This week, the American Idol contestants channeled their own idols. With only nine contestants left, everyone decided that tonight was going to be the night to step up and show America that they could actually sing.

While the singing was above average (especially compared to last week’s screech-fest) However, we’ll get to that in a second because what The Ashley really wants to discuss is the creeptastic outfits that Tommy Hilfiger dressed these poor kids in. Seriously, I spent most of the night screaming “Who lied to you!?” at my television set because the outfits were so bad (and I’m just kind of a lunatic.)

Anyway, since there were only nine contestants left, the bigwigs at ‘Idol’ decided that not only would the kids sing their own song, but would also sing an additional song in trios to help fill up the whole two hours. (It was either add extra songs or make us sit through 15 additional minutes of J-Lo’s Kohl’s commercials. I’ll take the trios, thank you very much!)

Colton kicked things off with some ridiculously depressing song that sounded like the song that would play while the end credits rolled for some “Twilight” movie. Between the emo-tastic song and the cheesy sheets that were hanging from the ceiling so that they could “sway” in the breeze, the whole thing reeked of Velveeta. (He even got down on one knee at the end of the song to further cheese things up.)

The good news is that I didn’t need to take an Ambien last night; I just watched Colton’s performance again and I fell right to sleep!

Next up was Skylar who (of course) chose Miranda Lambert’s “Gun Powder and Lead.” It was just a matter of time before she sang it. I’m glad we got it out of the way now. I love this chick and I think she’s a great singer, but…did she not look in the mirror before she went out on stage last night? The Punk Rock Barbie mini leather jacket, the tablecloth hanging from her butt….it was quite the fright. You’re killing me, Tommy!

The singing was good, but she will need to change her act up a bit if she wants to make it to the end.

Heejun chose “Precious Secret(s)” for his first-ever “serious” song. He informed the judges that for this week, he was going to cut out all the jokes (and signs of personality) and just sing his song. While he did sound the best that he ever has before, I kind of wanted to hit Jimmy Iovine in the face for taking our wise-cracking little Heejun away from us and replacing him with a guy that looked like he was standing in front of a firing squad the whole time he was on stage.

Hollie sang next. She chose to do that Jesus song by Carrie Underwood, which, normally would have been a disaster because Carrie is so good, but Holly did an outstanding job once again. However, during her performance it became very apparent that whoever is designing the stage for the performances is probably doing drugs. Why did they feel it necessary to turn the stage into a freaking snow globe for Holly’s performance?! She mentioned the word “snow” one time!

Between the falling snow, the white smoke and the blizzard going on in the background, it seemed like they were purposely trying to distract from Holly’s performance. Next week, lose the igloo and just let the girl sing!

Next up was DeAndre who sang an Eric Benet song. The judges, the audience and everyone else in the studio thought it was fantastic. Apparently they were listening to some other performance because all of his wailing and screeching made me want to pour bleach in my ears. (Bring on the hate mail!)

Jessica sang a Beyoncé song, telling us that she has idolized Beyoncé since she was seven years old. That probably made Beyoncé feel very old (I know it made me feel prehistoric!) Both she and Phillip did very well and should have no problem sailing through to the next round.

Joshua really needs to be given the opportunity to bitch-slap Tommy Hilfiger for putting him in that too-tight white and black jacket. It looked like it came out of the girls’ department at Macy’s! However, he too, delivered a stellar performance.

Finally, Elise closed the show with Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love.” I was so happy that she did this song because week after week she is overshadowed by the other contestants, despite the fact that she’s one of the best singers in the competition. She held nothing back last night and her voice has never sounded better.

Of course, no one can match what Adam Lambert did with the song back in 2009, but Elyse did a fantastic job. It was nice to hear her use parts of her voice that we’ve never heard before. If Elyse goes home tonight it would be a travesty.

Going On: Joshua, Colton, Phillip, Skylar

Could Go Either Way: Elise, Jessica, Hollie

Going Home: DeAndre, Heejun

Who do you think should get the boot this week?!

(Photos: Michael Becker/FOX)