No doubt, Brandon Rogers is a true talent.  We loved him from the opening auditions, but as Simon Cowell noted, he just bored us and didn't bring what he's got to the table.  Each week we waited for Brandon to "bust out", but he never seemed to gain his footing.  It's a shame, because this is one guy who could have made it to the final few contestants, and instead, was confronted by immediate elimination. Brandon's voice is smooth and controlled, and while we know he had so much more in him, his performances were lacking.  Further proof that you need to bring that extra pop with you to the final 12 each week, and really focus on songs the viewers want to hear.  Brandon's exposure on this season's Idol should help his career nonetheless.

As each week passes, no doubt we'll see the weaker singers fall by the wayside.  Sanjaya Malakar is still with us, but we don't see that staying the case for very long.  We like the rise we're seeing in Jordin Sparks' stock.  She's young, she's beautiful and with some practice, she can master the control she needs and stay with us even longer.  We enjoyed Chris Sligh's performance immensely, yet the judges were not moved all that much.  He does have great control of his voice and is likable enough for Chris to stick around for a while.  Regardless of the pros and cons of every contestant in this first elimination, we're still hard pressed to find any competition for Lakisha Jones and Melinda Doolittle.  Both are so confident, so secure within themselves and never seem to falter one bit on stage.  Their presence is commanding and their voice control both outstanding.  We really love them both and are sure that we are in for a fun ride to the final two.  As of now, we still feel strongly that this is a competition of only two singers:  Lakisha Jones and Melinda Doolittle.

We're really getting tired of the poor voting by the fans of American Idol.  You probably can't find a single person you know who thinks Sanjaya Malakar deserves to still be around.  Nevertheless, he is.  Stephanie Edwards, who would not have won anyway, should have been around at least a few more weeks.  His performance was worth a couple of good laughs, but certainly not more than a couple votes.  Stephanie has talent and a lot of true potential, but America deserved to have her around a bit longer.  Our girl, Lakisha Jones on the other hand, was fabulous.  While Simon wasn't crazy about Lakisha's "Diamonds are Forever" performance, we thought she was right on cue with control, poise and a sultry, sensuous tone.  While we also love Melinda Doolittle, it is clear that there is nobody as "in control" when she is performing, as is Lakisha Jones.  With Lakisha's voice, stage presence, likeability and natural talent, she can afford to have an off week and still be expected back the following week.  But in this case, we thought she was dead on, and we're happy to see her back for round 3.  We'll keep our fingers crossed that the voters don't foul it up again, but they've done it year after year so we wouldn't be surprised if the voting pool messes it up again!

We were really pleased to see a fantastic performance by Jordin Sparks who is clearly one of the judges' favorites.  Her voice and stage presence gets better each week, not to mention her vocals.  She's improving steadily and along with fan favorite Blake Lewis, is definitely one to watch for.  It goes without saying that Melinda Doolittle blew us all away again this week.  At this point in time, we feel that the strongest competitors in the entire competition are Lakisha Jones, Melinda Doolittle, Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks.  We would be shocked if one of these talented singers didn't walk away with the American Idol Season Six title.