Season 25 Top 12 Power Ranking

[QueenMae16]

Now that we know the Top 12 contestants, discuss who you think has more voting power. 

[MatthewPalermo]

It's tough. I only feel confident in a few picks, but here's where I'm currently at.

1. Josh

2. Karen

3. Bryan

4. Madison

5. Asher

6. Nathan

7. Tae

8. Maddi

9. L

10. Zoe

11. Serenity

12. Nadege

 

There's no clear frontrunner right now, and I think aside from Serenity and Nadege there's not any clear weak links either. I mainly ranked them based on voting appeal and momentum going into the lives. For example, someone can beat Josh and Nathan can easily win an instant save.

[Teraginn]

inb4 everyone ranks Josh and Karen as Top 2

[AD25]

Based on PO performances alone

 

Automatic finale material 
1 Madison Curbelo

2 Nathan Chester

3 Asher HaVon 

4 Karen Waldrup

 

Strong potential to become a finalist 

5 Serenity Arce 

6 Bryan Olesen

7 Maddi Jane

8 Josh Sanders

 

Overall decent but doesn’t keep me on the edge of my chair 

9 Zoe Levert

 

Subpar performers, don’t see them lasting very long 

10 L Rodgers

11 Tae Lewis

12 Nadege

 

[QueenKalie]

1 .Zoe

[Gustavo527]

1 hour ago, Teraginn said:

inb4 everyone ranks Josh and Karen as Top 2

Honestly Nathan and Karen as Top 2 would be iconic, like Chris vs Lauren but without the IDF's wars since both would be well accepted as winners

 

But a country girl surpassing a country guy is hard, not impossible, but hard.

[Teraginn]

Just now, Gustavo527 said:

Honestly Nathan and Karen as Top 2 would be iconic, like Chris vs Lauren but without the IDF's wars since both would be well accepted as winners

 

But a country girl surpassing a country guy is hard, not impossible, but hard.

 I do agree if there can only be one country act in the Finale, it'll be Josh.

[StarWalker1]

YALL ARE IT FOR ME!

1. Asher

2. Karen

3. Zoe

4. Bryan

5. Madison

 

Amazing all around!

6. L Rodgers

7. Nathan

8. Maddi

9. Tae

 

Good, just not for me

10. Nadege

11. Josh

12. Serenity

 

However based on how I feel it'll go

 

1. Josh

2. Asher

3. Karen

4. Bryan

5. Madison

6. Nathan

7. Tae

8. L Rodgers

9. Zoe

10. Maddi

11. Serenity

12. Nadege

[Gustavo527]

1. Brayan: a John's win would be the more logical scenario and i think he might edge Nathan since his Rock style is probably more friendly to Minivan than Nathan's soul style. 

2. Josh: White male country singer. And Reba winning would probably be the second best option for TPTB.

3. Nathan: he is killing it on Facebook every week. And he is a flawless vocalist, he is gonna be hard to beat.

4. Karen: seasoned country performer. She has been killing it in numbers but you know the standard for adult women on this show is high. She is gonna need to make practically no mistakes if she wants to win. 

5. Madison: She just got a great and emotive performance with a well know song by Minivan. With good song choices, she can go really far. 

6. Asher: yeah, he is unconventional for the audience standards but the man really can sing. His vocal talent alone can take him far. 

7. Tae: the other country singer there, i can't put him any lower.  

8. L. : Powerful vocalist, i can see her having more emotive moments and connecting with the viewers. Her sweet personality will help her with that, even if she is, as Asher, unconventional for Minivan standards. 

9. Maddi: she is an adult pop singer, which is a disadvantage, but she is a really talented vocalist. She is gonna need songs that connect with Minivan. And she is gonna need to be flawless.    

10. Zoe: this hurts, but the reality is that, as much as i love her, she doesn't really standout that much. At least Maddi stands out as a performer.

11. Serenity: ok, she being young is an advantage, but there is nothing about her run that can convince me that she is gonna be able to handle the lives, but let's see, she has potential, but she needs to put on the work.  

12. Nádege: the only one i'm pretty confident it's getting eliminated next week. Not a lot of explanation needed, It is what it is

 

 

[Persy]

1. Nathan - He is John's TCO and his frontrunner. He's been killing it on Facebook so far. I think he has the most views and likes out of everyone so far. If that continues, he's winning. I think he is being pushed by TPTB as their TCO to win the show.

2. Karen - She is Dan+Shay's TCO right now, and she's a professional country female that goes far. She has the best numbers on their team so far so I expect that to continue.

3. Asher - I think he is Reba's frontrunner and her favorite. She seems more passionate with him. I think producers will continue to pimp him hard, and he's also been getting more views and likes on Facebook than Josh the past few weeks so far in battles and knockouts. I fully expect him to get the most views and likes on Facebook on Team Reba.

4. Josh - He's a country dude who's been great all season. No way he's missing out of the finale. Minivan loves him as well. He's got a great edit from producers too.

5. Maddi - I think she is Chance's TCO right now after her breakout moment. I think she will be pushed to make the finale by producers.

6. Madison - She's been  getting a great edit so far. I think producers really wants her in the semis at least, but they could push her for finale too. She's getting a lot of views and likes from Minivan.

7. Bryan - He's fantastic and could make the finale. He seems to be doing great on Facebook so far, but I think he lands here.

8. Serenity - She's a great vocalist and gave her best performance. But she is going to need a big breakout moment to get Minivan on board. 

9. Tae - He's a great male country vocalist, but so far Minivan hasn't fallen in love with him yet. He's very low in views and likes on Facebook so far compared to the others.

10. L. - She's a powerful and emotive vocalist, but I don't think Minivan cares all that much for her. 

11. Zoe - I think she is going to continue her growth arc, but I don't see Minivan voting their butt off for her to make top 8. 

12. Nadege - She has zero chances of getting votes even if she delivers. Minivan could care less about her.

[Someone648]

Don't think we've had a tougher group to decipher so far. There's some clearly ahead of others, but it's mostly a blur.

 

America Loves You and will continue doing so - welcome to the finale

1. Madison Curbelo

2. Josh Sanders

 

On a normal season, y'all would be locks. But it really depends on consistency and performance quality.

3. Nathan Chester

4. Bryan Olesen

5. Karen Waldrup

6. Tae Lewis

 

Not America's Usual Cup of Tea, but good enough to overcome the bias and land in the finale with a Chloe TEOTH-level moment

7. Asher HaVon

8. Maddi Jane

9. L. Rodgers

 

Great singers, but unfortunately it's a stacked season:

10. Serenity Arce

11. Nadège

12. Zoe Levert

[FloorWax]

POSSIBLE WINNERS POWER RANKING

1. Josh Sanders - This is the safest pick imaginable, I know, but even though Josh has yet to build the momentum you would usually expect from a country guy, he's due for a moment any day now, and even if he doesn't break out until the Semifinals, it might be over for everyone else if he does.

 

2. Madison Curbelo - She comes off very personable which is always a plus when it comes to young girls on the show. She's also proven herself to be a very consistent performer with a style that is very unlikely to be polarizing, unless she sings a song entirely in Spanish. If she capitalizes on the momentum from her PO, we could have another Gina-type winner on our hands.

 

3. Nathan Chester - The numbers don't lie, and both his KO and PO have been very well-received on FB. His style is also decidedly old-school which the Voice audience appreciates way more than modern pop and RnB. Could see a Paris Winningham type trajectory for him, but this time he doesn't really have a GNT or Wendy to compete with. He's going to need to be perfect from here on out to stand a chance though.

 

4. Bryan Olesen - Unpopular, but I'm a little skeptical of Bryan's chances. His song choices have been all over the place and so he's yet to establish a clear identity on the show. He's clearly one of the best vocalists on there, which is a plus, but I need to hear one more performance from him before being convinced. If he pulls a Chloe Kohanski and sings 80s hits from here on out, I think he's got it. If he picks songs like "Love Runs Out"? Ehh, not sure.

 

5. Karen Waldrup - Older country women have seen little to no success on this show, but Karen's consistency and lack of country competition should give her a clear path to the end. The reason I have her this low is that I almost can't imagine her being the winner due to her archetype. If Morgan couldn't win, Grace couldn't win, and Ruby couldn't win, why should I think that Karen will?

 

 

These are the five people who I believe stand the best chance at taking home the trophy. It's honestly a crapshoot. The way I look at it right now is, if one of the people from 2-5 can be consistently impressive and have good song choices until the Finale, they will win. If none of them manage to do that, Josh wins almost by default. And of course, Josh will also win if he breaks out the right ballad at the right time.

Edited April 30 by FloorWax

[FloorWax]

1 minute ago, FloorWax said:

POSSIBLE WINNERS POWER RANKING

1. Josh Sanders - This is the safest pick imaginable, I know, but even though Josh has yet to build the momentum you would usually expect from a country guy, he's due for a moment any day now, and even if he doesn't break out until the Semifinals, it might be over for everyone else if he does.

