Top 12 Performance: LaKisha Jones

Please note: The artist formerly known as LaKisha will heretofore be referred to as Kiki. It is fabulous, and I love it.

I like that Kiki asked Diana Ross whether she should use a mike stand...it shows she is strategizing and in it to win it. I also like that she didn't listen to her. I mean, what the heck does Diana Ross know anyways?

So, Kiki is singing "God Bless The Child" and she is FIERCE. I thought that she might have set the bar too high for herself with "And I Am Telling You" the first week out, but she cleared that bar easily with a rich, soulful, jazzy, controlled, maturely sexy performance. There are not enough adjectives to describe this performance...it was fantastic.

Grade: A


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