Community Corner

Mount Pleasant's Elise Testone Gets American Idol Decision Tonight

Already in Top 10, singer finds out tonight if she's advancing.

Mount Pleasant soul singer Elise Testone wowed American Idol judges and critics on Wednesday when she sang Billy Joel's "Vienna."

Viewers will find out tonight if it was good enough to advance into the next round of the popular FOX singing competition.

The 28-year-old voice coach and singer is currently in the Top 10, but she needs strong voting from the at-home audience to make it through to the next round. Watch videos, read commentary on Huffington Post.

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"I feel great," the singer wrote on Twitter. "I was honest with the delivery of the song and felt like myself!"

Testone has lingered in the bottom of the pack for two weeks, and she has already been saved by the judges once previously.

Find out what's happening in Mount Pleasantwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On Wednesday, however, her performance received props from the judges, but her song selection left some critics wondering if it was enough to win over Idol's young audience.

"All over the place and you still stayed in the room," Steven Tyler said. "You picked your song, you picked your dress, they know what they're going to do with the votes."

"It was such a beautiful thing," Jennifer Lopez said. "I really feel like everybody got to see your personality for the first time."

"And that vocal performance ... she had a moment tonight," Randy Jackson said. "That run at the end is so difficult, I don't know any singers that could probably sing that other than you."

Bloggers agreed that Testone had a strong performance, but there were some doubts.

"I'll say one thing: Elise knows what she's good at," wrote USA Today's Brian Mansfield. "And this song -- which I haven't heard since I was in high school and The Stranger album was new -- is an excellent choice for her voice. But it may not be such a great choice if she's looking for new votes, which she definitely should be, assuming she wants to win."

"Elise Testone, who spent the last two weeks biting her nails in the bottom three, did a total tear-down on “Vienna,” turning it into a jazz tour-de-force," wrote Jim Farber of the New York Daily News. "The result allowed her to display her skills as this season’s most distinct singer, as well as the one with the most sophisticated phrasing."

"So how was Testone on stage? Frankly, it wasn't her best, but she performed admirably," wrote Chris Haire of Charleston City Paper. "It was smokey and bluesy and jazzy and sexy… Hopefully, Testone's performance will keep her out of the bottom again. But since she's not a cute boy, well, we all better start praying and hoping and dialing the frikkin' phone."

Voting is open for the two hours following performance nights. The show airs on Wednesday and Thursday at 8 p.m.


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