'IDOL' WATCH: Down to 8

In a shocking turn of events, tonight featured the first of the top six gentlemen to head home. Each of the three ladies were called up first, eventually learning that they were each safe on the night. After that, the night was a complete shocker, ending on a sad note for one of the contestants.

"Idol" began with the remaining contestants performing a somewhat odd arrangement of Lennon/McCartney tunes, including Here There and Everywhere, Got to Get You Into My Life, The Fool on the Hill, All You Need Is Love, She Loves You, and The End. I thought the songs seemed as though they were thrown together a little haphazardly, but it was nice to see each singer get the chance to stand out with a solo. I also really enjoyed the black and white outfits that gave the singers a really nice, cohesive look.

Jason Derulo was the first performer of the night, giving one of the best guest performances so far this season. I must admit, I am a big fan of Derulo's music already, but I thought the performance was excellent. I hadn't seen Derulo perform before, so I was surprised by his extremely smooth moves and impressive dancing abilities. Even Simon called the showing "Absolutely great" when asked his opinion following the performance.

The bottom three, as many were surprised to learn, consisted of Michael Lynche, Aaron Kelly and Andrew Garcia. I doubt anyone could have predicted this group to receive the least amount of votes and it seemed clear these three were shocked to find themselves in this position. Aaron Kelly was the first to be saved, leaving the bottom two to consist of Garcia and Lynche.

After learning the bottom three and sending Kelly to safety, Rihanna, one of pops biggest stars, performed her new single, Rock Star 101. It was a very different song than we are used to from Rihanna, in that it is much slower and more of a rock than a pop song, as the title implies. I was impressed to discover that Rihanna sounds as good live as she does on her recordings, but I was a bit disappointed by the song and the performance in general. It just seemed that, with as big of a star as she is, Rihanna should have been able to give a much splashier performance.

We then learned that Michael Lynche was the one to receive the least amount of votes this week. The contestants, as well as the audience seemed shocked by the news. Lynche performed his best song to date, This Woman's Work by Kate Bush. Even with the unexpected news, Lynche gave a great performance. This would clearly be the first time all season when the judges would seriously have to consider handing out their save.

After much debate, the judges decided, thankfully, to keep him around for next week. This is the one time the judges will be allowed to save a contestant from elimination and it was the right choice. Lynche gave one weak performance and shouldn't be sent home based solely on that. Perhaps I should have titled this article, "'IDOL' WATCH: Still at 9"?

This does bring up an interesting dilemma for next week and the contestants will have to be on top of their game, since two of the remaining nine will now be sent home. The contestants will be coached by "Idol" runner up Adam Lambert for a to-be-announced theme. The next week of "American Idol" will have the top nine perform on Tuesday, April 13th at 8:00pm EST and the results show will air, April 14th, beginning at 9:00pm EST.

"American Idol" is a reality competition to find new solo musical talent, created by Simon Fuller. It debuted June 11, 2002 on the Fox network and has since become one of the most popular shows on American television. It is currently the #1 TV show in the Nielsen Ratings and is one of only three that have been #1 for five consecutive seasons. The cast of "Idol" includes judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi, and Ellen Degeneres, and host Ryan Seacrest.

The program aims to discover the best singer in the country through a series of nation-wide auditions, and subsequent viewer voting. Through telephone voting, America has chosen past winners Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, David Cook, and Kris Allen.

Several "Idol" contestants have been seen on the Broadway stage, including Barrino (The Color Purple), Hicks (Grease), Clay Aiken (Spamalot), Diana DeGarmo (Hairspray, Hair), Josh Strickland (Tarzan), Tamyra Gray (Rent, Bombay Dreams), Constantine Maroulis (The Wedding Singer, Rock of Ages), and Ace Young (Hair).

"American Idol" airs on Tuesday and Wednesday nights on Fox at 8PM EST.