Top 8 Power Rankings

Top 8 Power Rankings

1. Jacquie Lee: Who's Loving You

Jacquie was coming off a weaker performance from last week. Because of the level of competition at this point, Jacquie needed a strong performance to stay. Christina tried to tap into her inner ferocity, which seemed to be absent in previous performances. I don’t know what happened, but Jacquie found that ferocity and intensity and with it came a whole new level of confidence. She began with no music just her voice and she was powerful and displayed such a diverse range with huge riffs. Overall, Jacquie had one of the biggest performances of the night and with this new found confidence I’d be surprised if she isn’t around for a lot longer.

2. Cole Vosbury: I Still Believe In You

What a performance by Cole this week. In my opinion it was one of the best of the season. This week he went back to his country roots. Blake wanted Cole to sing the song aggressively even though it was a love song. I had high expectations for Cole before this performance and he surpassed all of them. The decision to perform the song acoustically was brilliant. It made the viewers focus on the message of the song and the voice of the artist. The entire performance was filled with emotion and touched the audience, judges, and myself. Cole used a raspy tone to convey the heartbreak and feeling of loss. The uniqueness of his voice mixed with the genuosity with which he performed the song all added up to create one of the most powerful and emotional performances of the season. I would be shocked and enraged is Cole fell into the bottom three this week.

3. Matthew Schuler: It's Time

Matthew was coming into this week as number one in our power rankings and had a lot to live up to. Christina brought in a choreographer this week to help elevate him to the “next level”. Matthew’s confidence was apparent, with his phenomenal stage routine. Matthew had a good, powerful performance as usual. I will admit, though, I was not blown away. He had good riffs and range, but it did not wow me. That does not mean the performance wasn’t good, but it left me expecting more from Matthew. Don’t worry Matthew fans I do believe that he will advance and come back stronger next week.

4. Tessanne Chin: Underneath It All

Tessanne had no worries today, while she embedded Jamaica in her performance. She gave the audience a real flavor of Jamaican pride. The stage was fitted with Jamaican colors and items. Confidence was also not a problem as it was present strongly as she was moving all around the stage. I loved her dictation during the song, she displayed her accent, and did not run over her words. Overall, this was one of the funner and catchy performances of the season and should translate to high iTunes sales and ultimately with Tessanne moving on.

5. Will Champlin: At Last

Will took a huge risk by singing a song that no male vocalist had ever tried on the show. That risk paid off BIG TIME as he gave his best performance of the competition so far. He came onto stage with no glasses and a swag jacket/bowtie combo. He dominated the vocal performance by showing off great range and hitting almost every difficult note flawlessly. He kept the mood right and gave the audience a performance to remember. I shed a few tears toward the end of the performance and I don’t know if they were tears of joy or tears of sorrow because the song couldn’t last forever. Will deserves to avoid the bottom three and hopefully America makes that happen.

6. James Wolpert:  Somebody To Love

Adam decided to push James this week with a classic Queen song. James said he felt comfortable with the challenging song but was nervous that he would be too zealous and attack the song too much. Honestly, I don’t know why he was nervous. Yet again James did a fantastic job. He went back to being a rocker and brought fantastic energy to the stage. James surprised me this week by hitting a high note that I didn't know was in his vocal arsenal. He again demonstrated great control with his voice and always on time with his singing. The only criticism I had on the performance was that in the beginning song I thought the background singers were too loud and didn't let James stand out enough. All the judges had high praise for the artist. With such a stiff competition, I would not be surprised if James ended up in the bottom three.

7. Caroline Pennell: Dog Days Are Over

Caroline’s song choice this week was clearly more exciting than last week and was probably a response to the negative feedback last week’s song generated. She came out in a simple yet unique dress that fit her personality perfectly. She really picked up the pace with this performance and showed a different side of her personality. The vocals displayed more range than usual, but she missed a few of the tougher notes. I did enjoy the performance very much even if it wasn’t the best song for that unique voice of hers. However, it did fit her personality pretty well, and I was digging the harp in the background throughout the song. The problem with Caroline is that her personality and unique voice may only carry her so far because this is a VOICE competition. We do like Caroline a lot but it’s getting competitive. Her bottom three appearance last week was alarming, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see her there again.

8. Ray Boudreaux: Gimme Some Lovin'

Handsome Ray lit the stage on fire this week. He was engaging and showed great stage presence. The audience was clapping with the beat and you could tell they were really into it. He brought a lot of energy to the stage and truly created a fun and entertaining environment. The band and the background dancers added to the exciting atomosphere, but i feel at some points they were too overpowering and tended to overshadow him. Blake pointed out that it was up to Ray to create moments in the song that help him stand out. He did a decent job of selecting his moments to shine most notably the final note. Overall the performance was solid, but I do not feel it was enough to keep him out of the bottom three. At this stage in the competition each performance has to be outstanding if a contestant wants to stay alive.  If Ray wants to stay in the competition it may come down to twitter.