But at the very end, judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan decided to use their one-time-only power to save one competitor from elimination. They chose 17-year-old Makayla Phillips from Temecula.
'American Idol' judges weigh in on best performances
"We thought Makayla, she has an incredible voice and she checks a lot of the boxes," said Perry.
"When you have similar genres, you know, instead of piling up on one we had one choice and we decided to go with a voice that was missing out of that group,' said Richie.
She joins fellow Southern Californians Sophia James and Jonny West, along with Julia Gargano, Arthur Gunn, Dillon James, Louis Knight, Grace Leer, Francisco Martin, Just Sam and Jovin Webb.
The Top 7 will be revealed next Sunday. The "American Idol" winner will be revealed on the season finale on May 17.
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