Alas, Van Pelt did the best she could with what she was given. Her performance of "New York State Of Mind" may have fared poorly compared to Phillip Phillips' performance of "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" but at least Deandre Brackensick's "Only The Good Die Young" forced the seemingly untouchable singer into the bottom three, too.
Things were all made a bit more uncomfortable last night when Lana Del Rey performed "Video Games." Actually, she didn't perform it last night. The performance was pre-taped -- which made it all the more awkward. Performance quality and Saturday Night Live past aside, Del Rey was not good. For what is supposed to be a live show, airing a pre-taped performance and billing it as a live one isn't just misleading, it's disingenuous.
If this kind of thing continues on Idol, perhaps it's best to be eliminated anyway. Consider yourselves lucky, Shannon Magrane and Erika Van Pelt.
American Idol returns on Wednesday, when contestants will perform songs by their personal idols. Surely someone will sing Adele.