'American Idol': Joshua Ledet Goes Home

SACRAMENTO, CA.,//MAY18,2012//: PMG News//: For the third straight year, "American Idol" will have a guy-girl matchup in its finale.

Joshua Ledet both crooned and downright shrieked his way into the top three this year, showing a passion arguably unrivaled by the other top contestants. Some of his performances, including "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" and "Ready for Love," were among the best I've ever seen on the show.

So why's he the one going home while Phillip Phillips and Jessica Sanchez move on to the finale?

If you'll recall, Joshua was actually slated in the bottom three males during the top 13 week. It was strange at the time, considering that he'd had one of the most acclaimed performances of the week. It was enough to plant a seed of doubt for me that, regardless of what he did on that stage, Joshua may never attain the same level of popularity as his fellow contestants.

Though it got him this far, so that's saying something.

After taking the news of his elimination (it was either him or Phillip... did anyone really have any doubt?), Joshua killed it onstage again with "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" in probably the best send-off performance of the season. Do I even have to say he'll be missed?

So, America -- Phillip and Jessica in the finale. Happy?

I see Phillip winning the whole thing next week, and as much as it disappoints me to say it, I'm kind of OK with that now. Do I think Jessica is the better singer of the two? Yeah, absolutely. But Phillip's the better artist, and therefore the one more interesting to me at this point. With Jessica, you know what you're going to get. Every week. Phillip? He might piss me off tremendously with a super bad Matchbox Twenty song, or he might pick that guitar like it's nobody's business and do a song totally unlike the way it's meant to be done.

Speaking of guitar pickin' -- I've been thinking about this for a while, and I think Phillip would be tremendous on a Mumford & Sons tune. What do y'all think?

Two singers with new records came on the show this week, with Adam Lambert gaining the upper hand over Lisa Marie Presley in relevance alone. Glambert sounded fantastic on "Never Close Our Eyes," while Lisa Marie was stellar on "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet." I preferred the latter, but I'm also no fun.

Check back next week (on a Tuesday, because "Idol" doesn't care that I have my "Pilates to Michael Bolton" class, I guess) when the top two perform, followed by the two-hour results show on Wednesday.

(C) 2012 PHOTO COURTESY PALACE MUSIC GROUP, LLC