Only five contestants were left on “American Idol,” as Elise Testone, a 28-year-old vocal coach from South Carolina who excels at hard rock, was taken off the show after receiving the fewest votes among viewers of Fox’s singing competition.
Ms. Testone, the oldest contestant, had struggled for weeks, ending up in the bottom three of the weekly rankings six times. She was finally voted off the show this week after doing impassioned renditions of Queen’s “I Want It All” and a relatively obscure Jimi Hendrix tune, “Bold as Love.”
This week the finalists were asked to do a Queen song and then do a second song of their own choosing. Before their individual performances on Wednesday, the top six finalists did a medley of Queen hits with two members of that seminal band — the guitarist Brian May and the drummer Roger Taylor.
Once again, Joshua Ledet, the 20-year-old gospel singer with a powerhouse voice, was the standout this week, proving he had the range to do a classic rock number with Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and then coming back with a deeply sexy performance of the R&B song “Ready for Love.”
“Is it bad for me to say Joshua’s part of the show is my favorite part of the show?” Jennifer Lopez, a judge, said after his first performance.
But as Ms. Lopez and the other judges have remarked several times, there are no weak performers left in the competition. Randy Jackson said Wednesday that all six finalists who sang this week appear ready to sign a record deal. The season is set to end on May 23, when a new “Idol” champion will be named.
Besides Mr. Ledet, the remaining contestants include Jessica Sanchez, a 16-year-old high school student from San Diego with a prodigious voice and great technique, and Phillip Phillips, 21, a bluesy singer with a singular indie-rock style, who worked in a pawn shop in Leesburg, Ga., before entering the contest. Both have consistently turned in strong performances.
Less secure are Hollie Cavanagh, 18, from McKinney, Tex., and Skylar Laine, also 18, from Brandon, Miss. Both ended up in the bottom three of the ranking on Thursday. Ms. Laine is a country rocker who impressed the judges with Queen’s “The Show Must Go On” and Jason Aldean’s “Tattoos on This Town.” An energetic performer with the requisite Southern twang and girl-next-door looks, she seems to have the country vote locked up.
Ms. Cavanaugh sang Queen’s “Save Me,” a song on which she went out of tune a few times, and then did a passable job on Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb.” She has a big, soaring voice but sometimes has trouble with the theatrical side of singing: persuading the audience she feels the emotions of the song’s narrator.
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