‘American Idol’ rankings: Joey Cook, Jax, Clark Beckham, Tyanna Jones strong as top 11 starts again

“American Idol XIV” is currently having itself a heck of a wild season. Seriously, there is not a consistent favorite to win the whole thing at this point. There are contestants who are getting better, but at the same time there are also singers who get better for a week, slide back, and then get better again. With all of this going on, it is hard to ultimately find the real favorites out of the crop.

As always with these rankings pieces, we look at a variety of different criteria to decide on who we think are the most capable performers! Overall quality is at the top of the list, but to go along with that you have song choice, perceived popularity by the audience, and a little bit of personality thrown in there, as well.

11. Daniel Seavey – We keep figuring that sooner or later, his luck has to run out, right? It feels like the show is doing all that it can by putting him at the start of the show, which is often forgotten by many voting at home.

10. Maddie Walker – She has been consistently solid vocally, but we’re starting to worry that her stage presence is leaving a little too much to be desired at this point in the season, when it should be honed more.

9. Qaasim Middleton – We now know that he is at a loss for viewer votes at the moment, but traditionally, people who are saved one week tend to be fine for at least a couple more. He should survive this cut without a problem.

8. Adanna Duru – She has improved by leaps and bounds over the past several weeks, but we don’t really get the sense that everyone out there voting knows who she is.

7. Rayvon Owen – Rayvon is suffering from a bad case of song-choice-itis. He is just not picking songs that really show off his full range of talent. We know that he’s better than the past few performances we’ve seen.

6. Quentin Alexander – He is still a personal top three contestant, but we worry about him needing the judges to get into the top 12 in the first place. Maybe not all viewers dig his style in the same way that we do.

5. Tyanna Jones – She’s got a ton of energy, and we’ve seen her really blossom as a performer throughout this season. We haven’t really emotionally connected to anything that she has done yet, but that is okay at this particular moment.

4. Nick Fradiani – We love Nick’s voice, but the guy has to start pushing more. “Danger Zone” was a surprisingly dull, lifeless performance from him. He has the following and the voter history to keep him safe, but he needs to do more to be the next David Cook.

3. Clark Beckham – Clark had a better performance than Nick this past week, and that is what gets him the edge here. He is facing some similar problems, so let’s hope that there is going to be a chance soon for him to show more originality.

2. Jax – Maybe her Adam Sandler cover was polarizing, but we loved it. We also love that she continues to have the courage to take these sort of risks. She has not been perfect throughout the competition, but the thing about our top two this week is that they each continue to find ways to surprise you.

1. Joey Cook – Joey was someone in Hollywood we were worried about advancing, mostly because she was having flubs here and there. Now, we’re so thrilled she’s here, and don’t know what we would do without her or her constant creativity.

Who is your favorite right now on “American Idol XIV”? Vote in the poll, and head over here to get some other TV news worth singing about via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Fox.)