Ryan Seacrest: (Introduction) Ace is up next. What's he gonna do for us? Let's see...
Intro clip... Ace: This week I'm gonna show America a little bit more of a rock edge. I'm going to do a Grammy Award winning song that went double platinum by one of my favorite groups called Train. The song is called "Drops of Jupiter".
Ace sings...
¯ Now that she’s back in the atmosphere ¯ With drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey ¯ She acts like summer and walks like rain ¯ Reminds me that there’s time to change ¯ Hey, hey ¯ Since the return from her stay on the moon ¯ She listens like Spring and she talks like June ¯ Oh-oh oh-oh ¯ Yeah-eh eh-ah ¯ Tell me did you sail across the sun ¯ Did you make it to the milky way to see the lights all faded ¯ And that heaven is overrated ¯ Tell me, did you fall from a shooting star ¯ One without a permanent scar ¯ And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there ¯ (Na-na na-na na-na, na-na na-na na-na) ¯ And are you lonely lookin' for yourself out there ¯
(Cheers and applause)
Randy Jackson: Wow... A'right, so yo. Man I gotta tell yer, I don't know what's goin' on tonight because once again... completely the wrong song for you and you didn't sing it well. (Loud 'No's and boos from the audience) It's like... I dunno what's happening. I mean with all those songs to choose from Ace, I mean... it didn't have a soul vibe in it... you got that little soul thing you do like *NSYNC. It didn't happ... It was a completely different song for me, for you. I did not like this dude... I dunno.
Paula Abdul: Ah, I'm... (To Randy) I'm not gonna be as harsh as you are on that. I don't think... I... It's refreshing after the last few performances. However there is one thing I will agree. You've chosen really great songs in the past. It... to me, it wasn't my most favorite, but I still think you did a good job. And you sh... Is that a scar you were showing us playing on... ?
Ace: It's a real scar, yeah? I have a real scar on my chest. (Ace pulls back his shirt and the camera gets close in on the scar. Some girls in the audience start screaming!)
Paula Abdul: One day you'll have to explain to me how you got that one.
Ace: You got it.
Simon Cowell: (Raised eyebrow tone) Paula!
Randy Jackson: Paula, listen! Paula.
Ace: (Laughs)
Paula Abdul: (Explaining to Simon) Why he has a scar going down there!
Randy Jackson: Oh, no, no, no, no! Oh, oh, oh. Go ahead Simon.
Simon Cowell: Thank you Paula! (Audience laughter)
Paula Abdul: What are you talkin' about.
Simon Cowell: Look, I know what Randy... Randy is saying here Ace, because if you... if, if the theme is the 21st century all of you have a chance tonight to prove you are as good as the contemporary artists around today. That wasn't a great vocal. You're not going to remember that as a great vocal. It was just... I actually thought it was quite karaoke actually. (Audience boos)
Ace: (Pulls a face, then smiles)
Randy Jackson: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Simon Cowell: I did... I did.
Ryan Seacrest: (Greets Ace on stage and shakes his hand.) Okay... Ace! All right man. Okay. How surprised are you by that feedback, because your heart was in that song.
Ace: You know what? I like the song, I'm glad I chose the song, I felt the song, so... (Big cheers)
Ryan Seacrest: How did you get the scar?
Ace: A long story short. I was playin' basketball and I landed on a T-bar.
Ryan Seacrest: Okay.
Paula Abdul: Thank you Ryan.
Ryan Seacrest: Yeah.
Paula Abdul: Thank you.
Ace: Yeah. Supposed to hold up a tree (?)
Ryan Seacrest: I don't know what he was talking about Paula.
Ace: (Laughs)
Ryan Seacrest: (Gives out the voting numbers) Good luck Ace. Thank you very much.
Ace: Thank you. (Shakes hands with Ryan)
Ryan Seacrest: Appreciate it man.