As the school year comes to an end, so does the popular campus singing competition, Ship Idol.
The weeks quickly went by as the competition that started off with 10 contestants is now down to three.

Gillian Dolen, Emily Keen and Emily Bentzel took the stage on Tuesday, April 10, for their most important performances so far.

These were the performances that determined whether or not they would make it to the finale and become the top two Ship Idol contestants.

Now that there are only three contestants left, each singer sang two songs; a song from the ’90s and a song from The Beatles.

Bentzel was the first singer of the night. She sang “My Heart Will Go On,” by Celine Dion.

Audience members were a little thrown off by her song choice because it was already sung earlier in the season by Alexis Matthews during Theme Song Week.

She forgot some of the words, but she came back strong after the bridge, which the judges said was their favorite part.

Bentzel is known for always singing soft ballads, which made judges somewhat disappointed that she did not pick a more upbeat song. Her second song of the night was “Imagine,” by The Beatles.

Although it fell into her typical ballad category, judges loved the way she sang this song.
The only critique the judges had for Bentzel was that it was too predictable and once again they urged her to pick a faster song.

The second singer of the night was Dolen. Her first song of the night was “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” by The Beatles.

Once again, Dolen performed with confidence and was very upbeat.

The judges said she did a good job and were very impressed that she could sing a lot of words in one breath, since the song was very fast and wordy.

When Dolen returned to the stage for her second performance, she sang “You Were Meant For Me,” by Jewel with accompaniment by Brian Clark on the guitar.

Dolen showed off her alto voice and used a lot of emotion as she sang. The judges said it was her best performance so far throughout the competition.

One judge even said to her, “Last time I said some pretty D-head things, and this time you shut me up.”

This comment had the audience laughing and put a big smile on Dolen’s face.

Keen started her performances off on a soft, mellow note by singing “Blackbird” by The Beatles. The judges said it was very pretty and because it was a very slow song, it could have been awkward, but she did a great job at engaging the audience.

Her next performance of the night was the opposite of her first. Keen chose “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” by pop princess Britney Spears. Keen worked the song as though this was her last.

The audience cheered and laughed wildly as Keen strutted and shimmied all over the stage.
The judges said that she defined the ’90s by choosing this song.

Like always, it was a night of great performances, but this night was more intense because it was time to find out who had made it to the final two.

Over the past eight weeks, the audience has come to love Dolen, Keen and Bentzel and did not want to see any of them leave.

The audience was shocked when it was revealed Bentzel was eliminated from the competition.
As she sang her final song, the audience cheered loudly and gave her a standing ovation.

On Tuesday, April 17, Dolen and Keen will battle it out to see who will become the 2012 Ship Idol.
This night will be packed full of performances by the final two contestants, previous contestants from this season and other seasons.

The last round of Ship Idol will be at 7:30 p.m. in the CUB MPR.

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