The competition begins....

Only three of the next 12 finalists will be moving forward. Here's what they did to win you over...

Jackie Tohn got the competition started with her version of the Elvis Presley track A Little Less Conversation. She may think she's an amazing performer with the style and charisma of the King of Rock n Roll, but she didn't show it tonight. Her vocals were scratchy and weak and were not a good fit for the song at all. The performance was like Katy Perry's at the Grammy Awards this year, but even worse. Jackie needed huge pieces of fruit on stage to distract us from her dreadful outfit. We definitely will not be seeing her again.

Ricky Braddy went in a completely different direction with his rendition of Leon Russell's A Song For You. He's a nice looking young man who didn't feel the need to resort to any gimmicks in the form of a crazy costume or wacky stage antics. He took this vocally challenging ballad and he demonstrated how it's done. It was packed with genuine emotion and big notes highlighting his broad vocal range. We should see more of him.

Alexis Grace attempted to win us over by taking on the first top 10 song by the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You). It was a very strong attempt as this little white girl got up there in her little black dress and belted out vocals worthy of this 1967 classic song. We should see more of her.

Brent Keith chose to stick with what he knows best by singing a fun country song called Hick Town. He's got a great look and sound for country music world, but he didn't show off his vocal range with this effort. He went for the fans who want to get up and line dance and two-step and there's quite a few of them out there so we very well may be seeing more of him.

Stevie Wright stayed with the country theme by choosing a song by teen chart topper Taylor Swift. It was a sweet little uptempo tale of teen love, but just like Taylor, Stevie doesn't have much of an impressive vocal range. Taylor manages to sell millions of albums despite her weak vocal abilities, but on this show Stevie failed to make a choice that impressed. We should not be seeing more of her.

Anoop Desai took on the #1 smash from 1999 by Monica, Angel of Mine. This song was actually a very good match for his impressive range. But the song itself is somewhat forgettable. Monica managed to have a hit with it as she was riding the wave of success of even bigger #1 smash hits, The Boy Is Mine and The First Night. Anoop wasn't following up any bigger hits, so this was his only chance to leave his mark. That means we might not being seeing more of him.

Casey Carlson did her best to make the 1981 hit by The Police, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic her own. She's a very attractive young woman and we know from the auditions that she has a good voice, but nothing about it worked. She had no opportunity to show off her vocal range at all. It's sad, but we will not be seeing more of her.

Michael Sarver sang the 2005 hit song by Gavin DeGraw, I Don't Want To Be. The song is a real crowd pleaser, but Michael's vocals were kinda bland. He did not get the opportunity to really impress us with his singing. He did, though, have more time to show off his winning personality. If we see more of him it's going to be based solely on his nice personality.

Ann Marie Boskovich took on the Queen of Soul as well with Aretha Franklin's (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman. Aretha was successfully having a string of hits in 1967 but Ann Marie isn't likely to experience the same thing in this year or in any year. She has a nice voice, but the song was bigger than she can handle. This young contestant doesn't have the personality or the soul to pull it off. Being attractive isn't enough. We will not be seeing more of her.

Stephen Fowler reached back to 1980 to sing the dance groove of Michael Jackson's huge #1 smash Rock With You. This song is a classic jam, but Stephen failed to breath any life into it. He has a good voice that he simply did not use at it's best with this song. We will not be seeing more of him.

Tatiana Del Toro took on the first #1 song by Whitney Houston - Saving All My Love For You from 1986. She did her best to pull back the drama from Hollywood Week and just let her vocal abilities shine through. The fact is that she actually can hit many of the notes required in a song like this. She has some real talent in there and she's not going to let anything stop her from making the best of this rare opportunity. We will be seeing more of her.

Danny Gokey learned a lesson last year when Mariah Carey was a guest mentor for the finalists last year: Boys can cover her songs better than girls. He took on her #1 hit anthem from 1994, Hero. You could feel that he genuinely connects with the spirit of the song to believe in yourself while he sang every note. He is definitely marketing himself very well. He knows how to pick a song, sing it and tell the story of his life with every appearance he makes. We will definitely be seeing more of him.

Only three of these 12 finalists are moving on in the competition. Here are my predictions:

Danny Gokey will be the top boy vote getter and Tatiana Del Toro will be the top girl. Michael Sarver will then come out ahead of the others to stay in the game.