 

2. Madison Curbelo - She comes off very personable which is always a plus when it comes to young girls on the show. She's also proven herself to be a very consistent performer with a style that is very unlikely to be polarizing, unless she sings a song entirely in Spanish. If she capitalizes on the momentum from her PO, we could have another Gina-type winner on our hands.

 

3. Nathan Chester - The numbers don't lie, and both his KO and PO have been very well-received on FB. His style is also decidedly old-school which the Voice audience appreciates way more than modern pop and RnB. Could see a Paris Winningham type trajectory for him, but this time he doesn't really have a GNT or Wendy to compete with. He's going to need to be perfect from here on out to stand a chance though.

 

4. Bryan Olesen - Unpopular, but I'm a little skeptical of Bryan's chances. His song choices have been all over the place and so he's yet to establish a clear identity on the show. He's clearly one of the best vocalists on there, which is a plus, but I need to hear one more performance from him before being convinced. If he pulls a Chloe Kohanski and sings 80s hits from here on out, I think he's got it. If he picks songs like "Love Runs Out"? Ehh, not sure.

 

5. Karen Waldrup - Older country women have seen little to no success on this show, but Karen's consistency and lack of country competition should give her a clear path to the end. The reason I have her this low is that I almost can't imagine her being the winner due to her archetype. If Morgan couldn't win, Grace couldn't win, and Ruby couldn't win, why should I think that Karen will?

 

 

These are the five people who I believe stand the best chance at taking home the trophy. It's honestly a crapshoot. The way I look at it right now is, if one of the people from 2-5 can be consistently impressive and have good song choices until the Finale, they will win. If none of them manage to do that, Josh wins almost by default.

 

Also I think Asher and Maddi have the potential to knock out any of #2-5 whether through PV or the IS but I can't see them winning period so I didn't include them.

[RTV]

Considering what happened in Blake's final season, the amount of help contestants are given in the lives probably depends on whether their coach is returning. If Reba isn't coming back but John is, I think TPTB will want the show's "senior coach" to finally get his second win.

[ikwonic]

Josh should and probably will be the winner this season. I don't see the audience really gravitating to Karen or Tae in the lives, at least not compared to Josh. I'm rooting for Nadege, but I'm not really sure what she could do to get the votes besides milking the religious appeal to the extreme. I can't see Maddi or Serenity going far either. 

[QueenMae16]

1. Karen - Somehow this country woman is appealing quite well with amazing vocals so far, can't make a mistake tho or will easily dive down.

2. Nathan - Classic Soul/R&B vocalist that Minivan is actually loving, he does have a lot of charisma and people like that, I could see him finishing high and maybe even win if things align well for him.

3. Josh - I should know better than to put the country dude(no less on Reba's team) below the Top 2, but he is singing songs that he can't do anything with, Minivan needs more for this show hun, and Karen is giving so much more than you lol. Do well on a ballad and you are likely runner-up tho.

4. Madison - She had her breakout and has consistent vocals with a sweet tone, I feel like it may be too lowkey for Minivan though, if they want more power for a winner than they have other options to choose from. If not then she has a solid chance for the Finale and will do well overall.

5. Asher - He may be too low tbh, he has a lot of power and is picking great songs so far, I'd bank on him being a dark horse to win this. Maybe TPTB wants him as Reba's frontrunner and she wouldn't be opposed to it.

6. Zoe - She had her breakout, and I could see appealing well if she sticks to her direction of the Playoffs that she did, going back to country would likely hurt her because of the competition. 

7. Bryan - Solid vocalist, but kinda gives karaoke, he does have the rock lane to himself though if he can capitalize on that. If he's in the IS then he'll be tough to beat so I won't count him out unless if his songs are bad.

8. Maddi - She proves to be the best on Chance's team, but if she raps too much then it's over lol. They need to pimp her hard to have a chance though in the Semis, and she may not even be the last one standing for Chance if his teen girl appeals enough to the crowd.

9. L. - Powerful vocalist, and I think she may have more appeal then we think but I'm not quite confident in that yet. I could see her being the Top 12 IS contender if she delivers though.

10. Serenity - I'm not confident in her as of now, if she can sing decently then maybe she can survive but I'm not sure.

11. Tae - There's too much competition and two country singers to take all those votes as well, he also leans towards karaoke and can't see him lasting long.

12. Naedge - Too out of reach for Minivan, sweet tone but she'll need more than that to last another week.

 

This season is hard, this will probably change a lot by next week.

