Crisis On Hand: An American Idol Finalists Ranking List

Crisis · July 25, 2020

10 hours ago, blackfield said:

yeah. at least some of my favs are in your top 20..

i will let you guess which 3 of season favs we have in common..

2 hours ago, Bk1234 said:

If I had to guess, the three shared favorites are Bo Bice, Allison Iraheta, and Jessica Meuse.

Also, @Crisis you have inspired me to begin working on something to do with Idol finalists on here. It is NOT a ranking because you just did one, and since I don’t have as good as a memory, I would have to watch all the seasons (again or for the first time), which I don’t feel like doing... (right now I’m watching S8).

Based on what's been revealed thus far, I would agree with @Bk1234, at least with the first two; I'm not as sure with Jessica.

@Bk1234, I'm happy to see my thread has inspired you to do something regarding the Idol finalists; whatever it is, you'll know I'll be there to follow along and comment! While we're on the subject of inspiration, seeing others follow and comment has been the inspiration for me to keep going because to be honest, there were a couple of times I thought about quitting this thing; now, with the end so near, there's no chance of me doing it now!

Speaking of this list, I'm working on the last write-up now and will hopefully have the next set up some time tonight.

Crisis · July 26, 2020

The time has come to see which five finalists miss out on my Top 10! The clues for 15-11:

- Talking tunes?
- Great expectations & letdowns
- From flexible body to flexible vocals
- Queen of NHL royalty
- The first 'original' finalist

15. Haley Scarnato: Season 6 (8th Place)

Kicking off the last set before the Top 10 is Haley Scarnato. With Haley’s appearance, S6 has officially been completed. I’m pretty sure throughout this thread there have been some rankings that have had posters and lurkers scratch their heads; however, this may very well be the biggest head scratcher of them all. :haha: I’d like to say this is the highest Haley as placed in an Idol ranking list, though I would love to be proven wrong. Anyway, why is she this high, some may wonder? Well, the simple answer is this: I. ABSOLUTELY. ADORE. HER! :wub: I don’t know if anyone was paying attention, but earlier in the thread @miss denise and I were talking about how protective we as Idol fans can be when it comes to our favorites, and I mentioned though I’ve pretty much not cared much what others thought about my favorites, I have one who I could be fiercely protective of at times. Well... :wub: :wub: :wub: I was a huge Haley defender during S6; you couldn’t say a negative thing about her in my presence without me going off like a sprinkler alarm system at a Charizard convention. Admittedly, I can still be protective of her, but I'm not anywhere near as bad as I used to be (at least I'd like to think so ). It irritated me (and to be honest, it still does) to no end when she would be lumped with Sanjaya as a “cockroach” contestant who wouldn’t go away, for I thought she was better than that. Also, I was NOT here for the derogatory names people would call her such as Wh*rely, Wh*relegs, Sl*tnato, etc., all because she wore outfits that exposed her legs; if that caused so many problems, then those people would’ve had coronaries from the attire the S1 women used to wear. I could go on and on, but I’m going to bring the focus back to her run.

Objectively, I’ll admit Haley wasn’t the strongest contestant; however, I don’t think she’s anywhere near as bad as she’s made out to be, plus I thought she got way more crap than she deserved both on and off the show. The judges seemed to have had it in for her for some reason. She may not have had the biggest voice, but I thought it was really pretty (as much as she herself is), plus she had great pitch, which I don’t think she gets credit for, among other things. She was one of two contestants that season in which I bought all of her studio recordings from (the other was Melinda). The problem was she had the misfortune of being in a season where a majority of the women were vocal powerhouses and thus, she may have come off as weaker than she actually was. I can understand arguments of her being the weakest female (though I disagree; I thought she was better than Gina and Stephanie, surely that's popular :haha: ); however, I thought she was better than the guys with the exception of Phil. My Haley love wasn’t apparent at the beginning of the season; in fact, after an emotionally charged S5, I went into S6 planning to be an impartial watcher. It started off well enough in the semis when Haley sang It’s All Coming Back To Me Now. I thought it was her best vocal of the season; she did really well with it despite not having the biggest voice and IACBTMN being a big song. The following week she would sing Queen Of The Night, which was her weakest performance in the semis; however, this was the performance that made me fall in love with her, though I didn’t get too invested because I didn’t think she would survive the week. Nonetheless, she did and proceeded to give an underrated performance of If My Heart Had Wings; in fact, I had her third best of the night behind Melinda and LaKisha. Of course, the judges, especially Simon, disagreed and tore her to shreds over it. Things didn’t look too good for Haley as far as advancing was concerned; however, she managed to be voted into the finals and unfortunately received a lot of heat for “robbing” Sabrina. Nonetheless, Haley sang Missing You in the first week where it started off well enough; however, when it got to the bridge she forgot the lyrics and lost control for a bit before gaining it back in the end. It looked like my Haley would have the same fate as Melissa McGhee the year before; however, not only was she safe, she wasn’t even in the B3. The following week she would give what is considered her best performance with Tell Him. It looked like she was having fun and was more confident than she had been the weeks before, plus this was the performance where the “legs” made their debut. She managed to be safe again and thus, Haley would be a part of the summer tour. It looked like things were looking up for her as she was apparently building momentum; unfortunately, she took a step back the following week with True Colors. It wasn’t sung badly, but there was nothing memorable about it which can be dangerous at that point in the competition. She would end in the B3 but fortunately survive it. Unfortunately, things wouldn’t get much better for the following week as she would give perhaps her most underrated performance of the season with Ain’t Misbehavin’. While IACBTMN was her best vocal and Tell Him the most fun, I thought Ain’t Misbehavin’ was her overall best performance. Sadly, the main thing that would be remembered was the judges’ commentary, or lack thereof following it. In a pre-performance interview, Haley was asked which was more nerve wrecking: performing in front of an audience or performing in front of the judges. Haley answered while performing in front of an audience is tough, she was always nervous around Simon because he was the harshest critic and you never knew what he would say on any given night. Apparently, Randy and Paula took offense about not being mentioned and therefore decided not to comment on Haley’s performance (to be honest, Simon wasn’t much better). That was one of my Idol rage moments, for I sincerely doubt Haley would deliberately anger 2/3 of the judging panel before performing; I could rant about it all day, but for the purpose of this write-up I’ll leave it alone (though I admittedly still get upset about it to this day ). Fortunately, she survived the week, but she became public enemy #1 because she happened to be in the B2 when Gina was eliminated. It was around this time when most of the ugly things said about Haley were prevalent; in fact, it made me despise Gina because most of the mud slung in Haley’s direction came from her fans and therefore, I retaliated by saying some not-so-flattering things about Gina (looking back, I’m 100% embarrassed by how I acted back then, lol). Regardless, Haley was on to the next week where she sadly gave her worst performance of the season with Turn The Beat Around. I had my reservations when I first learned she would sing that song; unfortunately, they came true because that performance was a mess, though it has grown on me over the years. The two positive things I can say about it are Haley worked the stage well and the arrangement kicked all sorts of :censored: ; I would say that was the best arrangement of the song ever done on Idol. Despite this, I was hoping Haley would hang on for at least one more week; unfortunately, that wasn’t the case as my beautiful, leggy, sweetheart of an underdog’s run came to an end the following night (I was rooting for Chris to leave that week). Her elimination was bittersweet; on one hand, it sucked because Haley said Martina McBride was one of her personal idols and she was the mentor she wanted to work with the most, which would be the following week. On the other hand, considering I thought she initially wouldn’t make it past the second round of the semifinals, her making it as far as she did with so much against her was an accomplishment in its own right. I followed her a little bit post-Idol and knew that she moved to Nashville to try to land a record deal but had to leave because of a stalker. Despite this, she was still slated to release a country album, but it was scrapped for some reason, which was a disappointment. For the purpose of this write-up, I decided to see what she recently has been up to. It looks like she recently got married (not to the same guy she was engaged to during the season) and appeared to have had a cancer scare ; hopefully things are better for her now. Either way, I still adore Haley and she is one of my all time favorite contestants.

14. Brooke White: Season 7 (5th Place)

Showing up at #14 is one of the purest souls to set foot on the Idol stage. Brooke is another finalist I absolutely adore and who I can be protective of at times, though not as badly as I am with Haley S. :haha: She didn’t have the biggest voice, but she had a nice pure tone that was easy to listen to. Brooke’s biggest problem was that she was too emotional to handle a pressure cooker such as Idol and as a result, she fell apart pretty quickly once the finals came around, which really hurt my heart to see. She started off well enough in the semis with a cute performance of Happy Together. The following week she would sing You’re So Vain, which was a great performance; however, I really couldn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to because I simply can’t stand the song. She would then sing an acoustic rendition of Love Is A Battlefield, which I enjoyed a lot, but Paula made an asinine comment saying Brooke should’ve incorporated the band more , which would come into play later on. Brooke would then go on to give what is considered to be her most memorable performance with Let It Be; it’s certainly my favorite version of it done on Idol. Everything, from the vocal to the emotional connection, fell into place for that one. However, the following week is where things started to fall apart for Brooke. She gave an awkward performance of Here Comes The Sun, which would be followed by her talking over the judges during their critiques; this is where she got her nickname Babbling Brooke from. As much as I love Brooke, even I cringed during the whole thing. Next, she would sing Every Breath You Take, which started off nicely with just her and the piano before it became somewhat of a mess once the band came in; I guess Brooke took Paula’s “advice” to heart and tried to incorporate it into her performance. Jolene came the following week, which was fine all things considered though she’s done better. She would then sing You’ve Got A Friend during Idol Gives Back, and I felt the performance was one of her more underrated ones. The next week would be the beginning of her implosion, unfortunately. Hero was a difficult performance to sit through; the problem was Brooke didn’t arrange the song enough to where it would benefit her the most, so in this case she should’ve picked a different song. It would be the following week, however, where she would give perhaps her most infamous performance with You Must Love Me. The most memorable part, of course, was her forgetting the opening line and asking the band to start over. She was clearly affected by it and as a result, the performance wasn’t as good as it could’ve been. After the performance, it was like we were in Bizarro World of Idol because Paula was the critical one and Simon was the sympathetic one. Not only did she survive it, she wasn’t even in the B2 and as much as I love her and was happy she was safe, she and Jason should’ve been the B2 that week instead of Carly and Syesha. She would then have a mixed night the following week with her two performances. The first, I’m A Believer, as much as it pains me to say this, was a complete and total train wreck; I don’t know what the heck she was doing in it. Her second performance, I Am...I Said, on the other hand was her best performance in weeks and somewhat resembled the early season Brooke. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be enough as she would be eliminated the following night, which was one of the hardest eliminations to sit through. It was easy to see she knew it was coming and tried to compose herself, but she just wasn’t able to and her emotions got the best of her. I was hoping she would at least outlast Jason and at the time Syesha; however, it was probably for the better that she was eliminated when she was because who knows how much of a toll the rest of the competition would have taken on her. I know she released a couple of albums post-Idol, and I bought and enjoyed them all. Despite her difficult finish and her emotions getting the best of her, Brooke is still someone I consider to be a huge favorite of mine.

13. Pia Toscano: Season 10 (9th Place)

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Up next is the final S10 contestant to appear in this list. Pia had a number of things going for her. She was (and still is) insanely gorgeous, had a killer voice, and appeared to be a nice and down-to-earth person as well. I don’t think she ever gave a bad performance during her time on Idol. With that said, Pia wasn’t flawless and was considered to have a couple of knocks on her. One was her penchant for singing ballads; all of her performances, except her final one, were ballads. Another was she was considered to have very little stage presence. As a result of these two things, she was considered to be a boring performer, though I personally never thought she was. Apparently, Pia auditioned for Idol multiple times before finally breaking through in S10. I remember her performing Grenade during the Group Rounds and Can’t Buy Me Love with Karen Rodriguez during The Beatles Group Performance Round; however, I didn’t really pay her much mind. It was when she sang Doesn’t Mean Anything that made me take notice of her, so when the semis came around, the two contestants I were looking forward to the most were Pia and Julie Zorrilla. Unfortunately, Julie bombed badly on her performance, so that left me with Pia. Fortunately, Pia delivered big time with I’ll Stand By You; I felt she was head and shoulders over everybody that round, including the guys. She would make it to the finals where she would sing All By Myself during Top 13 Week, which was another strong number from her. She would then sing Where Do Broken Hearts Go the following week with an up-tempo backing track. She was vocally on point as usual; however, this is where I started to understand the lack of stage presence rumblings. I think she could’ve matched the energy of the track more, but with that said it was still a solid performance. The following week she would sing All In Love Is Fair, which is a really difficult song to sing and can come off as boring if not done well. Nonetheless, Pia was vocally strong yet again; however, the complaints of her singing only ballads up to that point were in full force, with even the judges harping on it. Pia promised to sing an up-tempo number the following week; however, the theme was Elton John and Pia decided to sing Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, which was another ballad. Considering that Elton John’s best work are ballads, I didn’t blame Pia for doing one this week. She once again gave a solid vocal, though I consider it to be the weakest of the bunch. She finally went up-tempo the following week with River Deep, Mountain High, which was my personal favorite of hers, even ahead of I’ll Stand By You. The vocals were strong as usual, plus it appeared she was gradually working on her stage presence. The only negative I had about it was the outfit; you mean to tell me Gwen Stefani didn’t have anything for a woman as beautiful as Pia that would’ve been better than the cow getup she wore? A better outfit would’ve been the one she wore during the Results Show the following night. Speaking of which, it was a bitter pill to swallow, for Pia would be the casualty that week in what is considered to be one of the most shocking eliminations in Idol history; in some circles, it is the most shocking. There were some strong reactions to it, from the judges (which probably explained their behavior the following season when they saved Jessica) to former Idol contestants and celebrities tweeting their opinions about it. I thought Pia was good for at least Top 5 (though according to Nigel, Pia was never a frontrunner or even very high in the votes), but she ended up leaving in a disappointing ninth place; I'd like to think if she were in any season prior to S7, she would've gone deeper in the competition. Another notable thing was that Pia was the fifth consecutive female finalist eliminated that season (yes, there was Casey at Top 11, but he was saved so it didn’t count), so there was thought there was bias against the female finalists. Post-Idol, Pia ended up signing with Interscope Records to capitalize on the buzz she had from her elimination; unfortunately, outside of a single (This Time, which I love), nothing panned out, and she and the label parted ways before an album would be released. Since then, she’s released a few more singles and have done backup singing for J-Lo, so it appears she’s still doing something musically. Despite her rather disappointingly short Idol run, Pia is still my favorite S10 contestant and one of my overall favorites.

12. Jessica Meuse: Season 13 (4th Place)

Up next is the beautiful country rocker Jessica Meuse. With Jessica’s appearance, S13 is now complete. Jessica was someone I enjoyed a lot throughout the season. I really loved the tone of her voice, though there were times she used too much vibrato; sometimes, her voice was often compared to Stevie Nicks, and there were times I could hear the resemblance. Outside of her performances, the main thing I remember about her time on Idol was the judges being very critical of her for some reason. It was as if they were just looking for something to nitpick regarding her, from not moving on stage more to lacking rhythm, yet someone like Alex Preston (who I like despite being critical of him recently, lol) could give the same type of performance week in and week out with nothing being said about it; it was just frustrating to see. Prior to the voting rounds, Jessica was involved with a spat with a stage mother from ****, in which I sided with Jessica. From there, she would be picked to perform during Rush Week and sang Drink A Beer, which I hate to say was very underwhelming; it was just a poor song choice on her behalf. Fortunately, she was voted into the finals despite it and managed to give a much better performance with The Crow & The Butterfly, which is probably my third favorite of hers. I didn’t care for her next performance White Flag because I felt she was sharp through it. I did enjoy the two performances, The Sound Of Silence and Pumped Up Kicks, following it, and I absolutely loved Rhiannon. From there, she would sing her original song Blue Eyed Lie, which would be the first time in Idol history an original song would be performed in the finals (Jena performed an original during the WC Round, and Alex performed his original song later in the evening); this was due to the theme being audition songs, and Jessica sang it BEL then. It was a song I enjoyed a lot and was disappointed it wasn’t on her album. She would then sing Call Me the following week. I know I said Call Me was a song that has never been done well on Idol, and I continue to stand by it; however, I thought Jessica had the best version of it. I liked that she worked the stage more. I really enjoyed Gunpowder And Lead the following week and completely disagreed with the judges on it. She gave two more solid performances the next week with Somebody To Love and Jolene, and unlike Keith I liked the rocked out arrangement she used for the latter. She would then proceed to give what I felt were two great performances with Human and Summertime Sadness. Human was where she appeared to be the most vulnerable, and Summertime Sadness is my second favorite of hers. I would go as far as saying she was the best of the night on both of her efforts. Jessica would unfortunately struggle some the following week. Her first two performances, Since U Been Gone and So What, were admittedly rough; I was concerned when I learned she was going to sing those songs, with So What being the bigger concern because that’s not a singer’s song. Speaking of So What, I thought it was funny (not in a ha-ha way) when the judges were rocking out to it only to become serious and critical after it ended. Supposedly, Jessica was going to perform one of her original songs, but the producers told her no at the last minute and therefore, Jessica had to scramble to find a song or two to perform, which if true is not right. However, Jessica definitely saved the best for last with You And I, which would be my personal favorite of hers. I was hoping it would be enough for her to get into the Top 3; unfortunately, it wasn’t because she would be eliminated the next night, which was too bad because I was hoping she’d at least outlast Jena, who I wasn’t much of a fan of at the time (I like her more now). Fortunately, despite not being in the Top 3, she was still able to have a homecoming celebration, much like James did back in S10. As it was briefly mentioned, Jessica managed to release and album post-Idol, which I really enjoyed, and appears to still be plugging away at music, which is nice to see. Jessica was someone I really liked and will be someone who I will check out from time to time to see what’s going on with her as far as her music career is concerned.

11. Candice Glover: Season 12 (1st Place)

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The last finalist in this set and the one just missing out on my Top 10 is the S12 winner. Candice is the last of the repeat audition winners to appear in this list as well as the first to accomplish the task. Candice was a brilliant singer who could do the powerhouse songs and handle the softer ones as well. If there was a criticism of her, it mainly had to do with some people thinking she was arrogant and had a bit of an attitude problem. Admittedly, I could sense it coming out of her from time to time; however, I didn’t think it was as bad as it made out to be. Anyway, apparently Candice’s Idol journey started in S9, though I don’t remember her being in it. I do, however, remember her in S11 where she was in the same group with Jessica and DeAndre and thought she was the best of the three. Of course, Jessica and DeAndre advanced whereas Candice was cut, and I remember being upset about it at the time. Fortunately, that turned out to be a blessing in disguise because Candice came back the following season in which she was better suited for. She began her S12 run by singing (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, which I felt was the best of the night. She came back the following week with Ordinary People, which was another strong showing from her. She would then move on to the finals but not before her victory performance of I’m Going Down, which was my second favorite behind only Kree's Evidence. She would start the finals by giving another brilliant performance with I (Who Have Nothing). I go back and forth when it comes to deciding between Candice and Haley R. as to which version I prefer. Candice would go up-tempo the following week with Come Together, which was solid. She would follow that with another solid effort of I Heard It Through The Grapevine. She would have a nice performance with (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction the subsequent week; however, it would be the week after that where I thought Candice placed herself as head and shoulders above everyone else. Don’t Make Me Over was a great performance, but it was her second performance that evening that had others buzzing; of course, I’m talking about the acclaimed Lovesong. As magnificent as that performance was, this may be an unpopular opinion, I may have actually preferred DMMO more; however, both performances were great. She would follow that week with two more solid performances with Straight Up and When You Believe. Next, she would give what I felt was her most underrated performance with Find Your Love, which is one of the few Drake songs I can tolerate, followed by another solid number with Emotion. For the former, I liked how she gave it more of a jazz/R&B flair and disagreed with the judges’ comments. Regardless, the following week she sang When I Was Your Man and You’ve Changed. For the former, I didn’t really care for it; in fact, I would go as far as saying I preferred Malaya Watson’s version over hers. As for the latter, it was one of her best performances of the season. Top 3, I was meh towards One, liked Next To Me, and absolutely loved Somewhere. She would then advance to the finals where I thought she clearly outperformed Kree, though it looked like Candice wanted it more. The voters did as well as Candice went on to win the crown. I checked out her album post-Idol and unfortunately, I have to say I was disappointed in it. I felt the material was well beneath her talent and abilities; the only songs I can say I liked were Cried and her recording of Lovesong, which is too bad. Despite this, I still consider myself a fan of Candice and hope there are better things ahead for her.

015. Haley Scarnato

014. Brooke White

013. Pia Toscano

012. Jessica Meuse

011. Candice Glover

Here is the updated list of my season's favorites:

S01:

S02: Kimberley Locke

S03: LaToya London

S04: Bo Bice

S05:

S06: Haley Scarnato

S07: David Cook

S08: Allison Iraheta

S09: Crystal Bowersox

S10: Pia Toscano

S11: Elise Testone

S12: Candice Glover

S13: Jessica Meuse

S14: Quentin Alexander

S15: La'Porsha Renae

S16: Jurnee

S17: Laci Kaye Booth

S18: Jovin Webb

We're now at the Top 10! Here are the remaining finalists, listed by season and placement:

Kelly Clarkson

Tamyra Gray

Kimberley Locke

LaToya London

Katharine McPhee

Elliott Yamin

David Cook

Crystal Bowersox

Elise Testone

Quentin Alexander

As I mentioned in the previous set, there will be no more clues for guessing who will come up next. My initial plan is to list the Top 10 one at a time; however, I may list two at a time depending on everything. In order to make up for the lack of clues, anyone can try to guess the order in which the finalists in my Top 10 will appear. Whoever comes to closest to guessing the order will get a trophy. I wish there were some other rewards to hand out, but this will have to do.

Before I get to the Top 10, throughout the thread I've been tossing around the idea of listing my favorite semi-finalists and have decided to go ahead and do so. I'm still trying to figure out how I'll do it; however, it'll most likely be by season instead of ranking. I'll try to get started on it tomorrow evening; if not, it'll probably be Monday night.

CarmenSandiego · July 26, 2020

Here’s my comments on the singers from 20th place to 16th:

20. Chris was very good but he wasn’t my cup of tea. Also, I agree that he’s probably better off as a front man for a band than as a solo performer.

19. Bo was very good, but he was never my favorite.

18. Maybe it’s just as well La’Porsha didn’t win, given what Borchetta was like. But I still preferred her to Trent.

17. I’m not fond of hard rock, as I’ve said several times, but I voted for Allison at the Final 4 and I thought that she should have gotten past Danny into the Final 3.

16. Melinda was my favorite in Season 6 and I was so devastated when she was eliminated. She was a bit too much like Jordin in terms of vocal talent and she started near the top which meant that she had less room to improve, however.

Finally: Haley is your favorite from Season 6? What the heck?!

Edited July 26, 2020 by CarmenSandiego

~Tom~ · July 26, 2020

030. Hollie Cavanagh - Ugh, one of the few overrated ones (on here at least) in season 11. I feel she got by on her likable personality rather than actual great performances, and I found her bland and her tone wasn't my favorite.

029. Jennifer Hudson - I pretty much agree with your thoughts on all her performances. Robbed but she;s had the last laugh, love her.

028. Caleb Johnson - Caleb was my favorite of a very mediocre season, but he was like a default favorite and since I typically have female favorites with vocals, his performances were easy to enjoy.

027. Carrie Underwood - My favorite Idol ever based on post-Idol work. Her season was the first I ever watched and the reason I continued to watch Idol was because she won. I lovd so many of her Idol performances and it's been so great to watch my first Idol favorite go from success to succes. Her and Bo remains one of my favorite top 2's and her Crying performance is my favorite ever.

026. Nadia Turner - I started watching midway through so I only saw her top 9 and top 8 performances and I loved top 9, but I also loved most of her others when I watched the season back. I even loved Time After Time and found it underrated. One of the most interesting performers of the season and she had that "it" factor.

Bk1234 · July 26, 2020

12 hours ago, Crisis said:

015. Haley Scarnato

014. Brooke White

013. Pia Toscano

012. Jessica Meuse

011. Candice Glover

My Opinions:

-From flexible body to flexible vocals- Haley Scarnato. This write-up was probably my favorite so-far to read! I love that you care for her so much! While I would have ranked her lower, I’m glad you gave her the recognition she deserves.

-Talking tunes?- Brooke White. I would say she was the biggest disappointment of Season 7, but that’s not valid seeing as Jason Castro exists. However, the reason Brooke is my 5th favorite finalist from Season 7 is because of her winning personality. She is so sweet and I just loved her so much (though not as much as David Cook’s personality, which I’ll talk about when he’s ranked). Let It Be was an amazing performance and it’s unfortunate that it went downhill from there. I agree that her and Jason should have been in the bottom 2 instead of Syesha and Carly (I felt personally attacked ). I also agree that she should’ve outlasted Jason, who didn’t make the situation better by flunking the next week...

-Queen of NHL royalty- Pia Toscano. Aah, you got my final all-time favorite! I’m actually quite pleased with this spot because I thought she would be ranked way before! The thing for me about Pia was that she didn’t need to move around the stage or pick upbeat songs (though I also loved River Deep Mountain High). Her vocals were so impressive that she could captivate me without having to do anything! I’ll Stand By You is one of my favorite performances in Idol history, All By Myself was very impressive, Don’t Let the Sun Come Down on Me was pretty good, Where Do Broken Hearts Go might be my second favorite of hers (I also thought the clue “I may break some hearts with the ranking of this contestant” referred to Pia because she sang this), All in Love is Fair was stunning, and River Deep Mountain High was so good! Ironically, after giving her upbeat performance, the thing everyone asked for, she was eliminated... Post-Idol, I really enjoyed her song Belong. The vocal ability shown in it impresses me every time I listen to it!

-Talking tunes?- Jessica Meuse. My third favorite from Season 13! Jessica’s interaction with the stage mom in Hollywood made me love her even more! During the finals, it seemed every show was the Jessica beat-up show, or should I say, slap out show! I loved her original song Blue Eyed Lie, and thought she had great stage presence on the show. I would have much preferred her to get in the Top 3 over Alex, but it’s not like Alex was bad or undeserving. The results show was crushing for me too because Jessica looked so upset, which was new to me. I’m glad she got a hero’s welcome back home though!

-The first ‘original’ finalist- Candice Glover. Candice was probably my favorite from S12, with Angie at a close second. She was just such a vocal powerhouse! Her performance of Lovesong was legendary, but funnily enough, the main thing I remember about it was when Mariah was doing a weird circle thing with her hand when Candice hit the big part of the song! I also really liked When You Believe (I don’t want to say it was better than a certain someone’s performance of it... ). Anyway, when Kree made the Top 2, the win was just handed to Candice... I haven’t checked out Candice post-Idol, so maybe I’ll do that soon.

Edited July 26, 2020 by Bk1234

Bk1234 · July 26, 2020

9 hours ago, Crisis said:

Kelly Clarkson

Tamyra Gray

Kimberley Locke

LaToya London

Katharine McPhee

Elliott Yamin

David Cook

Crystal Bowersox

Elise Testone

Quentin Alexander

In terms of this order, I’ll try to guess...

1. Tamyra Gray

2. Kelly Clarkson

3. LaToya London

4. Katharine McPhee

5. David Cook

6. Elliott Yamin

7. Elise Testone

8. Crystal Bowersox

9. Quentin Alexander

10. Kimberley Locke

Crisis · July 26, 2020

11 hours ago, CarmenSandiego said:

Here’s my comments on the singers from 20th place to 16th:

20. Chris was very good but he wasn’t my cup of tea. Also, I agree that he’s probably better off as a front man for a band than as a solo performer.

19. Bo was very good, but he was never my favorite.

18. Maybe it’s just as well La’Porsha didn’t win, given what Borchetta was like. But I still preferred her to Trent.

17. I’m not fond of hard rock, as I’ve said several times, but I voted for Allison at the Final 4 and I thought that she should have gotten past Danny into the Final 3.

16. Melinda was my favorite in Season 6 and I was so devastated when she was eliminated. She was a bit too much like Jordin in terms of vocal talent and she started near the top which meant that she had less room to improve, however.

Finally: Haley is your favorite from Season 6? What the heck?!

20. Fair enough.

19. Again, fair enough

18. Agreed, though I like Trent and was happy he was the one to win if it wasn't La'Porsha

17. Pretty much agree except I do like hard rock

16. Some good points, especially the last sentence. Jordin had a lot of upside whereas Melinda was more of a finished product. It was disappointing to see her eliminated when she was; however, I pretty much knew it was coming after Jordin was the first one announced to be in the finale.

Yes, Haley is my S6 favorite ; I explained why in my write-up. She and Melinda were my Top 2, and if I were ranking them based on their Idol runs, Melinda would've been first easily. However, I decided to go with my heart, and Haley was the one who won out.

10 hours ago, ~Tom~ said:

030. Hollie Cavanagh - Ugh, one of the few overrated ones (on here at least) in season 11. I feel she got by on her likable personality rather than actual great performances, and I found her bland and her tone wasn't my favorite.

029. Jennifer Hudson - I pretty much agree with your thoughts on all her performances. Robbed but she;s had the last laugh, love her.

028. Caleb Johnson - Caleb was my favorite of a very mediocre season, but he was like a default favorite and since I typically have female favorites with vocals, his performances were easy to enjoy.

027. Carrie Underwood - My favorite Idol ever based on post-Idol work. Her season was the first I ever watched and the reason I continued to watch Idol was because she won. I lovd so many of her Idol performances and it's been so great to watch my first Idol favorite go from success to succes. Her and Bo remains one of my favorite top 2's and her Crying performance is my favorite ever.

026. Nadia Turner - I started watching midway through so I only saw her top 9 and top 8 performances and I loved top 9, but I also loved most of her others when I watched the season back. I even loved Time After Time and found it underrated. One of the most interesting performers of the season and she had that "it" factor.

030. I respect the opinion, though I disagree. It appears quite a few feel that way about her. :haha:

029. Not much to say here but agree.

028. Pretty much agree with the exception of him being my favorite (but hey, being 2nd isn't too bad :haha: ).

027. This seems to be the way a lot of people feel about her. It's been great to see how much her career has flourished. The Top 2 of her and Bo is definitely one of the best ones Idol's had.

026. Agreed her, though sadly I wasn't much of a fan of Time After Time.

2 hours ago, Bk1234 said:

My Opinions:

-From flexible body to flexible vocals- Haley Scarnato. This write-up was probably my favorite so-far to read! I love that you care for her so much! While I would have ranked her lower, I’m glad you gave her the recognition she deserved.

-Great expectations and let downs- Brooke White. I would say she was the biggest disappointment of Season 7, but that’s not valid seeing as Jason Castro exists. However, the reason Brooke is my 5th favorite finalist from Season 7 is because of her winning personality. She is so sweet and I just loved her so much (though not as much as David Cook’s personality, which I’ll talk about when he’s ranked). Let It Be was an amazing performance and it’s unfortunate it went downhill from there. I agree that her and Jason should have been in the bottom 2 instead of Syesha and Carly (I felt personally attacked ). I also agree that she should’ve outlasted Jason, who didn’t make the situation better by flunking the next week...

-Queen of NHL royalty- Pia Toscano. Aah, you got my final all-time favorite! I’m actually quite pleased with this spot because I thought she would be ranked way before! The thing for me about Pia was that she didn’t need to move around the stage or pick upbeat songs (though I also loved River Deep Mountain High). Her vocals were so impressive that she could captivate me without having to do anything! I’ll Stand By You is one of my favorite performances in Idol history, All By Myself was very impressive, Don’t Let the Sun Come Down on Me was pretty good, Where Do Broken Hearts Go might be my second favorite of hers (I also thought the clue “I may break some hearts with the ranking of this contestant” referred to Pia because she sang this), All in Love is Fair was stunning, and River Deep Mountain High was so good! Ironically, after giving her upbeat performance, the thing everyone asked for, she was eliminated... Post-Idol, I really enjoyed her song Belong. The vocal ability shown in it impresses me every time!

-Talking tunes?- Jessica Meuse. My third favorite from Season 13! Jessica’s interaction with the stage mom in Hollywood made me love her even more! During the finals, it seemed every show was the Jessica beat-up show, or should I say, slap out show! I loved her original song Blue Eyed Lie, and thought she had great stage presence on the show. I would have much preferred her to get in the Top 3 over Alex, but it’s not like Alex was bad or undeserving. The results show was crushing for me too because Jessica looked so upset, which was knew to me. I’m glad she got a hero’s welcome back home though!

-The first ‘original’ finalist- Candice Glover. Candice was probably my favorite from S12, with Angie at a close second. She was just such a vocal powerhouse! Her performance of Lovesong was legendary, but funnily enough, the main thing I remember about it was when Mariah was doing a weird circle thing with her hand when Candice hit the big part of the song! I also really liked When You Believe (I don’t want to say it was better than a certain someone’s performance of it... ). Anyway, when Kree made the Top 2, the win was just handed to Candice... I haven’t checked out Candice post-Idol, so maybe I’ll do that soon.

3/5 on the guesses. As for the commentary:

Haley: Though I still have ten more to go, this may very well be my personal favorite write-up as well. Though it's my longest write-up thus far, this is actually a condensed version; I could write a novel when it comes to her! Glad to see you think she deserves more recognition!

Brooke: I pretty much agree with everything here, with the exception of her being my 5th favorite since she's my 2nd. LOL at feeling personally attacked at the Carly/Syesha B2!

