Christina on song

Karen van Rooyen

PORT Elizabeth's Christina Williams not only impressed one of the world's most sought- after film score composers, but she also managed to secure a spot in the Idols top seven.

Christina placed among the bottom three last night with musician Bunny Majaja, 26, of Florida Glen and singer Innocent Mabushe, 27, of Phalaborwa.

Innocent was voted off and the judges chose not to save him.

South African-born Trevor Jones, who composed scores for The Last of the Mohicans, G.I. Jane, Notting Hill and Around the World in 80 Days, spent time with Christina and the rest of the top eight last week as they prepared for Sunday night's movie magic anthems theme.

Jones, who has also collaborated with superstars like David Bowie, Sting, U2 and Britney Spears, said he liked Christina "very much".

"She has a very specific range which I think in time she will develop and evolve to learning more repertoire," he said.

To Christina, he said: "You're a natural performer and it's very exciting to see that."

Christina, 21, performed Adele's Oscar-winning ballad Skyfall from last year's James Bond movie.

Judge Gareth Cliff said he had to applaud Christina for performing "the most ambitious song of the whole night".

"For me, it was inconsistent in that there were parts that were so good and there were parts where you weren't filling up those notes enough. I don't know if it was a breathing thing," he said.

"I think this will go down as one of your better performances and congratulations."

Unathi Msenganga said her performance was "incredibly powerful".

"You picked up momentum but I don't think there's anything wrong with that because you picked it up and you picked it up and you picked it up until you were so in the moment, we were all looking at the sky that was about to fall on us because that's how powerful your command was."

Randall Abrahams, often considered the toughest judge, thought Christina was "commanding".

"You sang the notes really well. I thought you should have just, for a moment, let go and just gone silver screen, as big as you can go and you've got to do that because you can just disappear," he said.

The top seven perform again on Sunday, with the next finalist being voted off on Tuesday.