Idol-Talk: Season 10 Top 4 Results Show

American Idol 10: Top 4 Results Show
Air Date: Thursday, May 12, 2011 [8-9pm]

Source: @JDurbinAI10

Almost 72 million votes were cast this week, the highest Top 4 vote ever.

James and Scotty perform "Start a Band."

Ryan announces more season 11 audition stops: San Diego, Pittsburgh and Houston.

Haley and Lauren perform "Gunpowder and Lead."

Video: The Top 4 connect with their families via Windows 7.

The first person in the Top 3 is...Lauren Alaina! My first thought is: Well, it seems obvious now that Haley's the one going home.

VIdeo: The Top 4 prepare for Lady Gaga as their mentor by watching her perform "You and I" on TV. The footage looks like its from her Monster Ball Tour, if not from the HBO Madison Square Garden special itself.

Enrique Iglesias performs "Dirty Dancer" with what sounds like the help of auto-tune.

Ford Music Video: "Fireflies." Love this song!

Jordin Sparks performs her new single, "I Am Woman." The performance begins with a video montage of a few of her previous songs. This new song sounds like she is going in a slightly different musical direction, more grown-up.

Steve Tyler's new music video for "(It) Feels So Good" is premiered. I've listened to this song a few times now, and I just love listening to it! It's such a fun song, and fits Steven's personality perfectly.

The next to join Lauren in the Top 3 is...Haley Reinhart!? Whoh! Now, while I'm a huge fan of Haley's, I never would have thought either Scotty or James would be gone before her. Does this mean now that James is a goner? I'm holding out hope that it's Scotty going home, but I know that thinking is probably useless.

Joining Lauren and Haley to battle it out next week is...Scotty McCreery! James is eliminated. And the Top 4 curse continues (Tamyra Gray, La Toya London, Chris Daughtry).

James Durbin - Eliminated

James performs "Maybe I'm Amazed." Lauren, Haley and Scotty look upset, but I bet inside they're thinking, Our big competition is out of the way. Scotty's biggest competition was James, and now that he's out of the way, there's no stopping Scotty not only being here to compete in the Top 2, but to have Ryan announce his name at the finale.

End Time: 9:02pm - two minutes after schedule end time

Having a Scotty/James finale would have been amazing to watch. Now, we all have to think about who might be joining Scotty at the finale. Lauren or Haley? Obviously, we can make cases for each. My first instinct says that it will be Lauren. But since both Scotty and Lauren are country (even though different types of country), I think they will be splitting the votes this coming up week, which will secure Haley a place in the Top 2. If you become a frontrunner from the start of the competition and peak too early, that might be your demise (Crystal Bowersox), leading the next-in-line to take the crown (Lee Dewyze). It's really all about how you do during the latter half of the competition. And because of that, there's a strong case for Haley being in the Top 2. I'll stop this conversation for now, because I can pick it back up when I make my official Top 2 predictions on Thursday morning.

On Wednesday, the Top 3 will perform three songs each (Judge's Choice, Jimmy Iovine's Choice, Individual Choice). Then on Thursday, Il Volo will perform, as will Nicole Scherzinger and 50 Cent. I'm not really familiar at all with Nicole Scherzinger, so this will be a good opportunity for me to see how she is on stage and familiarize myself with her before I see her on The X Factor this fall. See ya then...

P.S.-Speaking of X Factor, I wanted to say that I have secured tickets to see an audition taping of The X Factor in Seattle at the end of June. I can't wait!