AI6: Top-Ten

1. Mindy-Kisha Doolittle - A Pair of Donna Summer songs - The Top two stay the same this week. I just can't pick a favorite anymore between the two of them. I feel more attached to LaKisha, but Melinda is just a little better performer/singer.

3. Gina Glocksen - I'll Stand By You - If she keeps making these perfect song choices, she's going to stick around for a while. Heaping piles of praise from the judges won't hurt either. I am liking her more and more. Hopefully she'll stay consistent.

4. Jordin - Hey Baby - Her performance was an absolute mess. This has been my problem with her that I've said over and over - Because she's so far behind Mindy and Kiki, she HAS to pick the perfect song every week. This wasn't it.

5. Chris Sligh - He REALLY took a hit this week. He picked the right song, but couldn't nail it. Looking so unprofessional at this stage is not a good thing. I love the guy, but he's not going to be around very long with stuff like this.

6. Blake Lewis - The Cure's Love Song - I'm still not sure what I think about his performance last night. He has a great voice and it was cool to see him strip away the gimmick and just sing a ballady song for once. It was a restrained performance and you could see that/feel that. You could tell that he was uncomfortable holding back like that.

7. Phil Stacey - Every Breath You Take - I'm suprised the judges didn't rip him for unoriginality. He once again showed what a great voice he has and this was a very strong night for him.

8. Timberfed - Don't Speak - I still want to punch him in the face. I hated his Boy-Band version of a No Doubt song. It just felt wrong.

9. Haley Scarnato - True Colors - With Sanjina getting all of the VFTW help, I can't believe that THIS CHICK hasn't been booted yet. Am I the only one who is sick of her whoring it up to cover up the fact that she can't sing?!?!? She is the poor man's Katherine McPhee. All Style, no substance.

10. Sanjina - It's just comical at this point. Gwen Stefani ripped on him in her video clip, Simon virtually said "I give up, America likes you for some strange reason". And Ryan ALMOST alluded to the vote-for-the-worst help. He said something along the lines of "To vote for Sanjaya, for a number of reasons, dial......" It was a subliminal slip, if you ask me. And to be quite honest - Although he is absolutely TERRIBLE, he sure is fun to watch every week and as long as it's mediocre people going home and not great people, I don't care if he sticks around anymore. You don't want to watch, but you can't look away!!

AI6: Round One - The Whale Heard 'round the World

1. Kiki (God Bless the Child) - LaKisha can do no wrong. One of the few times that I have thought to myself "Must. Own. Single. NOW!" I LOVE her.

1B. Melinda Doolittle (Home from The Wiz) - Melinda truly proved that #1 - She is one of only two people with a legitimate shot at winning this season, and #2 - She can sing the frickin' phone book! This was perhaps the worst song choice, and the worst Melinda performance yet, but it was still better than 90% of the stuff we've seen this entire season.

3. Jordin Sparks (If We Hold on Together) - The song was a little cheesy, but Jordin showed tonight that she has a VOICE that can compete with the big two. The question is can she compete all-around (personality, stage presence, etc.)?

4. Chris Sligh (Endless Love) - Even before Randy made the comparison, I said to myself "Chris turned this into a Coldplay song". While I commend the effort, and I absolutely love this guy as a person and as a performer, the problem is that Endless Love is NOT a Coldplay song, and the arrangement turned into a complete mess! That misstep might just cost him, too. Dial Idol has him in the bottom three. You can go find the other bottom three on your own, I don’t want to ruin any surprises (since they have been perfectly accurate so far this season).

5. Gina Glocksen (Love Child) – Not my favorite performance by any means, but I still like her. It was a weird performance.

6. Stephanie Edwards (Love Hangover) – I liked it a lot better than the judges did. She did pretty darn good, but she is so overshadowed by the other three women that are in her same style, that she will probably be going home sooner than she should.

7. Blake Lewis (You Keep Me Hanging On) – What the heck happened to Blake?!?!?! He wanted to make it a contemporary song. The problem was, he “modernized” it right up to 1984. Way to go. It’s feast or famine when you make a song your own and try and put it into your own style. Blake’s remix was clearly famine this week.

8. Brandon Rogers (You Can’t Hurry Love) – I figured out what’s wrong with Brandon. He’s a great a cappella singer. Ever since the Semis, when he’s played with music, he’s been terrible. I REALLY wanted to like him, But I just don’t.

