Cahaya, I'm confused as to why you have Haley ranked 2nd if she yodels and moos to you??

We obviously have a difference of opinion here. She is exactly the type of female vocalist I enjoy with I raspy voice like Stevie Nicks. I don't see her yodeling and mooing but that's just my opinion. By the way, to me she is sexy as hell!!

Well, I'm exaggerating a bit. Having said that, her attempts at showing off vocal gymnastics made themselves clear in the second half of the House of the Rising Sun song. No doubt she's good at it and I think sometimes these escape the notice of the listener, but I've seen her experiment with this since early in the season to the point where she is now. A lot of people were wow'ed by her HotRS song based on what I read on some other sites (some said best performance all season for anyone), but I've heard and seen better. If Haley stuck with what she was doing the first third or half of the song without straying into trying to do triple axles with her voice, I might have given her more props for that performance.

I still don't view Haley as Idol F5 material, but I think she did a just slightly better job this week than Lauren and even Scotty (who I do think is F5 material) that she deserves her place in my rankings. Lauren was underwhelming with her second song (the first was pretty good though) and Scotty was straying too far from his strengths to the point I almost didn't recognize him.

#1 - Haley - I had no clue what the first song was and I still liked it. It could have been her own single to me. The 2nd song was unbelievable to me, maybe the best song of the year by any of them.

#2 - James - Not his best but still very good and again he showed how much versatility he has. I think the finale will be him and Scotty although at this point I think it should be James and Haley.

#3 - Lauren - This was a toss up for 3rd between her and Scotty. I enjoyed both songs even though neither was outstanding. You can see she is going for it. I like the contrast between the two songs.

#4 - Scotty - I thought he was better the first song as compared to the 2nd. Neither was bad just not as good as the others in front. He will certainly have a productive career as Country vocalist.

#5 - Jacob - I didn't think either song was great. Not horrible but well below the others. He should have gone home last week over Casey in my opinion. He will have a career in the soul genre but should be gone this week.

Overall - I think the bottom two will be Jacob and Lauren if they go by vote totals and Jacob going home.

1. Haley. I think at this point in the season she is the only one I'd be happy to see win. Consistently solid performer. I disagreed with the judges on both songs... I liked the Now better than they did and wasn't as enthralled with her Then.

2. Lauren. I think she did a good job on both songs but until she can be comfortable on stage with who she is she will never be an idol. She always looks like the chubby girl with a negative self image that stands in back on group photos to hide her few extra pounds. Seems nice but needs self confidence.

3. Scotty. Realistically probably has the best chance at making coin when this is all over. Has grown a lot since the season started. I liked both songs but didn't love them, and could never vote for Alfred E Newman as American Idol.

4. James. The guy has a strong voice, incredible range, but he just cant hit the notes. He was all over the board tonight, and I think any other season he would have gotten called to the cleaners on it. I just don't buy him as a rocker, especially a hard rock or metal singer. I think he believes he is, and I think AI wants to move him there, but that doesn't make him anything more than pop-metal... kind of like thinking he's Iron Maiden when he is really Cinderella. The Avril Lavinge Poser Rocker award goes to... James.

5. Jacob. Ugh. Worst song of the season in his butchering of "Love Hurts". The last time I felt as physically wounded by a AI performance was when Carly Smithson sang "Jesus Christ Superstar" for interpretation, but at least she didn't do permanent auditory damage like Jacob.

I think I'm just going to say "ditto" to everything KeithFan said. I agree with his rankings and all his comments.

My husband and I kept switching to AI during the commercials for Survivor. Each of James' performances was really pitchy but I didn't get to see the judges' comments. I'm guessing they didn't call him out on it. He's a very energetic performer but I don't think he has a great vocal range and he's frequently out of tune. The guy is getting a major pass from the judges.

Yep, he is getting a huge pass from the judges. Per usual they mentioned it and quickly brushed it aside as "...but great performance far made up for it".

I miss Simon. He would have said something like "You seem to be a nice guy but you need vocal lessons. Come back and see us when you can actually sing"

I wish Simon was blogging about this season of AI. I think he'd be shredding them all.

I also wouldn't mind hearing his thoughts on The Voice.

Floating my cares away with Agman - 2011