Last night, ‘American Idol’ completed its journey of trying to get us to care about it contestants before the live show with a coronation of sorts for the top twelve complete with performances from each member of the lucky dozen.
The unfortunate four who had to sit and watch were Adam, Mark, Alexis, and Loren. No big loss there, as not one of those four had really much of a chance to win. Adam will always haunt my dreams, though. So there’s that.
As for those who actually did make it to the live shows
Here’s this year’s first ‘American Idol’ Power Rankings:
1 – Daniel Seavey
As much as it pains me to say this…The kid is probably going to win. He’s some insane laboratory experiment Frankenstein of all the cute guys with guitars crossed with David Archuleta who can actually sing. Harry made a good point about his inexperience and that may catch up with him, but cute can always overcome that. The voting demographics have changed in the last couple years so he’s not a lock right now, but three years ago the show would have already been over.
2 – Clark Beckham
I’m just overjoyed to see Clark get through to the top twelve. I thought the judges’ comments were going to doom him last week. The fact they didn’t shows that America is able to see how brilliant this guy really is. Of course, it hasn’t been since David Cook won in season seven that the best finalist has actually won the show, so he does have precedent to overcome.
3 – Jax
The true wildcard this season. Jax seems incapable of giving a bad performance because she’s more in control of who she is as a singer than anybody else on the show. However, she’s strange enough that she may not connect with all the voters and up in the typical top-five-but-no-finale slot for female singer/songwriters on this show.
4 – Sarina-Joi Crowe
She gave the best performance of the show so far in the first week, but has dwindled a bit since then. I want to think she should be the favorite given her uncanny ability, but seeing her fade so soon definitely gives me pause. As does the fact that no girl has won since season six. (We don’t count season ten when the producers sabotaged the field against the guys)
5 – Tyanna Jones
Tyanna definitely seems to have struck a nerve so far on this show as the judges have been fawning over her along with voters. She gave her best performance last night, but that only served to underscore how young and inexperienced she is: She’ll struggle with consistency as she has already. ‘Idol’ is as much more about a contestant’s floor than it is their ceiling as one bad performance can doom them. I think Tyanna is the type of contestant doomed for that one bad song.
6 – Nick Fradiani
I’m not totally sure how this guy is even around anymore. He’s definitely a very good front-man for a regional band, but there’s not much to him beyond that limited skill set. The one thing that would explain his ability to stick around is that he is a good-looking guy with a guitar. That type of performer has never really succeeded at his age on this show, but maybe he’s the one break the cute guitar guy mold?
7 – Maddie Walker
I don’t put anything past country performers on this show anymore. Voting demographics on this show seem to have shifted so tightly to the middle of the country that the country contingent always lasts longer than it should in recent seasons. She’s kind of a Carrie Underwood mini-me but even more derivative. That combination probably doesn’t have the legs to win, but she’ll be around for awhile.
8 – Qaasim Middleton
Qaasim is a lot fun, but we’ve seen voters tire of that almost like clockwork around week six when the person doesn’t have the required vocal chops. Qaasim’s enormous pitch problems and general second-priority attitude toward his vocals definitely portend to him filling that dubious slot.
9 – Quentin Alexander
Quentin is such a unique performer that he really needed to demonstrate strong support from the audience for me to consider him much of a threat to win. He needed a judges’ wild card, so I just don’t see him catching on the way he needs to in order to make a run at the title. For the record though, I think the kid might be a genius and his performance of “Royals” last night was a genuine A+ had it been in competition.
10 – Joey Cook
Joey’s not going to win. She’ll get through a few rounds and get past a lot of people ranked ahead of her, but the quirky contestant never wins on this show even when they go up against Lee Dewyze.
11 – Rayvon Owens
It’s a total mystery to me how Rayvon got through purely on the audience’s vote. He keeps showing up and I continue not to know who he is. He’s got a pretty good voice and he’s a good-looking guy, but there’s a complete lack of “It” factor when it comes to Rayvon. I don’t see him hanging on very much longer.
12 – Adanna Duru
Adanna can flat sing, but not as well as Sarina. Based on the fact she needed a wild card, it’s clear the voters agree with me on that one. That’s a big problem because the girls break out like this: Country Singer (Maddie), Kid Singer (Tyanna), Singer/Songwriter (Jax), Quirky Singer (Joey), Belters (Adanna AND Sarina). Being the second best of a particular archetype is always a mark of doom on this show.