I really like reading everyone's rankings, so hopefully people will continue to do that this week. The ego rankings thing doesn't do much for me but to each his or her own!

Be back in a minute with my thoughts.

• RE: Rankings, Top 11 Part Deux,Corvis, 11:55 AM, 03-31-11
  • RE: Rankings, Top 11 Part Deux,mrc, 12:51 PM, 03-31-11
• RE: Rankings, Top 11 Part Deux,emydi, 01:19 PM, 03-31-11
  • RE: Rankings, Top 11 Part Deux,Estee, 02:28 PM, 03-31-11
• RE: Rankings, Top 11 Part Deux,cahaya, 04:17 PM, 03-31-11
• RE: Rankings, Top 11 Part Deux,csnumber23, 05:10 PM, 03-31-11
• RE: Rankings, Top 11 Part Deux,Belle Book, 07:20 PM, 03-31-11

1. Casey - What a bounce back! He was great. Soulful and still injected his style into the song. He keeps that up and he could still go far.

2. James - It's fun to watch what he'll do next. It was way over the top, but I enjoyed it.

3. Scotty - Still good. Still doing the same thing. He really needs to shake it up.

4. Lauren - She did an excellent job with the song. Really beautiful voice.

5. Pia - While it was still mostly ballad-y, it had some soaring emotional stuff that she did well. I just really love the song.

6. Paul - Another good performance. Not wow, but good. I don't know why I'm still digging him; there's just something about him.

7. Thia - Nice job. Real emotion unlike other certain other singers I could mention (coughStephanocough). She's still getting swallowed up on the big stage and that might not have been enough to save her.

8. Haley - It wasn't as good as the judges said. She sang well, but all the rest of it - the vamping, the looks at the camera, turned me off. I felt she was acting and not authentic.

9. Naima - I wanted to put her higher because I do like her, but that just didn't work well.

10. Jacob - I fast forwarded through him.

11. Stefano - I should have fast forwarded through him. He sings inside of himself and doesn't understand how to connect the audience to the emotion of a song.

Swap Lauren and Pia, and I agree with your rankings.

1. James I liked it and love the song

2. Haley-I thought this was her best and of all the women I like her the best

3. Casey-good he added a few growls in near the end

4. Scotty-never heard of the song either but very good and you gotta love grama

5. Pia-this was her best imo but I still don't like her

6. Paul-oh the whisper at the end, the suit, the voice I love him!

7. Jacob-this was worst performance imo his face contortions not withstanding

8. Thia-boring

9. Naima-I wanted to like it it was disjointed

10. Lauren-I hated this, she didn't understand the song and her pronounciation of some of the words really bothered...oh if she could only go during EJ week, what will she do if he shows up tonite? with the baby?

11. Stefano-oh he is just awful. wrong song for him

what will she do if he shows up tonite? with the baby?

Same thing she probably winds up doing when an arrangement puts her next to Jacob: grind her teeth until the result looks like a smile and mentally chant they're all dead and on fire until either the moment breaks or she does.

1. James. Good musical performance? No way. Fun, energetic, and so wild & weird as to stand a chance at being both simultaneous tribute and parody to the original era? Definitely. And was that what he intended? No way -- which made it even more fun to watch. He let his ego take over and it decided to hold a Legalize LSD rally. It was like finding out what Nick would have done with the song: so over the top that it established a base camp in low orbit just to go over that. It wasn't good, but gawds, it wasn't boring.

2. Jacob. He's improving. This time, he made it through nearly seventy percent of the song before igniting the solar sails and taking off across the ether. Imagine what might happen if he somehow pushed himself to 85%.

3. Scotty. I'm still not entirely convinced that song wasn't composed for him six days before the show. 'He's dead until we turn EJ into a country artist! The man's got thirty album releases -- surely no one can remember every song on them. And I've personally never heard of an 'Internet'. Start writing.'

4. Lauren. She has to learn to get out of her own way. (I dearly wish she would get out of mine.) I don't think she's capable of it -- and that, more than anything else, may ultimately stop her as a performer. As a contestant... well, since when do people vote based on talent?

5. Naima. I like to think that of this show's viewing demographics, 65% of them woke up this morning still muttering 'I have no idea what that was.'

6. Thia. Gets one more day to figure out who she wants to be when she grows up. May have as much as one more week to prove worthy of it.

7. Pia. Ten million people woke up with a hole in their memory ninety seconds across. That number is just a little too high to be coincidence.

8. Casey. Tonight, live on stage, a man will sing his entire performance from inside a shell! (One night only.)

9. Stefano. At some point, someone will tell him 'You can do this with your eyes closed!' does not represent the platonic ideal. And it will be about five minutes after we all tell him goodbyte.

10. Haley. I repeat: I was rooting for the piano to catch fire twice.

11. Paul. Okay, this is clearly going to require the classic methods. Stake? Check. Garlic? Check. Grains of rice to throw as a distraction? Check. Sunlight?

Sunlight doesn't seem to be working...

LAST EDITED ON 03-31-11 AT 04:40 PM (EST)

1. James - Hah! This isn't a singing competition. Not even close. Here this guy is, tossing mike stands, walking on pianos, flames going up in the background (looks like production had something to do with that), and dancing all around, up and down, from here to downtown. Oh, and the voice? Goes right with it.

