'American Idol' recap: Hooray for Hollywood Week

As "colossal pressure cast its shadow onstage," the misery of Hell Week was palpable. Couples therapist Ryan Seacrest chatted up various contestants as their most basic bodily functions failed them time and time again. People were dropping dead all over the place. They'd be going home to nothing. Why can't you understand that?

Still, there were plenty of bright spots in last night's first-round Hollywood Week episode. The warblers got to ride in Ford rental cars. J. Lo wore all white, like an angel, of death. Steven Tyler even skipped! "I want you to edit the skipping out. You know that," he warned the producers. Yes, they know. They don't care.

I can't believe we saw ZERO new singers and no John Wayne. Anyway.

These happy people made it through:

Brett Loewenstern and his voluminous cloud of curls. It was as if the lighting had been carefully curated for his hair and his hair alone. Screw those other people and their stupid faces. Brett added some odd little grunts to the ends of some of the words in "Let It Be" ("wisdom-uh," "trouble-uh"), but his vocal was strong and pure. I liked how the 15-year-old classed things up with a black jacket and Star of David necklace. "That boy's got the blues!" we heard J. Lo say. She thinks a few people have the blues, it turns out.

Rachel Zevita must have flipped on her "instant extrovert" switch because she was all zany jazz hands before beginning "Warwick Avenue." The 22-year-old from New York seemed more confident than she has in the past. Thia Megia sailed through with "Summertime" and Casey Abrams once again created his own new beat for "Lullaby of Birdland." I was relieved that his voice rang out pretty well in the bigger space, and that he looked like less of a scrub with his solid dark outfit.

NEXT: Idol producers envision eventual Baby Durbin/Baby Tassin romance

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