Stop! In The Name of My Ears: Top 12 Performance Recap

Coming into tonight, I was excited. I mean, this is the beginning of the phase of the competition true-blue Idol-holics like myself fiend for...the countdown to number one. I was ready to be blown away.

I gotta say...I was thoroughly underwhelmed.

(My list of best-to-worst appears at the bottom. You can click on any contestant's name to get more detailed comments on their performance.)

Before I get to the performances, a few notes on the show:

- Did anyone else notice that winners Ruben and Taylor were conspicuously missing from the "Idol success" montage at the beginning of the show?
- Paula cried during the second performance of the finals. That's gotta be some sort of record.
-How about that homoerotic exchange between Simon and Ryan? Boys, boys, save it for the bedroom.
-Diana Ross invented a new musical expression..."you've got to pronunciate the words." Um, I think she meant enunciate. And then Paula actually used the word enunciate in her comments. Genius.
-They've gotta be better next week, right? Right?

So, yes, there was a standout performance (the sensational LaKisha Jones, who was every bit as good if not better singing "God Bless The Child" than she was during her first semfinal performance) and a strong second best (Melinda Doolittle, who I thought was solid as always on "Home", but not as vocally dynamic as I would have hoped). It's moving beyond the clear top two that it starts to get a little dicey.

Jordin Sparks did fine with "If We Hold on Together", I thought, but was overpraised by the judges, while Phil Stacey improved upon his last couple of performances with a well-sung but still far short of spectacular version of "I'm Going To Make You Love Me." Chris Richardson became the first AI6 finalist to stampede into the audience to get to the middle platform (I hate it when they do that!), and he wandered all around the pitch, but was adorable as always, so I wanna cut him a little bit of slack. Gina Glocksen, as promised, brought back her "edge," but she lost her sense of fun in the process and was entirely uninspiring and forgettable singing "Lovechild."

Stephanie Edwards forgot her words singing "Love Hangover," but at least she covered, which is more than can be said for Brandon Rogers("Can't Hurry Love") and Haley Scarnato ("Missing You"). Shockingly I'm giving my most improved award this week to Sanjaya Malakar. Mind you, I still think he was abominally, embarrassingly terrible, but ever-so slightly less so than the last three weeks. So, Sanjaya, kudos for that.

Which brings us to Blake Lewis("Set Me Free") and Chris Sligh("Endless Love"), both of whom re-arranged their songs to the displeasure of the judges. Now mind you, I didn't particularly care for Chris' performance, and I did think Blake could have shown off his voice to better effect, but I don't like that the judges are dissuading the contestants from being musically adventurous. Yes, a classic is a classic, but if the success of Kelly, Carrie and Chris has taught us anything, its that in order to be successful once you've appeared on Idol you have to show that you can be musically relevant in today's marketplace. When forced to sing inane themes like "the Diana Ross songbook," they have to figure out a way to infuse their own flavor into the performance, and I admire Blake and Chris for trying something that hasn't been done before.

So, who's gonna go? I need a bit more time to think on it. Because there are so many contestants there is a lot of potential for a surprise result due to vote-splitting, but I'd be shocked if it wasn't Brandon, Haley, or Stephanie (of course I'd like to see Sanjaya given the boot, but chances of that happening first week out are pretty slim). Guess we'll have to wait and see...

My Rankings, from best to worst: (Click on a contestant's name to read more detailed comments on their performance)
1. Lakisha Jones
2. Melinda Doolittle
3. Blake Lewis
4. Jordin Sparks
5. Chris Richardson
6. Phil Stacey
7. Chris Sligh
8. Stephanie Edwards
9. Gina Glocksen
10. Haley Scarnato
11. Brandon Rogers
12. Sanjaya Malakar