My thoughts after the first elimination round :
I loved:
* Mandisa - she looked great, sounded great, and kicked ass on a tough song.
* Katherine - She toned down the melisma, and sounded great. Vocally, the most well trained of the bunch and it shows. Shoulda chosen to try Barbra's HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN to really highlight her abilities instead of this one.
* Ayla - I really didn't expect to like her (especially when I heard what song she'd be doing), but I think she did a surprisingly good job with it. I'm Pleasantly surprised.
* Paris - the outfit, the hair... all very retro 70s. Her dancing was a bit over the top, but I loved it. Paris is Fantasia with the better personality.
* Lisa - Yeah, so she smiled too much. But she kicked ass vocally. What stage presence for someone so young !
The disappointment was Kellie Pickler. I was kinda rooting for her but she did not do justice to the song.
RANKED ACCORDING TO PERFORMANCE TONIGHT TOP TO BOTTOM :
Katherine Mcphee
Lisa Tucker
Mandisa
Paris Bennett
Ayla Brown
Melissa Mcghee -- Well, she made me like Faith Hill.
Kellie Pickler
Kinnick Sky (like her humble comment about learning from babes)
Heather Cox -- Tried to do a Vonzell, made people miss Vonzell.
Brenna -- I didn't think it was possible to hate her more, but here we are... Horrible performance and my goodness, she has the worst personality I've ever seen. She can't go home soon enough.
Stevie -- Classically trained opera singer ? Where's the technical polish when you need it ? Needs to go back to school.
Would you like to be added to the Idol ping list?
Melissa looks like Jlia DeMato...
I agree with your ranking. :)
Your rankings are spot on.