American Idol eliminated Qaasim Middleton and determined its Top 7 artists during the fifth live show of its fourteenth season Wednesday night on Fox.
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Qaasim, an 18-year-old student from Brooklyn, NY, was in the bottom two with Rayvon Owen, a 23-year-old singer and vocal coach from Richmond, VA, based on the nationwide vote following last week's performance show.
Qaasim and Rayvon were therefore each asked to sing a Billboard Top 100 hit after Florida Georgia Line and Jason Derulo served as their mentors. After both singers took the stage, America tweeted in real time to save one of them in a new twist called "Idol Fan Save."
Qaasim performed "Hey ya!" by Outkast. Rayvon sang a stripped-down version of "Set Fire to the Rain" by Adele.
Idol judges Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr. thought Rayvon truly sang for his life and sang the heck out of the song. Qaasim, on the other hand, had an extremely entertaining performance and owned the stage. It seemed to come down to Rayvon's vocals vs. Qaasim's stage presence.
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Home viewers ultimately voted to keep Rayvon in the running, resulting in Qaasim's elimination.
The bottom two were determined after American Idol host Ryan Seacrest announced the Top 6 artists who advanced one at a time based on America's vote from last week. Each singer performed and everyone's name was called except for Qaasim and Rayvon.
The show introduced the "Idol Fan Save" because the judging panel decided to use its one "Save" of the season early on in order to keep Qaasim in the competition.
The contestants still in the running to be named the next "American Idol" are Rayvon, Clark Beckham, Jax, Tyanna Jones, Joey Cook, Quentin Alexander, and Nick Fradiani.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski