Idol Chatter & Voice Views

And then there were three.

Three female contestants, that is.

Now that voters have given the boot to Jasmine Murray (not surprisingly) and Alexis Grace (quite surprisingly) in consecutive weeks, this year’s Idol is starting to remind me of season three. Except in reverse.

Season three was the Fantasia year. Remember the Fantasia year? Back in 2004?

That was the year the final 10 consisted of seven gals and just three guys. Idol was so disturbed by the imbalance that they changed the rules in order to force a six-guy, six-gal split when the finals began the following season.

Of course, they changed the rules back this season.

An improvement?

Well, we head into week three with an eventual champion named Adam, three distinctly different female performers and six very interchangeable guys, one of whom should be headed home by the time Motown week ends.

Sometimes, Idol, it’s best to stick with what’s working.

Here are this week’s rankings. Make sure to follow along during Wednesday night’s show for the live blog. The fun starts at 8 p.m. EST.

10. Michael Sarver (7th last week): Michael turned in one of his better performances last week, singing “Ain’t Going Down Til the Sun Comes Up” on country week. It was fun, his vocal was on the mark, and he still landed in the bottom three. Not a good sign for Michael, who will try to do Motown Texas style come Wednesday night.

9. Megan Joy (11th last week): Since she had the flu, it was tough to rate Megan’s performance during country week. Motown week should give us a better gauge of whether she’s a contender or a pretender. In this gal-thin contestant pool, I fear it’s going to be the latter. But I’ll be rooting for her because I love rooting for the underdog.

8. Scott MacIntyre (8th last week): Unlike Paula, I don’t care whether Scott’s sitting behind a piano or not. It’s the vocal that counts, and the vocal hasn’t been up to par for three straight weeks. As with Megan, it’s time for Scott to show he belongs.

7. Anoop Desai (10th last week): “From zero to hero” is the way Simon put it, and it was an apt description for what happened last week. Anoop turned in the vocal of the night singing “You’re Always on My Mind.” He made us forget Willie Nelson’s version, a feat in itself. But let’s not forget that Anoop also turned in the worst performance of the night in week one.

6. Matt Giraud (9th last week): Matt has yet to perform as well as Anoop did last week or as poorly as Anoop did in week one. He’s been consistently average in my book. Motown week offers Matt an excellent chance to establish himself as a contestant who deserves to be around a while.

5. Kris Allen (6th last week): I’m baffled by Kris’ strategy. He played guitar on Michael Jackson week, when he would have been better off without one. He left the guitar behind on country week, when you figured he’d use it. So, some acoustic guitar with his Motown? Who knows? The gals seem to love Kris, which sure doesn’t hurt his chances.

4. Allison Iraheta (5th last week): Gals with a rock edge haven’t fared very well on Idol over the years. I’m hoping Allison doesn’t fall prey to the same fate because she offers at least a little diversity to this year’s cast of too-similar contestants. And her composure on stage will make you forget she’s only 16.

3. Lil Rounds (4th last week): Who would have thought country week would offer Lil one of her shining moments? I mean, the early part of “Independence Day” didn’t blow me away, but once Lil hit the chorus … wow. That, folks, is why she’s he female to beat in this competition.

2. Danny Gokey (2nd last week): I’ve accepted the fact that Danny’s going to receive praise from the judges every time he sings. At least last week, the praise was well earned. I’m expecting another solid performance on Motown week.

1. Adam Lambert (1st last week): And what should we expect from Adam? Well, you know it won’t be boring. “Ring of Fire” was … well, strange. But even then, the vocal was strong. No one displaces Adam in this spot until they top his performances on “Black and White” and “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.” And no one has come close to matching either of those performances yet.