9. Phil Stacey (I’m Gunna Make You Love Me) – No you’re not. I guess he’s still a decent singer; he was just way too Michael Bolton-y for me.

10. Haley Scarnato (Missing You) – But we won’t be missing YOU. The good news: She was (barely) better than Mr. Malakar. The Bad news: He’s got a lot of Vote For the Worst steam, thanks to the Howard Stern radio show.

11. Timberfed (The Boss) – If I was on the cruise ship that this guy was singing on, well, I’d be spending a lot of time in the casino. I don’t hate him as much as I did Elliott Yamin, but it’s close.
12. Sangina (Ain’t No Mountain) – How funny was it to hear Simon Cowell call Diana Ross a Whale?!?! Honestly! When he said, “If you hear a giant Wail in Beverly Hills”, I think 100% of American heard something different!!!! What else is there to say. He was bad. We all know he sucks. Now he has to throw in a different crappy hairstyle to his mop every week? Who cares! We always joke about Paula slipping her room key to the male competitors that she pines for. Maybe Sanjina was hoping to get a room key slipped to him from Seacrest.

American Idol - Top 12

I know you've all been holding your breath to see my first rankings of the season for American Idol (at least Crystal has). There isn't a shadow of a doubt that a woman will win this season. I believe the producers helped stack the deck on that side because the WANT a female winner, and let a more watered down group of guys into the semifinals. That being said, my rankings truly reflect how feast or famine it is with the dudes this season.

1. Lakisha Jones - Is she better than Mandisa? I think she is, and Mandisa was my favorite last season until she got the early boot. I love her story, her personality and her freaking amazing voice.

1.5. Melinda Doolittle - She was a solid 2nd until she threw the 90-yard touchdown pass this week. An unbelievable performance with attitude, personality and a dominant voice. I think it's so funny how she kinda "turns off" her stage persona the second she sees Ryan and the judges and turns back into the shy, cute backup singer. But as Simon said, she's a Tiger!

3. Chris Sligh - I don't know how long his voice is going to keep him in the competition. That's the bad news. The good news is. He has THE BEST personality of any finalist in six seasons. He's hilarious and fun and DOES have a pretty good voice. And I really want him to stick around long enough to make David Hasselhoff cry!

4. Gina Glocksen - It's Nikki McKibben with a better voice, better personality and a smarter sense of what she needs to do in this competition. She rocked the house last week and I hope she gets to stick around for a while. I want her in Abba week and in Gwen Stefani week, for sure.

5. Blake Lewis - The only other guy I like besides Chris, and he's probably a better overall performer than Sligh. I was really worried about him overkilling the beatbox thing, but so far he has used it well. I'm afraid for him in coming weeks, because he is such a niche performer.

6. Stephanie Edwards - The beginning of the second tier. She has the goods, but she has struggled for the past few weeks. I really WANT her to be good.

7. Jordin Sparks - Jordin should have waited three years before trying out for Idol, and she could have had a better chance to win the whole thing. I just don't see her being able to make the right song choices every week. And I don't see her being able to outlast the other singers in her "genre group", to put it nicely.

8. Brandon Rogers - Like Stephanie, he's a lot better than he has performed. I want to see him do well, too.

9. Haley Scarnato - Another person who I WANT to like. I don't know if she has the goods to keep sliding through, but I want to see her grow as a singer every week.

10. Phil Stacey - He had been my third-highest guy for a while, but there is just something about him that is starting to rub me the wrong way. This is one person who could end up jumping quite a bit on my list.

11. Chris Richardson, hereforeto be known as TimberFed - I suppose he's a good singer, and he's got the ladies. I HATE HIM. He's Justin Timberlake without actual talent. He's Kevin Federline without a bald ex-wife. He's the poser saggy-pants white guy-who doesn't know he's white. He's Jamie Kennedy's B-Rad in Malibu's Most Wanted. I hate him.

12. Sanjaya Malakar - Can someone PLEASE explain to me what the hell he is still doing here. WHY do people like him. HOW on earth is he still getting the tween vote? The only reason I'm not more upset about it is because really, in the 6 guy/6 girl format, who would have been a better male choice? Sundance (I have another not-so-PG nickname for him)? Jared Hand-over-the-face Cotter? None of them are worthy of the top-12, and that's more of the problem. I would love to see Sabrina Sloan (Guadalupe Streisand) get another crack. I'd like to see Alaina get another shot. They would have been better choices for the top-12, but I digress.