Idol Chatter & Voice Views

 

American Idol enters Monday night with 20 contestants.

By the time the night ends, eight talented singers will have been eliminated.

Six will head home at the start of the show when Idol announces the results of the Top 20 shows.

Fans voted over the past two weeks and those votes will determine most members of the Top 14.

Then the judges will likely add some wild cards picks to complete that Top 14.

As soon as the field is whittled, the lucky Top 14 will perform Songs of Faith in Idol’s first live show of the season.

Fans will vote during the show and the lowest two vote-getters will head home.

So we can expect lots of drama over the course of a two-hour time span.

Idol Chatter will live blog — with song by song grades — throughout.

See also …
Song by song grades from Monday’s show
Most popular performances from Monday’s show
Song by song grades from 1st Top 20 show
Most popular performances from 1st Top 20 show

Keyla Richardson, 29, Pensacola, Fla., “Jireh” by Elevation Worship: Keyla is looking very sharp tonight. Let’s see how she follows up last week’s amazing performance. She’s delivering a solid performance. It wasn’t as rousing as last week, but it’s likely to get her into the Top 10. She ended with one heck of a glory note. Lionel loved her “star strut.” Luke loved the way she commanded the stage. Grade: B+

Jesse Findling, 19, Long Island, N.Y., “Bless the Broken Road” by Racal Flatts: Jesse has a nice song choice for him. He has a very clear, lovely tone. And he’s getting a helping hand from the Idol background chori. Not sure he quite nailed that high note, but he’s following up Keyla with a solid performance of his own. And he nailed the ending. Carrie compliments him on a fantastic performance. Lionel loves the purity and sincerity in his voice. Grade: B

Lucas Leon, 18, Gallatin, Tenn., “Gratitude” by Brandon Lake: Wow, love Lucas’s tone on this. And he’s getting help from the Idol choir on the chorus. Let the singer be center stage, Idol. This is a really lovely performance from Lucas. Perhaps my favorite from him on the show. Certainly the best of the night so far. Luke Bryan echoed what I just said. Carrie said she felt some holy spirit in the room. She praised the performance as well. Grade: B+:

Daniel Stallworth, 27, Moss Point, Mississippi, “Brighter Days” by Blessing Offor: Look at that, he’s singing a song from a former Voice standout. And he’s delivering what I’ve come to expect from Daniel. A great, rich vocal. He looks in his element on the Idol stage. The judges urged him to be more relaxed on stage, and he’s doing that tonight. The ab libbing might have gone a bit too far, but that was a solid performance. Lionel Richie called it a “great, great” performance. Carrie loved the fact that he went with an upbeat song. Grade: A–

Philmon Lee, 25, LeGrange, Ga., “Simple Man” by Lynyd Skynyrd: Philmon’s rasp works very nicely on this song. He also seems to have gotten a bit of an Idol makeover. He certainly attacked that song with an impressive amount of passion and energy. That might have been his best performance on the show too. Carrie said that might have been his moment. Luke said that is the type of performance he should continue to look to give. Grade: A–

Rae Boyd, 24, Frederick, Md., “Up to the Mountain” by Patti Griffin: This is the first time Rae has slowed things down. Dang, does she have a big, soulful voice. No need for a choir to help her out. She fills the room with her voice all alone. Slow things down? No problem for Rae. Wow. Right now, she is my favorite singer on this show. Luke called it totally pro. Lionel called it a show-winning type of performance. Carrie said it was the perfect song for her voice. Grade: A.

Jake Thistle, 21, Paramus, N.J., “Have a Little Faith in Me” by John Hiatt: Jake is sitting behind the keys for this performance. Idol has found a super talented Top 14 for Season 24. There’s hasn’t been a subpar performance tonight. Jake’s continuing that trend, though I wonder about the wisdom of spending the entire performance at his keys. Lionel Richie loved the second half of the performance. Luke called it “so listenable.” Grade: B:

Braden Rumfelt, 22, Murphy, N.C., “Hardfelt Hallelujah” by Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll: Okay, I sensed some nerves as the start of this performance. But then Braden’s voice soared. Not sure why, but that performance didn’t come together quite as well as it should have. I needed to see less vocal gymnastics and more passion. Both Luke and Lionel sensed the nerves too. Carrie praised his voice. Grade: B–

Julian Kalel, 19, El Paso, Texas, “Fix You” by Coldplay: Julian makes “Fix You” his own. The first part was rather sleepy. But when the song swelled, Julian made it work. He has such a nice singer-songwriter vibe. Luke called that really well done and said he thinks Julian has star potential. Lionel reminds him too that he has to dig deep on every performance because of all the talent on the show. Grade: B

Kyndal Inskeep, 29, Fishers, Indiana, “Nothing But the Blood of Jesus” : Knydal’s magic is her signature sound. She’s going to take us to church with this performance. She’s singing with lots of passion as she twirls around the stage. That was an excellent, uptempo performance. Luke said the song flowed through her body, soul and voice. Carrie doesn’t understand how she isn’t already famous. Grade: A–

Jordan McCullough, 27, Murfreesboro, Tenn.: “I Can Only Imagine” by Mercy Me: He’s opening a cappella. And if anyone among the Top 14 can do that, it’s Jordan. Halfway through the song, his voice explodes. He ends with a big glory note. And he has the Idol judges on their feet. Carrie’s feedback: “Thank you.” Luke loves the way he keeps bringing his performances up another notch. That wasn’t my favorite Jordan performance, but he belongs in the Top 12. Grade: B+

Brooks Rosser, 22, Bel Air, Md., “Imagine” by John Lennon: Nice song for Brooks’ unique voice, but he keeps hitting a jarring note on his guitar that’s detracting from the performance a bit. Really nice vocal. But Brooks didn’t look that least bit comfortable on stage. It’s going to be interesting to see how far Brooks can go on the uniqueness of his voice alone, because he’s clearly the least comfortable performer among the Top 14. For now, the judges love the voice. Grade: C+

Hannah Harper, 25, Willow Springs, Missouri, “At the Cross”: I worry about singers who sing late in the show on these live shows because there isn’t much time for fans to react. No fear for Hannah. She’s the favorite to win Idol right now. And this performance is another example why. She just has a lovely voice. I mean, that ending was pure gold. Turns out her family band ends shows with this song.Carrie found the performance heartfelt. Luke called the performance perfection. Grade: A+

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Chris Tungseth, 27, Fergus Falls, Minn., “By Your Grace” by Cody Johnson: Enunciate, Chris. Enunciate. And show us some emotion. You have a tough act to follow. He steps up the passion a bit as the song swells, but his voice also seemed to waver at that point. Carrie calls his voice unique. Luke said he delivered a great song choice. Grade: C+

And now it’s time for more results.

Singers advancing to the Top 12 include:

Well, look at that, so many votes were coming in so rapidly from five different sources, Idol can’t announce the results tonight. We’ll have to wait to next week to see who makes the Top 12.