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"American Idol&amp;#039;s Top 11 for season nine took to the stage again tonight to perform a Billboard No.1 hit, while Miley Cyrus served as the guest mentor. Here&amp;#039;s what the judges had to say:   Lee DeWyze - &amp;#039;The Letter&amp;#039; by Box Tops  Randy: Says it was a cool version of the song to perform and he &amp;quot;knocked it out of the box&amp;quot;. Ellen: Tells a story about her favorite pen running out of ink and being upset until she manages to revive it again, saying: &amp;quot;My favorite pen is back. That was fantastic!&amp;quot; Kara: &amp;quot;You have raised the bar,&amp;quot; she predicts. &amp;quot;I have never heard you sound better, look more comfortable - you are finally owning the stage.&amp;quot; Simon: Is really surprised he chose that song because it wasn&amp;#039;t a recording performance even if he sounded good. Thinks he missed his point about having a moment because the song didn&amp;#039;t define him as an artist.   Paige Miles - &amp;#039;Against All Odds&amp;#039; by Phil Collins Randy: &amp;quot;That was honestly terrible,&amp;quot; he says, adding that her pitch was all over the place and nothing came together. &amp;quot;I know you&amp;#039;re probably better than that.&amp;quot; Ellen: Starts with the positive point that she didn&amp;#039;t fall down in her high heels, before saying she looks stunning and is going to hand the music critique to Kara and Simon. Kara: Suggests she stopped competing and listening to what the judges said at some point. Says it is a big song but it was the &amp;quot;worst vocal&amp;quot; she has ever heard from her and possibly from the season. Simon: &amp;quot;It was like there were five of you singing that song and it got progressively worse each one,&amp;quot; he says. Adds that she will probably be in serious trouble and Kara is right when she suggested she has stopped competing.   Tim Urban - &amp;#039;Crazy Little Thing Called Love&amp;#039; by Queen Randy: Says it&amp;#039;s hard for him because this is a singing competition and the &amp;quot;vocals were so boring... like bad karaoke or something&amp;quot;. Ellen: Appreciates that he has lots of fans but it felt like an audition for High School Musical because it was &amp;quot;corny and pushed too hard&amp;quot;. Kara: Agrees with Ellen describing it as Zac Efron/Hairspray. Thinks little girls will love it but he didn&amp;#039;t do enough with the song and he acted like he already made it during his performance. Simon: Doesn&amp;#039;t think the stage movements were the problem because they distracted from the song, but calls it &amp;quot;completely and utterly pointless and silly&amp;quot; and an odd song choice among the thousands available. Adds he has &amp;quot;zero chance of winning&amp;quot; unless he starts getting his act together.   Aaron Kelly - &amp;#039;I Don&amp;#039;t Want To Miss A Thing&amp;#039; by Aerosmith Randy: &amp;quot;Thank God you came on stage and started singing,&amp;quot; he says, although he notes the performance wasn&amp;#039;t perfect. Ellen: Says he has an &amp;quot;amazing voice&amp;quot; considering he is so young and that she can already see his career because he is that good. Kara: Agrees and calls it the &amp;quot;best song choice of the night&amp;quot;, praising him on his ability to pick songs that accentuate his strengths. Adds that he needs more stage presence. Simon: Thinks it was a brave performance considering he has a sore throat and his only criticism is he is making himself old fashioned. However he insists there is &amp;quot;zero chance&amp;quot; of him going home.   Crystal Bowersox - &amp;#039;Me And Bobby McGee&amp;#039; by Janis Joplin Randy: &amp;quot;America, the show is called American Idol - that is what being a star is about!&amp;quot; he shouts.  Ellen: Says she heard the song on the radio recently and thought she should sing it. Thinks she has an amazing voice but is still missing a bit of a connection between her and the audience.  Kara: Felt more from the performance this week but questions whether she would consider putting the guitar down in future. Wants to see her free herself and let go completely. Simon: &amp;quot;I wouldn&amp;#039;t change anything,&amp;quot; he says, adding they have listened to a &amp;quot;karaoke competition&amp;quot; until this point in the show, but that performance was as good as Pink&amp;#039;s version of the song and she &amp;quot;nailed it&amp;quot;.   Michael Lynche - &amp;#039;When A Man Loves A Woman&amp;#039; by Percy Sledge Randy: Doesn&amp;#039;t think it was the perfect song choice or his best vocal, but he knows who he is. &amp;quot;The best thing you can do on the show is sing the I-don&amp;#039;t-know-what out of who you are,&amp;quot; he adds. Ellen: Calls it a &amp;quot;safe choice&amp;quot; and compares it to driving at the speed limit, but adds: &amp;quot;This woman loves that man!