American Idol 15: Top 5 Recap/Rankings

Disclaimer: All these opinions are clearly subjective  and I am in no way affiliated with American Idol or any other corporation.

Where was I when Adam Lambert shook up American Idol and flipped it upside down when he performed "Mad Word"? I was on spring break in sixth grade in North Carolina at my uncle's house. Whenever I think of North Carolina I just remember that spring break where I bought my Demi Lovato - Don't Forget CD and watched along with millions of others as Adam Lambert just up and changed American Idol forever. Adam Lambert knew how to tell a story, watching him perform "Mad World" was just magical. As the episode begun and we transitioned from 2009 Adam Lambert to 2016 Adam Lambert I was just giddily happy. His vocals have improved so much and it was a great way to start out the episode. I was also presently surprised to see the montage of all the different openings throughout the season. Unless they've been doing that all season and I've just been eating pop corn and watching How to Get Away with Murder...

Also, it would have been really cool to have Adam Lambert and Alison Iraheta at least stand on stage together since they were on the same season. Side note, every time I see Alison (because she's a background singer) my mind is just glued to her for about thirty more seconds of the performance.

ROUND ONE:

TRENT HARMON

"Counting Stars"

Once again, I spoke it into existence. I wouldn't have picked "Counting Stars" for Trent Harmon...because it's Counting Stars. I don't know why, I just absolutely never would have thought about it even though it oddly suited his voice perfectly. There were a little awkward moments, such as the first half of the song when I didn't agree with him singing in his lower octave because he has such a gorgeous higher range but it still worked for him and he hit mark after mark, run after run. When I say mark after mark I mean jump after jump. Trent looked like a Mexican jumping bean up there. There was even a point where he was physically just jumping. First off, kudos, because he didn't lose his pitch once. But second...I don't know, something just felt off about the performance but he really did do absolutely everything he could to pull us it (7.5/10).

DALTON RAPATTONI

"Numb"

This was the complete opposite of Trent, I thought this song was absolutely perfect for Dalton. Harry just hit it on the nose, the ankle and the elbow, Dalton poured his heart out into the lyrics of the song. Arrangement wise, it wasn't half bad either. I don't know why Jennifer was so passionately waiting for a "head banger" moment, since we get those coming at us non-stop almost every week so it was a nice change of pace for him. His vocals weren't to shrill or to constricted so it really just fell in between for me (7/10).

LA'PORSHA RENAE

"Ready For Love"

It's so ironic that La'Porsha is doing an India.Arie song. La'Porsha comes out in a head wrap and flowy, exotic looking sun dress nearly every week. Their physical styles seem so similar but their musical styles contrasted beautifully together. We all know La'Porsha can sing circles around absolutely anything, and do it was passion and conviction and sell it like she's a Realtor . All she did was prove that once again with a stunning vocal and beautiful staging if I might add. I may, it's my blog (8.5/10). Side note: American Idol fans know who India.Arie is?

I have no idea if I like Jussie Smollet as a singer or not. I mean everything else about him is perfect but his vibrato is similar to that of The Weeknd and he ends ups sounding more like Shaun the Sheep than Jussie Smollet's vibrato. The song was cool and I liked the incorporation of the Idol contestants.

MACKENZIE BOURG

"Wild World"

Yo, for a second I swear I thought Tristan was going to make it through because she always comes clutch at the last second and swipes up that last spot but as soon as Ryan said "MacKenzie" my mind smacked me in the back of my head to remind me about the power of white boy. I thought the song worked well for MacKenzie, I was grooving along to it and it seems to be in his element. The only thing I had a problem with (and I use the word "problem" lightly) was a few spots where his vocals were sloppy but there wasn't anything bad about it, I just didn't think it was the standout he had last week (7/10).

SING-OFF:

TRISTAN MCINTOSH

"Independence Day"

"Ooh, Independence Day? The song that Carrie Underwood shined bright like a diamond with?" - My first thoughts when I heard she was singing "Independence Day." First off, I hushed when she sat at the piano because we got "Go Rest High on That Mountain" with just her and her piano. Then she opened her mouth to sing and I thought that the arrangement was absolutely beautiful. It allowed her to show the softer side of her voice, and her belting wasn't shouty in this performance. I thought she really redeemed herself from last week (8/10). Uh, I don't think she's "flat-lining", I think she already tried a bunch of things out...failed miserably...and she's finally starting to find her groove (like Harry said) in the painful and emotional songs because she gets me every time with those looks (even if they still give me: Deer in Headlights).

SONIKA VAID

"Let It Go"

This is what Sonika should have done with "I Have Nothing" last week. Harry said everything I've been feeling since I heard her sing that last week perfectly. Her voice is beauitful but it's more suited for the more intimate songs that allow her to be softly giving you runs and a little emotion (Safe and Sound was the PERFECT song choice for her). These bigger/more powerful/epic songs have been more of a mixed bag but she pulled it off much better than she pulled of the similarly fashioned "I Have Nothing," it was fiercer and more exciting. A little more reminiscent of "Bring Me to Life" after she went after La'Porsha (8/10).

