Who was out first on 'American Idol'? A shocker...

It also proves given the competition, one bad performance can do you in. She had two things going against her. She was up first, which means by the end of the hour, memories of what she did had curdled. And she was terrible in a way that was inexplicable given her past performances. She will be doing a press conference tomorrow so I'd love to hear why things went so bad Wednesday night with "Love Runs Out."

On paper, she seemed to have the package: looks. stage presence, pop vocal talent. I do have to say she is the best 12th place finisher "Idol" has ever had.

Her save performance was Demi Lovato's "Neon Lights," as she tried to prove she's a true modern popster. She was decent but started shaky and missed some big notes. It was a B/B-plus effort and she needed an A/A-plus that just didn't happen. She certainly could have earned it but failed when she needed to rise to the occasion.

I am greatly saddened she's gone but alas, we must move forward.

Tonight's two-hour episode featured "party" songs and a performance by "Empire" singers because Fox is going to milk that baby for all its worth. (Can you blame them?)

The general consensus was that Daniel Seavey was going home. The poll I posted last night has a whopping 58% gunning for the boy-child 15 year old. But this is about positive votes, not negative ones. And Sarina couldn't garner more positives than Daniel. You have to wonder if HCJ's nasty comments about Daniel helped goad his fans just enough to supersede Sarina. (I gave Sarina votes knowing the issues she had last night to no avail.)

Who goes home next Thursday? Tough call. I give up trying to get rid of Daniel. And he wasn't bad tonight. My least favorite? A close call among Rayvon, Maddie and Quentin. Nobody had a Sarina-type disaster. I have to decide, right? I'll say Rayvon. He was up first and I just wasn't that impressed as he tried to stretch. I prefer Rayvon over Quentin but I have to make a call here.

As for favorites? Tyanna rocked it again. And surprise! Adanna was not far behind her.

So here's my rankings of the top 11 based purely on the performances: 1. Tyanna 2. Adanna 3. Joey 4. Qaasim 5. Nick 6. Jax 7. Daniel 8. Quentin 9. Clark 10. Rayvon 11. Maddie

Here are quick recaps of the 11 performances:

Rayvon Owen ("Burn" Ellie Goulding) Scott Borchetta says he's not kicking it into gear during rehearsal. "He needs to step up," Scott said. He goes for an energetic song after doing mostly sexy, slower, silkier stuff. I am not thrilled by his upper register for this type of dance song. He feels like he's straining a bit. This is clearly not his natural arena and it shows. But it was good enough to move on, I'd fathom. Keith: "Killer song choice. Your best performance." JLo: "It was even better than I thought it was going to be." HCJ: "I want to challenge to have the same arc in every performance. Give us that fire and energy from the first note. Don't make the end your climax every time."

Grade: B

Chances of moving forward: Good

Maddie Walker ("Shes Country" Jason Aldean) - She is a good karaoke singer but she's truly a "blank space" in the personality lane. But she brings the hot factor to the show and that generates votes.  JLo: "I love your attitude. You're sassy and sweet at the same time." HCJ: "I want to hear your interpretation as opposed to a direct copy of the song." Keith: "It feels like you're getting a little overwhelmed... yet within all that you have an amazing voice and amazing talent." (Ryan Seacrest notes she's sick but doesn't say what.)

Grade: B

Chance of moving forward: Solid

Joey Cook ("Fancy"Iggy Azalea featuring Charlie XIX) - She turned a hip-hop pop song into a cool jazz piece. The song is essentially unrecognizable but she makes it entertaining. And it's all about that bass! HCJ: "A-plus on a couple of different fronts. Arrangement was absolutely brilliant. You sang it brilliantly. I waited for you to settle down." Keith: "You have this presence and energy is so artist... I'm like a moth to a flame." JLo: "It was a smart choice to take a mainstream song and put a stamp. I would have liked to have heard more of a melody to it."

Grade: A-minus

Chance of moving forward: For sure

Clark Beckham ("Takin' It To The Streets" Doobie Brothers) - Scott Borchetta wants him to stretch his wings so he's going a bit upbeat but sticking with an old song. One day, we'll hear him sing something modern. Taylor Hicks brought more edge to this song. Clark isn't terribly edgy. He's a very clean vocalist and looks so sweet and nice. I wish he could "dirty" it up more visually. It was good, not great. Keith: "You've got a voice that's phenomenal. I want to feel something getting out." (He doesn't feel inspired.) JLo compliments his piano playing. HCJ: "Not my favorite performance but I like how you don't perform. You're very introspective."

