IDOL WATCH: The Top 7 Perform Recent Hits!

This week on Ammmerican Idol, it's...well, usually Idol will officially announce the themes a few days before the show airs, but this week they didn't. So is it a super special, wonderful theme that will blow us right off our feet? Nope, but it is "Songs from this Decade," which limits the remaining seven to songs from the last two years and is usually one of my favorite episodes of the season.

Akon is the guest judge this week; in other news, Tommy Hilfiger's check to the Idol producers must have cleared, because he's back to dispense more advice for the contestants to ignore.

Kellie Pickler's "Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You" will kick things off from Skylar. I know that it's her usual fare - a country song with a big chorus - but for some reason it seemed more on-pitch and I really liked it this week. "That was a perfect way to start the show," J-Lo says.

Colton Dixon is up next with "Love the Way You Lie." As much as I hate to say it because what they've shown of Colton's personality just seems a little too...deliberate, he always picks unique covers of songs and sings them well. This one is no exception and he brings back the piano to deliver a solid performance.

Not content to have an hour filled with performances that keep the show moving at an interesting pace, the show is once again expanding to two hours with pointless duets. First up are Phillip Phillips and Elise with Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know." It's actually very good, but seriously - why, Idol?

Jessica tackles "Stuttering" by Jazmine Sullivan. One of my favorite things about Jessica is that she has a powerful voice, but she really sounds like she's oversinging this one. To be fair, I don't know how the song is supposed to sound - I've never heard it - but this one fell flat for me. The judges, however, love it.

Joshua, who just celebrated his 20th birthday, gets a video message from Fantasia before his performance of Bruno Mars' "Runaway Baby." It's a song that's right up his alley, but whoever's in charge of the visuals included a go-go dancer and disco background, which is just weird. The judges agree that Joshua sounds good, though.

Colton and Skylar perform "Don't You Wanna Stay" by Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson. "You just made love singing to each other, so it don't much matter, much now anyway," Steven says. Things that also don't much matter: Steven's incoherent critiques and these duets.

Next is Hollie, with Pink's "Perfect." With an acoustic guitar player, she sings it as a ballad of sorts, which is a little odd to hear - but I do think she could do well if she picked better songs. "You look beautiful tonight," J-Lo tells her. "We'll see how it all pans out. I'm rooting for you." To be fair to Jennifer on this non-comment, I don't think poor Hollie could handle much criticism. She looks so frightened every time she gets feedback.

Phillip Phillips does the same thing that he always does with Maroon 5's "Give a Little More." I'm not saying that it's a bad thing - he's consistently good, and I feel like I probably wouldn't turn off one of his songs on the radio, which I totally would for some of these contestants. (But I will say that I'm actually glad he brought back the guitar this week because when he sang without it, he looked like someone was stabbing him with needles.)

The final filler performance of the night is Hollie, Jessica and Joshua on Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger." At this point in the night, I'm not even paying much attention to these performances anymore, but I'm sure it was totally fine - and if not, no one cares.

Last to take to the stage is Elise, who gets a video message from Jason Segel and chooses Lady Gaga's "Yoü and I." I don't think that it's just my bias talking when I say that it was a little rough - I definitely feel like it should have sounded a little cleaner. Still, it certainly wasn't bad, and the judges all scream happily at her: "Elise is back!" Randy yells.

Lines are open now through midnight, so vote for your favorites - and don't forget to tune in tomorrow for a performance from James Durbin and to find out who's in jeopardy of heading home!

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