Yes, they definitely held back Latoya, they knew what she was capable of. I remember reading a spoiler, even before Week 1, that the first three people that the judges put in the Top 3 were Jasmine, Tiara, and LaToya. They were the favorites to win.2 of those 3 made the Final 12. In retrospect I liked how they did it. They didn't push the top group of singers because they knew they could advance on their own. They pushed the second and third grouping of singers to give some of them an added push to the Top 12. As a result, the field is still wide open. LaToya and Fantasia are probably the favorites, but Jasmine, Diana, and George are coming on strong.
I remember reading a spoiler, even before Week 1, that the first three people that the judges put in the Top 3 were Jasmine, Tiara, and LaToya.I still don't understand why the judges decided to cut Tiara from the wild card night.
Paula is pretty much excessively gentle with everyone. Simon, for whatever reason, goes really easy on John. I guess Simon just likes some variety, and John IS different. The judges keep referring to Sinatra, but John really doesn't compare - at least from what I've seen. While he does have a nice mellow tone (I hear more Mel Torme than Sinatra) when he sings soft songs, he has not shown any power. All the crooners could really belt out the big notes - Sinatra, Andy Williams, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr, Jack Jones - those guys could really belt out the big power notes, and they could also switch up styles. I haven't heard that from John. I'd like to hear him sing a fast song and blow the doors off with one big power note at the end of a song. Then I might be sold. Until I see that, to me he is just a guy with a great sounding mellow voice that can't really sing anything else. I think Randy's figured it out already as he hasn't been nearly as forgiving as Paula and Simon.Camille is another one. She pulled in more votes than 3 other contestants by trembling through her performance. Hey, I feel for her, but do we want the next American Idol to get there via sympathy votes? She defintely should have been in the bottom two, but someone is voting for her. I'd love to see her turn it around, but I don't know if she can get past her stage fright.
JPL doesn't do it for me, but he's got that weird Beck thing going on that makes him stand out.
As good as Fantasia is, her voice seems to irritate as many people as it engages. I don't think she'll be in the top 2 for that reason alone.
Matt, to me, is another Joshua Gracin. Can't really sing, but people like him anyway.
It's anyone's game at this point. Tamyra was a shoo-in for the top 2 in season 1 until she performed a really bad 80's song and got the boot. Latoya seems to be in the lead at this point, but that could be her downfall if she's not careful.