Okay so week 2 of the finals of "American Idol" Season 10 began the process of really separating the wheat from the chaff didn't it? Well, the Elepharts staff certainly thought so at least. The kids who are going to shine starting shining brighter and the ones who are going to go home - SOON - became much clearer. There was some movement on the Likeliest To Least Likeliest To Win List based on last night's performances - so here now is the updated version in our "expert" opinion (we did nail the bottom 3 in last week's list after all!):
1. James Durbin: we questioned only his "performance legs" last week... he's really started to sort that out. He delivered the vocals, of course, but also some good rock star poses.
2. Pia Toscano: her BIG voice sets her above all the rest of them... except James... so far. The only quibble, and its a minor one, was that white jumpsuit thingy she was wearing.
3. Scotty McCreery: Thank goodness Scotty has the character to stand up to Jimmy Iovine and the rest of them as they keep trying to get him to "change" things up. And at such a young age too! Scotty knows that what he's doing is spot on.
4. Lauren Aliana: she picked a much better song this week - Melissa Etheridge is a PERFECT fit for her - but now we clearly see she really needs to learn how to fill the stage with her performance.
5. Jacob Lusk: well, everyone seems to love him... but we just don't get it. Screaming at the top of your lungs for a minute and a half isn't really singing.
6. Casey Abrams: he burned every last ounce of "originality" and "risk-taker" capital he had with that dismal performance of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" last night. A bad idea very badly executed.
7. Paul McDonald: this guy is without a doubt a true artist - and could be great on radio - but on that stage his voice is just too weak.
8. Stefano Langone: kind of went to the Jacob Lusk school of over-shouting the entire song as far as we were concerned.
9. Naima Adedapo: ah, now we see its true - Naima looks like an artist, feels like an artist, we think she's an artist... but she really can't sing very well.
10. Thia Megia: as Simon Cowell would've certainly said and Randy Jackson more or less DID say - now that was a PAGEANT performance if ever there was one. Thia is in waaaaay over her head.
11. Karen Rodriguez: we really feel bad for Karen and her "deer in the headlight", "hasn't got a clue what she's doing out there" performances. Everything was wrong about last night. Every. Thing.
12. Haley Reinhart: we still have no idea why she's in the finals. After tonight, she won't be anymore.