[Discovolcano]

1 Karen- her FB numbers are amazing and doubt will flop live 

2 Bryan- the non country person who I think will be against a country singer (Karen or Josh) in top two

3 Josh- I put Karen higher than him just based on numbers. If he were to win I feel like he would be a bit more popular than he is now but the only white country guy left means he’s top 3/2 no matter what

4 Tae- his numbers are bad on Facebook surprisingly low but he’s a great singer and I don’t see him flopping. On top of that he’s country

5 Asher- With the right song choices I think he could be 3rd but America disappoints a lot with these types of singers. His talent will probably get him the semi IS easily. 

6 Madison- idk with her tbh. Her playoff got a-lot of positivity so I put her this high. For all I know she could be booted next week or win 

7 Nathan- I know he has a front runner status right now but he might fall flat like Mac after the playoffs. He’ll be top 9 for sure

8 Serenity- imo she should go home this week but I think their will be a little bit of a teen vote keeping her in as long as she doesn’t flop.

9 Maddi- it all depends what she sings. The father she is from hip hop the better she’ll probably do.

10 L. - it’s not that she’s bad because I think she should be top 9 for sure, theirs just a lot more competition voting wise

11 Zoe- theirs nothing really exiting about her and I see others covering her up.

12- Nadege- I hate to put her last because I love her tone but the results in the past speaks for itself. 

Edited May 2 by Discovolcano

[UnquenchableWrath]

Actually has a shot at winning:
1. Madison Curbelo - On the app, she got an 88% for the Blinds (4th highest), won her battle (roughly 4.2 of those little notches), had a 79% steal percentage (highest for both Battles and Knockouts), and a 94% for the Playoffs (highest overall). She's done so well, her voice has been consistent, and she's the type of singer I think the general demographic would support. She's young, cheerful, and humble, and the underdog story of being a no-chair turn into someone so successful would be a great selling point.
2. Josh Sanders - 93% app score? Country male? Team Reba? Oh, he's taking it. The reason he's not number 1 though is because Karen has outperformed his FB numbers for both Knockouts and Playoffs. However, he's a pretty safe bet to make the finale and probably wouldn't finish lower than 3rd. Not to say it isn't deserved, mind you, he's a great singer but I'd rather have other people win.

 

Finale-bound, whether through a public vote or the Instant Save:
3. Bryan Olesen - Such a talented singer and his app scores agree, tying for 2nd highest for the Blinds (89%), winning his battle and having the 2nd highest steal percentage for both Battles and Knockouts (73%), and tying for 5th for the Playoffs (89%). Him being well-known is quite a double-edged sword since people can vote for him blindly on past merit but it may cause people to turn on him Wendy Moten style. Nevertheless, his lane is wide open for him and it's pretty friendly for the show's main demographic so he should be good even if his FB numbers aren't as strong as some of the others. Also, if anyone from this tier could win, it's going to be him.
4. Karen Waldrup - Unfortunately, Karen has committed the cardinal sin of being *checks notes* a Woman, especially as a country artist given the recent history of female country singers not taking home the title. She's such an incredible singer though that I still feel she's going to make it to the end without a sweat. She's had very good app scores so she should be fine but you never know.
5. Nathan Chester - He's gotten so much support both on the app and on FB that it's such a toss-up whether he or Bryan is John's frontrunner (honestly, considering Bryan barely won the battle and the two of them tied with 89% for the Playoffs, they're probably on the same level). His style is super friendly to the audience and his likability is through the roof. Some might complain that him sticking with such a style may make him seem one-note but it's been working out so well for him that deviating from that may shoot him in the foot.

 

You're landing in that Semifinals Instant Save whether you like it or not:
6. Maddi Jane - That 93% is doing so much heavy lifting in her ranking here because that is not a score I would expect from someone who lost to Kamalei in the Knockouts app vote. Granted, maybe Chance finally found the perfect route for her in this competition since she performed her best during the Playoffs and had a great showing during her Battles. I'm still uncertain whether that 93% could carry her all the way to the end so I'll put her here, though honestly, out of everyone in this tier and the tier below, she has the strongest chances of winning the Semifinals Instant Save.
7. Zoe Levert - Just like Maddi, Zoe's 87% is carrying her odds of making it far. Her style is pretty accessible and she seems sweet enough to be viewed positively by the audience. She's continuously growing each round and I think she should have enough support to at least be publicly voted into the Semifinals but lose to someone with a stronger voice. 

