‘American Idol’: LMFAO Rock Colton Dixon’s Farewell Party

Carl Williott | April 20, 2012 5:00 am

After 53 million votes cast (good job, America!), we’re down to six contestants on American Idol. Colton Dixon found himself in the bottom three for the first time this season, but in a bit of a shocker he didn’t beat out consistent bottom-dwellers Elise Testone and Hollie Cavanagh. So the dreamy Colton and his skunk-hawk bid adieu, but not before we got to see a couple performances by LMFAO and Season 8 winner Kris Allen. Continuing Wednesday’s soul theme, the seven contestants started the show with the Motown classic “Dancing In The Street” by Martha and the Vandellas. Overall it was pretty unremarkable, with a couple singers searching for the right pitch. However, this awkward thing happened where a dancer was scrambling to pull her shirt down — er, up:

We really wouldn’t have noticed it without her flailing hands grabbing for cloth. We didn’t even have time to make that above Seinfeld joke at the time, though, because Interscope chairman Jimmy Iovine got right into the critiques. He felt Joshua Ledet and Phillip Phillips have the consistency to make the finale, and we agree; neither singer has turned in a clunker. He also thinks Skylar Laine is the best performer of the group. And since she has made a believer out of several country haters within the Idolator walls, we’d have a hard time arguing with that point.

Iovine also had some interesting things to say about Jessica Sanchez. While we are in awe of the maturity of her voice, he was finding it off-putting to hear her sing such adult songs, and put much of the “bad” song selection blame on himself.

Then, Season 8 champion Kris Allen performed his new song “The Vision Of Love.” It was a very listenable piece of mom-rock, and you should just go ahead and pencil in his new album as part of your Mother’s Day gift.

Kris Allen, “Vision Of Love” (Live on American Idol)

As for Wednesday night’s bubble performers, Jimmy liked that Hollie came out of her shell (it feels like someone says that about her every week…that’s one stubborn shell), but he still thinks she’s a long-shot for the finale. Same goes for Elise: The only way he envisions her in the finale is if she picks songs every single week that harness the rock energy she displayed on “Whole Lotta Love.”

As for Colton, Jimmy said that his performance was like a cross between 1985 Billy Idol (cool!) and Spider-Man (cool!). Spider-Man on Broadway, that is. (Oh…)

Then there was a nice package celebrating Dick Clark‘s legacy, narrated by Ryan Seacrest. The screeching tires you heard after that were from the painfully awkward left turn, as LMFAO stormed the stage to perform “Sorry For Party Rocking.” The performance was essentially the coolest pool party you’ve never been to.

So on the bottom, we had Elise, Hollie and Colton. The judges wouldn’t say if they thought America got it right…but we will: Yes, America got it right. Way to bounce back, country! Yes we can!

We thought for sure one of the blond ladies would be exiting last night. Like Jimmy, we were tepid on Colton’s song arrangements this week, but c’mon, he’s been far more consistent than Hollie and Elise.

But, again, what do we know? With no save left, Colton found himself on the chopping block. But ever the confident performer, he was already talking about taking the judges’ criticisms with him into the studio when he records his album.

Next week: Queen stops by — with Holo Freddie Mercury, we hope! — as the contestants fight to make the Top 5.

Would you buy an album by Colton Dixon? Sound off in the comments, or on Twitter and Facebook.