Journey Ends for Megan Joy on American Idol

Los Angeles – Someone had to stop believing tonight.

Following a rousing group performance of the Journey classic—was that Danny Gokey or Steve Perry out there?—another American Idol hopeful had to go, bringing the number of aspiring hitmakers down to eight.
In a tiny bit of twist, no contestant knew—for sure, that is—if he or she was safe until the second half hour of the show.
And in a bigger twist, Simon Cowell let tonight's castoff know in no uncertain terms that her swansong was going to be her final solo performance on the Idol stage.
Sure enough, after doing her best bird impression by flapping her wings and squawking to the side when informed she was in the bottom three, Megan Joy's encore of "Turn Your Lights Down Low" was it for her.
"Megan, with the greatest respect, when you said that you don't care—nor do we," Simon told her before she sang. "So I'm not going to pretend that we're even going to contemplate saving you."
Her dismissal wasn't a shock, though.
The 22-year-old single mom had started out so strong—one of his favorite auditions, Simon said way back when—but in recent weeks had taken a lot of heat for bad song choices and then, when the vocals weren't cutting it, for losing her edgy, individualistic style.
"Contestants, you are the best!" Megan said, addressing her fellow finalists onstage. "Judges, I love you. America, I love you," and, to her son, Ryder, "Baby—I'm coing home, baby. I'm coming home!"
Meanwhile, somehow our dear little Allison Iraheta had to sweat it out in the bottom three again—maybe America just isn't feeling her gritty 16-year-old rocker vibe. And rounding out the unlucky trio for the first time was Anoop Desai, who returned to "Beat It" form with last night's Usher impersonation.
We're thinking he was scared straight enough tonight to steer clear of the dance-happy R&B tunes from now on.

Before Ryan Seacrest got down to business, reigning champ David Cook, who canceled two concerts in New Hampshire and Rhode Island this week to deal with family matters, turned in a rather Idolicious pretaped performance of his new single, "Come Back to Me."
Then Kris Allen, whose stock has been skyrocketing the last couple of weeks, got the first chair on the safe side. He was followed by Matt Giraud, who was in the bottom three last week after a great performance and then followed it up with a so-so take on the Fray last night.
But apparently the voters—who numbered more than 36 million—knew how to save a life.
Also safe were Adam Lambert (duh), Danny Gokey (duh) and Scott MacIntyre, who rebounded with a people-pleasing Billy Joel tune yesterday.
Allison found out that America was at least slightly behind her after Lady Gaga showed up to sing "Poker Face."
The Top Eight will perform song from the year they were born next Tuesday.