‘American Idol XIV’ rankings: Jax, Sarina-Joi Crowe, Maddie Walker, Tyanna Jones top our list

This week, we’re going to find out the identity of the top 16 on “American Idol” this season. Not only that, but we’ll get a chance to have some further performances!

As we said yesterday when we ranked the top 8 guys, we’ve now seen enough of the contenders to form some sort of accurate assessment as to how good each one of them really is. Therefore, we’re in the position now where we can start to rank the ladies! There are some serious contenders here, and then there are a few who could be if they get the right breaks or the right song choices. We rank with performance quality first and foremost, but then also consider edit, screen time, and even past seasons to see what sort of contestant seemed to be the most popular.

While we don’t necessarily think these four contestants will be eliminated, we’re putting Shi Scott, Adanna Duru, Katherine Winston, and Alexis Gomez out of our own top eight.

8. Lovey James – She struggled surprisingly last week, and also had the misfortune of performing at the top of the show. We’re willing to give her some forgiveness for now based on past work.

7. Shannon Berthiaume – She’s another hot-and-cold contestant, and we’re giving her a chance here based mostly on the fact that she has received a ton of screen time this season, and there are few female rockers like her.

6. Joey Cook – She’s a complete toss-up and a wild card. She is so unique that we feel like viewers will take notice of her. Whether or not that leads to her actually getting votes remains to be seen.

5. Loren Lott – There are times when Loren goes a little out of control with her vocals, but she has range for days. Next to Sarina-Joi, she may have the biggest voice out of any of the remaining women.

4. Tyanna Jones – Before this past episode, we weren’t blown away by anything that she had done in the competition. That taught us, though, that she has already improved dramatically over the course of the season. If she can continue that, it will be hard to defeat her.

3. Maddie Walker – To us, there are two favorites among the women right now, and everyone is just jockeying for positions. We give Maddie a bump thanks to a great performance last week, and also the fact that country singers tend to do very well in this competition.

2. Sarina-Joi Crowe – There’s a great comparison to be made between her and Candice Glover. Both are sensational singers who were somehow ignored for years, and could be sleeping dragons in the competition. We don’t get the sense that Crowe is a consensus pick yet to go far, but that could change if we see more performances like we saw last week.

1. Jax – The reason Jax gets the top spot on the list is simple: She’s been consistently awesome. Also, she’s original, a true performer, and she’s received a ton of screen time every step of the competition so far. It’s hard to pick against her being a finalist.

Who is your favorite among the remaining women? Vote in our poll below, and head over here to get some other TV updates worth singing about via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Fox.)