American Idol- Top 7

Disney Night is always challenging enough for me. Usually, I am not that into the song selections and it can be hard to find enough to differentiate the vocals from one contestant to another as I do my rankings. 

 

This year, Idol threw in an unexpected twist for me. Is there anybody left in 2026 who ranks the performances for the internet besides myself? Probably not many. I have been doing this though since 2007. Back then, there used to only be solo performances on the competition night. Since they incorporated duets,trios, foursomes, what have you, I have been ranking those too, as long as everyone in the number sang a solo line. Last night (I am writing this very late on Tuesday night after having watched the show live on Monday with my Idol fan parents for the first time this season), the producers threw in a very bad group number in which all nine kids sang very little. What am I to do? Well, a sane person would have just ignored that and only ranked the solos. Clearly though, I am not a sane person. I had to rank them, and as I always do, in order to keep everything as fair as possible, I had to rank each "round": in the order in which each contestant sang first. So, by the time the group performance came about, sort of early in the show, only a few had done their solos, but I had to calculate all of this into judging both times they sang. Of course, in the case of any tiebreakers, I would put more emphasis on the solo. 

 

Anyways, let us get on with this. 

 

1. Daniel Stallworth- "A Whole New World"

 

This song actually went to the very top of the pop charts in 1993. That was the first time that ever happened for a Disney song and it would not happen again until a really horrible song went there a few years back. But we are not here to talk about Bruno.

 

Talking about Daniel, I continue to be impressed by his vocals.  This continued here. While the performance itself was fairly old fashioned, he showed off his voice and enunciation skills quite well.

 

2. Braden Rumfelt- "Remember Me"

 

Almost as soon as he began singing this "Coco" ballad, my mother, who was once a semi-professional singer, said, "he's off key."  I guess so. It is really hard for me to tell myself. None of the four judges, which included Jennifer Hudson this week (whom I thought was really good as a mentor) said anything along those lines though.

 

I think Braden has a nice voice but this felt boring and plodding and he continues to look like he lacks confidence. When he was done, I think he was expecting to get negative comments. For the past few weeks, I think Braden has been singing the wrong songs and again this time was wearing a really weird outfit.

 

3. Lucas Leon- "Life Is A Highway" 

 

Yes, every single year, some dude on ABC's Idol does this song from "Cars" on Disney Week. I remember when it first came out by Tom Cochrane and seeing it on MTV long before Raccall Flatts got their hands on it. I also remember, Mitt Romney used it in 2007 at his first Presidential launch event at the Henry Ford museum.

 

This week, Lucas played electric guitar and I thought was pretty good from an entertainment standpoint. He is comfortable on stage but once again had the bobble head thing going. The uptempo vocals suited him, but it was far from amazing.

 

4.. Hannah Harper- "Almost There"

I do not know the song nor the movie it spawned from and this whole thing just confused me. More than perhaps any other performance in Idol history, I do not know if it was legitimately good or bad. That basically means that I did not like it very much, but I was trying to be cognizant of what she was trying to accomplish for the desired audience.

 

Also, I was unsure why Hannah was wearing a long pink gown and gloves. I am sure it has to do with the movie, but it did not really seem necessary for the performance. She has a really good voice and I thought the whole thing started off impressively, but then it almost seemed like she was anxious for it all to end. I vastly preferred what she did on "Landslide" the prior week. That is the way Idol theme weeks often go though.

 

5. Group- "You've Got A Friend In Me"

 

Oh vey. Does this really need to happen? For one thing, every Disney Week, someone sings this and I usually dislike this. This week, they all sang it. I think they might have been looking at the words on a teleprompter. Nobody really seemed into it and nobody sounded memorable whatsoever except for some really subpar singing from a couple of them.. Still though, I have Idol OCD and hand to rank from worst to best as follows"

 

 9. Chris Tungseth

 8. Brooks

 7. Braden Rumfelt

 6. Keyla Richardson

 5. Kyndal

 4. Hannah Harper

 3. Lucas Leon

 2. Daniel Stallworth

 1.  Jordan McCullough

 

Now, since everyone has sang at least once, it is time to close out Round 1

 

9. Chris Tungseth (group)

8. Brooks (group)

7. Keyla Richardson (group)

6. Kyndal (group)

5 Braden Rumseld (solo)

4. Hannah Harper (solo)

3. Lucas Leon (solo)

2. Jordan McCullough (group)

1. Daniel Stallworth (solo)

 ____________________________________________________________________

6.  Chris Tungseth- "Let It Go"

 

Chris is from often frozen Minnesota, so perhaps the cold never really did bother him anyway. (He also sang "Cold As Ice" last week.)

 

I have to say, the very beginning of this performance sounded pretty decent. Perhaps Chris was on the comeback trail in my mind. Then, he hit the chorus and it was all downhill from there. It was not good whatsoever. Who is even voting for Chris at this point?

 

7. Keyla Richardson- "Circle Of Life" 

 

Back in 2004, Chicago's own J-Hud sang this on Disney Week and it truly was an American Idol "moment." I wish she would have sang it again this week, but instead Keyla took on the Elton John song.

 

While she delivered a competent vocal off the bat, I really did not think Keyla was doing anything special with it. Needless to say, it was not as good as Jennifer Hudson's confident rendition. Then, as Keyla always does, perhaps like a racehorse, she went into a higher gear at the end of the performance and left a stronger final impression.

