Lauren Alaina Returns to Mentor Two Contestants in “American Idol’s” Farewell Season

The heart and soul of Season 2 – now featuring the “tightest mustache” Ryan Seacrest’s ever seen – joined All-Stars Fantasia Barrino, Scotty McCreery, Lauren Alaina, Caleb Johnson, and Nick Fradiani to mentor and duet with the Season 15 semifinalists. If Emily scores a comeback in her duet, that could save her. Maybe the judges will come to their senses and kick off Thomas. She added, “I dream about voices like yours”. The 23-year-old performed A Great Big World’s 2013 hit, “Say Something”, and all of the judges had very positive marks about the performance. Lopez said Bourg looked natural, noting that he “did what Mackenzie does”. It’s hard to get a real grasp with these short performances – and these songs were s-h-o-r-t! It was a great song choice, and she gave one of the best performances of the night.

La’Porsha Renae and Fantasia, “Summertime” – We’re surprised that Fantasia wanted to even recreate her most-iconic performance in the history of the show, but we’re SO glad she did.

“It was freakish”, the superstar said once she finished the song and McCreery exited the stage. Keith warned James to be careful choosing between “being chill and being indulgent”.

HollywoodLifers, who do you think should be cut tomorrow night? This was two ladies with wonderful voices singing together and it was beyond intense! Stephany’s performance of this Jessie J was bold, like she’s bound to do, but once again, I’m missing some soul here. It felt as though he was giving her the whole stage, and fell by the wayside.

Emily Brooke followed, singing “I Am Invincible” by Cassadee Pope. Jennifer didn’t think the song played to Brooke’s vocal strengths. Despite her talent, I have yet to get excited over any of her performances. Her uber-exuberance, while sweet, comes off a little unprofessional, though.

Next up, Avalon Young sang Studdard’s own “Flying Without Wings” with Studdard. Urban agreed, but urged her to “take charge” more. The energy really built, but Urban and Lopez thought it was too theatrical. Connick sensed Sonika was nervous throughout the song, but thought it was “adorable”. Emily was forgettable, but at least she wasn’t as brutal as Wednesday’s performance.

And unfortunately Thomas Stringfellow got the same critique. It sounded technically good and showed impressive range and control, but fancy voices, but without a sense of loneliness or loss, this performance fell flat. Connick warned him about upstaging the person with whom he’s performing. Keith was also impressed with Thomas’ tendency to “lean into abandonment”, urging him never to pull himself out of that and “let yourself go”. “You’re going to make the others better or you’re going to make them want to quit”.