Pia: Oh, I thought Katharine would be your final all-time favorite. At least it looks like you can breathe easy now since all of them have been ranked. :haha: As for the write, I agree with just about everything here, but unfortunately not everyone did as her singing mainly ballads and her stage presence (or perceived lack thereof) bothered some people.

Jessica: Pretty much agree with everything here, except she was my S13 favorite! Yes, her elimination was tough to watch because of how upset she was. At least her swan song was kick :censored: (that gives me an idea for another ranking should I decided to do one... ).

Candice: Pretty much agree with most of what was written here. Of course you wouldn't say her version of When You Believe was better than a certain someone else's... :lmao:

2 hours ago, Bk1234 said:

In terms of this order, I’ll try to guess...

1. Tamyra Gray

2. Kelly Clarkson

3. LaToya London

4. Katharine McPhee

5. David Cook

6. Elliott Yamin

7. Elise Testone

8. Crystal Bowersox

9. Quentin Alexander

10. Kimberley Locke

Nice attempt! We'll see what happens. The good news is the order can be posted as many times as desired until the 10th place contestant is posted, with the last listing prior to that being the one used.

Bk1234 · July 26, 2020

2 hours ago, Bk1234 said:

My Opinions:

-From flexible body to flexible vocals- Haley Scarnato. This write-up was probably my favorite so-far to read! I love that you care for her so much! While I would have ranked her lower, I’m glad you gave her the recognition she deserves.

-Talking tunes?- Brooke White. I would say she was the biggest disappointment of Season 7, but that’s not valid seeing as Jason Castro exists. However, the reason Brooke is my 5th favorite finalist from Season 7 is because of her winning personality. She is so sweet and I just loved her so much (though not as much as David Cook’s personality, which I’ll talk about when he’s ranked). Let It Be was an amazing performance and it’s unfortunate that it went downhill from there. I agree that her and Jason should have been in the bottom 2 instead of Syesha and Carly (I felt personally attacked ). I also agree that she should’ve outlasted Jason, who didn’t make the situation better by flunking the next week...

-Queen of NHL royalty- Pia Toscano. Aah, you got my final all-time favorite! I’m actually quite pleased with this spot because I thought she would be ranked way before! The thing for me about Pia was that she didn’t need to move around the stage or pick upbeat songs (though I also loved River Deep Mountain High). Her vocals were so impressive that she could captivate me without having to do anything! I’ll Stand By You is one of my favorite performances in Idol history, All By Myself was very impressive, Don’t Let the Sun Come Down on Me was pretty good, Where Do Broken Hearts Go might be my second favorite of hers (I also thought the clue “I may break some hearts with the ranking of this contestant” referred to Pia because she sang this), All in Love is Fair was stunning, and River Deep Mountain High was so good! Ironically, after giving her upbeat performance, the thing everyone asked for, she was eliminated... Post-Idol, I really enjoyed her song Belong. The vocal ability shown in it impresses me every time I listen to it!

-Great expectations and let downs- Jessica Meuse. My third favorite from Season 13! Jessica’s interaction with the stage mom in Hollywood made me love her even more! During the finals, it seemed every show was the Jessica beat-up show, or should I say, slap out show! I loved her original song Blue Eyed Lie, and thought she had great stage presence on the show. I would have much preferred her to get in the Top 3 over Alex, but it’s not like Alex was bad or undeserving. The results show was crushing for me too because Jessica looked so upset, which was new to me. I’m glad she got a hero’s welcome back home though!

-The first ‘original’ finalist- Candice Glover. Candice was probably my favorite from S12, with Angie at a close second. She was just such a vocal powerhouse! Her performance of Lovesong was legendary, but funnily enough, the main thing I remember about it was when Mariah was doing a weird circle thing with her hand when Candice hit the big part of the song! I also really liked When You Believe (I don’t want to say it was better than a certain someone’s performance of it... ). Anyway, when Kree made the Top 2, the win was just handed to Candice... I haven’t checked out Candice post-Idol, so maybe I’ll do that soon.

I swapped around Brooke and Jessica’s clues.

12 minutes ago, Crisis said:

Oh, I thought Katharine would be your final all-time favorite.

While she is my favorite from Season 5, she isn’t one of my all-time favorites. Funnily enough, Katharine and Pia have both worked with David Foster. One is just a little closer to him than the other...

Crisis · July 26, 2020

43 minutes ago, Bk1234 said:

I swapped around Brooke and Jessica’s clues.

Unfortunately, those weren't the two that needed to be swapped.

43 minutes ago, Bk1234 said:

While she is my favorite from Season 5, she isn’t one of my all-time favorites. Funnily enough, Katharine and Pia have both worked with David Foster. One is just a little closer to him than the other...

at one being closer to David Foster than the other. I've watched a few videos of the two performing with him, and this may be my favorite of the bunch:

All three ladies did their thing! :wub:

Edited July 26, 2020 by Crisis

Bk1234 · July 26, 2020

10 minutes ago, Crisis said:

Unfortunately, those weren't the two that needed to be swapped.

Ha ha! To be honest, it’s probably Pia’s and someone else’s that need to be swapped. I have the habit of guessing someone will be in a set because one clue, and they end up in the set, but go along with a different clue! I think I’ll let someone else try to guess the clues.

Edited July 26, 2020 by Bk1234

Crisis · July 26, 2020

15 minutes ago, Bk1234 said:

Ha ha! To be honest, it’s probably Pia’s and someone else’s that need to be swapped. I have the habit of guessing someone will be in a set because one clue, and they end up in the set, but go along with a different clue! I think I’ll let someone else try to guess the clues.

Fair enough about having someone else guess the clues. If no one gets them right by this evening, I'll explain them.

psterina · July 26, 2020

It's been a while for me, but since 2 of my Top 5 (My Top 5 being Siobhan Magnus, Julia Gargano, Ashley Hess, Jessica Meuse & Candice Glover ... in that order) have shown up, and 2 of my Top 20 have shown up (Allison Iraheta, Pia Toscano), it's time to comment. Glad to see them ranking this high on your list.

Allison Iraheta - was my 3rd favorite from S8, after Adam Lambert & Jackie Tohn. Allison, was always very professional & comfortable on a stage, and was quite impressive, considering how young she was. I did catch several videos, of her post Idol career, especially with Halo Circus. Glad to still see her out there performing

Pia Toscano - To me, her version of River Deep Mountain High, is THE best version out there. Yes ... I said that. It was shocking to everyone, when she was let go so early. I have not really kept up with her post Idol career, although I know she is doing pretty well.

Jessica Meuse - My definite favorite from S13. LOVED The Crow & The Butterfly & Blue Eyed Lie. I have somewhat kept up with her post idol, and watched some of her Stage It concerts. Jessica was bussed by the judges, and it was obvious. Glad to see her out there, still making music

Candice Glover - To this day, when I hear I Who Have Nothing and Love Song ... I STILL get chills. Candice is amazing. She was most definitely a most deserving winner. I haven't really kept up with her post Idol career as much as I should. That may have to change.

Also ... and this will be off topic, but I don't know where else to put this ... Ashley Hess's audition video is blowing up. I noticed it 4 days ago, that the viewership, had gone WAY UP. I mean ... WAY UP. I wrote it down, to see if I was imagining it. I wasn't. It went from 3,401,967 views on 7/23/20 to 3,835,746 views this morning. That is over 430,000 views in 4 days. The comment section is blowing up, as well. Katy's face on this video, is my face, when I noticed the number of views Great to see this happening, though

Edited July 27, 2020 by psterina

CarmenSandiego · July 26, 2020

Here’s my comments on the singers from 15 to 11:

15. Haley: I would have placed her a lot lower but I can be protective of my favorites too. She might have done better on a different season.

14. Brooke: she just wasn’t good under pressure. It’s a real shame.

13: Pia: the Save should have been used on her, not Casey.

12. Jessica Meuse: I liked her okay. This is a fairly good spot for her. But her problem with that stage mother caused a bad first impression for many, I fear.

11: Candice: I would have placed her higher than Quentin. She deserved to win her season, as she was the best.

~Tom~ · July 26, 2020

025. Erika Van Pelt - I really liked her tone, especially in New York State of Mind but I was rooting for other contestants more. Hee jun still had no business outlasting her.

024. Ruben Studdard - Obviously a great vocalist but his performances became samey and predictable. I liked him but K-Lo and Clay.

023. Vonzell Solomon - Her performance of People was the first Idol performance I saw. :wub: Rooted hard for her throughout the season behind Carrie and Bo.