 

One of you is winning that Top 12 Instant Save:
8. Asher HaVon - It completely sucks to put him here because my opinion is that he should be higher up (the tier above) but the fact that he has the 3rd lowest app score out for the Playoffs (82%) should be a warning sign that he's not as safe as many think he is. His FB numbers are incredibly strong though so I understand why people think he's someone to look out for but the main demographic's biases could be strong enough to work against his odds.
9. Serenity Arce - She's a young and talented singer, being able to emote well for someone her age. She has good app results but she's still in the bottom 5 out of the Top 12 for the Playoffs (84%) so she's not completely out of danger just yet.
10. Tae Lewis - As much as I wanna put him in the tier below, I definitely think he has a strong shot at winning the Instant Save (if he's there) since he's a country singer. He has the same app score as Serenity in the Playoffs (84%) but Tae is bombing in terms of FB numbers so he's definitely in the most danger out of these three.

 

I like you so much but unfortunately, you're goners:
11. L. Rodgers - The second lowest out of the Top 12 for the Playoffs with 78%, a 33% turn rate for the Blinds, losing her battle, and a 39% steal rate for the Battles. These scores do not paint a very bright future for L in this competition. It's a shame since she's so good but the demographic is not very supportive of her so we'll likely be seeing her get eliminated in the Top 12.
12. Nadège - She's gotten similar app percentages across her three rounds but when she's 16th out of the 20 artists in the Playoffs app vote, it's hard to think that she can somehow pull it off to survive the first live show. I am glad that she made it this far since the beginning of her Playoff performance was super pretty and I want to hear something as pretty as that again from her.

[Hamza Tufail]

1. Josh - safest bet.

 

2. Karen -Has an advantage of being a Country singer. And she's really good too.

 

3. Bryan - Doing good on FB. He has insane vocals.

 

4. Nathan - Minivan is loving him thus far. The dude's got IT. To be honest, it's interchangeable with Bryan.

 

5. Madison - Her last performance was VERY well received. I could see her making the finale if she keeps up with that.

 

I could see one of Asher and Maddi taking Madison's spot, if she somehow doesn't give a convincing performance and these two blow it out of the park.

 

the rest have no chance.

[jork]

12. Nadege. She isn't the type to garner votes anyway, but I thought her light voice wasn't on good display in "Clocks" to begin with. Her affect even on headphones is just kind of too cool for school, and frankly detached from the audience. You just don't feel anything except the ambience. She looks marketable, she sings current stuff, blink twice and maybe there's a bit of SZA here and there, but voting audience aside, this is very eh.

 

11. Serenity. She's very young, is going for pop music and obviously is in the journey of self-discovery. I actually like that she's going for kind of the angsty, hard-hitting pop songs (Unfaithful, Lose You To Love Me). I really like her swagger, there's that attitude in there, but I'm not sure that finger-pointing and scrunched-up faces would fly well with this audience as well. She's way more interesting than Nadege but even if she does her personal best that might be get under 20% on the app or something.

 

10. Zoe. Can't see the audience taking to her true Evermore, LOTR-cottage core style. Also think she's a bit too preppy for this audience as well. She's not young and wide-eyed enough, her voice stops in the mids, and she doesn't have a deep story to tell. Even if she does stuff from the folkier sides of country, Swifties barely watch the show (despite trying to get her clones on).

 

9. Tae. He'll quickly lose out votes to rock 'n' roll man and Caleb Johnson acolyte Josh Sanders, because the dude is just very...surface level. There's some earnestness in portraying the good times, he's a very good performer for the bro country style. But that's the thing. Bro-country. He feels straight out of the 2013 playbook. But he'll ride those country votes and beat out others in even worse vote-based genres. So that's how they do it down in NY.

 

8. L. L definitely has a story to tell, but compared to the rockier sides of Beverly McClellan, her poppier lilt might be more of a turnoff for votes. Asher's more likely to pull heartstrings and rouse votes, and Josh is a "country" male frontrunner. 

 

7. Maddi. It's hard to see Maddi getting votes because the stuff she thrives in are up-tempo joints that showcase her hip-hop patois. She's not really cut out for this voting audience. It's not like-for-like, but comparing her with Grimmie (who brought her fanbase along because her season was far closer to the youtube era), she's clearly less emotionally resonant, and a lot more hip-hoppy in nature. I like what she represents, and the show is clearly going out of their way to promote her, but this show's audience caps her here.

