Last night, judges Keith, Jennifer, and Harry made the final save in all of "American Idol" history narrowing the field of competition from six to five as we enter the last MONTH EVER for the once seemingly unstoppable music/competition show franchise.

 

They made the right choice, too.  Tristan refused to adapt, mold, or listen to the judges' advice (as well as my own) to step out of her comfort zone and maybe try a song that didn't sound EXACTLY like every other song she sang.  Anyway, here were my thoughts watching last night's "American Idol:"

 

TRENT - COUNTING STARS: I know I've been hard on Trent in the past, but if you thought this was a good performance, you're drinking the Kool-Aide.  This is not me "not getting him," which admittedly I don't, this was a bad performance from a fan favorite.

 

DALTON - NUMB: Like Lee Jean who went home last week, I WANT to like Dalton so badly, but he made it tough last night.  His normal Dalton take-a-song-and-change-it-up magic didn't work on Linkin Park's "Numb," but thankfully there were performances last night that were worse.

 

LA'PORSHA - READY FOR LOVE: La'Porsha is unquestionably in a league of her own and still my pick to win the entire competition.  My only complaint would be that I didn't know her song.  Thankfully, it's the only song I could say that for.

 

MACKENZIE - WILD WORLD: While not my favorite performance from MacKenzie, I thought his cover of Cat Stevens' "Wild World" was just fine.  Not better.  Not worse.

 

TRISTAN - INDEPENDENCE DAY: Tristan lost last night before she even started to sing.  It's not that her versions of empowered female country artists' songs are bad, they're just becoming MONOTONOUS.  She never changes them, they sound the same, it just feels like a rerun WEEK AFTER WEEK with Tristan, which was what I've been saying all along.  The judges completely mirrored what I've been complaining about and Tristan made it easy for them to choose last night.  The judges even gave her the OPPORTUNITY to change her song if she wanted to...  So she did this to herself.  Good riddance.

 

SONIKA - LET IT GO: On any other day, Sonika's take on Demi Lovato's version of Frozen's "Let it Go" wouldn't have saved her from elimination.  She was lucky that the other person on the gallows pole last night was the uninspired Tristan, so like it or not, Sonika lives to fight another day.  I don't expect her to be so lucky and survive next week, however.

 

DALTON - THE SOUND OF SILENCE: I've always thought this was a relatively boring song, but kind of thought Dalton would spice it up a bit because of his knack for changing songs around.  I don't know, despite liking Dalton, I didn't like this performance either.  I also felt his emotion was a bit forced and insincere.  I know this is probably in bad taste to say considering the video package that ran prior to the song, but it seemed to me like he "felt like he was supposed to cry," so that's what he tried to do at the end and it wasn't happening.  It missed for me, but I don't want or expect him to go home next week.  He COULD be in the bottom two, though.

 

MACKENZIE - BILLIE JEAN: Playing a Michael Jackson is an easy way to gain my favor.  I appreciated, but did not LOVE, MacKenzie's take on the song.

 

TRENT - SIMPLE MAN: I'll admit it was much better than "Counting Stars" earlier in the night, and it's a song I like a lot, but I have to be honest, I HATED Trent singing it last night.  I know my girlfriend loved it and the judges did too and that there's something about Trent that I just don't comprehend, but I'd be lying if I said there's been a SINGLE performance of his that I've liked since he recovered from mono back in Hollywood.  Hey, Carrie Underwood has had a lot of success and also won "American Idol" and I would describe her voice as "nearly unlistenable," so there are sometimes when I just don't get some vocalists.  Trent must be one of those examples.

 

SONIKA - CLARITY: While I wouldn't call it a BAD performance, I don't think this (combined with her lackluster "Let it Go" from earlier) will be enough to convince America that they made a mistake putting her in the bottom two.  I expect she'll find herself in a similar situation next week.  And then a situation completely unlike it the following week, when I predict she'll be watching the show from her home.

 

LA'PORSHA - NO MORE DRAMA: La'Porsha swung for the fences for the final performance of the night.  She hit her mark, it was a home run.  Nobody has ever been safer.

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