After the quarter final round, one of the contestants was removed due to a technicality. They replaced #2 with #9 (the next guy in line) and did another quarter round runoff with #7 vs #9. #9 won that week and moved on to compete in the current round vs #1. The whole contest was moved back by a week.

It is just a popularity contest at this point... and how connected are you on the internet. Friends on facebook... articles written in music blogs... links posted on different sites to get as many votes as you can. It's a great way for Yamaha to get more e-mails for marketing.