Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Blake Shelton’s team, including Lana Scott, Paris Winningham and Wendy Moten, hasn’t lost a member since the lives began on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

Hailey Mia closed the Top 11 show with a emotional and moving performance of Sia’s “Elastic Heart.”

Suddenly, her Voice Season 21 stock rocketed to the point that she was the second best performing artist on the Apple Music charts.

Coach Kelly Clarkson said she can envision the 14-year-old in the Season 21 finals.

And, you know what? Thanks to the momentum created by that slow-closing performance, it isn’t out of the question.

Consider this: In season 18-20, it never would have happened. In those seasons, the lives shows lasted just three weeks.

The Top 11 show was the third live show of Season 21. By this point in the previous three seasons, only four to five singers would have remained. Hailey Mia likely would have already been eliminated.

That’s the beauty of Season 21, in which dark horses have a chance to emerge and contend for the title.

And it’s the shame of the format The Voice foisted on viewers in Seasons 16, 18-20, seasons in which every winner should have an asterisk beside his or her name.

On to the rankings heading into this week’s Top 10 show.

Two artists will head home, setting the stage for next week’s semifinals.

1. Girl Named Tom (Team Kelly): Three more performances like they have been delivering and Bekah, Caleb and Joshua Liechty should become the first group of multiple voices to win The Voice.

2. Paris Winningham (Team Blake): He might not be able to overtake Girl Named Tom. But with each performance like last week, I become more convinced he’ll prove the fan favorite on Team Blake.

3. Jershika Maple (Team Legend): Week after week, she delivers passionate performances with the vocals to back it up. If she performs with that intensity in concert, she must be drained by the end of the night.

4. Haily Mia (Team Kelly): She’s just 14, folks, and there have been past seasons of The Voice where she might already be a front-runner. She’s got the right coach, given Kelly’s success with Brynn Cartelli and Chevel Shepherd.

5. Wendy Moten (Team Blake): Her Top 11 show-opening performance of “Freeway of Love” was almost a throw-away, given the emotion other contestants brought to the stage. She and Blake need to pick a song that will make an impression this week.

6. Jeremy Rosado (Team Kelly): He’s been solid every week. He delivers a heartfelt performance every week. But his performances have been so similar, he’s another singer who needs a song that leaves a bigger impression.

7. Holly Forbes (Team Ariana): I’m sure The Voice would love to see new coach Ariana have a representative in the finals. Problem is, right now there are at least five singers more deserving of those spots.

8. Lana Scott (Team Blake): Which Lana will show up Monday? The one who dazzled with performances of “Humble and Kind” and “Wildest Dreams.” Or the one who didn’t singing “Next Girl” and “I Hope.” The latter barely broke the Top 100 on Apple Music’s country chart. When a country artist has been “embraced” by the show’s country fans, the outcome is usually better than that.

9. Joshua Vacanti (Team Legend): Joshua’s going to be theatrical and he’s going to give everything he has on stage every week. But last week’s Queen cover was a major step in the wrong direction.

10. Jim and Sasha Allen (Team Ariana): They were forced to sing for a save last week. And there’s no doubt they should be one of the two acts heading home this week because of their consistently inconsistent performances.