‘American Idol’: Stefano Says Goodbye As Katy Perry, Kanye West & David Cook Perform

Becky Bain | April 22, 2011 5:30 am

Oh, Stefano Langone. We didn’t know you, then we fell in love with you during your powerful wild-card rendition of “I Need You Now” which got you saved by the judges… and then we became indifferent after realizing that amazing performance was a fluke. So we’re not surprised to see you voted off American Idol. But we are a little disappointed you weren’t able to give us another shining moment. More from last night’s results show, including performances by David Cook, Katy Perry and Kanye West, after the jump. The show, as usual, started off with group numbers — do we ever really need to hear Train’s “Hey Soul Sister” and Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” again? No, we don’t, Idol producers, particularly not bland cover versions as sung by performers whose voices aren’t fit for these songs. We didn’t need to hear them last night and we don’t need to hear them again this morning, so pardon us for neglecting to post them. (Head to MJs Big Blog if you must relive the magic.)

Joining Stefano in the Bottom 3 were Jacob Lusk and our favorite from 21st Century theme night, Haley Reinhart. America, don’t Pia Haley and get her kicked off this show! She’s got real potential! (Yes, to “Pia” someone is now a verb we’re using.)

Stefano takes the bad news well and sings “Lately” as his swan song. When he’s done, James Durbin gives him a big, brotherly bear hug. Aww. It’s kind of heartbreaking, considering most reality show contestants aren’t there to make friends.

Are you as upset as James is to see Stefano go? Or was it about time he stopped wading in the Bottom 3 and finally got voted off? Reflect on your rainbow of emotions while watching last night’s performances of artists singing their own songs:

Here’s Katy Perry, sounding much better live than usual, performing her single “E.T.” with alien backup dancers — and Kanye West!

And Season 7 winner David Cook returned to Idol to sing “The Last Goodbye”, the lead single from his forthcoming album, This Loud Morning. Nice to see you back, Cookie! David delivers a great performance, which isn’t surprising since he is the same man who can effortlessly turn a Mariah Carey love song into an indie rock ballad. (Stay til the end of the video to get your daily quota of cute when David’s mom meets Steven Tyler.)