American Idol "Top 8" Review: Elise, Stop Dragging My Heart Around

'80s night is a difficult theme to predict on American Idol because the range of hits produced in the decade ranges from legitimate classics (Sweet Child of Mine) to electronic drek (Never Gonna Give You Up) and all points in between (The Final Countdown). That held true Wednesday as we saw a couple inspired choices and a load of chum that was still sung rather well.

Here's my take on the AI11 top 8:

DeAndre Brackensick (I Like It): Here I was ready with a 'matter of fact, I don't like it' joke, but DeAndre, as bizarre is his delivery continues to be, knocked this one out of the park. Sublime control, interesting approach and a song that suits him made this my favorite DeAndre performance so far. I still don't see him making the top 5, but this performance at least makes me stop hating him for making the top 8 and leaves him far less likely to be my choice for the boot tonight. 80

Elise Testone (I Want to Know What Love Is): As you well know, Elise is my favorite contestant of the season (and possibly the last three) so far, and I ate up this performance, but I'm smart enough to know this bland arrangement, some major pitch problems in the lower register and control issues in the upper could spell trouble for the growler. I'm still in love, so all I can hope is we look back at this as a blip rather than the beginning of the end. 55

Skylar Laine and Colton Dixon (Islands in the Stream): I'm inching ever closer to sold on Colton despite my continued belief that his look is manufactured and disingenuous, and his connection with Skylar turned this tepid song into something interesting. Skylar didn't quite carry the ball as well after the chorus - I still foresee her ouster sooner rather than later - but far better than I expected. 85

Phillip Phillips (That's All): From the opening note underneath his range, I knew Phillip was in trouble this week. Not surprisingly he compensated by degenerating into irritating growl, which just continues his baffling descent from early frontrunner to a major case of wasted potential. This song could probably be done worse - Phillip-squared is still talented despite his frustrating choices - but it's hard to imagine how. 10

Hollie Cavanagh and DeAndre Brackensick (I'm So Excited): Once again an awful arrangement - it is '80s night, after all - but Hollie and DeAndre took the opportunity to go upbeat and seized it, pouring a ton of energy into what would have been a forgettable performance. Hollie elevated the ending much higher than I could have hoped for, and overall I came away impressed by two of the biggest question marks in the top 8. 70 

Joshua Ledet (If You Don't Know Me By Now): Joshu'a dotted tuxedo reminded me powerfully of Vegas lounge singers like Engelbert Humperdinck, and his combination of raw power and inability to control it reminded me powerfully of their over-the-top ballad style. I was on the fence before this degenerated into a series of whiny, screeching runs, and left the performance feeling that, like Phillip, Joshua will be doomed by his own awful stylistic choices. 20

Jessica Sanchez (How Will I Know): Jessica deserves credit for both walking away from "I Will Always Love You" by doing so much up-tempo but still staying in the Whitney songbook, and while this tune isn't nearly as good for her she still did an outstanding job. I've tried to avoid grading Jessica on a curve because she's so absurdly talented, but her song selections have left something to be desired. Very good, but I know she'll do better. 80

Elise Testone and Phillip Phillips (Dragging My Heart Around): While I appreciated Elise's attempts to make this awful song into something workable - she added some interesting runs and tried hard to get Phillip involved - her disinterested. mediocre partner and lacking material doomed this duet from the start. We can keep this one off the highlight reel too. 30

Hollie Cavanagh (Flashdance... What a Feeling): Maybe we should stop telling Holiie to go up-tempo. The beginning of this performance was great bordering on sublime thanks to Hollie's extraordinary pipes and ballad experience, but once the music changed and she started moving it became mediocre and scattershot. I give Hollie credit for submitting a powerful, tuneful rendition, but this is not the song for her. 65