022. Haley Reinhart - I didn't expect her to show up until the single digits. I loved watching her underdog run in S10 ~~when I started watching again after Pia's robbery~~ and I loved IWHN and WWAWSNB, but sometimes she sounded like a little girl who was throwing in the growls. So I'm a fan I guess but not a very big one.

021. Fantasia - Love her, such a worthy winner for S3; Summertime is one of the greatest performances on the Idol stage. In addition to pouring emotion into her songs she was great at up-tempo songs too.

Crisis · July 26, 2020

4 hours ago, psterina said:

It's been a while for me, but since 2 of my Top 5 (My Top 5 being Siobhan Magnus, Julia Gargano, Ashley Hess, Jessica Meuse & Candice Glover ... in that order) have shown up, and 2 of my Top 20 have shown up (Allison Iraheta, Pia Toscano), it's time to comment. Glad to see them ranking this high on your list.

Allison Iraheta - was my 3rd favorite from S8, after Adam Lambert & Jackie Tohn. Allison, was always very professional & comfortable on a stage, and was quite impressive, considering how young she was. I did catch several videos, of her post Idol career, especially with Halo Circus. Glad to still see her out there performing

Pia Toscano - To me, her version of River Deep Mountain High, is THE best version out there. Yes ... I said that. It was shocking to everyone, when she was let go so early. I have not really kept up with her post Idol career, although I know she is doing pretty well.

Jessica Meuse - My definite favorite from S8. LOVED The Crow & The Butterfly & Blue Eyed Lie. I have somewhat kept up with her post idol, and watched some of her Stage It concerts. Jessica was bussed by the judges, and it was obvious. Glad to see her out there, still making music

Candice Glover - To this day, when I hear I Who Have Nothing and Love Song ... I STILL get chills. Candice is amazing. She was most definitely a most deserving winner. I haven't really kept up with her post Idol career as much as I should. That may have to change.

Also ... and this will be off topic, but I don't know where else to put this ... Ashley Hess's audition video is blowing up. I noticed it 4 days ago, that the viewership, had gone WAY UP. I mean ... WAY UP. I wrote it down, to see if I was imagining it. I wasn't. It went from 3,401,967 views on 7/23/20 to 3,835,746 views this morning. That is over 430,000 views in 4 days. The comment section is blowing up, as well. Katy's face on this video, is my face, when I noticed the number of views Great to see this happening, though

Glad to see you approve of some of your all time favorites appearing where they are!

Allison: I pretty much agree with everything here, except she was my S8 favorite and unfortunately not watching some of her videos post-Idol. Yes, it's good to see her still performing.

Pia: You know what, I'm actually inclined to agree about her version of River Deep, Mountain High being the best. Agree with everything else written.

Jessica: I wish she did compete in S8; she would've made that season much better. Pretty much agree with everything else.

Candice: Agree with everything here, though I'll add Don't Make Me Over to the list.

No worries about the Ashley Hess audition being posted here, it's a good place for it (*SPOILER ALERT*, she WILL be making an appearance in my favorite semifinalists list :haha: ).

2 hours ago, CarmenSandiego said:

Here’s my comments on the singers from 15 to 11:

15. Haley: I would have placed her a lot lower but I can be protective of my favorites too. She might have done better on a different season.

14. Brooke: she just wasn’t good under pressure. It’s a real shame.

13: Pia: the Save should have been used on her, not Casey.

12. Jessica Meuse: I liked her okay. This is a fairly good spot for her. But her problem with that stage mother caused a bad first impression for many, I fear.

11: Candice: I would have placed her higher than Quentin. She deserved to win her season, as she was the best.

15. Fair enough; I think I've seen how protective you are of your favorites first hand. :haha: Agreed she would probably have done better and be more appreciated in a different season.

14. It truly is a shame the pressure of Idol was too much for her to handle.

13. In hindsight, absolutely. However, I doubt the judges foresaw her leaving as early as she did when they saved Casey.

12. Unfortunately, you may be right about the interaction with the stage mother may have left a bad first impression on others.

11. Fair enough about placing her above Quentin. Agree with the last sentence.

45 minutes ago, ~Tom~ said:

025. Erika Van Pelt - I really liked her tone, especially in New York State of Mind but I was rooting for other contestants more. Hee jun still had no business outlasting her.

024. Ruben Studdard - Obviously a great vocalist but his performances became samey and predictable. I liked him but K-Lo and Clay.

023. Vonzell Solomon - Her performance of People was the first Idol performance I saw. Rooted hard for her throughout the season behind Carrie and Bo.

022. Haley Reinhart - I didn't expect her to show up until the single digits. I loved watching her underdog run in S10 ~~when I started watching again after Pia's robbery~~ and I loved IWHN and WWAWSNB, but sometimes she sounded like a little girl who was throwing in the growls. So I'm a fan I guess but not a very big one.

021. Fantasia - Love her, such a worthy winner for S3; Summertime is one of the greatest performances on the Idol stage. In addition to pouring emotion into her songs she was great at up-tempo songs too.

025. Fair enough. Heejun outlasting her was a disappointment for sure, especially given the performances both of them had.

024. Fair enough.

023. Yeah, I rooted hard for her as well. I was happy to see her make it as far as she did considering how much trouble I thought she was in early on.

022. You know what, if she gave the same type of quality performances she did late in the season earlier, she may have very well been in the single digits. Pretty much agree about everything else.

021. Not much to say but agree with everything written here.

Bk1234 · July 27, 2020

8 hours ago, psterina said:

To me, her version of River Deep Mountain High, is THE best version out there. Yes ... I said that.

I agree with your statement. Even though I love Hollie Cavanagh, I was painfully disappointed by her version a season later...

8 hours ago, psterina said:

Also ... and this will be off topic, but I don't know where else to put this ... Ashley Hess's audition video is blowing up. I noticed it 4 days ago, that the viewership, had gone WAY UP. I mean ... WAY UP. I wrote it down, to see if I was imagining it. I wasn't. It went from 3,401,967 views on 7/23/20 to 3,835,746 views this morning. That is over 430,000 views in 4 days. The comment section is blowing up, as well. Katy's face on this video, is my face, when I noticed the number of views Great to see this happening, though

I’m glad! Ashley is getting the recognition she deserves!!!! She was my favorite from Season 17.

Edited July 27, 2020 by Bk1234

psterina · July 27, 2020

3 hours ago, Crisis said:

Glad to see you approve of some of your all time favorites appearing where they are!

Allison: I pretty much agree with everything here, except she was my S8 favorite and unfortunately not watching some of her videos post-Idol. Yes, it's good to see her still performing.

Pia: You know what, I'm actually inclined to agree about her version of River Deep, Mountain High being the best. Agree with everything else written.

Jessica: I wish she did compete in S8. she would've made that season much better. Pretty much agree with everything else.

Candice: Agree with everything here, though I'll add Don't Make Me Over to the list.

No worries about the Ashley Hess audition being posted here, it's a good place for it (*SPOILER ALERT*, she WILL be making an appearance in my favorite semifinalists list ).

Oops. I meant S13 I don't know, how I got the wrong season in there. I edited it, on my original post

blackfield · July 27, 2020

finally have time to finish writing this. sorry i am late. this set has another fav in common and two of my least fav seasons and if you ask me the worst seasons 6 and 12. here is a try at the clues. and thank you wiki for some info.

015. Haley Scarnato - From flexible body to flexible vocals: she was a gymnast as a child. can't really remember her much.

014. Brooke White - Talking tunes? because she used to talk to the judges during critics.. loved the faces she made when she talked to judges like she was talking to a toddler.. loved her early on until her meltdown. also loved her duet with michael johns after idol..

013. Pia Toscano - Queen of NHL royalty: she performed at every game of the LA kings. hockey team. not my fav. she is an example that nice voice is NOT enough. you need personality. and she was boring with capital b.

012. Jessica Meuse - The first 'original' finalist: the first finalist to perform an original. and one of my fav. yes!! another one in common!! but the last one in common. i agree with you that the judges went out of their limb to criticize her about everything while giving praise to others over the same things. it was annoying and felt unfair. i didn't like some of her choices but loved her voice and arrangements. however i wasn't following her much after idol and i just recently found out her album which reminded what i loved about her. also loved her duet with bo bice. loved her original BEL.

011. Candice Glover - Great expectations & letdowns the worst season in idol history. don't care. her career went nowhere after pushing her to win.

Edited July 27, 2020 by blackfield

Crisis · July 27, 2020

1 hour ago, blackfield said:

finally have time to finish writing this. sorry i am late. this set has another fav in common and two of my least fav seasons and if you ask me the worst seasons 6 and 12. here is a try at the clues. and thank you wiki for some info.

