Three Louisianans made the round of 24 on American Idol—Harvey’s Jovany Barreto, Laplace’s Jordan Dorsey and Slidell’s Lauren Turner. Tuesday night the men performed, and even though Randy Jackson thought Barreto’s version of Edwin McCain’s “I’ll Be” was a bit karaoke, the crowd loved it, Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez loved it, and he’ll be voted by the fans into the next round. Even my wife, who has little patience for Idol, stopped and watched.

Jordan Dorsey killed in his audition and looked from the start like a final four contender, but his performances have so far been overworked, as if he’s trying too hard to show how much he can do. As a result, he’s yet to show the measured, graceful charm of Barreto, and his performance of Usher’s “OMG” last night was shaky. He earned the dreaded “P” word—”pitchy”—but the bigger issue was how frantic and unfocused the song seemed in his hands. It’s hard to see him ending up in the fans’ top five, but it’s also hard to see the judges letting him go this early.

His performance raises one interesting question, though: Who selects the songs? If it’s all him, Dorsey deserves to go home because it’s hard to imagine why anyone would think “OMG” would work in the minute-and-a-half slot allotted for performances. On Usher’s track, it takes 1:27 to get from the chorus that opens the song to the chorus that ends the first verse; in between, the track is sung/spoke, which translates to a minute-plus of barely melodic near-rap and the catchy part only appears at the start and end of the performance. By contrast, Geddy Lee Brett Loewenstern reduced the Doors’ “Light My Fire” to little more than a chorus.

When Jennifer Lopez asked Dorsey if he thought the song represented him as an artist, he was quick to disavow the selection. Was that him crawfishing his way out of a bad decision, or was he saddled with a song that didn’t suit him? Since the show’s as much an attempt to develop a recording star as it is a talent show, it’s fair to wonder if producers test drove Dorsey to see if he could do Usher-like material and reach that audience.

Tonight the top 12 women perform, including Lauren Turner, who’s reported on her second Running of the Idol. According to LaurenTurner.net, she tried out in 2004, where she only made it as far as Hollywood Week. It would be nice if Tyler and Lopez had more to say tonight. They were far more interesting as the final arbiters with Randy Jackson; perhaps their years of performing in front of live audiences and playing for their approval made them respond too easily to the crowd’s love of everybody, but they made Paula Abdul seem like a hard-bitten ballbuster. Lopez seemed to take maternal pride in having the contestants she selected demonstrate why she believed in them, which is sweet but it came off a little self-involved—”See America! I was right!”—though I believe her comments were intended as endorsements of the talent that, ummmm, she recognized.