Colton Dixon Makes Skylar Grey’s ‘Love the Way You Lie’ His Own on ‘American Idol’

Colton Dixon continued what Randy Jackson referred to as “one of the hottest shows yet” with a delightfully Colton-esque performance of Skylar Grey’s ‘Love the Way You Lie’ on ‘American Idol.’ And it’s no lie to say the judges ate it up.

Normally one of the rockers in the group, Dixon took the advice of Idol exec Jimmy Lovine and mentor Akon and went a different direction with his performance this week. And, after it was all over, he was thankful he had because he scored big with the judges.

The performance had all the drama of a rock song with fog, a white piano, string accompaniment and a “crazy fly” jacket that Steven and Randy were practically fighting over. But Dixon delivered the deeply felt ballad with the full force. He said in his interview that this song had the potential to be a game changer for him, and he may be right.

J. Lo opened up the judges comments by telling Dixon he should feel good about his performance. She said, “You always surprise me with your approach to the notes. I always think ‘How’s he gonna get there?’” She gave him credit for making it his own, but wished it had been more of a song.

StevenTyler kept the good words going by calling Dixon “a rare talent.” That’s after he threatened to steal Dixon’s wardrobe. He told Dixon he could have recorded that song and sold it to people with no fine tuning and is excited to see what he’ll do with his own songs. Jackson also got a little green-eyed over the jacket and then noted that Dixon stayed true to the sensitivity of the song by hitting the big note in the middle, but not letting the rest of it get so big at the end, as his performances usually do.

Dixon said it best. This performance was definitely his chance to say “don’t count me out.”

Watch Colton Dixon Perform ‘Love the Way You Lie’ on ‘American Idol’