The night was also one contestant's triumphant comeback… and fall from the stage.

Scotty McCreery started off the night with Lonestar’s Amazed and sounded relatively good despite some pitch problems and leaning a little too much into the piano. Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler praised the performance, but only Randy Jackson seemed to pick up on his pitchiness.

Lauren Alaina was up next, singing Wild One by Faith Hill, following Beyonce's coaching to channel her inner diva. Lauren’s has had problems with playing up her vulnerable side, but this week she let loose and the judges were pleased.

In the most touching performance of the night, Haley Rienhart sang Led Zepplin’s What Is and What Should Never Be with the help of her own father on lead guitar. In true Haley fashion, she went soft and slow on the verses and loud on the choruses. Everything was going so wonderfully that she actually fell. But she got back on the stage and delivered what was undoubtedly her best performance to date. Steven Tyler joked that she fell for him, but it was her fall that made the judges fall for her all over again after weeks of nitpicking the raspy singer’s song choices. Haley's powerhouse performance didn't come as much of a surprise, seeing as how her rehearsal clip included Beyonce getting censored over how great she thought Haley's song choice was.

Round One Winner: Haley.

Round two was kicked-off by Scotty’s rendition of Thompson Square’s Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not. This round's songs were chosen by Jimmy Iovine, and when the Idol mentor let Scotty know his song choice, the 17-year-old deadpanned, "I’m beyond thrilled." Although he obviously seemed unmoved by the news, he too had one of his best performances to date, flashing some rarely seen personality. The judges loved it (when have they NOT loved anything he’s ever done?), and Randy compared Scotty to country giant Garth Brooks.

Lauren Alaina sang The Band Perry’s “If I Die Young, and seemed to get caught up in the heaviness of the song’s message. Regardless, she really nailed the sad and hopeful lines, minor technical errors aside. It was mentioned prior to her performance that she was six years old when she started watching Idol. That fact alone made watching her get caught up in the moment kind of special.

Haley sang Fleetwood Mac’s Rhiannon, accompanied by cheesy wind and fog machines. Although it didn’t match the energy and strength of her first performance of the night, Randy said, “I think you did a good job. It was more of a somber moment for me.”

Round Two Winner: Scotty.

Because this was the Idol’s first time singing three songs in one night on the show, the energy level of the contestants dropped a little bit. Regardless, it was judge's pick this time and the contestants needed to muster up whatever they had left in them for the final performances of the night.

Scotty sang Kenny Rogers’ She Believes in Me, and Steven praised Scotty by saying, "That's the first big chorus you sang in a big way." Not exactly a compliment, seeing as the competition is down to the final three and this is the first time Scotty sang “big.” Scotty still managed to pull it together to deliver a strong finish.

All dolled-up in a sparkly powder blue prom dress for Lee Ann Womack’s I Hope You Dance was Lauren Alaina, hitting every note and then some. Jennifer exclaimed that Lauren gave her goosies (for those not hip to J. Lo’s cutesy slang, that means “goose bumps”) from head to toe and dubbed her the winner of the round. Way to be fair to Haley.

Haley ended the night with an angsty rendition of Alanis Morissette’s You Outta Know (as if an Alanis song could sound any angrier), and it seemed like an interesting song for the judges to pick. Haley sang it as if the line “and I’m here to remind you” was written for them. Randy said Haley is “in it to win it!” and that statement would probably mean more if he didn't say it so often.

Round Three Winner: Lauren.

With the final two contestants being determined Thursday night, and based on the voting record of this season, it looks like one lucky lady will be joining Scotty McCreery in the finale next week. However, based on tonight’s performances, it’s anyone’s guess who that will be.


Karen Malmquist is a sophomore at La Salle University, and the head writer and star of In Other News, a comedy series airing in Philadelphia.