I realized, two weeks ago, sorry, the biggest difference between John Stevens and Clay Aiken as far as "American Idol" goes. Simon has pointed out many similarities, and I've caught a few others. There's the mostly-female fanbase with the amazingly diverse age range. There's the "love him or hate him" factor. John Stevens and Clay Aiken both had unique voices, and both were said to only be able to handle one genre of music (a non-modern pop type for both), and both tried to stick to those genres but have learned to vary upon the pleading of the judges... Clay rode his way to second place, and has certainly succeeded after "American Idol." Can John Stevens?

     Sorry, but, nah.

     While I don't at all doubt his talent, and while I do like John Stevens's original tone, Clay also had an extra, what, eight years of experience under his belt? They let John Stevens in this far into the competition too quickly. He would be fabulous with more experience and more training, but now that he's made it this far...he probably can't try again (rules? audience taunting?). The even bigger difference between Aiken and Stevens is energy. Clay Aiken had confidence when he danced, he had more energy when he sang.

     Unfortunately, though, even if people see John Stevens as the next Clay, will America really vote in the same type of person they did last year? Albeit Clay Aiken didn't win, but he's certainly doing better on the charts, on the radio, in record sales... Even the show has been giving him more attention. Ruben only came in to sing for members of the top 32. Clay came in to sing and gab with the top 12. Clay fans might not be satisfied, and, with push from Simon Cowell, regarded John Stevens as their new idol. But no one can actually BE Clay except for Clay. Using John Stevens as a symbol for Clay is almost like trying to replace him, which must be sinful in Aiken-ism. Voting for John Stevens based on potential this far in the game is just unwise. If you think he performs fabulously and has a great voice (which, despite his forgetting of the song lyrics, I thought was true on Tuesday), vote for him. But...if you think he deserves to be in the top 10 of over 70,000 just because he could...shouldn't the guy who sang "Premonition" and pulled yea-sayers off of the beach to meet Simon be this far as well?