‘American Idol XIV’ rankings: Quentin Alexander, Nick Fradiani, Rayvon Owen among top 6 guys

It’s almost “American Idol” time again! The top twelve contestants will be revealed on Wednesday night, and in interesting fashion. Ten contestants are going to be chosen by the voting public, with the other two being wild-card selections by the judges.

So where do the guys stand going into this key part of the competition? That’s what we are here to figure out! We are only going to rank the top six, since that is how many guys will actually be performing. Sorry, Daniel Seavey and Mark Andrew: If we had it our way, these would be the two left out on the upcoming show. (With that being said, we won’t be shocked if they both make it in.)

Our rankings here and based on overall performance quality, stage presence, and likability. We anticipate debate coming in the comments / attached poll!

6. Adam Ezegelian – “I Want You Back” was a little bit of an impressive surprise. We’re still not completely sold that he is more than Caleb Johnson 2.0, but we’ve seen enough of him to want him to move on for at least one more week.

5. Qaasim Middleton – As an entertainer, we love the guy. He’s the best singer / dancer combo on the season. Eventually, though, we’re going to have to see him test those vocal pipes a little more than he has, and it’ll be a challenge given how good the remaining four contestants are this season.

4. Clark Beckham – He’s probably even better than this ranking shows. What we worry about here is whether or not he stands out personality-wise with voters. The three singers before him have all head a ton of screen time, and one of them also has the “big character” factor going for him.

3. Rayvon Owen – He’s a little soft-spoken, but we love his voice. There is somewhat of a glut of this type of singer among the guys this season, but they’re all great The only concern here is whether or not there is some vote-splitting that leads to a shocking vote at some point.

2. Nick Fradiani – The judges were perhaps a billion times too hard on Nick’s last performance, especially with the pass that they gave to Daniel on most of his problems last week. We still get flashbacks of Daughtry and Phillip Phillips with the guy; pending some gigantic dud, he’s here for the long haul.

1. Quentin Alexander – Quentin at this point isn’t just the winner we want; he’s basically what the show needs. He has many elements of the contestants before him, but they’re rolled together in a package that is complete unique. Like Jax with the ladies, he is going to be remembered beyond just being a singing-competition contestant. We’re infinitely curious to see what he would come up with if he had some serious label money backing him up. (Hopefully, they don’t strip some of his creativity away.)

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