The Hollywood Reporter confirms Idol appearance by Haley

[LegallyReinhart]

I don't think they'll present it as a "tape" of Lana Del Rey. I think Jimmy is strategizing and believes a lot of Lana del Rey fans may tune in and he can use her appearance to expose them to Haley. If this hypothesis is correct, Jimmy would want Haley to perform first.

I understand this reasoning, but Lana Del Rey does not have much of a fan base. She's still a new artist struggling to really get the music out there. She had a big opportunity to do just that on SNL earlier this year, but she botched it with a pair of bad performances. She became more of a laughing stock after that instead of a legitimate emerging artist.

Jimmy is likely trying to use AI to give both Lana and Haley a boost. A boost of credibility for Lana (if she actually sings well & this is probably why it was taped last night to ensure the best performance for her) & a boost of sales (and remember her!?) for Haley.

The taped performance is likely to be done first -- when the idols are off the stage, so that it can be seen as "live." It is a lot harder to do the camera trickery later on when the Idols have been broken into safe & bottom 3.