In an astonishing turn of events, country singer Janelle Arthur landed in the bottom two on the 'American Idol' results show on Thursday night (April 4), narrowly avoiding having to sing for her life.

Arthur performed the Billy Joel classic 'You May Be Right' on Wednesday night (April 3), earning praise from the judges for her stage skills and star quality despite a song choice that wasn't a perfect fit. Nicki Minaj even praised Arthur’s relatability, saying, “It’s safe to say Middle America is home voting for you.”

But not in sufficient numbers to keep her out of the bottom two, despite far weaker performances from some of the other contestants Wednesday night. Arthur placed second-to-last after all of the votes were tallied, surviving to sing again next week by a narrow margin, while Burnell Taylor sang for his life and was eliminated this week when the judges did not decide unanimously to use their once-per-season save on him.

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