American Idol eliminated Naima Adedapo and Thia Megia and determined its tenth-season Top 9 finalists during Thursday night's live results show broadcast on Fox.
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"I originally planned on auditioning next year, but when I heard about the age reduction, I flew straight to Wisconsin. Throughout this whole experience, I've grown so much as a singer and as a person as well... The dream is never going to end. One way or another, singing is going to be my main thing for the rest of my life," Megia said during a video montage that followed her ouster.
"I auditioned because I basically felt like it would change my life. I feel like I was born a bright star. All I need is the ability to shine... American Idol has changed my life because it's given me the opportunity to show my children that they can live their dreams," Adedapo said during the video montage.
This week's American Idol results show featured a double elimination due to last week's utilization of "The Judges' Save," the one-time voting twist of the season that allowed the show's three judges -- Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson -- to unanimously decide to save Casey Abrams, a 20-year-old Wilmette, IL native who currently resides in Idyllwild, CA, from elimination at the conclusion of last week's results show.
Prior to Adedapo and Megia's exits, Paul McDonald, a 26-year-old Huntsville, AL native who currently resides in Nashville, TN, was revealed by American Idol host Ryan Seacrest to be the other member of this week's bottom three vote-getters.
Adedapo -- whom the judges had initially selected as a "Wild Card" finalist -- had received mixed feedback from the judges following her performance of John's "I'm Still Standing" on Wednesday's performance show.
"Naima, I love you baby. I love you. I love you, and I believe that you're supposed to still be standing in this competition and I love your reggae swag. I'm not sure if this song was suited for that. Some songs are just not meant to be flipped like that -- like 360 or 180, whatever you want to call it -- It's just, I'm not sure if it was a better idea than it was pay off for me. But I love the way you perform and there's no doubt about that. There's no doubt about how good you are there," Lopez told Adedapo.
"Listen, so, I gotta agree with my friend Jennifer here. I mean, for me, honestly, I love reggae. I want to say, 'Boo-yah'. I want to say, 'Whatever.' I love that. I love reggae, but it kind of came off kind of corny. Right? And you're not corny. You're like our cool kind of like... that's not who you are at all. You're cool. You got mad flavor, but I feel like you weren't quite in it as if you were thinking, 'Is it right? Is it not? I don't know.'" Jackson said.
"You still gotta respect that she took it to where she wanted to take it as an artist. I respect that. I'm just not sure it was the best idea," Lopez added.
"I respect that too, but I'm saying, me personally, I just didn't love it for you. It didn't quite work to me," Jackson explained. "What did you think Steven?"
"Boom-shaka-laka baby! Good for you for picking a song that fits you. I can't say how many times people go up there and sing songs that didn't fit them, and we said so. So I'm going to say, 'Thank you for picking a song that fits you,'" Tyler said.
Megia -- who was one of the 10 finalists voted into the season's Top 13 finalists by home viewers -- had performed John's "Daniel" to mostly good reviews from Jackson, Lopez and Tyler.
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"That was beautiful! That was really beautiful. I like what I'm seeing this week with all the contestants and how much they're internalizing all the songs. You did that, and this was very well suited for your voice as well -- the melody of the song was -- I think it was a beautiful moment for you. Very beautiful," Lopez told Megia.
"You know what I liked about it? There's a couple things I liked and a couple things I didn't like. What I liked about it was that it was a very relaxed side to you that people could hear your beautiful voice. There were a couple little pitch issues here and there, but the other thing for me that I didn't like is that it was still, once again, very safe. So, I don't know how that's going to help you in the voting or what's going to go on, but yeah. Interesting, interesting, interesting night tonight," Jackson said. "Steven, what do you think, man?"
"I think that when you find the right song, then the voice appears, right? That's what happened tonight. I think you sang a great Elton John song well," Tyler added.
In addition to McDonald, Casey Abrams, Lauren Alaina, Haley Reinhart, James Durbin, Stefano Langone, Jacob Lusk, Scotty McCreery, and Pia Toscano also still remain in the running for American Idol's tenth-season title.
Over 55 million home-viewer votes were cast following Wednesday night's performance show, which set a new Idol record for this stage of the competition, according to Seacrest. However, meaningful comparisons are difficult given Idol's tenth season is the first season to give viewers the ability to vote online in addition to via telephone and text message.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
