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There's an old adage in the music business that goes something like this: You have a lifetime to make your first album, and six months to make your second. But of course, if you're an "American Idol" contestant, and especially if you're an "Idol" winner, the opposite is true: Just five months after Kris Allen won "Idol" Season 8, his self-titled post-"Idol" debut was out in time for the holiday shopping rush. However, Kris waited two and a half years to follow up that effort with his new album, Thank You Camellia. And now, almost three years to the date of his "Idol" victory, he reenters a fickle marketplace already crowded with Idols (Camellia comes out the day before a new "AI" champ is named, in fact) and yet another John Mayer record.

But you know what? Thank You Camellia was well worth the wait. I wholeheartedly thank Kris, and the powers-that-be, for taking their time with one--and while I'm at it, I want to thank this Camellia chick, too.

photo: Michael Becker/FoxSeason 11's "American Idol" finale is coming up, and while the top two finalists, Phillip Phillips and Jessica Sanchez, have both had their amazing moments this year, some of the finest performances of this season came from contestants who've already been voted off. "American Idol" often works out that way, sadly. But the good news is, the top 12 will return to the "Idol" stage for the finale next Wednesday. And hopefully on Tuesday's final competitive show, Phillip and Jessica will deliver performances as fantastic as the ones listed below!

Here are my picks for the 10 best performances of "Idol" Season 11. Who is on your top 10 list?

Last night, "American Idol's" top two were revealed, and sadly, Joshua Ledet was not one of them. Joshua, clearly the judges' favorite and certainly one of my favorites, rather surprisingly went home in third place, with (the also worthy) Phillip Phillips and Jessica Sanchez advancing to next week's Season 11 finale.

But cheering me up today is another one of my "Idol" favorites, from Season 10, and a fellow Ledet lover: Naima Adedapo, who dropped by to be my guest co-host for a very special episode of "The Day After"!

Season 10 "American Idol" goddess of the growl, the fabulous Miss Haley Reinhart, recently came by Yahoo! Music to perform two songs from the aptly titled Listen Up!--her lushly retromodern debut album (think Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Nicole Atkins, Joss Stone) that is the perfect combination of sass and class.

Check out her performances below, and once again marvel at the fact that this girl only made it to third place...

Adam Lambert performs on "Idol" [photo: Fox]Season 8 "American Idol" runner-up Adam Lambert fabulously performed his new Trespassing single "Never Close Our Eyes," resplendent in yellow neon and silver sharkskin, on "Idol's" top three results show this week--the same show on which one of his favorite Season 11 contestants, Jessica Sanchez, made it to the final two, but another one of his faves, Joshua Ledet, did not. When asked how he felt about this outcome (he'd recently controversially tweeted that he thought Jessica and Joshua "wiped the floor" with the other contestants), Adam revealed that he'd undergone a bit of a change of heart regarding Phillip Phillips.