Grade: B-plus/B

Chance of moving forward: Solid

Jax ("Blank Space" Taylor Swift) - I enjoyed that a lot, especially toward the end though it did sound a bit karaoke at points. Strategically, she should get plenty of votes. And I like her in a pure pop setting with the quirk tamped down a bit. JLo: "I'm not sure it was the right [song] for you. I didn't feel Jax in that song." HCJ: "That to me sounded like a carbon copy of Taylor's version." Keith: "You were struggling keeping the melody down. Either take the song up or choose another song. I felt it held you back."

Grade: A-minus/B-plus

Chance of going through: Yes, for sure

Qaasim Middleton ("Jet" Paul McCartney & Wings) - Bitch all you want about his sometimes shaky vocals but he makes everything fun. And he made this performance work, with a guitar and no running around. HCJ: "I don't think your performance showed what the song was supposed to say. You may be turning into a one-trick pony with the crazy energy." Keith: "What I did love that the guitar helped your singing." JLo: "These are party songs tonight. For me, you make every song a party."

Grade: A-minus

Chance of going forward: Undubitably

Adanna Duru ("Runaway Baby" Bruno Mars) - Scott Borchetta likes her edge. This was easily my favorite Adanna performance to date. She does upbeat really really well. She earned the wild card there. Keith compared him to Tina Turner. JLo said she stayed in control. HCJ: "I asked you to work on intonation, some issues but so much better."

Grade: A/A-minus

Chance of moving forward: Absolutely

Tyanna Jones ("Tightrope" Janelle Monae) - She dresses a bit like Janelle Monae so a good pick. She wants pop-gospel. "She has wisdom beyond her years," Borchetta said. She has command of the stage and her voice and just funneled the spirit of that song through her and into the audience and the TV. JLo got the goosies and complimented her for her complete control. HCJ: "If I were a judge in the Olympics, after the performance, I would not have clapped. I would not have stood up. I would have sat here quietly and given you a ten."

Grade: A

Chance of moving forward: Yes m'aam!

Daniel Seavey ("Happy" Pharrell Williams) - He gets so much flak. I like his musicality and his energy. His voice simply hasn't matured. But he does do a solid job with this song. Let others slag him. HCJ, who slagged Daniel the night before, said he has studied his past performances and concluded "You are immensely talented. That performance felt the most comfortable."

Grade: B-plus

Chances of going through: At this point, who knows? Yes?

Quentin Alexander ("Rolling in the Deep" Adele) - He really messes with the timing of this song and it sounds off to me. It does feel a little too chipper given the content of the lyrics. This hardly qualifies as a party song to me. JLo "You bring a different flavor." HCJ: "To me, one of your greatest gifts is to be able to dig extremely deep into a lyric. I think you gave yourself an opportunity but I felt it was a relatively shallow interpretation. I felt you coasted over your song."

Grade: B/B-plus

Chances of going through: Okay

Nick Fradiani ("Wake Me Up" Aloe Blacc) - He brought urgency and emotion to this great song. JLo: "Moments it got screamy but a great song choice for you." HJC: "Solid. I want you crack open for us. Don't be so shy. Scream it!" Keith: "If you play with a band, it's  strange thing to stand up a million miles from the band. Given that, I think we'll see you next week."

Grade: A-minus

Chances of going through: Excellent

Big news: Kelly Clarkson will mentor for the first time on "Idol" for the April 1 episode.

Ratings: In last night's ratings, "Idol" drew 9.7 million viewers and a 2.4 18-49 ratings, up from last week when NBC hurt "Idol" with a "Voice" repeat. It beat "Survivor." Considering Daylight Savings Time depresses viewership, this isn't bad.

Year over year, the ratings are still down season to date but not by a huge degree. There is no real exact comparable episode to last year. The closest is the one where they named the top 12 which drew 9.36 million and a 2.4 18-49 ratings. So if you use that metric comparative episode, Fox should be thrilled.

Next week's theme: Top 10 sing movie songs. That is nice and broad.

Calendar note: Next Wednesday, "Empire" will air a two-hour finale. "Idol" will air on Thursday instead but go back to Wednesdays the following week.

What's classic to you, judges? The show is trying to get the audience involved via social media by soliciting classic songs under the hashtag #classicsongs for a future episode. HCJ says Ray Charles. (Not a song HCJ!) That makes sense given his background. JLo picked "Born in the USA." Was she thinking classic rock? That's classic in the sense she is an 80s child like me. And it's funny: so is Keith Urban so he picked a song I grew up with: "Jack and Diane."

Polling: I asked readers last night what they thought of the top 12. 42% said it was good enough to stick around for, 18% said they're done for the season and 39% think it's one of the best top 12s in ages.

Clark Beckham won hands down for best performance Wednesday night: 37.3%. Jax lagged behind at 14%. Sarina was at the bottom - and that says a lot right there.