American Idol Recap: America Votes and ‘The [Potentially Dream-Shattering] Results Are In’ | Entertainment

Idols begin with a cheerful group sing of “The Longest Time,” before hearing of their potentially grim fates. This week, the pressure is especially acute because anyone who makes the cut gets to move into the mansion.
 
Up to the stage first are: Hollie Cavanagh, Skylar Laine and Elise Testone. Iovine, as usual, comments on the contestants’ performances, claiming: Cavangh needs to continue to highlight her technique, Laine needs to mature her vocals, and Testone gave him, as J-Lo would usually say, the “goosies.” Despite his different opinions, all of these ladies are through.
 
Lana Del Ray sings a stylistic version of her song, “Video Games, “ before Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry (a gift from Seacrest to Tyler), accompanies the Idols in singing “Happy Birthday” to Tyler. But the celebrating remains brief; there are results to be shared, potential dreams to be crushed. Up next to the stage are DeAndre Brackensick, Joshua Ledet and Jessica Sanchez. Sanchez receives the biggest compliment of all: Billy Joel enjoyed her Wednesday night performance of “Everybody Has a Dream.” She and Ledet make it through, but Brackensick falls, unsurprisingly, after his lackluster performance, into the ‘Bottom Three.’
 
Last season’s third-place finalist Idol, Haley Reinhart, reappears to showcase her most recent single, “Free,” an Adele-like tune (although she does not possess the range or strength implicit in Adele’s voice) but the piano speaks well to all of Wednesday night’s Billy Joel performances.
 
The remaining four walk onto stage, nervously awaiting their destinies that lay, as Seacrest likes to remind us, in the hands of America. Dixon, as one of the favorites, is most likely safe, especially since Billy Joel e-mailed to say what a great job he did. Phillips, on the other hand, may be in trouble; Iovine instructs him to obey the rules and follow the advice he receives. Iovine likes Van Pelt’s physical transformation, but doesn’t go out of his way to commend her on her vocal performance, and crudely relates Han’s performance to “four minutes of a bad Adam Sandler movie that goes straight to DVD.” Unsurprisingly then, it’s Van Pelt and Han that join the bottom three.
 
Brackensick is sent back into safety, leaving Han and Van Pelt to battle it out, with Van Pelt choosing to sing, “I Believe in You and Me,” to save her spot on the show. But Randy just isn’t convinced, and makes the resolute decision not to keep her around.