Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5598112-20160908020023/@comment-25150955-20160914022357

God damn, that was phenomenal. Ignoring two acts, everyone stepped it up in some way, and it's gonna be hard picking who will win tomorrow. Almost as hard as choosing these performance rankings.

10. Sal Valentinetti Yeah, Sal's done. Ignoring the fact that he shouldn't even have gone through last round, much less the TOP 3, it was a...mediocre performance? It was predictable, safe, a bit held-back, and, I dunno, I love his personality, but he's not my cup of tea.

9. Linkin' Bridge And, on a polar opposite side, Linkin' Bridge tried to pull out all the stops, but it didn't do it for me. Maybe it's the pitchiness of the notes, the fact that the harmonies remind me of four men screaming at me, or the plain fact that NO ONE should be doing any high notes other than their lead (it sounded incredibly screechy in every place other than their main). Or all three. You can switch Sal and Linkin''s places around, they're kind of interchangeable.

8. Jon Dorenbos What a strangely lackluster performance from one of the more hyped-up magicians all season. It was incredibly small compared to his last (and best) performance in the semifinals, and it didn't seem very complex or strong magic, even with the small mentalism thing included at the end.

7. Sofie Dossi From here on out, it's fair game for anyone to win. And, as long as it's not #5, I'll be fully satisfied. Now, Sofie has the disadvantage of basically doing the same thing she did in the Semis, which ended with her barely scraping by into the Finals, but it was still an impressive feat, and it was enjoyable to watch.

6. Viktor Kee I could hardly give two fucks that he dropped a ball again, because this was his best performance to date; however, the fact that he did drop a ball will hurt his overall chances, despite the fact that he did a phenomenal job for his last hurrah, which is why he ranked lower than I would hope.

5. Grace VanderWaal I think it's general knowledge that I don't love Grace like the rest of the country does. She has a fine voice and a ton of creativity, but she basically mumbles through every song she does perform that isn't the one everyone is singing on YouTube. Granted, the lyrics I DID hear were pretty good, so I'll give her benefit of the doubt. Still, it wasn't enough for me. But she'll probably win anyways, so what does my opinion matter?

4. Laura Bretan Laura was always my personal pick to place the highest out of really all of the Golden Buzzer singers we got this year, and, okay, should there be a question as to why? Granted, it was a predictable song choice (Arielle sang it last year for her audition), but it was still performed spectacularly, and she definitely deserves to rank higher than Grace, which will not happen. I'm hoping that people will vote more for Laura than for Grace tonight, because she overall is a better singer; plus, thanks to the overall obsession the show has with trying to get one of the two to win, Laura may have a chance to get higher than I hoped.

3. Tape Face Seriously, did anyone see this coming? The same guy who walked out looking like something from American Horror Story with a bag filled with two googly-eyed oven mittens and a red dress (complete with bra) on his audition? Yeah, he's a finalist, and he may have won the entire thing. Possibly an unpopular opinion, but this was his best yet, and, even if he never did his Soccer Ball Geisha act, he definitely deserves votes tonight. Oh, how I'd love to see him win. Imagine.

2. The Clairvoyants In a race to be the mentalist in the Top 3, The Clairvoyants basically threw Dorenbos down a mountain performance-wise. Seriously, it really did all come together tonight! Granted, it was hard not to notice that Amalie drew a backwards "5" in the tank, but, ignoring that completely, it was fantastic! Combining their past four performances in such a seamless way made this their best performance yet!

On a side note, I'll be singing, "If you wannabean my brother..." for WEEKS after tonight.

1. Brian Justin Crum Okay, who the fuck does this? Who the actual fuck sings a MICHAEL JACKSON hit so fucking hauntingly? And how did he make it sound so beautiful? It was like Cami Bradley singing "Livin' On A Prayer" in Season 8 Semis. Like, Jesus. It had one or two weird moments, but overall, it completely blew me away. And it's a shame that Grace is almost guaranteed to do better than him, thanks to her pimp spot advantage. Fuck.