Last year, before every show, I had the Hot List which was a ranking on who I thought was doing the best and had the best chances of winning. This year, it’s now the Love List as I’m not going to worry about what Simon and the gang and America are thinking. I’m just going to go with who I liked. So if I don’t like Fantasia, but the judges love her, oh well.

Here’s the first edition of the Love List.

• 1. LaToya London- To me, she was heads and shoulders above the rest.
• 2. Jennifer Hudson- She definitely needs to improve on stage presense, but she has the second best voice in my opinion.
• 3. Jasmine Trias- The first of the Hawaiian flavor and she also has a voice that if improved slightly, could sing with the top two girls.
• 4. Fantasia Barrino- I’m not fond of the Macy Gray style, but she does have stage presense and seems to have worked a mic before.
• 5. Diana DeGarmo- She’s the young spunky type that the judges seem to like, until they freeze up at the end. She’ll get the benefit of the doubt more often than not.
• 6. George Huff- I love his voice, but his goofy personality will only go so far. Remember Ricky Smith?
• 7. John Stevens- He’s so different from everyone else, that he stands out. The nerves will get the best of him before it’s all said and done.
• 8. Camile Velasco- They keep calling her Lauryn Hill. Lauryn had more than just a raspy voice. She has talent. Let’s see if Camille can compare.
• 9. Leah LaBelle- The only one that comes into the competition already overrated. Tonight should be in her favor as she sings the R&B songs decently.
• 10. Matthew Rogers- His personality and charm got him in. Decent voice, but not great.
• 11. Jon Peter Lewis- Talk about an upset. He wormed his way in with that goofy dancing. Who’s voting anyway?
• 12. Amy Adams- She has more vocal talent than 3 or 4 in front of her, but she screams annoying and turned me off from word go.

Now I’m writing this before I even watch the show, so these are my thoughts before the first night of the final 12.

Tonight is “Soul Night” or whatever they want to call it. The singers have to sing songs that are R&B. No guest judge tonight. But who needs a guest judge when you’ve got the wife? First off, is the number one person on my Love List, Latoya London. She sings Ain’t Nobody and for someone who has a ton of pressure since she is the leader of the first Love List, she handles it nicely and knocks it out of the park. The wife says she’s tired and won’t be one for comments tonight and says it’s good. Randall says it was hot. Paula says Latoya will be around. Simon says it was an amazing performance. She also looked her best tonight with her hair and outfit looking spectacular. If they ended the show here and just declared her the winner, I wouldn’t mind.

Amy Adams is next. From the number one person on the inaugural Love List to the last person on the list. There’s just something about her. This is evil of me, but I hope she loses tonight so I don’t have to watch her anymore. She’s singing You Make Me Feel Brand New. It was a boring performance but vocally she was pretty good. I have a hard time thinking that she’s going to lose tonight, but I can hope can’t I? The wife says she was ok. The wife is very descriptive tonight. Randy says it was a’ight. Paula says it was a safe choice and Simon says it was boring. Maybe my wish does have a chance of being granted. Matt Rogers who is more style than substance is next. He’s singing Hard To Handle and the guy is entertaining and he has the charisma that makes you want to root for him, but vocally he’s not in the league of most of the singers here. The wife says it was good (see a trend here?). Randy says it was a good performance. Paula says he picked the right song and Simon says sounded like a second rate Tom Jones.

Camile Velasco aka Lauryn Hill Jr. sings Son Of A Preacher Man and she turns in a safe performance. The vocals are fine as I love the husky sound of her voice, but she doesn’t make it her own. There’s no emotion. Lauryn Hill in a singing competition just kills this song. That’s what Camile is going to have to do. The wife says it was good. Randall says it was safe. Paula says that Camile needs to just have fun with it and Simon says she needs to just believe in herself. I think she can turn it up a notch because the voice is already there. Jon Peter Lewis aka Bobby Brady is next with Drift Away. Is this R&B? His dancing is already starting to get cliche and it’s hurting his performance. As he bounces, so does his voice. But let’s give it up as the white boy is at least trying to entertain. The wife goes out on a limb here and says he was good. Randall says he has good vocals but needs to cut down on the dancing. Paula agrees and Simon calls him the darkhorse because of his voice. It would be a Cinderella experience if he were to win this competition.

