Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Garrett Miles was among the American Idol contestants who survived the first round in Hollywood. (FOX Photo)

American Idol, after all, is the show that produces stars. (Yep, I noticed all those Grammy nominations for Candice Glover and Caleb Johnson.)

American Idol, after all, is the show that focuses on the contestants. (That must explain all the screen time the judges hogged up during the audition shows).

And American Idol is the show that doesn’t resort to gimmicks. (The guy who got an hour off from work at a coffee shop so he could dash across the street to audition for Idol in Nashville — that just naturally happened, Idol would like us to believe. Sure it did.)

What Idol didn’t tell you is that it stole a very key strategy from The Voice for Season 14.

The show went out and found real musicians.

So during an hour-long Hollywood Week premiere that included a ridiculous ratio of at least one commercial per tiny song snippet, who stood out?

The musicians, of course.

That would include Jax, an aspiring pop star who tantalized the judges with a slowed-down and effective cover of Britney Spears’ “Toxic.”

The would include Savion Wright and Adam Lasher, who put very professional spins on “Get Lucky’ and “Wicked Game,” respectively. Both have already released music; both are ready for prime time.

And that would include Joey Cook, who was forced to ditch her squeeze box for a ukulele, but sounded no less impressive singing Miranda Lambert’s “Kerosene” in spite of the switch.

They were all featured during the first half of Wednesday’s episode as the judges invited 38 of the most impressive singers from the auditions to sing solo.

Ryan Seacrest spent much of that half hour trying to build the who-will-survive, who-will-go-home suspense. In the end, they all advanced.

That meant all the eliminations occurred in the second half of Wednesday’s show.

Those who survived and were most impressive in the process included Michael Simeon, the guy who got to slow dance with Jennifer Lopez in the Season 14 premiere, and Jaq MacKenzie, who sang “Cool Kids” and shows as much confidence as you’ll ever find in a 15-year-old.

Of course, they aren’t exactly novices either. Michael made the Top 48 on Idol last year and is on his third TV talent competition; Jaq is technically a student, at an arts school in California where she focuses on acting and music.

So while Wednesday’s episode was far from one of Idol’s best — unless you love lots of commercials — it did raise hopes that the show has rounded up enough talent to make the live shows something special.

By imitating The Voice.

They say that’s the best form of flattery.