Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The American Idol Top 5 of Chris Tungseth, Braden Rumfelt, Hannah Harper, Keyla Richardson and Jordan McCullough. (ABC Photo)

Welp, I think the second half of Monday’s American Idol proved my point.

Given a wide range of songs and genres to choose from, American Idol’s Season 24 cast can be counted on to deliver solid performances.

Force them out of their comfort zone and make them cover songs they wouldn’t normally choose to, and the performances aren’t nearly as good.

During the Taylor Swift round, the latter happened, with contestants once again singing songs they’ve never heard before receiving that week’s Idol assignment.

And a reader of this blog tipped me off to a video Hannah Harper posted, saying contestants were given a list of 25 Taylor Swift songs from which to chose.

Hmm, and the show certainly left the impression that the singers could select any Taylor song they wanted.

No idea what the theme is this week. But Dancing with the Stars pros will be on hand “to bring some ballroom flair to the celebration.”

So will former judges Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul to mentor the singers. Paula will also serve as guest judge.

See also …
A look at who had this week’s most popular performances on American Idol
Song by song grades for the Taylor Swift round
Song by song grades for the California round

Here are this week’s rankings. The number in parenthesis indicates where the singer was ranked last week.

1. Jordan McCullough (1), 27, Murfreesboro, Tenn.: Jordan’s performance during the Taylor Swift round Monday was his weakest in weeks. He bounced right back to dazzle us with his cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” Barring a major stumble, he should win Season 24.

2. Keyla Richardson (3), 29, Pensacola, Fla.: Keyla moves up a spot because she’s simply delivered more finals worthy performances than Hannah in recent weeks. She’s shown more versatility too. The most recent example being her stupendous show-closing version of “I’d Rather Go Blind” on Monday’s show.

3. Hannah Harper (2), 25, Willow Springs, Missouri: Willow Springs, get ready for one of those Idol homecoming celebrations. Because if one thing is certain about Season 24, it’s that Hannah is finals bound. Performance wise, she needs to keep doing what she did in the second round Monday, dazzle us with her lovely country-tinged vocals and emotional delivery.

4. Braden Rumfelt (5), 22, Murphy, N.C.: This could be a very anti-climatic week on Idol, because Hannah’s a local for the finale and Jordan and Keyla have shown they should be. That’s no fault of Braden’s. Matter of fact, I thought he delivered the best performance — and one of his best — during Monday’s Taylor Swift round.

5. Chris Tungseth (6), 27, Fergus Falls, Minn.: Speaking of emotional performances, that’s what Chris leaned into Monday night and it worked, resulting in his best performances on the show since voting started. Still, standing beside Daniel Stallworth, he seemed surprised when he learned he was the one advancing to the Top 5.