'American Idol' recap: The Top 12's birth-year hits

Mar 16, 2011

'American Idol' recap: The Top 12's birth-year hits

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"We've got a hot competition, Ryan, a hot competition!" That was the word from Randy Jackson as Wednesday's Top 12 American Idol episode came to a close.

The finalists brought baby pictures as they sang songs from the year of their birth. But some of them brought something more: the flu. Lauren Alaina and Paul McDonald both sang through some hoarseness (though in the case of Paul, who could tell?).

Best of the bunch: Stefano Langone's remake of the Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes-via-Simply Red hit If You Don't Know Me by Now and Pia Toscano's Whitney Houston cover, Where Do Broken Hearts Go.

Bass-playing Casey Abrams took a big risk, singing Smells Like Teen Spirit -- the first time anyone has sung Nirvana on the show -- and probably got away with it on sheer audaciousness alone. Jacob Lusk didn't fare so well with his show-closing risk, Heart's 1987 rock ballad Alone.

In trouble: Probably Naima Adedapo and Karen Rodriguez, but definitely Haley Reinhart, who followed last week's Bottom Three appearance with a weak rendition of Whitney Houston's I'm Your Baby Tonight.

Here's how I rank them:

1. Stefano Langone, If You Don't Know Me by Now
2. Pia Toscano, Where Do Broken Hearts Go
3. James Durbin, I'll Be There for You
   
4. Casey Abrams, Smells Like Teen Spirit
5. Lauren Alaina, I'm the Only One
6. Thia Megia, Colors of the Wind
7. Scotty McCreery, Can I Trust You With My Heart
8. Paul McDonald, I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues
9. Jacob Lusk, Alone
10. Karen Rodriguez, Love Will Lead You Back
11. Naima Adedapo, What's Love Got to Do With It
12. Haley Reinhart, I'm Your Baby Tonight

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