With Carly Smithson continuing her reign as “American Idol’s” most consistent female performer, I was just hoping that one of last night’s singers would be able to challenge the comely Irish lass in legitimate fashion. But no one came close after six of the other seven contestants tried.

So I was thrilled when Syesha Mercado (right) took the stage to close the show and, in just a few bars, showed Asia’h Epperson the real way to sing a Whitney Houston song: with nuance and texture, power and subtlety and a few solid belts for good measure. (By the way, Epperson’s version wasn’t even that bad; Mercado’s was just that much better.) Smithson was still fantastic, but Mercado’s performance was actually more memorable.

So how did the judges respond to this Season 7 female first? Well, thanks to the time they (really, Paula Abdul) wasted talking about non-performance matters earlier in the show, Randy Jackson and Abdul only got to say literally one kind word apiece. And Simon Cowell, able to sneak in only a handful of words before the montage of everyone’s performances, said it was predictable but good.

Ironically, Abdul—the primary reason the show ran long and Mercado’s comments were cut short—reminded the audience during her longest nonsensical rant that the judges’ comments should be all about the contestants. You don’t say.

Oh, but wait, it gets better. After the montage of the night’s performances, the judges wasted another two minutes rambling about something useless. Perhaps the producers realized they had more time than they realized when they cut the Mercado commentary short and suddenly had to fill out the end of the show. Inexcusable. Why not just cut the judges’ final banter and give Mercado the acclaim she deserved… or at the very least, constructive criticism?

So please allow me to compensate accordingly. Syesha Mercado was the night’s best performer. Syesha Mercado was the night’s best performer. Syesha Mercado was the night’s best performer.

And Paula Abdul needs to go.

Voters, please keep Syesha Mercado in mind. Because if she goes home tomorrow night, you can in part blame the judges for rambling about irrelevant topics instead of giving her the praise that can be influential to voters and crucial to contestants who might otherwise be forgotten.

Unlike the judges, I can take as much time as I want talking about matters that don’t directly relate to contestants’ performances. That said, I rank them after the break.

1. Syesha Mercado—Her gorgeous cover of Houston’s “Savin’ All My Love For You” felt right and immediately concert-worthy. Everything about it, from her seductive slides to her powerful belt, was fantastic.

2. Carly Smithson—A very close second for her Celine Dion cover. It wasn’t as fun or as memorable as last week’s “Crazy On You,” but I’d be very happy with a Carly Smithson-David Archuleta showdown in the “Idol” finale. Still, I’m giving the edge to Mercado this week because her song was more memorable, nuanced and deserving of additional praise from the judges.

3. Asia’h Epperson—Top 24 Week: “Piece of My Heart.” (Nice!) Top 20 Week: “All By Myself.” (Yuck!) This week: “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” Definitely closer to the former than the latter. I think she ordered a little extra fromage for a song that’s already cheesy, and Mercado basically showed Epperson up to close the show, but overall, Epperson was technically sound and didn’t make any glaring vocal mistakes.

4. Ramiele Malubay—I’ve been tough on Malabuy in previous weeks, wondering why the judges have excused her pitchy performances. This week, she offered a decent version of Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds, her best song overall to date, but there were still issues. First, she botched a bunch of lyrics; I think at one point she sang “You’re the only one who ‘booleenoo’ me at all.” Second, it was an otherwise forgettable performance on a song that’s been done often, and better, by too many other “Idol” contestants. Last, while she looked beautiful from the neck up, what was with the sweatshirt-miniskirt look she was rocking? I can be ambivalent about bad outfits on “Idol,” but if it’s glaring to me (see last week: Overmyer, Amanda), it can’t be a good sign.

5. Kristy Lee Cook—I loved her country twang and 90 percent of the notes she sang on Journey’s “Faithfully.” But she struggled on some of the higher notes toward the end, perhaps exposing a lack of range. Still, I think she’s improving every week. Could she be this year’s Phil Stacey?

6. Brooke White—When Paula wasn’t going off on a tangent about mutts, the one decent point she made was when she wished White would have picked up the tempo and utilized the band on the dull and repetitive acoustic version of “Love Is A Battlefield.” At the very least, give the audience a little more to look at by playing the featured acoustic guitar and/or walking around the stage at some point. Other than being a complete bore, she sounded quite tuneful on the song. But that’s a big “but.”

7. Kady Malloy—Finally, she got to sing and hold out notes on an actual song and it was her best performance to date. But why pick an obscure Queen song known to only devout fans and Freddy Mercury’s mum? And despite having the most gorgeous vibrato in this year’s Top 24, she missed more notes than she nailed. So that’s what a swan song sounds like!

8. Amanda Overmyer—A week after one of the worst performances in Top 24 history (her horrendous version of “Carry On Wayward Son”), she reconnected with a song that was more in her wheelhouse: Joan Jett’s “I Hate Myself For Loving You.” The judges fawned all over her and the original, an absolute classic, was a better fit. But even though she sang it somewhat in key, it wasn’t good enough to rid the memory of last week’s abomination. Plus, I have a tough time believing she’s better than any of the remaining girls.

(Photos courtesy of FOX.)