Jessica Sanchez and Joshua Ledet (I Knew You Were Waiting [For Me]): As surprisingly good as the night's other duets were, this one blew them out of the water for control, power and sheer polish. Joshua almost ruined it by going over the top, but Jessica was nearby to rein him in and turned in a beautiful performance from the runs to the melody to the harmony. This goes on the Jessica highlight reel even as I continue to feel there's no hope for her off-the-rails partner. 90

Colton Dixon (Time After Time): I was excited to hear Colton step out of his comfort zone with this golden oldie, but instead he gave it the Marron 5 treatment and turned in a decent but utterly predictable though excellent performance. Once I gave in and considered this may be all Colton will do, he's quite good at it (the pitchy runs at the close notwithstanding). I want to see more variety from my frontrunners, but he doesn't deserve a curve any more than Jessica. Nice work, but I want him to earn his spot in the top 3. 75

Skylar Laine (Wind Beneath My Wings): I registered similar disappointment with Skylar's country interpretation to Colton's alt-rock ballad, but recent history shows she's smart to embrace the country audience, especially when she's in trouble. Between the Idol standard statonary ballad position, prom dress and dramatic lighting Skylar seemed primed for a genuine moment, but this never quite got there for me. Very good - probably enough to get her out of the bottom three - but didn't blow me away. 75

Overall it was a very fun show, which, despite what the numbers at What Not To Sing say, was an upgrade from the last couple weeks. I'm on board with each contestant to some degree at this point except one, and I think I know them well enough for my first power poll/prediction of the season.

8. Phillip Phillips: P-squared has played a bland one-trick pony in the finals despite demonstrating much more talent beforehand. Sorry, but we can't wait forever; thanks for playing.

7. DeAndre Brackensick: I'm still not the target demo for Jason Castro 2.0, but he's acquitted himself well enough recently to crawl out of the basement. His second-to-last ranking is more a symptom of the extreme disadvantage he was in after the first few weeks and the strength of the top 6.

6. Hollie Cavanagh: Hollie's heading in the wrong direction, but she's still got more raw vocal talent than the two men ranked below her. While she has the potential to continue to make bad choices and drag the competition down, I think If Hollie doesn't go home tonight - a distinct possibility - she could still turn it around and make the final 3. 

5. Joshua Ledet: Joshua is the most baffling contestant of the group. He's alternately shown pure vocal genius and control idiocy with such gusto it's hard to tell which is stronger. I don't think he's in any real danger, but I can't say I'm too concerned either way.

4. Skylar Laine: This season's prerequisite country artist has never done much for me, but she's shown the right combination of song interpretation and rearrangement to make a top-5 push. She could also be in danger tonight, but I think the country vote will carry her through, and I'm excited to see what she does next.

3. Colton Dixon: Colton is my favorite male in the competition by a country (alt-rock, actually) mile despite my distaste for his default Coldplay arrangement. Assuming he becomes more James Durbin and adapts to themes rather than continuing his Adam Lambert-style skirting of them (Ring of Fire, anybody?), I could be happy watching Colton ride his cute-boy shield to a confetti shower. If only he also played the guitar...

2. Elise Testone: Elise is my personal favorite in the competition thanks to her mind-blowing performances recently, but on the outside of that sandwich is a polarizing top 13/pre-finals run and this week's marked step back. I think we could see Hall of Fame performances from Elise, but assuming she survives the week (please please please please please) she's more likely to follow the Haley Reinhart path than walk away the winner.   

1. Jessica Sanchez: Jessica popped out at me with her top 13 masterpiece and hasn't slowed down much. Her biggest foe is going to be the Lambert-Pia Toscano zone where she's expected to be consistently mind-blowing and can't garner the support it takes to push through the Y chromosomes and genre voters. Nonetheless, she's still my pick to take the drown and become Idol's first female champ since Jordin Sparks.

UPDATE: In a minor shocker, DeAndre was sent home, while Hollie and (sigh) Elise finished the bottom three. Amazingly, there are more women than men in the top 7. Here's hoping we get the Elise, Hollie and Jessica top three I hoped for after top 13 week.