ABC Louis Knight on 'American Idol'
On tonight’s episode of ABC’s American Idol, the top 40 contestants will be narrowed down to the top 20 in advance of the eventual live voting portion of the competition.
The showcase and final judgment episodes were pre-recorded in January 2020 in Hawaii. The episodes were paired with a clip of host Ryan Seacrest explaining that the show was airing pre-taped episodes.
Following tonight’s episode, Idol will air two episodes of American Idol: This is Me. These episodes will consist of unaired clips of the top 20 performing in earlier rounds of the competition alongside their backstories. The episodes air on Sunday, April 12 and 19 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
WARNING: Spoilers for the Top 20 of season 18 of American Idol follow. Read at your own risk.
Who Makes It Through on Tonight’s Episode?
There are 15 contestants performing on tonight’s episode, and 12 of them made it through to the top 20.
Aliana Jester
Cyniah Elise
Arthur Gunn
Faith Becnal
Grace Leer
Franklin Boone
Julia Gargano
Lauren Mascitti
Lauren Spencer Smith
Makayla Phillips
Olivia Ximines
Sophia Wackerman
Two of the performances from tonight have been released ahead of time, and they both made it through to the top 20. Those performances were by contestants Olivia Ximines and Aliana Jester have been posted on Idol’s YouTube channel. Ximines is a 17-year-old high school student. She delivered an energetic performance of “Proud Mary” by Tina Turner for her Showcase round accompanied by her own choreography.
Jester performed “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman. The judges were thoroughly impressed with her performance.
Which Contestants are in the Top 20?
Here’s a whole list of the contestants who have made it through to the Top 20 on Season 18 of American Idol:
Aliana Jester
Dewayne Crocker, Jr.
Cyniah Elise
Arthur Gunn
Faith Becnal
Dillon James
Grace Leer
Franklin Boone
Julia Gargano
Jonny West
Kimmy Gabriela
Jovin Webb
Louis Knight
Lauren Mascitti
Nick Merico
Lauren Spencer Smith
Makayla Phillips
Olivia Ximines
Sam Diaz “Just Sam”
Sophia Wackerman
When the American Idol season is able to be picked back up, the judges will no longer be the ones in charge of who makes it further in the competition. The performances will still be taped in front of the judges, who can make comments, but the actual results will be decided by viewers who will be able to vote on who they’d like to move forward.
The American Idol live shows have been postponed for the time being, so there will be two episodes in a series called American Idol: This is Me that will look more closely at the top 20 contestants in the season. They’ll show footage that has not yet been seen by viewers and talk about each contestant’s journey so far. Those episodes air on Sunday, April 12 and Sunday, April 15.
ABC production has no solid plan with how to go forward from that point on since developments happen on a daily basis.
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Who Makes It Through Tonight on ‘American Idol’ 2020? 4/5 Spoilers