American Idol's Jacob Lusk Performs Luther Vandross' "Dance With My Father" on the Top 7 Show

American Idol's Jacob Lusk Performs "Dance With My Father" by Luther Vandross on the Top 7 Show. The Top 7 were given 'Songs of the 21st Century' as tonight's theme. Host Ryan Seacrest asks Jacob, "What does it mean to sing Luther tonight?" Jacob replies, "It's scary, cuz Luther was an amazing singer, one of my favorite singers. And to be compared to him, you got to do amazing. And, it's his Birthday today. Hopefully, he's looking down and smiling when I sing the song." Jacob choose Luther's "Dance With My Father", a song with a lot of meaning to him, because Jacob's father passed away when Jacob was only 12 years old. "It's just a song that really speaks to my life," said Jacob who couldn't get through rehearsals without breaking down and crying. Jacob "dedicated this performance not only to my father, but to all the fathers out there and to everybody who's lost their father and everyone who doesn't know where their father is, or doesn't feel they have one."

So, what are the other Top 7's observations of Jacob Lusk? Jacob thinks they will all say he's "loud and silly." But, pal Scotty McCreery says, "I think the universal term for Jacob Lusk is "Diva".

Jacob gave an amazingly emotional performance of this Luther Vandross classic. There were parts that were absolutely brilliant. Unfortunately, Jacob's emotions overwhelmed him several times, and he had a hard time maintaining control of his normally perfect vocals. Jacob brought many people to tears with this performance!

 Steven Tyler raved, "Luther Lusk! Baby, you are so good. You remind me all the time the reason why I love music. Your daddy was up there listening to you, and it was a beautiful thing." Jennifer Lopez critiqued, "It’s hard to perform when a song means that much to you. And that's one of the tricks of being a performer ~ you have to learn the control. You have the emotion there, you want to share that with the audience. You want to give them all of you. You want to bare your soul, but at the same time you have to have enough control to find the notes, to start when you're supposed to, all the things you need to do. Emotionally, it was a beautiful performance."

 Randy Jackson added, "I've got to agree with Steven and Jennifer. Emotionally, it was a great performance. Vocally, it was good, but it didn’t make me jump up and down. And I keep waiting, every week now...I need the return of the old Jacob. I need to see you go through the roof. Go off the top. Like you saw James do earlier, just don’t hold back any more. I feel like someone's taken a racehorse and put restraints on it. Every now and then there's a bright spot, where you hit the high note. If you're here next week, go for it. Don't hold back. I need the church kid back." Jacob, not used to criticism and bad reviews, said "Something happened with the track, it was drums and stuff in my ear." Jlo, normally so nice to the finalists, set Jacob straight, saying, "I was referring more within the song, and the notes, and different places where I know he can sing it so much better, but because you have so much emotion, it takes you off." Wow! That's the first time Jennifer's ever been harsh with a contestant!