Idol Chatter & Voice Views

How’s this for irony?

Last night, Juliet Simms sang “It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World” on The Voice.

Next week, she’ll be in the finals, facing three men.

But unless she stumbles badly, The Voice’s Season 2 finale might be a woman’s night.

Juliet, in tears as the decision was revealed, romped into The Voice finals Tuesday night with 60 percent of mentor Cee Lo Green’s vote and 61 percent of the public vote.

Her 121-79 victory over Jamar Rogers was all the more impressive because he did so well on Monday night’s semifinal show.  Jamar’s performance was easily the third- or fourth-best of the night.

But he had the misfortune of going up against Juliet, whose impassioned rendition of the James Brown songs might even have exceeded her possessed performances of “Roxanne” and “Cryin’.”

Today, all three  of the songs were in the top 150 on iTunes singles download chart;  Monday’s performance was number 6, the highest yet by a Season 2 performer from The Voice.

So in the finals, Juliet will square off against …

*  Chris Mann, the operatic singer who gambled by singing “Ave Marie” in Monday’s semfinal show.  Christina split her vote 50-50 between Chris and Lindsey Pavao, but Chris carried 54 percent of the public vote to win.

* Jermaine Paul, the former background singer for Alicia Keys.  His Monday night performance ranked only sixth among The Voice contestants on iTunes, but he had the fortune of going up against Erin Willett, who simply failed to strike a chord with the the public.  Blake split his vote 50-50, but Jermaine got 73 percent of the fan vote.

* Tony Lucca, the former Mickey Mouse Club member who went on to become a singer-songwriter with a long list of CD releases that haven’t been commercial successes.  His semifinal battle with Katrina Parker figured to be one of the tightest and was.  Katrina actually won 52 percent of the public vote.  But Tony advanced because Adam Levine scored Monday night 60-40 in his favor.

All three have better backstories than Juliet, the former lead singer for Automatic Loveletter who’s simply trying to make it as a solo artist.

But a week before the final showdown, Juliet looks like the favorite.