Jessica Sanchez, Joshua Ledet, Phillip Phillips Keep On Wowing 'American Idol'

by UInterviewMay 17, 2012, 12:00 amNews >

This week even judges Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson seemed indecisive about their top three remaining contestants as Wednesday night's season 11 episode — one of the closest competitions leading up to the finals in American Idol history — pit Jessica Sanchez, Joshua Ledet, and Phillip Phillips against each other in three separate performances.

Wednesday's competiton between Sanchez, Ledet and Phillips was broken into three parts. First, the three performed songs that were chosen by the judges, with Ledet covering Etta James' "I'd Rather Be Blind," Sanchez singing Mariah Carey's "My All," and Phillips belting out "Beggin" by Madcon. Tyler, for one, was enthusiastic about all performances, saying Phillips "could be the new age Boss," referring to Bruce Springsteen, telling Sanchez that he believed she'd "be the last one standing here," and assuring Ledet that "there's only one American Idol and you sang like that one tonight."

For the second part of the competition, Ledet, Sanchez and Phillips sang their own choices, but Phillips didn't fare quite as well as his young counterparts with his cover of Matchbox Twenty's "Disease." "I didn't feel like it was the wow performance," the usually-upbeat Lopez criticized, though the audience booed her comment. Ledet and Sanchez, on the other hand, both hit this one out of the park with their renditions of John Lennon's "Imagine" and Aerosmith's own "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" — a risky choice that paid off — respectively.

Phillips redeemed himself, however, in the next category, in which he belted out a version of Bob Seger's "We've Got Tonight" that earned him a standing ovation from the judges. The often-reserved Jackson could barely contain himself, calling it "the perfect song, at the perfect time and your best performance on this show ever." Ledet also came out on top, with a more than respectable "No More Drama" by Mary J. Blige, though Sanchez finished out the night on a low note with her so-so cover of "I'll Be There" by the Jackson Five. The final song choices were vocal coach Jeremy Irvine's.

Find out who will be voted off American Idol and who will advance to the finals on tonight's episode on FOX at 8 p.m. EST.

Watch Phillips' "We've Got Tonight" here: