American Idol Eliminates Half Of Season 23 In Hollywood Week — Did Your Favorites Survive The Arena?

"Can't we just keep them all?" Carrie Underwood asked during Monday's American Idol, which marked her first time suffering through Hollywood Week from the other side of the judges' table.

And her stress was completely understandable. Having to narrow 144 singers down to 62 would have anyone crying out for Jesus to take the wheel — not to mention the added pressure that came up with the return of the Idol "Arena," a musical lion's den in which each contestant performed at random while surrounded by their entire competition.

Let's get the bad news out of the way first: It's the end of the road for several early Season 23 stand-outs, including Landynn Kennedy, 20, whose performance of Anthony Hamilton's "Her Heart" was upstaged by a better singer doing the same song; Insite, 18, who failed to recreate the magic of his heavy metal duet with Underwood; Sam Sparks, 25, who wasn't quite "locked in" to Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues"; and Carsen Webb, 16, who had a great hair day... but not such a great voice day.

Bad news was also delivered to Freddie McClendon, 19, who famously used his audition to honor his late father; Pat Johnson, 25, a singer-songwriter who initially impressed the judges with his silky smooth vocals; and Lola Bonfiglio, 19, daughter of Wilson Phillips singer Carnie Wilson.

Now for the good news! These singers (among others not specifically called out by Ryan Seacrest) are moving on to next week's "Head to Head" portion of Hollywood Week:

* Slater Nalley, 17, who showed another side of his storytelling with the original song "Foolish Pride." Underwood told him, "That was so good, I'm scared." Honestly, I'd put this guy in the Top 10 based on his name alone.

* Amanda Barise, 26, who brought the damn house down with Etta James' "All I Could Do Was Cry." When she was finished, all the judges could do was shower her with praise. "You are not an underdog," Luke Bryan told her. "You need to feel like a queen."

* Thunderstorm Artis, 29, who made the judges fall even more in love with him through his performance of "My Last Dying Breath," a song he wrote for his wife. "I've got nothing," Underwood told him as far as critiques. "Just give me more of that."

* Breanna Nix, 25, who channeled the feeling of missing her husband and son into an emotional performance of Lauren Daigle's "You Say," which Nix considers her personal anthem.

* Jamal Roberts, 27, who performed the same song as fellow contestant Landynn Kennedy and (no offense!) blew him out of the water. More soaring and less screaming went a long way here.

* Sonny Tennet, 25, who gingerly answered two questions for us this week: What if Ed Sheeran released a cover of Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing"? And what if it was really, really good?

* Baylee Littrell, 22, who has a future on Christian radio regardless of how he ends up doing on Idol this season. Littrell's dad (aka Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell) was mouthing along to every word of his son's original song "Hey Jesus," about Baylee's return to faith following the death of his grandmother.

* Victor Solomon, 26, who was easily my favorite singer of the night. With Easter fast approaching, he took us all to church. Forget "Grandma's Hands," he had everyone's hands up by the time he finished treating our ears to that Bill Withers classic.

* Crews Wright, 17, whose mature take on Conway Twitty's "Goodbye Time" had Bryan asking, "Are you sure you're 17?"

* Josh King, 24, the self-described "nervous wreck" who fully redeemed his so-so audition with an undeniable performance of Rick Astley's "Hopelessly," which he dedicated to... his fellow contestants! "If you had done that in your audition, you would have had three yeses," Underwood told him.

* The judges also sent through MKY, 25, and Nina Daig, 25, though we didn't get to enjoy full performances from them this week.

Which contestants are you most excited to see again in next week's Showstoppers round? And were you disappointed by any of the Idol Arena eliminations? Drop a comment with your thoughts on Monday's results, plus any other feelings you have about Season 23 thus far, below.