LAST EDITED ON 12-22-11 AT 00:10 AM (EST)

Tonight, 'she sang' was high praise, especially since she's just about the only one who did. (Again, we should probably take the pros out of this.) It was the solo performance of the night. If we based the vote on what happened over those ninety minutes and had voters who could actually judge based on singing and cast accordingly, she would win. However, this is a singing competition like the presidential primaries are a comparison of policies among intellectual giants: in theory only. And I suspect tomorrow's practice is going to be ugly.

I can live with a Josh win, and the record label might get some cash out of him. Someone will sign Melanie: I'm just hoping Simon backs up words with cash and doesn't contract-screw her. Chris could potentially vanish faster than match-touched flash powder and leave just as much behind.

Vote for Melanie as much as you want/can. I admire the effort. But all indications have you outnumbered.

For what it's worth, I hope I'm wrong.