PHILLIP PHILLIPS may have delivered the last minute knockout punch needed to get himself into the finals of American Idol by singing a Bob Seger song of all things on the pimp spot of tonight’s semifinals (May 16, 2012).

For his first song of the night, Steven Tyler chose Beggin’ by Madcon for Phillip to sing. Jennifer called it awesome and said Phillip always messes with a song but he can ride it all the way home. Steven called the performance beautiful and hopes Phillip will write his own songs. Randy said Phillip is always in the zone–and has been ever since the start. He called it an incredible performance.

Watch Phillip Phillips perform Madcon’s Beggin’ in the YouTube video clip below:

For his second song, Phillip chose to sing Matchbox Twenty’s Disease. Jennifer said that it was an easy performance for Phillip but she did not feel like it was the wow performance that we are needing right now. Steven felt the same way and said “it wasn’t over the top.” Randy said, “You guys didn’t love that? Wow, this is weird, people say we always agree and here we go again. It was such a subdued moment, you can do that in your sleep, it was just OK.”

Watch Phillip Phillips perform Matchbox 20’s Disease in the YouTube video clip below:



Jimmy Iovine picked an oldie but a goodie as Phillip’s third and last song of the night. After earning himself a standing ovation by the judges for his performance, Randy told Phil that this was his best performance ever on the show. “Jimmy Iovine, the perfect song at the perfect time, your best ever. Finally when you need a moment, you had a giant moment. We wanted you to sing a melody, you got it dude, you got it, you are in it to win it, he is ready.” Jennifer said, “There are about a million girls out there that wish you were singing it to them, it was like a lullaby, perfect.” Steven said, “You sang like you didn’t care, you have all that passion wrapped up in you.” Steven said Phillip nailed it and called it…you guessed it…”over the top!”