ROUND TWO:

DALTON RAPATTONI

"The Sound of Silence"

I don't know what it was tonight, maybe I was just tired or I'm getting tired of Dalton but I don't really have anything new to say here. It was dark and emotional and mystifying, it kind of felt like (ironically) he was trying to have a "Mad World" moment that didn't really come through for me. I could see where the judges were coming from but I didn't love it as much as they did, but that's just me (6/10).

I felt pretty welcomed to the show, thanks Adam (:

MACKENZIE BOURG

"Billie Jean"

Okay, MacKenzie! I see you! Come through for me! I always love when this song is slowed down with an emphasis on the lyrics because you hear how interesting and weird they are. MacKenzie did that like an expert, his vocals were restrained but he knew when to use his upper register (and he used it legally and it made me happy) there was one point where his voice cracked at the top but it sounded devine. The chorus change up could have absolutely have made the song crash and burn but it actually was a welcomed change and gave the song some more depth (8.5/10).

TRENT HARMON

"Simple Man"

Oh, wait, okay Trent! You better come through too!! Trent basically did what he did well the first performance (basically his voice) and implemented it into a much better performance. I think I like Trent's over the top mechanisms in smaller song where he's not supposed to move around so you want him to break out. What else can I say about Trent? He's overwhelmingly consistent (in a good way) and shoot I got a little emotional at the end when Jennifer gave that monologue and Trent started to tear up. OKAY NO SAP, that was great (8.5/10).

SONIKA VAID

"Clarity"

Have you guys noticed that all of Sonika's uptempo songs have started off the same absolutely EVERY time, staging wise? She starts out in the back and when the chorus, or pre-chorus, hits, she struts out to the front and awkward stands there and tries to interact with the audience and tries to give you those convincingly emotional looks. She just seems extremely theatrical to me, in the way that what she's doing is fake. I've hesitated saying this because I'm in no way calling her "fake" as a slur or just to talk shit. I'm saying that because I honestly believe her emotions are fake when she's on stage, not because it's her fault, but because she's just...not there yet. It's very complicated. She's really, really trying and I have to applaud her for that. I don't know, she sang it great though, like she always does but everything else about it rubbed me the wrong way (6.5/10). Keep. Letting. Go.

LA'PORSHA RENAE

"No More Drama"

THAT. IT. WHAT. I'M. TALKING. ABOUT. Okay, whatever, let's skip the fact that La'Porsha sang her BUTT off during this performance. Let's talk about the actual performance itself. This performance, to me, is very reminiscent of Jessica Sanchez when she sang "And I Am Telling You", where the emotion, the pain, the anger and the frustration were just furiously leaking out of her to the point where she just lost it at the end. Screw it, let's talk about her voice, it was in top form tonight. The growls, the literal anger in her voice when she emphasized the phrase "no more drama" was just so powerful it was amazing to watch (9.5/10). Damn, I thought she needed a medic at the end because I know I did.

RESULTS:

Sonika was saved, Tristan was eliminated. Is it bad that I was a little disappointed? I thought her rendition of "Independence Day" was actually lovely but Sonika deserved to stay so I just shrugged it off. I think it's a little disrespectful (like, X Factor USA disrespectful) to just have someone eliminated in the middle of the episode because they don't really get a chance to have their moment. They're just shipped off and we move on, but I mean, okay.

RANKINGS:
Performances:
11. Dalton Rapattoni (Round 1) (6/10) 
10. Sonika Vaid (Round 2) (6.5/10) 

09. MacKenzie Bourg (Round 1) (7/10) 
08. Dalton Rapattoni (Round 1) (7/10)
07. Trent Harmon (Round 1) (7/10) 
06. Sonika Vaid (Sing off) (8/10) 
05. Tristan McIntosh (Sing off) (8/10)
04. La'Porsha Renae (Round 1) (8.5/10) 
03. Trent Harmon (Round 2) (8.5/10)
02. MacKenzie Bourg (Round 2) (8.5/10)
01. La'Porsha Renae (Round 2) (9.5/10)

Overall night:

06. Dalton Rapattoni (6.5/10) (Last week's position: #7// +1)
05. Sonika Vaid (7/10) (Last week's position: #5//+0)
04. Tristan McIntosh* (8/10) (Last week's position: #6// +2)
03. MacKenzie Bourg (7.5/10) (Last week's position: #1// -2)
02. Trent Harmon (7.5/10) (Last week's position: #2// +0)
01. La'Porsha Renae (9/10) (Last week's position: #3//+2)

*Eight is clearly a bigger number than 7.5, but the second performance of MacKenzie and Trent trump Tristan's one performance in my opinion which is why she's ranked lower than them.

I was shocked that almost everyone delivered pretty good performances. The low grades are really stretching because there were absolutely no (necessarily) bad performances.

Who I Send Home:
Dalton or Sonika (I still feel like she could come through if America still has faith in her and allows her another opportunity)

Who America Sends Home:
Sonika