&amp;quot; Kara: Says it was technically good and he hit all the notes but she found it &amp;quot;boring, loungey and overindulgent&amp;quot; at times which made her lose her connection with him. Simon: Thinks it was almost too much and he would have stripped back the performance because it was trying to make an old-school song relevant. Adds that he has good charisma, a good voice and lots of people like him.   Andrew Garcia - &amp;#039;I Heard It Through The Grapevine&amp;#039; Randy: Doesn&amp;#039;t think it was his best performance and suggests it was the wrong song choice because it wasn&amp;#039;t his kind of vocal. Ellen: Says she loves him and she hopes his fans vote for him because it wasn&amp;#039;t enough to secure support from people &amp;quot;teetering on the edge&amp;quot;. Kara: Says she feels bad for him because he is chasing his moment and it&amp;#039;s playing with his head making him confused. Compares him to a puppet and says he needs to go back to his &amp;#039;Straight Up&amp;#039; moment and look at what he did.  Simon: Suggests they &amp;quot;overrated&amp;quot; his &amp;#039;Straight Up&amp;#039; moment and that Miley gave him good advice to lose the guitar because he was hiding behind it. Blames the arrangement of the song and says he &amp;quot;sucked the soul&amp;quot; out of it and &amp;quot;tortured it and ruined one of the great pop songs of all time&amp;quot;.    Katie Stevens - &amp;#039;Big Girls Don&amp;#039;t Cry&amp;#039; by Fergie Randy: Appreciates that she listened to the judges&amp;#039; past advice and likes that her outfit is slightly younger. Ellen: Thinks it was her best performance yet, and that she sounded and looked great. Says that she is &amp;quot;constantly evolving&amp;quot; and jokes that she is the &amp;quot;Dakota Fanning of American Idol&amp;quot;. Kara: Asks Simon if he still thinks she should go country before insisting that she has found her market in pop with R&amp;amp;B leanings. Adds that she still has pitch problems but she looked comfortable on stage.  Simon: Thinks the outfit is better but is still unconvinced whether she is believable in this genre. Advises her to stick to his past advice because she could find a more loyal market, but says it was a good performance.   Casey James - &amp;#039;The Power Of Love&amp;#039; by Huey Lewis &amp;amp; The News Randy: Says he&amp;#039;s a fan but it wasn&amp;#039;t the best song choice, however he calls him the best musician/guitar player to ever appear on the show and he did the song well. Ellen: Agrees with it not being the best song choice, but brands it the &amp;quot;best vocal of the night&amp;quot;.  Kara: Thinks he&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;on another level&amp;quot; and would have no problem making an album now if he had the right songs. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;re in a zone,&amp;quot; she adds. &amp;quot;Stay in it.&amp;quot; Simon: Disagrees and says he doesn&amp;#039;t know what Kara was listening too because the song was old-fashioned and he didn&amp;#039;t make it current. Compares it to watching an eighties cover band perform.    Didi Benami - &amp;#039;You&amp;#039;re No Good&amp;#039; by Linda Ronstadt Randy: Loved the idea of the song and the outfit but the pitches weren&amp;#039;t right and it &amp;quot;never quite caught&amp;quot;.  Ellen: Says she doesn&amp;#039;t understand the song choice and it wasn&amp;#039;t right for her, but she loves her voice. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;re not no good,&amp;quot; she adds. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;re good!&amp;quot; Kara: Feels like she was playing a character and was trying to be something that she wasn&amp;#039;t which left her confused. Simon: &amp;quot;There was a certain irony in you screeching out, &amp;#039;You&amp;#039;re no good&amp;#039; over and over again,&amp;quot; he says, adding it was like the bad part of a musical and she was almost playing a role.   Siobhan Magnus - &amp;#039;Superstition&amp;#039; Randy: Impressed by the song choice and how she sang it. Ellen: Wants to see even more of her because she is so good. Kara: &amp;quot;You express yourself every time you perform,&amp;quot; she says, adding that she looks more comfortable on stage than anywhere else in life. Doesn&amp;#039;t think it was her best performance but thinks her end note is amazing. Simon: Thinks it will split the audience because some people will love it and some will hate it. Suggests that she shake up the high note by putting it at the beginning because it&amp;#039;s becoming her thing. Concludes by saying all the contestants with the exception of Crystal need to start pushing and choosing better songs. American Idol continues tomorrow night on Fox All Pictures: Copyright: Fox "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/american-idol/news/a210353/american-idol-top-11-perform-recap/>