 

6. Bryan. I actually think Bryan might undercut himself on this show by being too much of a chameleon. Dude kind of dabbles in everything. He's done Maroon 5 "Moves Like Jagger"-adjacent type sounds, he's done the Owl City electronica, he's obviously a church viber, a frontman rocker. He's all things to all people. The style he's subsisted on in this show is frontman arena-rock, with the God card in his back pocket. But the whole Africa, OneRepublic stuff feels like a cop-out because we know he's better than that, and it feels like tribute band stuff rather than making it into his own. It's about playing to the audience rather than helping us understand what Bryan's about. Might not matter because he brings the energy on the show, but there are vote getters up top.

 

5. Asher. Asher's tendency is to put his distinctive baritone to seamless high note transitions on emotional, reminisce-y type weepers from female artists. He's incredibly polished where he can just spam that same style over and over again and it can have the same equal vote effect, just because it's so unique in this sphere. He can do Adele, Sia, frankly Peabo Bryson and Lea Salonga are likely in the cards. But he lacks some of the voting intangibles the others have, and doing sad ballads all the time gets a tad tiresome. I mean, surely the core audience wants to feel some happiness, right?

 

4. Josh. It's hilarious to see Josh's backstory includes his venture into the J-Lo version of AI, where he played an Elvis look-alike in Burning Love and was Caleb Johnson's backing singer. Those NC dudes sure were fun back in their 20s. As he's aged he's followed a common story of becoming a pastor, having a lot of children, but even then...you still see vestiges of his former self in his performances. There's quite a bit of bro country - "Wild As Her", "Whiskey On You", by one hit wonders. Kind of weird that those songs are being performed by a pastor. I was going to make a quip that he might win this show on purely on disposable bro-country. But the dude just hasn't really let loose, or even shown an emotional side. He's a "performer", but you barely seem to know the guy from his performances (that baseball cap cover doesn't help, although if he reversed it as a snapback that might). This puts him a cut below country dudes who actually did that, and chose songs better for showcasing the voice. It just feels very disposable. 

 

3. Madison. I gave into instincts putting Madison this high, even over Josh, but I can easily see them switching just because the ease of genre voting. It's just a matter of - will enough of the core audience care about Madison's sensibilities and joyous, emotional lilt over just robotically voting for anything that's country enough? Think Madison has enough of that DNA where an optimized version, or even an 80% version, can pull enough votes. She's remarkably mature musically for her age, and has chosen enough smooth 70s songs for the core to relate. She lacks a standout differentiator in sound - she's kind of "evenly nice" sounding throughout - so I wonder if that limits the top end upside. But there's enough here.

 

2. Nathan. I totally can see this guy dark-horsing, er, D-Smooth'ing it, er, Cam-Wess'ing it into a top 4 finish. Look, the audience votes on fairly simple terms, but most of all authenticity, and if they relate to it. No doubt Nathan's honed his craft. He can probably do all his retro throwback stuff in his sleep while bending on one knee, doing the splits and wielding the mic stand like a sword. There's not too much variance in his style whatsoever, but he's a playboy, er..playful, and in a show where you often can't see personality even in up-tempo stuff because everything's put on, that counts for a lot. Also...TPTB really seems to love him too. 

 

1. Karen. I think what distinguishes Karen from say, Grace West and Morgan Myles, is her Louisiana realness. She's shown that playful '90 s side (Jo Dee Messina) but can also embody herself in emotional songs (see the Lainey Wilson performance). Myles had a lot of country pop tendencies, and while Grace was an old soul and throwbacky, she was also in that age bracket (early 20s female) that made it hard for the audience to totally embrace her. Karen seems incredibly self-assured, will choose proper song choices for herself, and her regional stylings shine through in everything she does. I think she'll break this mold and be our winner.

 

 

[VintageVoice]

Going off vibes/typical audience behavior/causal social media numbers analyzing:

 

1. Josh

2. Madison

3. Nathan

4. Karen

5. Bryan

6. Asher

7. Tae

8. Maddi

9. Zoe

10. L

11. Serenity

12. Nadege 

 

Personally, I would say #2-4 are basically interchangeable, #5-8 all have a decent enough shot at making the finale (even if they don’t win), and #9 and #10 both seem like they could get some casual votes but not enough to push them all the way. The last two are both talented vocalists and have solid stage presence, but neither seems to really fit what the audience of the show tends to support.

 

That said, I fully expect to wind up with at least one person ranked outside the top five on my list to end up in the finale…if that’s the case, my gut feeling is that it’ll be Asher or Maddi, but who knows.