I'm genuinely torn. There are any number of singers who I think should go home on "American Idol" tonight. Five or six, really.
But then I look at the six who would be left behind and I wonder which one of them might be the next Carrie Underwood or … well, Daughtry, anyway. Can you imagine a Siobhan Magnus album? A dozen tracks of gothy pop, 10 of them with the obligatory Magnu-yowl? Or — gulp — an album of AutoTuned Tim Urban?
Even down to just 12 singers, at this point in the competition it's slim pickings. But with the best record so far among our "Idol" brain trust going into our third week of prognosticating (5-of-8), I need to buckle down and just pick one.
The near-consensus this week is that flame-haired Texas crooner Lacey Brown doesn't have enough of a fan base to stick around and that her somewhat tame countrified take on the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday" just didn't cut it. I'd be tempted to go with Paige Miles again, but thanks to a nasty case of laryngitis, she actually sounded halfway decent on Tuesday night. While I still think Aaron Kelly is affected and robotic, he clearly has the grandma and mom vote locked up. Ditto for Katie Stevens, the teen terminator who keeps improbably chugging along on a wave of mediocrity.
And though I keep thinking Tim Urban is going to come out and step on a rake, there was something goofily endearing about a reggaefied stumble through "Under My Thumb" that would have made Jason Mraz flip his fedora.
So, I have to agree with my fellow panelists: I think it's curtains for Brown tonight. Check back tomorrow to see how we all did.