Author: Fred Bronson, Shirley Halperin

Greg Gayne / FOX

With the first of the girls cut loose (read about the results, and our recap, here), there still remain plenty of questions. Namely: who’s going to win? But before we get there: a few “who knew” discoveries about the season 12 top 5.

Angie Miller picked the perfect uplifting song in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, but she chose it days before — who knew? “I picked it right after the elimination show and when the whole Boston Marathon thing happened — it was a terrible day, but I remember listening back to my song and thinking, wow, the lyrics went so perfectly,” the Beverly, Mass. native told The Hollywood Reporter after Wednesday’s show. “I And I knew it had to be dedicated to Boston. I’m so glad that, for some reason, I was drawn to that song.”

Angie Miller can hold her own in the hockey rink — who knew? A beaming Angie said handling the ice like a pro helped her confidence in the other competition: singing for the Idol crown. “I feel like I’m back,” she said. “I’m glad I was able to prove myself and show that I can be just as good off camera.”

VIDEO: ‘American Idol’ Season 12: Top 10 Finalist Red Carpet Interviews

Janelle Arthur can arrange a song — who knew? Singing her own reworked version of Dolly Parton’s “Dumb Blonde,” Janelle says she’s been working on that arrangement for some time. “The arrangement was in my head for a year-and-a-half,” she told THR. “I explained it to [Idol associate music director] Michael Orland. He said OK and we just went with it.” Her aim: “To rejuvenate the song — that’s what I was hoping to do.”

A few years ago Janelle tried out for the American Idol Experience at Disney World — who knew? “I didn’t make it past the first round!” she cracked of her first attempt circa 2009. The irony: as one of the top 5, she’ll now be featured in the attraction.

Season nine’s Andrew Garcia had a hand in Candice Glover’s version of the Paula Abdul hit “Straight Up” — who knew? Her first choice: “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” by Simply Red. But she changed her mind. “I felt like that was the obvious choice,” said Candice. “It’s such a soulful song, but I wanted to kind of branch out from that. I know everybody’s expecting that soul from me.” With Janelle Arthur’s encouragement, she picked “Straight Up” from the list. “I really love Paula Abdul, but I was kind of hesitant,” she confessed. “But once we got the arrangement together — the funky beat of Paula’s version and the acoustic version that Andrew Garcia did — I felt a whole lot better about it. I fell in love with the song even more.”

STORY: ‘American Idol’ Season 12 Tour to Launch June 29

For Amber Holcomb, the more difficult the song, the better — who knew? “The judges get it,” she said of choosing Barbra Streisand’s “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?” and Badfinger’s “Without You.” “The melody is really hard,” added Amber. “I don’t know how to say it in musical terms, but it goes different places that you don’t expect.”

Kree Harrison was roommates with a Pistol Annie and BFFs with country’s next big thing, Kacey Musgraves — who knew? “I was feeling so much rejection in the industry and working a lot of jobs — seeing them have success gave me drive more than anything,” said Kree. “Of course you’re proud and you’re supportive — and they’re doing the same thing for me right now. There’s something in the water with me and my friends.”

Twitter: @Idol_Worship

Frank Micelotta/ FOX

If you were watching American Idol at home Wednesday night, you saw the top nine finalists sing the songs of the Beatles. But you had to be in the studio audience to see all the action off-camera. As always, The Hollywood Reporter was there and taking notes. Read on for a front-row view of 10 things TV viewers didn’t see on the March 20 show.

1. Before the top nine delved into the songbook of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Ryan Seacrest had some results to announce — the winner of the sing-off between Aubrey Cleland and Charlie Askew for the 11th spot on the summer Idol tour. While the results were hidden on a card Seacrest was holding, sharp-eyed members of the audience could have figured out the result prior to the reveal. That’s because there was a camera crew trained on Aubrey’s mother Renee and Aubrey’s boyfriend Alex.

2. You know what the judges think of the Idols’ performances, but what do the executive producers think? You can watch for clues by keeping an eye on Nigel Lythgoe, seated in the front row, audience right. On Wednesday, he was standing up and swaying happily to Amber Holcomb’s version of the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band track “She’s Leaving Home.”

3. Before Amber Holcomb launched into her performance number, she first had to wave the smoke out of her face. Sure, the dry ice concoction makes for a great visual effect, but it can’t be good for your throat as you’re about to sing your heart out.

PHOTOS: ‘American Idol’ Season 12: The Top 10 Finalists

4. During the commercial break immediately preceding Lazaro Arbos’ performance of “In My Life,” warm-up comic Cory Almeida spotted a bright yellow sign in the audience with Lazaro’s name spelled out in big letters. Almeida spent the rest of the break talking with the sign’s creators, two young special needs students named Frankie and John, who revealed they were cousins. Turns out that John is not just a big fan of Lazaro, he’s also wild about Mariah Carey and was especially thrilled when she turned around from her chair on the judges’ platform to acknowledge her excited fan.

5. When Cory Almeida talks to members of the audience, he usually discovers they are fans of one of the contestants or the judges. But tonight he found a fan of someone else. A young man in the audience named Colby wanted to meet and hug executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, who obliged. Colby thanked “Nige” for the opportunity.

6. This might be an Idol first: since phones aren’t allowed inside the Idol-Dome (they’re collected by security at the door and can be reclaimed after the live broadcast), the sound of a ringing phone has never been heard inside the theater. But while Keith Urban was critiquing Candice Glover, there it was — the loud ring of someone’s cell phone. The second ring was muffled, as the perpetrator must have cushioned it. Then, mercifully for the phone’s owner, silence…

STORY: Colton Dixon Returning to ‘American Idol’ Stage Next Week

7. Nicki Minaj uses every commercial break as an opportunity to check her phone and her face (with her handy hand-held mirror). Even when FremantleMedia CEO Cecile Frot-Coutaz, an Idol honcho now based in London, comes by the judges’ table, Minaj barely looks up.

8. While giving her judgment of Devin Velez, Nicki Minaj gave a shout-out to the backing vocalists on his “The Long and Winding Road,” and then gave another shout-out that was bleeped. She quickly corrected herself and said the word she meant to say, “pianist,” as in music director Ray Chew. So what word was bleeped? Let’s just say it’s a word that sounds very much like pianist.

9. Attempting to recover from Nicki Minaj’s misspeak, Ryan Seacrest asked Mariah Carey if she also wanted to make a shout-out, and she did, to her fans — who are called lambs. What you didn’t see on TV is that a young woman in the front row had a rather large stuffed lamb sitting on her lap and it wasn’t even Bring Your Pet to Work day.

10. The judges have their own way of gauging reaction to a contestant’s performance. Nicki Minaj, for example, made sure to turn around and scope out the audience following Janelle Arthur’s rendition of “I Will.” What did she see? Plenty of standing ovations for the country singer from an adoring crowd.

Twitter: @Idol_Worship