‘American Idol XIII’ top 9 rankings: Jessica Meuse, Alex Preston, Caleb Johnson lead the way

Tomorrow, the top 9 artists on “American idol XIII” all are going to be ready to his the stage to perform under what is a unique, potentially-interesting theme: “I’m With the Band.” This could yield some great performances if the contestants feel comfortable surrounded by a group of supportive band members … so long as there isn’t a “Sound of Silence” disaster on their hands.

As always, we’re ranking the contestants on performance quality, fanbase size, and the past voting history with the show. (Ultimately, the top two are the ones we care about the most.)

9. Dexter Roberts (last week: 9) – Seeing Dexter slide to the bottom last week is in our mind indication that America is starting to get tired of karaoke country covers. If he can change it up, there may be a future for him this season … he just hasn’t shown a willingness to do that yet.

8. Majesty Rose (6) – Two straight trips to the bottom three doesn’t look good for Majesty, and we thought that her “Wake Me Up” was one of the best performances on the show last week. She’s probably going to need to melt a few faces like in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” is she wants to avoid becoming a permanent fixture here.

7. CJ Harris (5) – We don’t quite know what is going on with CJ. He has it within him to deliver a performance better than almost anyone this season, but he also is so terribly inconsistent and has serious problems with his pitch. We don’t mind it here and there, but his Hunter Hayes cover was almost impossible to listen to.

6. Malaya Watson (8) – There are times when we have felt like Malaya’s personality and vocals have been a little much, and we still feel like she may have been better served to try out in around a year or two. For the time being, though, we are extremely impressed with the growth that she is making. We see that she is listening to advice and trying to be better, and that respect earns her a rise in the rankings.

5. Sam Woolf (7) – After the “Come Together” stumble, Sam is starting to bounce back. One other thing you have to consider here is that he was in the bottom three on the week that he performed at the start of the show. That dooms many a contestant, and should not really be used as an indictment on his fan following.

4. Jena Irene (4) – With “Decode” and now “Clarity,” Jena has established herself as the Haley Reinhart of the season: An underdog who despite struggling to stand out early, is proving every single week that she deserves to be there.

3. Jessica Meuse (3) – She’s coming off of another performance that was unevenly praised by the judges; we like Jessica, but “Pumped Up Kicks” (despite it being a pretty good vocal) probably isn’t the right song for this show. Still, we have to make our top three at this point the only three singers to never see the bottom three.

2. Caleb Johnson (2) – There are weaknesses here when it comes to his vulnerability, and there are times when we wonder if he relies on his stage presence so much that he doesn’t connect with his songs. But, there’s no doubting that he has the most killer voice of a male rocker in some time. We’d say that it is the best in at least the past three seasons.

1. Alex Preston (1) – Despite Alex occasionally going predictable with his songs, we just can’t put anyone else at the top again. He’s consistently strong, and has had a few really nice moments this season with “A Beautiful Mess” and “Falling Slowly.” He has the inside track to win this, and we don’t even know how close the competition really is.

Who is at the top of your rankings? Share below, and head over to the link here if you want to see what’s going on with David Archuleta and other former contestants. You can also sign up to get more updates via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: Fox