2. Scotty - Playing acoustic, steel string next to him, piano in the background, the country man is in town. Randy had it right when he said it was like watching a bonafide concert. Apart from the background chorus now and then which he could have done totally without, perfect performance. I'm going have to go re-rank my season picks because this guy is going far.

3. Pia - This lady is definitely in a class of her own, and classy at that. Superb voice, rather awesome to watch, really. But at the same time, we know what we're going to get week in, week out from Pia, even if it's close to perfection. It's already clear she won't go do something different that is not her style, and that's eventually going to cost her.

4. Jacob - Classic Jacob, and you know he's governing the throttle on his vocal engine in this song. Fine, simple arrangement that simply showcases the song, heavenly to listen to even without the clouds at the feet and the lights from above. Like Pia, though, we can't expect much different from him, as close to perfection as he is. Even so, I like this guy and hope he goes far.

5. Casey - Not a bad performance, if somewhat weak except for a very nice finish (like Steve I liked that part the most). Casey himself looks weak or tired, and it comes out in the pace and tone of his song. At this stage, with some of the others already picking up their musical instruments, I would have imagined him changing tack and singing along with playing the stand-up bass or one of the other instruments he knows how to play, just to get some liveliness and rhythm into his song, which is what I think was missing this week. Will his fan base rally to his rescue? Given his performance, that's probably an open question. This ranking is more a hope than a possible reality after what happened last week.

6. Lauren - Sweet soft, melodic rendition of this song that fit in nicely with the lyrics - a song that will reveal any weaknesses or pretense. Good performance by Lauren, although I wasn't thrilled by it. Wardrobe could do her a favor, though, by not dressing her with a black curtain to hide her butt.

7. Haley - Ms. Slinky begins spread out on top of the piano, growls a few, yodels a few, b-b-b's a few, steps down, starts waving, growls a few, yodels a few, and b-b-b's the last note.

8. Stefano - Well, there's no way this guy's gonna to win the thing. But at the same time, he's not inept and he's giving it his best shot. Vocally, he's actually pretty good, but his performances have as a whole been forgettable, including this one. Nice touch by him there at the end, though, for the Lady J-Lo. A potential boot, but he might well survive the cut.

9. Naima - Given the backup she had, two electrics, a piano and a chorus and a good stage set, her performance seemed disjointed. Somehow the set, the music, her voice, the song lyrics -- indeed, the whole performance -- didn't mesh. Not to say that she sang badly, it just didn't work as a show piece that would garner votes. I smell trouble, possibly an elimination.

10. Thia - Zzzzzz, *snork* *blink*. And someone else here thought Pia and Lauren were boring. I did a thing I rarely do... I walked away from the performance. Just slap that #5678 contestant number on her dress and call her singing contest material. Sure, she's got a nice sweet voice, but I see her as the star attraction on the Disney cruise ship for the younger kids to listen to. The initial image I had was this: She looked so small, the stage looked so large and dark, it just swallowed her up, never to be seen or heard again. And it'll probably happen.

11. Paul - Well, Rocket Man didn't rock it. Playing acoustic, sticking with his usual tone and within his vocal range, we get a typical and rather ordinary Paul performance. Which pretty much leaves it in the ear of the beholder whether they liked it or not, but not mine. He's the kind of guy a girl sends flowers to rather than the other way around. Just look at 'im! But I'm blatantly biased. I admit it. Especially since I know he won't get the boot thanks to the blissfully space-headed voters whose girlie parts constantly tingle watching him (this said at least a few times by some of the gals here in the ECST!).

#1 - Haley - Loved this performance, she is my favorite of the girls.
#2 - James - Maybe because I like rock but I can see me buying his album and going to his concert.
#3 - Casey - Showed more versatility than I knew he had< should have never been in that position last week.
#4 - Scotty - Yeah, he keeps doing country but why change who he is. No matter when he leaves, he will get a record deal.
#5 - Lauren - A solid performance
#6 - Jacob - Not his best but very good
#7 - Pia - I have had it with her. She is unbelievable to look at and has a good voice but I'm so bored with her stand in one place ballad and scream a couple notes. It is the identical every week.
#8 - Paul - Meh
#9 - Stefano - This guy can't sing at all
#10 - Thia - Even more bored with her than I am Pia and way less talented.
#11 - Naima - I give credit for the risk but this was horrible!

Overall - The bottom 4 on my list could all go tonight and I would be happy. My pick is Paul and Thia go and Naima the other bottom 3 and if they do bottom 4 then it's Stefano.

Here are my rankings:

1. Thia -- beautiful performance! You connected to the audience, and the song was perfect for your voice. Great job!

2. Pia -- you had a great vocal performance but you sang a song Clay simply slayed! I have to take points off for that.

3. Lauren -- lovely performance but Pia was just a little bit better vocally.

4. Casey -- a humongous improvement over last week. You proved you deserved to stay! Good job.

5. Haley -- you did much better than last week and the pimp spot certainly helped you out.

6. James -- you know how to put on a performance, but the fire coming out of the piano was too much.

7. Jacob -- nice restraint on the first part, but you oversang the song in the second half. The song doesn't need it!

8. Stefano -- a better job than last week, and you certainly connected with Jennifer.

9. Scotty -- singing Elton John's only real country song is really too predictable!

10. Naima -- reggae and "I'm Still Standing" just don't go well together! You're in danger now.

11. Paul -- just not good enough. Please go now!