‘American Idol’ top 10 rankings: CJ Harris, Jena Irene, and Alex Preston create chaos

Just when it starts to feel like “American Idol” is painting a slightly clearer picture for how the rest of the season is going to go, we have an episode like the one we had this past week to enter the equation and stir things up. Previous favorites were in the bottom three, and for the first time in quite a long time, we started to have faith in the voting public that they would do precisely what we were hoping for them to do.

So what do we base these rankings on? Performance quality and fan support are the two primary piece of the puzzle, but we do have to admit that this is a heck of a lot more difficult now than it was going into this past show.

10. MK Nobilette (last week: 11) – She had a stronger week than she has in a while, but the truth is still that she still has two appearance in the bottom three, and nobody else in the competition right now can say that. She has to find a way to keep that momentum going every show if she wants to make it further than the top 8.

9. Dexter Roberts (6) – Dexter’s idea of making a song his own is entering a little bit of pandering for University of Alabama fans into the middle of it. He’s a good singer and a guy who is as country as country can be; however, he has yet to do anything original, and sooner and later many of his karaoke covers could catch up with him.

8. Malaya Watson (8) – Malaya is an interesting contestant, mostly because her personality and her vocals don’t often match. We like her, but we don’t feel like she’s at her best being told to stand on stage and belt out big notes. That is probably only going to get her as far as maybe sixth.

7. Sam Woolf (4) – the recent 18-49 data showed that there aren’t that many young people who are still watching “American Idol,” and Sam landing in the bottom three for “Come Together” also shows that. Think of this as his wake-up call; we don’t feel like he is going to be in jeopardy anytime soon, but maybe this will be what convinces him to really get creative and look like he’s having fun.

6. Majesty Rose (2) – Majesty just needs to let that last performance go. (Har har.) Seriously, though: “Let It Go” was her attempt to actually turn into Princess Elsa, and she  was much too concerned with recreating the original song than turning it into something that works for her. She needs to remember who she is and bounce back; we ultimately feel like she will.

5. CJ Harris (9) -We could listen to what CJ did on this past episode all season long. He is a pure southern blues singer, and the show hasn’t really had that many of those over the years. He’s probably going to always be a little sharp when he sings, so what he really needs to focus on more than that is finding more songs that really make people feel something.

4. Jena Irene (10) – “Decode” was one of the best performances of anyone this season, and there’s no doubting that Jena is great. She has been in danger before, though, and she still needs to work on actually making herself into someone that America genuinely wants to back and support. She can’t rely on a signature vocal every week.

3. Jessica Meuse (3) – Apparently, Jess can be completely derailed by a monster of a band and still find a way to be safe. There are only four people in this competition to still have never been in danger, and she is the only one of the ladies with that distinction. She’s already survived weaker performances, the band, and dodgy editing; if she hits a groove soon, she’s dangerous.

2. Caleb Johnson (5) – “Skyfall” was a great vocal, and Caleb has hit nearly a bad note throughout this competition so far. The only thing he has to watch out for is not trying to play a character all of the time. We feel like he’s stuck in “Rock of Ages,” and while that may be fun as a viewer, it’s not going to get him anywhere in the industry.

1. Alex Preston (1) – “Falling Slowly” was a predictable choice from Alex, but there’s still no doubting that it was great. The truth is that no one is as creative, as musically-inclined, or as unique an artist as he is. It’s going to take a collapse of epic proportions to keep him from at least the top 5.

Who is at the top of your ranking? Be sure to share what you think below, and click here if you want to get some more news worth singing about via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: Fox