 

8. Brooks- "The Climb"

 

Miley Cyrus has a much huskier voice than Brooks.  This was going to be an interesting one.

To be certain, I did not love this performance, but there were at least a couple of nice vocal moments from Brooks. It was less off-putting than some of his other performances on the Idol stage. He sat on a stool and played guitar the entire way through. Since the song is about a "climb", he should have at least stood up at the end.

 

Last week, my mother told me that she read on Facebook that Brooks is dating Rae, the contestant who was eliminated last week. I said no way. After all, there is very little that can be read on Facebook that is truly accurate.I said I was sure they were "just friends. " Lo and behold though, after the performance, Seacrest brought about Rae and she proceeded to "hard launch" her relationship with Brooks.Are these two Maryland singers really a couple? I have my doubts. She seems like she would be a lot for someone like Brooks to handle. I am cynical enough to detect a "showmance." Does having a girlfriend hurt Brooks now with young voters or will it help him if people are impressed enough to think he was able to successfully rizz up Rae (Google it Mom)  Perhaps though, "Brae" or "Rooks" or whatever they are being called by the senior citizens on Facebook will wind up married for 50 years. Good luck.

 

9. Jordan McCullough- "Colors Of The Wind" 

 

My first thought is that this ballad from "Pocohontas" (insert your own Elizabeth Warren insult here) is very boring but that Jordan will do a great job with it.

 

That is truly what happened. Technically speaking, it was closer to a masterclass. Jordan is just a great singer. While I doubt he will become a huge star, even if he wins, I can envision him being successful on Broadway.

 

Could Jordan actually win American Idol? Right now, he seems most deserving, but I am not sure. There is something about him and his performances that seem more suited for "The Voice" where the voting audience might lean a little more left. That is somewhat ironic for him as a church worship leader.

 

The first thing to consider about Jordan is that he his biracial, which as we all know, is basically considered African-American. That probably would not hurt him with the votes, but the extremely talented Daniel and Keyla are also black and there is simply a demographic numbers game there. The longer he does so well, the worse it is for Daniel sticking around much longer or for Keyla winning, as many people have her pegged as the frontrunner.

 

Jordan might be polarizing to the current Idol fanbase (of all races) though for another reason, which would be an unfortunate rationale for anyone to not vote for him.. Of course, this is all speculative on my part, but the more I see of him, especially when he is not singing, I think it is more likely that people will suspect that the colors of the wind for him may be rainbow. 

 

10. Kyndal- "Butterfly Fly Away"

I have not seen the Hannah Montana movie and do not know this song at all. I also cannot remember how it goes. We learned that Kyndal has only been married a few months.

 

For those who like Kyndal's quirky and at times raspy voice, I am sure they were impressed. It just is not the thing that I gravitate towards as a listener.

 

"Round 2" rankings:

 

9. Chris Tungseth (solo)

8. Braden Rumfelt (group)

7. Kyndal (solo)

6. Hannah Harper (group)

5. Brooks (solo)

4. Lucas Leon (group)

3. Daniel Stallworth (group)

2. Keyla Richardson (solo)

1. Jordan McCullough (solo)

 

Composite rankings:

 

9. Chris Tungseth

8. Kyndal

 

7. Brooks

6. Braden Rumfelt

5. Hannah Harper

4. Keyla Richardson

3. Lucas Leon

2. Daniel Stallworth

1. Jordan McCullough

 

This looks really weird to me because I do not think it seems right to have Lucas ranked ahead of Keyla. It just is a fluke of the show timing. Lucas did his reasonably above average solo first while Keyla went through the motions on her part of the group number and that skewed things. I also had a three way tie between Kyndal, Brooks, and Braden and went with the solos as the tiebreaker.

 

Who should have been eliminated:: Chris Tungseth and Kyndal

Who I predicted would be eliminated during the last commercial break: Chris Tungseth and Daniel Stallworth

 

Who was eliminated: Kyndal and Lucas Leon

 

Clearly, I was double surprised at the outcome although nothing is really too shocking this season. I do not know how Chris is managing to hang on, after having already outlasting Philmon and some others. I was worried the split black vote would be a problem for Daniel, but it is a good thing he made it at least one more week. There is simply no way that Jordan, Keyla, and Daniel will wind up as the Final Three even though they are probably the three strongest singers.

Kyndal, who apparently already had more of a previous music career going than perhaps any Idol contestant ever (not that I had heard of her) should have been eliminated on the merits.Maybe she will blame the fact that she wore shoes for the group number. There was a lot of shoe throwing by Jennifer Hudson also, and one went in Kyndal's direction. She should have put it on.

 

Lucas leaving this early is a bit of a surprise, considering the recent successes of teenage male country singers on Idol. Perhaps fans of John Foster were so despondent after his loss in last year's Finale that they are no longer even tuning in. Lucas probably had his best night too all things considered, but is now out.

 

The remaining seven contestants give off perhaps the "oldest" Idol vibe ever. I believe Brooks is the youngest left at 23. Besides for 24 year old Braden and 25 year old Hannah, a mother of three, the rest are between 27 to 29. That is definitely something to think about as it relates to this season. It says to me that very few teenagers or those even younger than that are voting this year.