text: Jennifer Lopez on Why Casey Abrams Was Rescued on 'American Idol' - Rolling Stone
  Jennifer Lopez on Why Casey Abrams Was Rescued on 'American Idol'
  Lopez says she and the other judges knew they had to keep the dynamic performer in the running
  Credit: Tony Duran/FOX.; Michael Becker/FOX
  The decision to save American Idol's Casey Abrams from elimination sure was a polarizing one, but judge Jennifer Lopez insists it was the right move.
  "We knew that it was kind of a radical decision because it was so early in the season, but to be quite honest...that is one decision that I haven't lost one ounce of sleep over," Lopez, 41, told Idol's Ryan Seacrest Wednesday during his KIIS-FM radio show.
  When Lopez and fellow judges Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson convened after America voted Abrams, 20, into the competition's bottom two March 24, the verdict was clear-cut.
  "[Casey] is one of our most dynamic performers. He's so interesting and so talented," Lopez told Seacrest. "I know it's crazy, but we had to do it!"
  VIDEO: Watch another Idol performance that wowed the judges
  Abrams -- in the bottom two with Stefano Langone -- was visibly stunned by the rescue. "Are you kidding?!" he sputtered, trembling with the good news. "Oh my God! It's unreal!" the camp counselor said, once Jackson cut his "sing for your life" performance of "Don't Need No Doctor" off early. "I started singing and the fact that you cut it scared the stuff out of me!"
  As the remaining Idols prepare to belt out Elton John classics on Wednesday's show, Lopez is confident in the current contestant pool.
  "Now it's up to America. I really feel we put 11 amazing contestants in front of them, and now it's [about] who their favorite is, who's going to be their American Idol," says Lopez, who admits she has no regrets about using the one and only judges' save of the season so soon.
  "I didn't realize I was going to fall in love with the contestants the way I have and feel for them the way I do...[but] I feel good putting [the voting] in [viewers'] hands."