Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Adam Levine spent a lot of time on Monday’s episode of The Voice talking about how proud he was of his singers’ willingness to experiment and push the boundaries on a singing show.

No karaoke covers, Adam proclaimed.

No pandering to the viewers at home and what they might want to hear.

Christina Grimmie performs Monday night on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

Hmm, Team Adam might want to change its strategy.

If there’s a contestant left to change it with by the end of the night, that is.

Because if The Voice voting follows The Voice iTunes results, even YouTube sensation Christina Grimmie has to be a little nervous right now.

Three artists advance from tonight’s show to next week’s finals.

And three artists earned bonus points toward accomplishing that goal today by landing in the Top 10 on iTunes overall singles chart by noon.

One of those artists was not Christina Grimmie, whose social media numbers alone seemed to indicate she was a lock to make The Voice finals.

Suddenly, the locks look like Team Blake’s Jake Worthington, #3 and #14 on iTunes at noon, and Team Usher’s Josh Kaufman, #5 and #12.

Josh had the best night of any singer on The Voice last night, proving he belongs with sterling covers of “All of Me” and “Love Runs Out.”

Jake, the most endearing of the Top 5, stayed true to his country roots by opening with “Good Ole Boy,” but made an even bigger impression covering Bryan Adams’ “Heaven,” a risky song choice to be sure.

The third spot?

Well, Kristen Merlin scored a major hit last night with her cover of Jewel’s “Foolish Games,” landing at number eight on iTunes.

Christina doesn’t show up on the iTunes chart until #22 with “Hide and Seek,” a finish that would be brilliant by American Idol standards, but doesn’t match the resume of past winners of The Voice.

Kat Perkins?

In spite of some bizarre Adam Levine world where needing two saves to make the Top 5 gives you the show’s best trajectory, her trajectory on iTunes would indicate she has no chance of surviving this week.

Check back at 8 p.m. tonight. I’ll be live blogging the results show as we learn who will contend for The Voice Season 6 crown next week.

In the meantime, head here for my song by song grades from Monday’s show and follow these links for photo galleries of each artist:

Christina Grimmie
Jake Worthington
Josh Kaufman
Kat Perkins
Kristen Merlin

And now, the results show:

And Carson answered one of my questions right off the bat. The instant save is in effect tonight.

That figures to benefit Christina if she lands in the bottom three. But it also goes against the official voting rules The Voice posted earlier this season that said the instant save would only be in effect for three shows.

And after a performance by Rascal Flatts, it’s already time for results …

Advancing to The Voice finals are …

* Jake Worthington. Dang, the likable country guy did it. I’m not surprised based on today’s iTunes results. Could Jake possibly pull out this thing? Blake’s reaction: It’s like his son graduated from high school.

* Josh Kaufman: Well-deserved for the Team Usher singer. He had a heck of a night last night.

And that means, yes, Christina Grimmie is in danger. The same with Kristen Merlin and Kat Perkins.

As for bonus material, here’s Jacquie Lee singing her new single “Broken Ones.” I found myself rooting for this young lady. She was sensational on Season 5 in spite of her youth and lack of experience. Good luck with the single, Jacquie. By the way, you can head over to this blog to hear the official audio. And the tune is now available on iTunes.

Hey, and Will Champlin also has a new single. His is called “Eye of the Pyramid,” and it also came out today. If NBC moves photos of these performances I’ll post them later tonight.

And Tessanne Chin, the Season 5 winner, has an album due out May 27. One tune, “Tumbling Down,” is already available. Tonight, she’s singing “Everything Reminds Me of You.” And she sounds wonderful. Oops, I was going by iTunes. Tessanne just said the album won’t be out til late June.

Now, time for the save-me songs. I’ll be grading each one.

* Kristen Merlin: She’s going to tackle the Carrie Underwood hit, “Blown Away.” Really weak start for Kristen. In fact, this first verse is the most off-key I’ve heard her. She finds her stride on the chorus, though. Oops, there was a real bum note there at the end. That performance was not indicative of how well Kristen can sing. Grade: C

Kat Perkins: What is this, Carrie Underwood night? She’s singing “Good Girl.” Not another Heart song. She’s splendid on those. Better than she sounds on this, though she’s turning in a stronger performance than Kristen. It must be tough to try to show off all your vocal prowess in a minute with your Voice fate on the line. That was OK, not great. Grade: B

Christina Grimmie: Shocked that she’s in this situation. She’s singing “Apologize.” She not starting very strong either. But, dang, this young lady needs to be in the finals. Listen to her voice soar. I still think she’s the best singer left on the show. Think she might want this just a little. Amazing ending to that song. Grade: A–

And the final spot in The Voice finals goes to Christina Grimmie.