Fantasia Barrino is next and she’s trying to win me over by singing Stevie Wonder’s Signed, Sealed, Delivered. I think she’s going to be similar to Ruben from last year as her consistency is incredible. And yes, she’s growing on me. When I first heard her, I saw the girl from Total, and I heard Macy Gray who I’m not a fan of. But tonight, she showed me something. Great job. The wife says that she’s going to be slightly more animated here and says she was good. Randy calls her a young Aretha. Paula says her performance was amazing and Simon says she’s the real thing. My boy, Georgie Huff is next and he’s singing Sittin’ On the Dock Of The Bay and I think this is going to be perfect for his voice. He has the most mature voice of the guys and vocally, the other men can’t touch him. It’s just a great performance. The wife says that George rocks. She is alive. Randall says he’s a seasoned vet and it was unbelieveable. Paula says that it was infectious and he’s the best tonight. And Simon says that George even isn’t away of how good he is.

Jennifer Hudson has to follow two incredible performances and is next with Baby I Love You. She really needs to get rid of that Robin Quivers circa 1990 hair do. She might have the best voice in the entire competition. The performance was decent, but it’s hard going after George and Fantasia. The wife is back asleep and says she was good. Randy says this group is the best top 12 from the 3 seasons. Paula says she has focus and control. Simon gets on her for oversinging and thinks she did a good job with a bad song. Randy says Simon doesn’t know what he’s talking about. John Stevens is next and this is outside of his comfort zone. I think he’s going to have issues on most nights with the style of song that he has to sing. He decides to go with Stevie Wonder’s Lately which is interesting. He is starting to remind me of Harry Connick Jr. He sings it well, but there’s no emotion in his voice. Stevie’s song is about having premonitions of his girl cheating on him. His eyes won’t let him hide his feelings because they always start to cry. John didn’t sell me on that at all. The wife says that she loves him. She’s back from the dead. Randall says it was boring as he had no passion. Paula says it was classy but safe. Simon agrees with Paula and says that John is a unique artist and is Middle America. I agree with Randall. I think John could sing The Star Spangled Banner and Prince’s Little Red Corvette and sing them exactly the same way. But hey, he’s a young kid. I admire him just for not passing out on stage.

Leah Labelle is next singing You Keep Me Hanging On and she looks really good. It’s the best I’ve seen her and her performance is nice. I haven’t liked her from the start either. The wife is not sure about Leah but agreed that she looks good tonight. Randall says it wasn’t her best. Paula says she was under on her pitch. I wonder Paula would say that if she sang Rush Rush. Simon tells her to pack her suitcase. Jasmine Trias is next and she sings Inseperable. She starts a little shaky, but she has an amazing voice. The wife says she was goooooooooooooooood. Randall says she can sing. Paula says she’s her favorite of the night. Did she forget about George already? And Simon says she’s superb. And right before the commercial, Ryan says that Simon has chest implants. That was funny.

Diana Degarmo is the last one tonight. She sings Think. She has an awesome performance, but she looks to have gained a little weight. Just a little baby fat. It was a great ending to the show. The wife says she was great. Randall says it was incredible. Paula says it was effortless and Simon says she has a good voice but he was not touched.

Man, what an incredible show. It’s going to be hard to write anything fun as these people are too good. No Carmen Rasmussens here. No Garth Brooks wannabe’s here. I think you have three levels of singers on this show. In the first tier are Latoya, Fantasia, George, Jennifer, Jasmine, and Diana. All of them have fantastic voices. Or as Lionel Ritchie would say, they are outrageous! In the second tier are Amy, Camile, Bobby Brady, and John aka Baby Dean. In the last tier are Matt and Leah. Last year, there were maybe three people in that top tier.

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