015. Haley Scarnato - From flexible body to flexible vocals: she was a gymnast as a child. can't really remember her much.

014. Brooke White - Talking tunes? because she used to talk to the judges during critics.. loved the faces she made when she talked to judges like she was talking to a toddler.. loved her early on until her meltdown. also loved her duet with michael johns after idol..

013. Pia Toscano - Queen of NHL royalty: she performed at every game of the LA kings. hockey team. not my fav. she is an example that nice voice is NOT enough. you need personality. and she was boring with capital b.

012. Jessica Meuse - The first 'original' finalist: the first finalist to perform an original. and one of my fav. yes!! another one in common!! but the last one in common. i agree with you that the judges went out of their limb to criticize her about everything while giving praise to others over the same things. it was annoying and felt unfair. i didn't like some of her choices but loved her voice and arrangements. however i wasn't following her much after idol and i just recently found out her album which reminded what i loved about her. also loved her duet with bo bice. loved her original BEL.

011. Candice Glover - Great expectations & letdowns the worst season in idol history. don't care. her career went nowhere after pushing her to win.

3/5 as far as the guesses are concerned.

015. Can't really say anything here

014. Fair enough about her

013. You made it quite clear you weren't a fan of hers, so this doesn't bother me much. :haha:

012. Not much to say but pretty much agree with everything written

011. Sadly, this may be true.

I'll explain the clues and post the first set of semifinalists tomorrow evening because I'm calling it a night. The time then can be used to catch up or anything else.

blackfield · July 27, 2020

8 hours ago, Crisis said:

3/5 as far as the guesses are concerned.

015. Can't really say anything here

014. Fair enough about her

013. You made it quite clear you weren't a fan of hers, so this doesn't bother me much.

012. Not much to say but pretty much agree with everything written

011. Sadly, this may be true.

I'll explain the clues and post the first set of semifinalists tomorrow evening because I'm calling it a night. The time then can be used to catch up or anything else.

can i change the clues between brooke and candice because i am pretty sure the other 3 are correct:

015. Haley Scarnato - From flexible body to flexible vocals: she was a gymnast as a child.

014. Brooke White -Great expectations & letdowns she has an album called high hopes and heartbreaks..

013. Pia Toscano - Queen of NHL royalty: she performed at every game of the LA kings. hockey team.

012. Jessica Meuse - The first 'original' finalist: the first finalist to perform an original.

011. Candice Glover - Talking tunes? her album is called music speaks..

Edited July 27, 2020 by blackfield

x3 because of u · July 27, 2020

015. Haley Scarnato - WAY too high for me haha.. I didn't like her at all during her season but after a rewatch, I have to say she's not all that bad. Her upper register bothers me though.

014. Brooke White - Yes, she's just the best. I want to be her friend. And her voice is so nice to listen to as well.

013. Pia Toscano - I was a Pia fan before Idol. I remember seeing a video of her where she was trying to sing at the Grammys or something like that, and I was blown away. When I found out she was going to be on Idol I was so excited. 9th place was definitely much too early for her to go.

012. Jessica Meuse - Love Jessica! I don't recall her season much but I remember rooting for her all the way.

011. Candice Glover - Undeniable talent but she's another that I felt the judges raved too much about. Deserving winner but I was more Team Kree (and Angie). Fun fact though: I bought my ticket to my local Idol show the morning of and ended up sitting next to her family. One of her cousins had dental surgery that day and couldn't make the show so they gave me his backstage pass. Candice was super nice and I got to meet a majority of the other Idols (Lazaro was awkward, Paul Jolley was my favorite).

Crisis · July 27, 2020

53 minutes ago, blackfield said:

can i change the clues between brooke and candice because i am pretty sure the other 3 are correct:

015. Haley Scarnato - From flexible body to flexible vocals: she was a gymnast as a child.

014. Brooke White -Great expectations & letdowns   she has an album called high hopes and heartbreaks..

013. Pia Toscano - Queen of NHL royalty: she performed at every game of the LA kings. hockey team.

012. Jessica Meuse - The first 'original' finalist:   the first finalist to perform an original.

011. Candice Glover - Talking tunes?  her album is called music speaks..

Those were the two that needed to be switched! Since the clues were explained clearly, I won't expand on them any further.

50 minutes ago, x3 because of u said:

015. Haley Scarnato - WAY too high for me haha.. I didn't like her at all during her season but after a rewatch, I have to say she's not all that bad. Her upper register bothers me though.

014. Brooke White - Yes, she's just the best. I want to be her friend. And her voice is so nice to listen to as well.

013. Pia Toscano - I was a Pia fan before Idol. I remember seeing a video of her where she was trying to sing at the Grammys or something like that, and I was blown away. When I found out she was going to be on Idol I was so excited. 9th place was definitely much too early for her to go.

012. Jessica Meuse - Love Jessica! I don't recall her season much but I remember rooting for her all the way.

011. Candice Glover - Undeniable talent but she's another that I felt the judges raved too much about. Deserving winner but I was more Team Kree (and Angie). Fun fact though: I bought my ticket to my local Idol show the morning of and ended up sitting next to her family. One of her cousins had dental surgery that day and couldn't make the show so they gave me his backstage pass. Candice was super nice and I got to meet a majority of the other Idols (Lazaro was awkward, Paul Jolley was my favorite).

015. , but at least she grew on you some during the rewatch.

014. Pretty much agree with everything written here.

013. Yes, her leaving when she did was too early for her; unfortunately, she was unable to get the votes.

012. Nice to see you were rooting for her despite not recalling the season. :haha:

011. Fair enough about the judges raving too much about her, but then again they raved about all of the women that season except Janelle. :haha: Lucky for you that you were able to sit next to her family and getting a backstage pass where you were able to meet a majority of the Idols.

Elliott · July 27, 2020

Catching up on what I've missed ~~which has been a lot~~. :haha:

055. Anoop Desai: He was alright. I didn't have any strong feelings on him, but he was one of the better parts of S8, I suppose.

054. Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon: I liked him more in S17, but he's fallen on my list somewhat.

053. Laci Kaye Booth: I liked more than I was expecting to in S17. I would've preferred her being the top girl over Madison, but I didn't agree with her getting saved over Jeremiah.

052. Clay Aiken: Not a fan.

051. Kris Allen: I had him as a dark horse pick, so I was pleased to see him last so long in the season and eventually win. I've really enjoyed his post-Idol music as well.

050. Skylar Laine: I was expecting to not like her (since this was right about Lauren was TCO), but she impressed me and delivered several great performances.

049. Nikko Smith: I liked him well enough.

048. Naima Adedapo: One of my favourites from S10. I was sad to see her leave as early as she did, because she added some excitement to the season.

047. Didi Benami: Should've been saved, imo. Strong contestant and I didn't think her Top 10 performance was the worst of the night.

046. Megan Joy: One of my least favourite contestants ever. I hated everything she did and wouldn't have put her anywhere close to being in the Top 9.

045. David Archuleta: I had an up and down relationship with him on the season; I liked him, but I liked others more, and I was annoyed the judges were ignoring his faults were overly critiquing some of the others. But I was fine with him being in the finale, and I've enjoyed the music he's put out post-Idol. I'd have him higher on my personal list.

044. Angie Miller: I loved her in S12, but my love for her has faded over the years. I enjoyed the EP she put out under her own name, but I'm not too familiar with her Zealyn stuff.

043. Jordin Sparks: I hated her in S6, and was disgusted she won when I'd have eliminated her far earlier than the finale. She's grown on me post-Idol, though, and I've enjoyed seeing her grow as a performer and singer. I'd probably have her around this spot.

042. Avalon Young: Should've been in the top three with Trent and La'Porsha.

041. George Huff: He was a favourite of mine in S3 and I was sad to see him get so sick towards the end. I haven't listened to much of his post-Idol stuff, but I love that he and Jennifer Hudson are still friends.

040. Syesha Mercado: Queen She turned in so many great performances in S7 and was given dust by the show until they decided to randomly start pushing her over Jason and Brooke when those two were tanking.

039. Trent Harmon: Disgusted by this low placement. I loved him in S15 and he's easily one of my all-time favourite contestants. He's been incredible every time I've seen him live, and is great with his fans. IMO, the second best male contestant after David Cook.

038. Maddie Poppe: I'm pretty neutral on Maddie. She was a solid contestant and a deserving winner, but I never really connected with her all things considered, and her fanbase on IDF during season 16 was exhausting to deal with.

