My top three are:
1. Chris-my pick to be the AI winner. He brings it everytime. Almost every performance looks and sounds like a concert.
2. Mandisa-Runner up. Great smile, energy. She also brings it everytime. But her plus size will keep her out of the winner's column.
3. Paris-Has a good voice, but her personality, confidence, and presence really belie her years. I can easily see her making records and videos.
The rest:
4. Lisa-Her low score might be the wake up call for her. She has a great voice-perhaps better than Paris, and a very marketable look. But she is too rigid, too perfect-similar to Ayla. She has to find a way to let her hair down, sing youthful, fun songs. She didn't come off sincere singing the Stevie Wonder tune the other night. Once she hits the right balance, finding songs that fit her and connect with audience she will be dangerous.
5. Taylor-He has such exuberance and he kills the more soulful, bluesy type songs. He finally came alive last week and continued doing his thing this week.
6. Elliot-He has a nice voice, good vocal control. But he doesn't have the "right" look. I don't see him making videos, being on magazine covers. I can see him doing back up work, or putting out more Adult Contemporary/Jazz type albums.
7. Katherine-She has a good voice, but I think Mandisa, Paris, and Lisa are all better. What carries her is her great personality and her looks. She needs to stick to songs that really show her bubbly, magnetic personality.
8. Ace-His niche is definitely ballads. He needs to stick with them so he can stare into the camera at all times and hypnotize people, especially the ladies, with his Doomgaze.
9. Bucky-Bucky has an okay voice. I don't see him making it to the final 4, but I think he will cut a record or two. He knows who he is and what he likes. And his cover of "Superstition" was better than I thought it would be.
10. Kellie-Not the strongest voice, but her Ellie May, country bumpkin personality is appealing. She did disappear in the Stevie song she did the other night. She needs to stick to more upbeat stuff, or something that can allow her to keep a rough edge to her voice.
11. Kevin-His Stevie cover was his best performance, but this guy shouldn't have made it this far and even he knows it. I think he has a sympathy vote and some Simon backlash working for him. His voice has limited range and he can't sing anything outside of Josh Groban.