American Idol Top 5: Kris Allen

Strengths: The David Archuleta factor, musical talent on guitar and knowing how to arrange songs to suit his style

Weaknesses: Weakest vocal ability of the remaining contestants

Objective: Unseat Danny Gokey for second place

Biggest Threat: Allison Iraheta

Battle Plan: Kris has impressed me by improving greatly in his ability over the course of the competition, but he still has the least vocal strength of the remaining contestants. He has overcome this disadvantage so far with his winsomeness and talent for knowing how to arrange songs to suit his style. He hasn't been seriously considered as a frontrunner so far, but Danny Gokey seems to be getting too relaxed, and I think Kris could make a play and find himself in the finale.

To do this, however, he not only has to hope Danny doesn't get a second wind but also that Allison Iraheta doesn't pull a showstopper out of her hat, because although Allison is polling lower, she still has the pipes to beat Kris soundly, if she can figure out the best way to put them to work (see my advice for Allison here). Kris should concentrate on his strength of creating new arrangements to suit his particular folky style, and within those arrangements he should make provisions to avoid power notes at the top of his range, where he is weakest. He already has the likeability factor, which is a strong card, so if he doesn't give too much away in singing errors, he should make a good showing.