Idol Chatter & Voice Views

For the last three days, my look back at 2015 has focused on the music released by former contestants of The Voice.

Beginning today, we shift our focus to music released by singers who once graced the stage as finalists on American Idol.

By my count, former contestants from the show released more than two dozen videos in 2015.

Here are my selections for the best five.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at the best Idol albums of 2015, followed by my picks for the top 10 Idol songs of 2015.

If you’d like to see all the rest of the videos from 2015, head here. I’ve posted them all.

And at the bottom of this list, you’ll find links to my best video blogs since 2009.

5. Colton Dixon, “Through All of It”

Colton introduces us to a number of people who have overcome major setbacks in life — a policeman severely injured on the job, a young woman sold into sexual slavery, a musician suffering cancer — as he performs a song of hope. The seventh-place finisher on Season 11, Colton has established a nice career as a Christian artist, winning his second Dove Award in 2015.

4. Alexis Grace, “I’m So Done”

The Season 8 finalist does battle with her evil twin in a video that gives a completely different twist to one of the better Idol kiss-off songs of 2015. The tune is the standout track on Alexis’ debut EP, which hit iTunes in January. We’ve seen the split personality ploy in other videos, but kudos to Alexis for a neat twist in a video I’m sure was done on a shoestring budget compared to the others featured here.

3. Carrie Underwood, “Little Toy Guns”

Remember when Carrie played Maria on the live TV production of “The Sound of Music?” She turned to one of cast mates, young Grace Rundhaug, to play the lead role in this video, that of a young girl traumatized by her parents’ constant fighting. So the youngster dreams about being the family’s hero, rescuing her father and reuniting them in a fantasy world. The song was one of the originals featured on Carrie’s greatest hits album.

2. Jenaux and Pia Toscano, “Renegades”

All is not what it seems in this video as a young couple become masked bandits, robbing the very rich. Pia said she’s “very proud of the message in this video.” For good reason. We haven’t gotten much music from Pia since her far-too-short run on Season 10, but Jenaux struck gold when he turned to her to provide the vocals for this catchy EDM track. She also assisted with the lyrics.

1. Caleb Johnson, “Fighting Gravity”

Gotta confess, I teared up the first time I watched this video. In a behind-the-scenes clip, Caleb says the concept came after he visited a children’s hospital and met a young boy battling a rare and terminal type of brain cancer. Presto, a simple power ballad/love song became much more when transferred to video by Idol’s Season 13 champ. Caleb provides a great vocal, too.

Also see …
Best Idol videos of 2015
Best Idol videos of 2014
Best Idol videos of 2013
Best Idol videos of 2012
Best Idol videos of 2011
Best Idol videos of 2010
Best Idol videos of 2009