Favourite American Idol Contestants: #40-36

40. Alaina Whitaker (Season 7: semi-finalist)

The Carrie Underwood-lite had so much commercial potential. Too bad, she never made it to the final rounds. But her first two performances (More Today Than Yesterday and Hopelessly Devoted To You) are strong enough to carry her into this list. Then again, she was competing in Season 7, when the pool of talent and personality is at all-time best. Perhaps she would have fared much better if she waited for a few more years before auditioning.

39. Ricky Braddy (Season 8: semi-finalist)

Braddy was robbed twice. His rendition of A Song For You is clearly the best male performance of the night, but it was overshadowed by producer’s overpimping on other inferior contestants (Danny Gokey, I am looking at you. To a lesser extent, you too, Michael Sarver.). Having been invited to sing in the Wild Card night, he tried to show the fun upbeat side of him with Superstition. Another great performance, but the judges never picked him through. Then the producers attempted to shut down his fan sites. What a blatant manipulation! They never wanted him in, do they?

38. Jordan Segundo (Season 2: semi-finalist)

When I was re-watching all the semi-final performances from Season 2, there were so many boring performances from mediocre contestants. Naturally, I was expecting another subpar rendition of Stevie Wonder when this Hawaiian stepped into the stage. How wrong I was! Segundo demonstrated a strong vocal performance on For Your Love. In my opinion, he stood out among all the semi-finalists (and at least half of the finalists from the season). Maybe he lacked a distinctive personality and style. Geez, if only it was really about the talent. This guy had it in the bag, for sure.

37. Kelli Glover (Season 1: semi-finalist)

Another strong semi-finalist who can outsing at least half of the real finalists. In the early seasons, you only had one chance to convince the audience of your potential. Glover did convince me with his excellent (if copycat) performance of I Will Always Love You. With all her amazing potential, she was invited back to sing one more time for her life. So he went for Michael Bolton’s How Am I Supposed To Live Without You, which is even much better than her first performance. But alas, RJ Helton sneaked pass him! She could have put up a tighter competition during the first season of the show. Robbed.

36. Stephanie Edwards (Season 6: 11th place)

I love this girl! Not just another classic diva, because she is as contemporary as anything on the chart today. She borrowed from Alicia Keys’ book as she pulled Prince’s funk number How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore? successfully. Then there is Beyoncé Knowles’ Dangerously In Love 2. What a vocal acrobatic! What an amazing stage presence! Now if she was a tad bit more consistent. Gone too early, though.