End of the Road for Stefano

The bottom 3 this week consisted of Haley, the bluesy babe, one of only two girls left in the competition, Jacob, the resident gospel great and Stefano, the wild card and R&B romantic who has been winning Jennifer Lopez's heart since his first audition. JLo, however, kept her fingers crossed for Haley, stating she didn't want to see another girl go home. She got her wish, Haley was the first contestant sent back to the safety of the couches, leaving Stefano and Jacob to suffer through a Katy Perry performance and God knows how many commercials. Finally, Jacob was safe, but I'm thinking it wasn't by very much. This was his second time in the bottom in as many weeks and he seems to be losing himself and his voters as the competition slugs on. Jacob used to wow the crowd with his energetic and soulful singing. His vibrato is one you either hate the sound of or turn the TV up for and his wild high notes used to leave the judges on their feet and literally asking for more. But the last couple of weeks I have noticed, and apparently so has Randy, that Jacob has been holding back. Maybe someone whispered in his ear that he was going too far, or that he would lose America's vote by being too gospel. Randy asked him last week to bring more of himself to his performance and this week begged him to not hold back. So it's not just me, Jacob is definitely scared to take America to church, the thing that got him this far in the first place. Next week, if he could read this, I would advise to put on his Sunday's best and do exactly what we know he is capable of. But back to Stefano. The kid had a lot of heart and you could see that he was trying each time he stepped on that stage. He was losing votes and remained in the bottom for awhile which is usually not a good sign on this show. We knew his time was coming fast and once the outrage of several girls going home week after week took over the Idol buzz online and in the media, after Paul, Stefano was the most likely choice to go home. The other boys, as popular as they may be, should definitely watch their backs and never feel safe. Girl Power does indeed exist and Haley and Lauren are holding on strong. See you next week.