The American Idol Top 20 performances continue tonight as the remaining contestants take to the stage at Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa in Ko Olina, Hawaiʻi, in hopes of winning over America and making it through to the Top 14!
The first part of the two-night event saw Kutter Bradley, Jesse Findling, Hannah Harper, Genevieve Heyward, Kyndal Inskeep, Makiyah, Brooks Rosser, Braden Rumfelt, Jake Thistle, and Daniel Stallworth taking to the stage with an amazing series of performances. Now that the first half of the Top 20 has performed, it’s time for the remaining contestants to show off their vocal abilities in hopes of punching their ticket to the next round.
Last week, the first ten artists performed for America, and episode 9 will see the second half of this season’s Top 20 giving it their all as their futures in the competition remain in the hands of the voters at home. This includes Abayomi, Julian Kalel, Philmon Lee, Lucas Leon, Madison Moon, Rae, Ruby Rae, Keyla Richardson, Chris Tungseth, and Jordan McCullough. As with the first batch of contestants, the remaining ten hopefuls will get some words of encouragement from guest mentors Brad Paisley and Keke Palmer.
Following the night’s performances, fans might assume eliminations will be coming our way, but that would be an incorrect assumption on our part.
There is no elimination on American Idol tonight, March 23
Surprisingly, there will be no elimination on American Idol tonight! Despite the March 23 episode bringing with it the end of the Top 20 performances, there will be no eliminations in the episode, as the contestants will have to wait until the show’s March 30 episode, episode 10, to see who will be going home.
It is odd to go two back-to-back weeks without anyone going home, but this was by design, as the show wanted to give the contestants equal amounts of time to secure votes from America. Here’s where things get interesting, though.
In episode 10, “Songs of Faith,” we’ll not only see the Top 14 selected, but by the end of the night we’ll be down to the Top 12 with two additional artists going home based on votes from the night. This means eight contestants will be eliminated on March 30 based on their performances from the Top 20 as well as their performances from the Top 14.
ABC has not yet revealed how the results will unfold, but with the night bringing two eliminations, it's likely we'll see the Top 14 revealed at the beginning of the episode. The Top 14 will then perform songs of faith across the night, with America voting throughout the episode for their favorites. We'll likely then see the final two eliminations of the night as the Top 12 is determined based on America's votes.
It’s wild to think we’ll see the competition cut down so quickly and that episode 10 will essentially bring about two waves of eliminations. ABC will certainly make up for the lack of eliminations in the first two viewer-voted episodes in episode 10 when eight players go home.