The remaining finalists sing two songs each selected by fans in the week where Alex Preston's musical inspiration, Jason Mraz, becomes a guest mentor.
- May 1, 2014
AceShowbiz - The competition is getting intense as "American Idol" season 13 is getting closer to finals. On Wednesday night, April 30, the Top 5 were back onstage to sing two songs each which they picked from the options suggested by fans.
To get to know more after the contestants, the show revealed their celebrity crushes and some were lucky enough to get surprise visit from the stars. Alex Preston, meanwhile, got to have dinner with Jason Mraz, who has been repeatedly mentioned as one of Alex Preston's idols and serves as a guest mentor this week. His celebrity crush Zooey Deschanel also showed up to give him a hug.
Alex performed first that night, starting it off with "Sweater Weather" by The Neighbourhood. Jason offered some suggestions that improved his body language. While the judges didn't say any harsh words, they clearly expected more from him as Jennifer Lopez said, "You could do this in your sleep," and Keith Urban "wouldn't have minded hearing a bit more soaring."
The 20-year-old didn't disappoint in his second performance, an unplugged take on A Great Big World's "Say Something". "It was a beautiful performance," said Harry Connick Jr., adding that "it is more powerful to me."
Caleb Johnson rocked out the stage with "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith. It wasn't as good as his previous performances, but J.Lo said she got goosies. Harry complained about his tendency to look at the camera instead of the audience.
Caleb showed his true ability with a cover of Whitesnake's "Still of the Night". Keith and J.Lo gave him a standing ovation, with the former exclaiming, "Awesome!" J.Lo said "that was killer!" and Harry couldn't imagine hearing someone perform that song any better.
Jessica Meuse opted for "Human" by Christina Perri for her first song. She hit the high notes in the chorus and J.Lo felt the emotion she put in the performance. "When you tap into the feeling and the emotion of the song, something happens," the female judge commented.
Jess sang Lana Del Rey's "Summertime Sadness" for her second performance, and Harry thought "that's a perfect song" for her. He further described it as "a perfect marriage of voice and song," but Keith and J.Lo complained about her physical connection.
Sam Woolf did "Sing" by Ed Sheeran. Before his performance, Sam's celebrity crush Ariana Grande paid a surprise visit to give him his mic. Unfortunately, he failed in his attempt to be funky as Keith pointed out the song was tough and politely said, "You did as good a job as you could on that song." Harry praised his effort to do something completely different.
Sam's performance of The Fray's "How to Save a Life" may not help a lot to save him either. Harry was bothered by "some pitch issues," but wished he heard more of a cry in his voice toward the end. J.Lo didn't like it at first, but thought he hit it in the end.
Jena Irene emerged as a strong competitor as Harry said, "You probably move more than the other, remaining competitors," after her performance of "My Body" by Young the Giant. J.Lo also praised her, "You sounded really good, as you always do on everything that you sing."
Jena went with Amy Winehouse's "Valerie" for her second performance, but she wasn't up to the song. J.Lo said, "It felt kind of AC, older," while Harry said, "Nice job tonight." Keith loved her "killer" vocals.
Jena also teamed up with Alex and Sam for a group performance of American Authors' "Best Day of My Life", while Caleb and Jessica sang "Beast of Burden" by The Rolling Stones together.