037. Mandisa: Robbed in S5. I've liked what I've heard of her post-Idol music, but it's not really my cup of tea.

036. Trenyce: One of my favourites from S2. I would've much preferred her staying over Ruben.

035. Dennis Lorenzo: He managed to impress me in the live shows (after Rude, anyway). He kind of got screwed by the voting closing so soon after his performance, but I don't think there was really any way for him to survive that first elimination anyway.

034. Paris Bennett: One of my favourites in S5, but I wouldn't rank her this high. The Show Must Go On is my favourite of her performances, though.

033. Kree Harrison: Loved her in S12, but I haven't stayed too much up-to-date with her post-Idol career. Everything I know about her is via my husband, since she was his favourite in S12.

032. Jurnee: I would've had her win S16. I knew the voting public wouldn't get behind her which was upsetting.

031. Clark Beckham: Far and away the best contestant from S14. Him not winning was an absolute travesty, but at least it was to Nick and not Rayvon or JAX.

030. Hollie Cavanagh: I liked her in S11, but haven't really followed her much post-Idol. She was also far better than Jessica, imo, so of course the judges would back Jessica in that battle.

029. Jennifer Hudson: I like her most for her post-Idol career than I did on Idol (though I did enjoy her there). That said, I would've preferred her sticking around over LaToya from that bottom three.

028. Caleb Johnson: He's the definition of cringe. He turned in some solid performances (and I loved his performances of Dazed and Confused & Faithfully), but it was hard to still care about him after his non-apology over calling his fans the R-word. I never really got why the show decided to back him so much, because everything about him just screamed that he was destined to be the lead singer of an 80s karaoke tribute band, which is exactly what he's doing with his career now. As long as he's happy, I suppose...

027. Carrie Underwood: She was terrible in season four, and I don't think she was a deserving winner in the slightest compared to Bo and Vonzell. Her post-Idol success speaks to itself, though, and I have enjoyed most of the singles she's put out. I wouldn't consider myself a stan, but I guess I'm a fan.

026. Nadia Turner: My favourite from S4. I loved her spunk and vibe, and wished she'd lasted longer. Her final song choice did her no favours, but considering Scott and Constantine were still there... #choices

025. Erika Van Pelt: Her getting eliminated over HeeJun will never not be horrifying.

024. Ruben Studdard: Not a fan. One of my least favourite winners.

023. Vonzell Solomon: I liked her in S4, though she was inconsistent at times. That said, I would've much preferred her in the finale over Carrie.

022. Haley Reinhart: Easily the single most overrated contestant in Idol history. The love this place has for her is absolutely baffling and maddening. With the sole exception of BATJ, was terrible for the first half of her run, then largely mediocre up until her final... three weeks? Even then, she still turned in two terrible performances in Earth Song and You Oughta Know. At the time, I'd have taken her over Scotty and Lauren, but more just because of lack of good options than because she was actually deserving.

021. Fantasia: Love Fantasia! One of my favourite winners and contestants in general.

020. Chris Daughtry: He was my favourite in S5, but I've actually grown to love him more over the years. My husband and I ran into him and his wife at Kelly Clarkson's contestant last year, and they were super nice. It's been nice seeing him get so involved with LBGT organizations in the last year or so, as well.

019. Bo Bice: Loved him on S4, but haven't really cared for most of his post-Idol music. His messiness in the last few years has soured him on me, too.

018. La'Porsha Renae: She was solid in S15 and wound up as my second favourite of the time, but all of the things she's done and said about gay people since has turned me off of her. I wouldn't really consider myself a fan of hers anymore.

017. Allison Iraheta: Loved her! She and Kris were my Top 2 during S8, and I loved seeing her slay so many weeks. I was upset (but not surprised) that she kept landing in the B3, and her elimination over Scream On still infuriates me to this day.

016. Melinda Doolittle: Flawless vocalist and insanely hilarious. I didn't really care for Michael Slezak, but I loved her verbally bitch slapping him every week for his terrible opinions. :giggle:

015. Haley Scarnato: lol I also rank Haley Scarnato far higher than most people would. Not this high, but I'm kind of living for it nonetheless. :giggle:

014. Brooke White: I liked her in season seven, but it seemed obvious once we got to a certain point that the stress of Idol was getting too much for her. I think had she left at Mariah week, it would've been better for her, though she did at least get to go out on a high note to I Am I Said, which was one of my favourites of hers.

013. Pia Toscano: ugh so f*cking robbed. She easily should've won S10, and while I said earlier that I didn't have any issues with Casey getting saved at the Top 11, it was sad to see that not be an option for her. Her music post-Idol has been pretty catchy, too.

012. Jessica Meuse: She was my favourite in S13, though I didn't really care for her CD that she put out. I was hoping she would've kept the rock vibe going, but it was too country for my liking.

011. Candice Glover: She absolutely demolished S12 and had one of the best winner runs among all the seasons. Lovesong and her reprise of I Who Have Nothing are easily my two favourite performances from that season. Shame that Idol didn't really do much to promote her post-season, but it was clear they wanted to wash their hands of that season.

Elliott · July 27, 2020

2 hours ago, blackfield said:

012. Jessica Meuse - The first 'original' finalist: the first finalist to perform an original.

Wouldn't Jena be considered the first? She performed an original before Jessica and Alex did.

Bk1234 · July 27, 2020

18 minutes ago, Elliott said:

051. Kris Allen: I had him as a dark horse pick, so I was pleased to see him last so long in the season and eventually win. I've really enjoyed his post-Idol music as well.

I was pleased as well. Especially since Adam was a hit or miss for me...

19 minutes ago, Elliott said:

045. David Archuleta: I had an up and down relationship with him on the season; I liked him, but I liked others more, and I was annoyed the judges were ignoring his faults were overly critiquing some of the others. But I was fine with him being in the finale, and I've enjoyed the music he's put out post-Idol. I'd have him higher on my personal list.

Even as an Archie fan, I will admit that the judges ignored some of his flaws... They were much harder on contestants like Syesha and Carly. I’m glad you enjoyed his post-Idol music and that you’d have him higher.

22 minutes ago, Elliott said:

040. Syesha Mercado: Queen She turned in so many great performances in S7 and was given dust by the show until they decided to randomly start pushing her over Jason and Brooke when those two were tanking.

Yay, love for Syesha!!! The producers really screwed her over with Hit Me Up, which may or may not have been done on purpose...

25 minutes ago, Elliott said:

032. Jurnee: I would've had her win S16. I knew the voting public wouldn't get behind her which was upsetting.

She was my pick to win as well (though Gabby impresses more post-Idol).

27 minutes ago, Elliott said:

031. Clark Beckham: Far and away the best contestant from S14. Him not winning was an absolute travesty, but at least it was to Nick and not Rayvon or JAX.

I definitely agree that he was the best of the season! I didn’t mind JAX as much as you did though...

29 minutes ago, Elliott said:

030. Hollie Cavanagh: I liked her in S11, but haven't really followed her much post-Idol. She was also far better than Jessica, imo, so of course the judges would back Jessica in that battle.

For me, her and Jessica are my Top 2 favorites of the season. I did like Hollie better, but that is probably just because I really liked her personality! I hated how the judges always sided with Jessica...

31 minutes ago, Elliott said:

022. Haley Reinhart: Easily the single most overrated contestant in Idol history. The love this place has for her is absolutely baffling and maddening. With the sole exception of BATJ, was terrible for the first half of her run, then largely mediocre up until her final... three weeks? Even then, she still turned in two terrible performances in Earth Song and You Oughta Know. At the time, I'd have taken her over Scotty and Lauren, but more just because of lack of good options than because she was actually deserving.

I’m going to disagree on this one... I really liked Haley. She delivered some of my favorite performances in Idol history! But I’ll respect your opinion.

33 minutes ago, Elliott said:

017. Allison Iraheta: Loved her! She and Kris were my Top 2 during S8, and I loved seeing her slay so many weeks. I was upset (but not surprised) that she kept landing in the B3, and her elimination over Scream On still infuriates me to this day.

Kris and Allison were my Top 2 of the season as well! The fact that Danny outlasted her after he gave that horrific version of Dream On disgusts me...

35 minutes ago, Elliott said:

013. Pia Toscano: ugh so f*cking robbed. She easily should've won S10, and while I said earlier that I didn't have any issues with Casey getting saved at the Top 11, it was sad to see that not be an option for her. Her music post-Idol has been pretty catchy, too.

I agree that she should have won Season 10! She was my favorite of the season, and I don’t think she ever gave a bad performance. I am impressed by every song and cover she has released post-Idol ever time I listen to it!

Crisis On Hand: An American Idol Finalists Ranking List

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