No one was sent home the week before, as the judges chose to use their save for Casey Abrams, so two singers had to leave American Idol on Thursday night. The show gave us a dramatic intro to lead up to the episode, which was peppered with video montages, performances and recaps from the preceding night.

Voters set a new record for the show, offering up 55 million votes to keep their favorites in the contest. But who managed to win too few hearts and wind up with theirs broken?

First, we were treated to a performance from the season’s two country singers, Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina. Together, the two gorgeously sang “I Told You So.” We can only hope this will be the first of many collaborations between the two. Watch their entire performance in the video above. They were so good together, judges Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler came to their feet.

But, the duo wouldn’t have much time to bask in the warmth of applause. Host Ryan Seacrest called them forward right away to hear their results, and the stage became tense immediately. But both were declared safe, and they were allowed to enjoy the rest of the evening in comfort.

Naima Adedapo and Jacob Lusk were called to center stage next to sing “Solid.” The pairing seemed instantly strange, but they managed to sound decent together. Both singers bring a lot of energy to the stage, and both have very unique personalities, but the number wasn’t nearly as captivating as the earlier pairing. Watch their performance in the video above.

They stood together to hear their results after the lackluster performance. Naima tried an odd reggae bit for her Wednesday performance, but Jacob got great reviews from the judges. Predictably, Adedapo was sent sit and stew, the first of the bottom three. Jacob joined Scotty and Lauren in safety.

Idol’s season 3 winner and VH1 reality diva Fantasia Barrino appeared to sing “Collard Greens and Cornbread.” With such an interesting title, we had pretty high hopes for this little ditty. Fantasia looked very glamorous, but her breathy singing made the performance seem far too dated and we couldn’t understand most of the lyrics. It might literally be one of the worst songs ever written. Watch her entire throwback number in the video above.

Haley Reinhart, Thia Megia and Pia Toscano stepped up to perform “Teenage Dream” in a trio group that immediately seemed like a horrible idea. All three of them have a diva attitude, and we did not see this working out well at all. We were right. The harmonies were jarring, all three looked stiff and uncomfortable and the entire thing was painful. You’ll see what we mean in the video above.

Haley received the best criticism of the three the night before, and she had the luxury of closing the show. But strong performer Pia Toscano was the first of them to be sent to safety, and we can only hope the horrendous group performance won’t hurt her next week. Thia Megia was sent to the bottom three for the second week in a row, and Steven Tyler’s favorite contestant Haley Reinhart was sent off to safety.

James Durbin, Stefano Langone, Casey Abrams and Paul McDonald got together to perform the Wings hit “Band on the Run.” The men, each playing instruments, delivered up a professional performance that became one of the high points of the night. To have four performers on the stage at once was an Idol first, and it shouldn’t be missed. We encourage you to watch the video of their number above.

“You can open up for Aerosmith... next tour,” Steven Tyler told the foursome.

But the warm feelings quickly cooled as Ryan Seacrest read the results. He put Casey Abrams out of his misery first, sending him off to safety. Abrams is not in danger from elimination this week, and he clearly earned his judges’ save. James Durbin was the second to be declared safe, and he joined Abrams. Paul McDonald had to leave his bandmates to sit in the bottom three, and Stefano Langone breathed a sigh of relief.

Jamie Foxx and will.i.am came to the Idol stage to perform “Hot Wings,” a performance we reported on at Albumista, where you can get all your music news, gossips and videos (including Idol's weekly Ford videos). Both men are talented entertainers, and they put on a colorful, active number that you can watch above.

The bottom three (Paul McDonald, Naima Adedapo and Thia Megia) stood on stage holding hands when the show returned from commercial. Only one would survive, and Seacrest wasted little time in revealing that Paul McDonald dodged the elimination bullet -- for this week, anyway.

No need for the eliminated Naima and Thia to perform, and the show was running late anyway. They simply stood on stage saying good-bye as the cameras faded away. Next week, Idol's Top 9 will perform so we can do it all again. Read all our American Idol 10 posts to keep track of all spoilers, gossip and recaps.