So Now There Are Four left on The Show. Perky Country Teen got kicked over the side Thursday in a mild bit of an upset, one week after The Singer I Want To Front My Bar Band got it. What we mostly have left are children — undeniable proof that America’s Army of Text Messagers have a tendency to skew mighty young.

Personally, I love this guy. He’s Otis F. Redding personified — except with more range. He’s not the greatest interview in the world — he still seems a little dazed by it all, and who can blame him? — but once he hits the stage: POW. The problem is that he seems like a throwback even to me, and I don’t think the text-messager army has a clue who Otis F. Redding even is. I can root for him — but that probably means he is a dead man walking. Predicted finish: Fourth.

I have been alternatively amazed by the vocal prowess this teen displays and creeped out by the way the show keeps dressing her like she’s Jody Foster in Taxi Driver. Going against her: America’s already thrown her over the side once, but the judges hauled her back in with their one and only boat hook. She’s also a diva-style singer, and diva-style singing seems even more old-fashioned these days than Otis F. Redding. Predicted finish: Third.

If you told me even a month ago that this once-terrified kid would still be around, I would have professed amazement. But something clearly has happened here — she’s gotten used to being in the spotlight and now seems able to shed the stress that was holding her and her voice back. There is nothing — NOTHING — that the teen texters like better than a late comer racing three-wide down the stretch. I’ve seen this kind of personality win The Show repeatedly. If she keeps it together — and in her case, that’s always an open question — she could win it. Predicted finish: Second.

Can somebody explain him to me? I don’t get it. Week after week, the judges talk about what an original artist he is. Wha-wha-what? He looks like Dave Matthews, he sounds like Dave Matthews, he dresses like Dave Matthews, he moves on stage and even has the same facial expressions as Dave Matthews, and he plays a Taylor acoustic — the same guitar favored by You Know Who. He has less vocal range than anyone who has reached this stage of The Show ever and I can’t recall him ever venturing more than four feet from his microphone on stage. Oh, yeah: The tween girls and their bedazzled smart phones, armed with Mommy’s Unlimited Text Messaging Plan, appear to love him. Predicted finish: First.

It all plays out over the next three weeks. We’ll see what happens. More importantly, we’ll see if the winner can make an actual impact on the music industry. Last year’s champ actually has done pretty well, but I’m not super-confident about the long-term chances of any of this crew.

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