Michael Becker / FOXBeautiful seemed to be the word of the night at American Idol, and not in a Jennifer Lopez, "You-look-so-beautiful-but-I-didn't-like-your-performance" kind of way. The top five stepped it up to prove they are in it to win it.
It's getting down to the wire in the competition and the stakes are high. It would be foolish to say the contestants aren't pulling out all the stops to garner as many votes as they can to make it to the finale. So who had their "in a relationship" status outed on national television, what did they have to say about it and what did the "dark horse" of the competition think about Randy Jackson's glowing remarks?
We got the stars to spill after the show!
Is it just us, or has this season of American Idol gone by in the blink of an eye? In just a few short weeks, a new Idol will be crowned and after Wednesday night's performance show, there's no doubt that anyone could walk away with the title.
It's true that the show is all about talent, but with contestants like heartthrob Phillip Phillips, personal lives come into play with the female vote. So when Ryan Seacrest outed Phillip for having a girlfriend back home, eyebrows raised that this new tidbit could affect his standing. But when we caught up with Phillip after the show, he didn't seem too concerned.
"At first I thought Ryan was talking about his girlfriend," he told us. "Then I realized, Oh, he's talking about my girlfriend. So it was funny. It doesn't matter. If it does then [the voters] weren't really liking the music. I'm trying to get the music out there. I'm not trying to be some boy that tries to look good or anything. I want the music to speak first. [My girlfriend] is really proud of me being out there and pursuing my dreams. She supports me all the way."
Speaking of support, dark horse Hollie Cavanagh, who has beaten the odds every week, broke out with two stellar performances, stunning the judges. She killed it with Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High" and her cover of Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" earned her five 'beautiful' comments from the judges. For once, the word wasn't used to buffer a bad performance. If anything, it brought her to the front of the pack and left her glowing.
"I was glad I got positive feedback on both songs," she spilled. "It would be horrible to come out of the night with negative feedback. I mean, now it's top five, so you have to bring it every week, and I'm just glad they're seeing that I'm learning and progressing."
And of course a night of Idol wouldn't be complete without a standing ovation for Joshua Ledet. Randy even called him one of the best singers ever to compete on American Idol. When we caught up with him after the show, he was his normal humble self, brushing his talent off like it's no big deal.
"That definitely shocked me when he said that," Joshua said. "I know there are some great singers on the show, and to hear him say that, I was completely in awe and I'm truly humbled by that. I accepted it. I took it in with all love and it really touched my heart."
It's anyone's game and the competition is tight. Who do you think will be saying good-bye to the Idol spotlight Thursday night? Do you think Hollie has what it takes to make it to the finale? Let us know in the comments!