is that even legal?  I feel like the producers were trying to give her an unfair advantage.  Based on the night, I felt like Jacob was going home.  He just hadn't been performing well recently, and I just felt like he had reached the end of the road.  Of course this was the outcome, so no surprises there.  Next week we get to see Lady GaGa mentor the contestants so that should be really fun.