08:32 AM EST on Thursday, February 23, 2006

Ayla Brown, the 17-year-old American Idol contestant from Wrentham, Mass., performed Christina Aguilera's "Reflection" on Tuesday night's live performance show of the hugely successful TV hit.

The judges rewarded her with lukewarm praise.

Randy Jackson said it was a very ambitious song choice, and he was pleasantly surprised with Brown's performance.

Simon Cowell, American Idol's designated bully, said "There's a limit to where your voice can go, and I think in that song we discovered where that was, toward the end."

But Cowell, who had called Brown's singing "robotic" at an earlier performance, said he was pleased to hear some emotion in Brown's singing this time around.

"I think that's very important . . . this time it was more real. I think it was was one of your better performances. You did good," he said.

Tuesday night, the 12 female contestants sang. Last night, the men had their turn. Tonight, on a show that starts at 8 on Fox, the two men and two women who received the fewest votes from the public will be eliminated from the competition.

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Kid Rock has won an initial victory in his attempt to stop a California company from releasing an explicit sex video featuring the rap-rocker, former Creed singer Scott Stapp and four women.

U.S. District Court Judge John Feikens signed a temporary order that stops David Joseph and his World Wide Red Light District company from distributing or promoting any portion of the tape, including a 40-second preview clip of the video that was previously displayed on Red Light District's Web sites.

Joseph has said the tape involves women from a strip club and was taken in a motor home while the musicians were on tour.

On Tuesday, Kid Rock's lawyers sued Red Light, which made headlines in 2004 by distributing the Paris Hilton sex video. The lawsuit accuses the firm of violating Kid Rock's trademark and privacy rights, and seeks a permanent court order halting sale or distribution of the video.