Haley Reinhart Stands Up for Herself Against Randy Jackson's Criticism on 'Idol'

With the theme around songs that inspire the Top 4, Haley Reinhart chose to sing Michael Jackson's 'Earth Song' for her first 'American Idol' (Wed., 8PM ET on FOX) performance this week. It's not one of his more well-known songs stateside, but it meant something to her and she poured her emotion into the song. Jennifer Lopez criticized her choice of song, saying it was a bad move this late in the game. Randy Jackson took the criticism a little further, saying the song was out of her range and she needed to put more into it vocally than she did. But Reinhart wasn't going to take that quietly. When Jackson said, "It felt like to me you were screaming, you were at the top of your range," Reinhart shot back, "That's not the top of my range. I just felt it." 'American Idol' airs Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8PM ET on FOX. When he said she didn't "go there," she retored, "To where?" Jackson then said she needed to bring something extra to it, maybe incorporating runs toward the end rather than hitting the same note over and over again, as Michael Jackson did in the original. "Oh, I didn't know I should even have changed that," Reinhart said. "I thought it was beautiful the way it was." Steven Tyler, of course, jumped to her rescue. He told her to take from the criticism of Lopez and Jackson that they were simply both wrong. What did you think of Reinhart standing up for herself? She came out strong with her second song on the night, but was it enough to make Top Three next week? TV Replay: Watch TV's Best Moments Daily See a great moment on TV? Send feedback & suggestions to TT5@aoltv.com New clips post all day long. Don't miss out, subscribe to our RSS feed Tags: american idol, american idol season 10, fox, Haley Reinhart, reality tv, video

Added 14 Jun 2026