by Lyndsey Parker

There have been some pretty major mentors on American Idol over the years: Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani, and Burt Bacharach, just to name a few. But there’s never been a bigger superstar mentor than the ultimate diva and Randy Jackson’s BFF, Mariah Carey…who uncoincidentally is releasing her new album, E=MC2, this week. Ryan described the woman as “unstoppable,” and while that’s not entirely true–that Glitter fiasco stopped her pretty good, for a while–she is no doubt a positive role model for anyone who’s had to overcome adversity. Because being in the bottom three ain’t nothing compared to what this lady’s been through.

But anyway, as I mentioned in my previous blog about this season’s mentors, usually when an Idol contestant tackles a Mariah song, it proves to be a very, very bad decision. Because the finalist is inevitably–and almost always unfavorably–compared to Mariah. So the finalists seemed set up for failure tonight–and naturally, I steeled myself for an evening of pale Mimi imitations, missed upper-octave notes, and biased critiques from Randy.