‘American Idol 15’ top 6 rankings: La’Porsha Renae, Trent Harmon, MacKenzie Bourg lead

We are getting (somehow) already near the end of “American Idol” season 15, and there are only six people left to compete for the grand prize. Yet, of these six, we’d still only say for the time being that there are three who feel like serious contenders. It’s not a slight so much against the others, but when you look at the overall body of work and the voting history so far, there are some contenders who are clearly rising to the top over some of the others.

If you’re new to the rankings, then remember here that we are basing these off of performance quality, screen time, and past voting history first and foremost.

6. Sonika Vaid (last week: 3) – This is a shame to us, given that last week we seriously thought that she was starting to look like a serious contender to steal the competition at the end. Unfortunately, this was our fault for forgetting how much “American Idol” voters do tend to shun women. Here’s a crazy reminder that the last female pop singer to win was Jordin Sparks almost a decade ago.

5. Tristan McIntosh (8) – The big exceptions to the rule of female singers are A) country singers and B) voices so stellar that they cannot be ignored. Tristan is country, and we get the sense that Scott Borchetta really wants her to win. She’s got a ways to go still, but at least she’s coming off one of her better performances.

4. Dalton Rapattoni (6) – We’re not sure what really happened here with Dalton. The only reason he’s not at #6 is because Sonika was just in the bottom, and young guys typically have large fan bases. His last two performances have been rough, scratchy, out of tune, and a huge disappointment given his earlier work. This is now his chance to turn things around.

3. MacKenzie Bourg (4) – He’s coming off of a nice performance, and while we’re not sure what Bourg’s base is in comparison to Dalton or Trent, we’re certainly not going to discount that he had fans since before the show began. He just needs another performance now that re-captures what he brought with “Roses.”

2. Trent Harmon (2) – While MacKenzie is somewhat of an “x factor” (ironic choice of words) for this competition, we think that predominantly this is a two-person race. Trent’s performances have at times been outstanding, and his voice is so cool and unique that we have a hard time seeing anyone forgetting that he’s there and worthy of some votes.

1. La’Porsha Renae (1) – Meanwhile, La’Porsha is just on another planet, and she fits solely in the “voices so stellar that they cannot be ignored” camp. While we’re not sure what her voting bloc looks like compared to some of the guys, we just have to believe that voters will do the right thing and vault her high on the podium.

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