Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Semifinalists on The Voice include (clockwise from upper left) Adam Bohanan, Christina Eagle, Danny Joseph, Dan Jan, Jeremy Beloate, Shye, Sofronio Vasquez and Sydney Sterlace

Coaches and producers on The Voice has eliminated 48 contestants among a superlative cast of 56.

Now, finally, with only eight singers remaining, fans get a chance to weigh in.

The semifinals are at 8 p.m. tonight, and I’ll be posting song by song grades after the show ends.

The voting period will run overnight. I’m sure Carson Daly will announce when voting ends during the show.

You can cast one vote per valid email address at NBC.com and on The Voice app.

If results work as they have in the past, four artists will advance tomorrow night based on fan voting.

Then, near the end of the show, the lowest four vote-getters will perform in hopes of securing an instant save.

See also …
Ranking the Top 8
As viewership plummets, The Voice finally turns to fans
Song by song grades for Team Michael
Song by song grades for Team Snoop
Song by song grades for Team Reba
Song by song grades for Team Gwen

Song by song grades:

Christina Eagle, 23, Catawba, N.C. (Team Snoop), “Man, I Feel Like a Woman” by Shania Twain: For the second straight week, Christina takes the stage to kick off the party with an upbeat song choice. She looks stylish. She’s having lots of fun on stage. She rocks out near the end and lets out a couple of whoops. Not sure the song was perfectly suited to her vocally. There were a couple of pitch problems and some of the big notes got a little shouty. Grade: B–

Jan Dan, 29, Newark, N.J. (Team Gwen), “Open Arms” by Journey: Jan Dan is going to put a souful touch on another non-R&B song. One verse in, I think Jan Dan is in danger of going home tomorrow night. He’s not doing anything special with the song and it’s a rather sleepy performance or a rather poor song choice. It’s not even showcasing his voice very well. He did seem emotionally invested. Grade: C

Adam Bohanan, 40, Long Island, N.Y. (Team Reba), “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye: My, my, Adam dressed up for the occasion. And this song should be well suited to his dirty soul sound Reba loves so much. But where’s the dirty soul? This performance seemed way too restrained. I enjoyed Adam much more in the semifinals. So far, risky picks by the coaches in the playoffs are not paying off in the lives. Grade: C+

Sydney Sterlace, 15, Buffalo, N.Y. (Team Gwen), “When the Party’s Over” by Billie Eilish: Well, first off Sydney gets credit for reminding us we’re in the 21st century. Tonight’s song choice were making me think I was stuck in a time warp. Second, she gets credit for delivering the night’s best vocal so far. That was a nice bounce back performance for the just-turned 16-year old. She’s got a fabulous voice and delivered emotion as well. Grade: B.

Special Note to The Voice: You get a big fat F for the staging. The background dancers added absolutely nothing to the performance and were hellishly distracting.

Shye, 17, Bethlehem, Pa. (Team Michael), “The Story” by Brandi Carlile: Dang, Shye’s voice is so distinct. At the end of the first verse, I thinking, ‘Just give this young woman a pass to the finals.’ Not sure I liked this quite as much as her playoff performance. But she sings with power and purpose and is without doubt one of the most unique talents The Voice discovered in Season 26. Grade: B+

Jeremy Beloate, 25, Memphis, Tenn. (Team Snoop), “I (Who Have Nothing)” by Tom Jones: Jeremy has one of the best voices on The Voice. I thought this song choice did him no favors. Nor did the overly-theatrical presentation. The passion was there. The plaintiveness of the song was lost. Fireworks shooting out the side of the stage certainly didn’t help. Neither did the big falsetto note at the end. An emotional stripped down version showcasing Jeremy’s vocals likely would have worked much better. Grade: B–

Danny Joseph, 37, Dallas, Texas (Team Reba), “I Was Wrong” by Chris Stapleton: This isn’t nearly as frenetic as his playoff performance. That said, Danny still delivered his trademark intensity. And one heck of a guitar solo midway through the song. Reba advanced him because he’s unique, and he showed that again, building to a big ending. Based on the performances we’ve seen tonight, it just might be a finale worthy one as well. Grade: B

Sofronio Vasquez, 31, Utica, N.Y. (Team Michael), “If I Can Dream” by Elvis Presley: Sofronio gets to close a second straight show. Not crazy about the song choice, but this will be an uplifting way to end the night. The better news for Sofronio is he’s turning in another impressive vocal. He and Shye should be shoe-ins for the finals. The glory note he delivered at the 2-minute mark was one of the night’s special vocal moments. So was his ending. Grade: A–

If I could handpick finalists after tonight’s performances, I’d advance Sofronio, Shye, Danny, Sydney and Christina.

The singers also performed duets, which I’m not going to grade, because this show isn’t about selecting the best duet partner.

That said, it’s noteworthy that members of the Top 8 will have performed a grand total of six times before the finale and two of those performances have been duets.

Given the brevity of the season, there’s no reason the eight semifinalists couldn’t have performed two solos tonight. And there’s no excuse for them having to share the spotlight with a Season 26 mentor (Sting). By the way, were the strange noises during that lovely duet from Shye and Sydney coming from his guitar?

Yet another sign that The Voice has lost its way and is hitting tons of bum notes these days.