The Tennessee trio on American Idol has been reduced to a twosome.
Paul Jolley has his day in Dresden last Saturday but the Weakley County native was eliminated from the Idol competition on Thursday night.
However there is still a 25% chance that a Tennessean will become the next Idol and the first woman in five years to win the title as Oliver Springs’ Janelle Arthur and Nashville’s Kree Harrison easily advanced to the final eight in a week that was dedicated to the music of The Beatles.
The 23-year-old Jolley received mixed reviews from judges Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey, Keith Urban and Nicki Minaj for his performance of the classic Eleanor Rigby last night. Prior to hearing that he was in the bottom three, he received his Paul Jolley Day proclamation from host Ryan Seacrest.
When Seacrest informed Jolley that he received the fewest fan votes and thus had to “sing for his life” in order to get the singular judges’ save this season, his cover of “Alone” sealed his fate as he seemed resigned to the fact that his Idol journey was over.
Meanwhile, the effervescent Ms. Arthur was the breakout star of the week with her rendition of “I Will” from The White Album and the judges were unanimous in their praise.
Ms. Harrison was the first to sing last night and she turned in another solid performance of “With A Little Help from My Friends.”
The eight remaining finalists will pay tribute to the music of Motown next week. Round three takes place starting at 8PM Wednesday on Fox 61 with results on Thursday.