That may be true but by the time there were only 5 contestants left she had really pulled ahead of Tamyra & Justin.
I thought Kelly was strong from the start and that's where she separated herself from everybody else, although it was along with Tamyra, who was equally strong. They were the two that everyone thought would be the final two, so when Tamyra left in fourth place,
the audience booed for about thirty seconds. Kelly faltered during the final five as her voice wasn't trained well enough to handle what was required of her.
I Surrender (top four week) is an example of a really bad performance from Kelly.
Neither LaPortia or Trent have an upward trajectory. They aren't wowing us more than they did 6 weeks ago. I vote for Trent because I like his voice (and there's no one else) but he's no David Cook or Adam Lambert. He's more a Nick F. And LaPortia isn't singing the kind of songs that attract teens & 20 somethings.
I know often the judges talk about people improving so much week after week, but for the most part I've rarely seen much dramatic change from anybody in the course of what ends up being a matter of days, really. Sure, there's improvement of course, but off the top of my head, I can't think of anybody who was a significantly different performer or singer from their first to their last performance on American Idol.
Trent is a much better singer than David Cook, but doesn't have the cool factor. Or as clear a vision of being someone who could have some success on the pop charts. Nick probably has a better chance of hitting the charts than Trent, but the difference in vocal ability is night and day. (Nick can only dream of being able to sing like Trent.) As for La'Porsha not doings songs that would attract 20-somethings, here are some of Kelly's choices:
At Last
Walk On By
Without You
Save The Best For Last
I Say A Little Prayer
(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
Stuff Like That There
You're All I Need To Get By
If song choices dictated where a performer ended up, Kelly would be performing at a bar in Corpus Christi as part of a Motown oldies night.

La'Porsha needs to pick songs that will be smashes on the pop charts. In other words...do the exact
opposite of what Candice Glover did.