The Top 9 tackled the Lennon and McCartney songbook on Wednesday night to try to win America’s votes.

In a night of big songs, some contestants rose to the challenge, while others seemed to struggle to stand out. Song choice and a lack of emotional connection to the songs seemed to be the judges main complaints, and some early favorites continued to dominate the competition.

Kree Harrison

Twitter: @KreeAI12

Kree chose The Beatles hit “With A Little Help From My Friends”, but based her performance on the funkier Joe Cocker version of the song. Watching Kree’s performance, you would have thought it was an encore performance at her own solo show, she was so at home onstage. Judge Nicki Minaj said she likes that she always puts her own “Kree-dom” on it.

Burnell Taylor

Twitter: @BurnellAI12

Burnell chose one of The Beatles’ most-loved songs, “Let It Be,” and for someone who wasn’t familiar with the song, you would never have known it from his performance.  Wearing a jacket made entirely of belts, Burnell changed very little about the classic melody of the song, but his unique voice still allowed him to make the performance his own.

Amber Holcomb

Twitter: @AmberAI12

Amber looked beautiful tonight, singing a lesser-known Beatles song, “She’s Leaving Home.” Her voice was very strong in the song, and she showed a maturity well beyond her 18 years. The judges advised her to not be swayed by the fact that she’s singing a song she doesn’t know or like, and to not let it show in her performance.

Lazaro Arbos

Twitter: @LazaroAI12

Not a good night for Lazaro. Dressed in shades of ketchup and mustard, he sang “In My Life”, and mentor Jimmy Iovine worried he would have trouble with the song’s tempo.  He didn’t seem to have any tempo problems, but the judges were pretty tough on him about choosing the wrong key, and singing out of tune.

Candice Glover

Twitter: @CandiceAI12

Candice livened up a show of mostly ballads with The Beatles’ “Come Together.” After struggling with lyrics in rehearsals, Candice killed it onstage, pouring buckets of sass into her performance.  The song was a great choice to show off her range, and her new rocker chick persona.  The judges’ only critique was for her to sell the performance more with her face.

Paul Jolley

Twitter: @PaulJolleyAI12

Paul chose The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” this week, hoping to stand out with a dramatic performance.  Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect, and the judges came down on him for being bland and forgettable.  They also said he seemed disconnected from the song, and wasn’t putting enough emotion into his performance.

Angie Miller

Twitter: @AngieAI12

Angie chose The Beatles’ most-covered song, “Yesterday,” and while that leaves a lot of risk for comparison, she still stood out with an outstanding performance.  For all the criticism other finalists have received for not putting enough emotion into their performances, Angie delivered a perfectly tender and genuine rendition of this classic song.

Devin Velez

Twitter: @DevinAI12

After ending up in the bottom two last week, Devin chose to do his own take on the ballad “The Long and Winding Road.”  With such a gorgeous, smooth voice, it really seems like he can go no wrong.  He mixed the classic song up a little, made it a little more R&B, with lots of runs.  Randy Jackson was glad to see that Devin had his swagger back.

Janelle Arthur

Twitter: @JanelleAI12

The Oliver Springs, TN, native chose another lesser-known Beatles song, “I Will.”  While other finalists struggled to combine a country sound with The Beatles’ classic pop, Janelle was able to marry the two perfectly.  It was a very sweet and tender performance, and a great contrast from her uptempo number last week.

Ryan Seacrest revealed at the top of the show that previously-eliminated contestant Aubrey Cleland will be joining the Top 10 on tour this summer, as the winner of the AT&T American Idol Live! Tour Fan Save.  Fans voted for her after her performance of “Out Here On My Own” during last week’s results show.

See which contestant goes home this week in tonight’s Idol results show, airing at 8/7c on Fox.

Which finalist had the best performance this week?  Who do you think is headed home?

Photo credit: AmericanIdol.com