American Idol, does it matter who wins? Recap from May 12

By April MacIntyre May 13, 2009, 15:51 GMT

03/05/2009 - Kris Allen - American Idol Top 13 Party - Arrivals - Area - Los Angeles, CA, USA © Chris Hatcher / PR Photos

"American Idol" has some terrific singers remaining, and has said goodbye to Allison Iraheta, who many think will have a brillliant musical career ahead of her, depsite her elimination last week.

Adam Lambert is a cover boy; Danny Gokey has a huge following, and Kris Allen has a sly killer smile and a giant group of fans too. 

Will there be "losers" at this point? Based on the success of past "almost" Idols, the guys all have their futures seemingly set.

Amidst all the singers last performances, the rumor mill suggests Simon Cowell is done with "Idol."    Last night he took on fellow judges' Kara DioGuardi and Randy Jackson.

Kris Allen's first performance was OneRepublic's "Apologize" chosen for him by DioGuardi and Jackson, when DioGuardi admonished Allen's interpretation of the song.

Simon turned to Kara and said, "It's a copout. ... You can't choose a song for him then blame him for doing the song, you didn't hold up to your responsibility."

"You're gonna tell me about interpreting songs?" DioGuardi shot back. "Have you ever interpreted a song in your life?"

Kris Allen, Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey each performed a pair of selected songs, one by the judges and one of their own.

Allen did a great rendition of Kanye West's "Heartless" that gave him high marks from the judges, with Jackson calling it "better than the original" and Cowell noting Allen had sung himself back into the race for the "Idol" winner's slot.

"I had written you out of the competition," Simon said. "That all changed with that performance."

Danny Gokey sang Terence Trent D'Arby's "Dance Little Sister," then did his pick of Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful," with an acoustic guitar and a string quartet accompaniment.  The judges loved it. "It was stunning," DioGuardi said. "A vocal master class," Cowell concurred.

Adam Lambert was assigned Cowell's pick of U2's "One," slowing it and changing it up. Jackson was so-so about the performance. Cowell beamed, Lambert's pick was Aerosmith's "Cryin'," which also blew the judges away.

It's anyone's game at this point.

Talk back and tell us who you voted for, and why.