Idol Chatter & Voice Views

 

One more contestant heads home this week on The Voice under the show’s new finals format.

And the contestants certainly set a high standard for themselves last week when three — Jordan Smith, Amy Vachal and Jeffery Austin — landed in the Top 10 on iTunes, scoring bonus points in the process.

Perhaps more impressive is this: 12 songs were available on iTunes after last week’s show. Ten of those 12 wound up in the Top 10 on one of iTunes’ genre charts.

Song selections for tonight have been announced and are listed below. The songs are available on iTunes. But, remember, only songs downloaded after 10 p.m. ET count toward a contestant’s vote total.

Check back at 8 p.m. when I’ll be live blogging with song by song grades right here.

Shelby Brown, Team Adam: You never quite know if voting trends are following the iTunes results on The Voice. But if they are, Shelby is running fourth among the four country singers in the Top 11. And that’s in spite of two very impressive performances since the live shows began. It’ll be interesting to see what Adam comes up with to reverse that trend.

Tonight: Here’s how — he’ll have Shelby do a country version of Lady Gag’s “You and I.” Interesting. And it takes Shelby about two lines to unleash that growl of hers. Solid performance to start the night. I would have liked to have seen even a little more attitude early in the song, but she nailed the big “You and I” glory part near the end. After that, the last three lines were almost a tiny bit of a letdown. But, all in all, another solid effort from Shelby. Adam says that performance should earn her the giraffe she’s been wanting. Grade: B

Evan McKeel, Team Pharrell: A four-chair-turn recipient in the blind auditions, Evan could use a comeback of sorts because his covers of “Overjoyed” and “This Is It” were vocally fine, but not particularly memorable. He might want to follow the game plan mapped out by Amy and Adam and perform something more current.

Tonight: Well, you can forget that. He’s going to sing “Smile,” which dates back to the 1930s and was covered by Michael Jackson in the 1990s. Carson Daly says this song will show how much he’s grown. Evan says this performance will take him back to the type of music he’s been making the past few years. And he calls it was of the most powerful songs ever written lyrically. He opens a cappella, a nice touch. He’s delivering a perfectly fine vocal, but this is both a bit sleepy and forgettable for the occasion. And I can’t see it being a megahit on iTunes. As wonderful as the message of the song might be, I’m just not sure that was a wise song choice. Grade: C

Barrett Baber, Team Blake: The oldest singer still in the competition at age 35, Barrett is still looking for that big moment that would put him in a position to make the sort of run for the Voice title that Craig Wayne Boyd did back in Season 7. That big moment needs to come soon, or Jordan’s lead might become insurmountable.

Tonight: Barrett is going to provide a male spin on a country classic, Tanya Tucker’s “Delta Dawn.” He says he thinks this will be the week where he shows his artistry — the way he writes and rearranges music. He’s going to give up a rocking version of this song. Really nice stripped down opening by Barrett. And now the song kicks into high gear and Barrett starts delivering attitude. Now here comes a choir to join Barrett in singing the chorus the second and third time. Hmm, sorta a mixed bag. Great opening. Fantastic finish. I wasn’t thrilled with a bit of the rearranging in the middle. But Barrett certainly commands the stage, doesn’t he? Grade: B+

Korin Bukowski, Team Gwen: Now sporting the same color blonde hair as her coach, Korin needed last week’s instant save to reach the Top 11. If you haven’t checked out the social media stats, the good news is that she picked up a ton of Twitter followers in the process should she need another save this week. And a contestant has earned back-to-back instants saves in each of the past three seasons.

Tonight: She’ll sing “Only Hope” by Mandy Moore. Korin admits she hasn’t been at the top of her game the last two weeks and says this old favorite came to her mind. I fear Korin might be in danger again after this performance. No doubt it was heartfelt and there were moments when she sounded exquisite. But she went for two big glory notes and didn’t pull either one off very convincingly. That said, the crowd gives her a really great reception at the end of the performance. I still think her fans had better be ready to tweet again tomorrow night. Grade: C.

Amy Vachal, Team Adam: This songstress went from needing Adam’s save to qualify for the Top 12 two weeks ago to finishing second behind only Jordan Smith on iTunes last week and crashing into bonus points territory. The difference: She performed “Hotline Bling,” a current hit rather than covering something from the mid-20th century.

Tonight: Amy will be keeping it current, covering Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space.” The vision for this song comes from Adam, Amy says. She clearly doesn’t mind; she calls his “a bad-ass coach.” I’ll tell you what, the iTunes version is really good. The sound mix on the live version isn’t nearly as good, however. That said, I really like this reworking on the song. Kudos to Adam for coming up with this version. Here’s betting it’s Top 10 bound on iTunes. That was my favorite Amy Vachal performance to date. Well done. Pharrell is encouraging everyone to download that even though he’s not Amy’s coach. Nice touch. Grade: A–

Zach Seabaugh, Team Blake: Last week’s attempt at a ballad didn’t work out so well for Zach, but I get the impression that his growing base of female fans captivated by his older-than-he-looks good looks are going to support him regardless. Still, he seems like he’s at his best when he’s able to loosen up and have some fun on stage.

Tonight: Zach gets a song that’s a bit more playful — “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not” by Thompson Square. Blake says what he’s really looking for from Zach in this performance is attitude. He says he’s already a great singer and a threat to everyone else in the competition. The vocal was still a little shaky, but Zach’s going nowhere but on to the Top 10. The song allowed him to work the stage, flirt with the audience and have lots more fun that he did a week ago. Oh, and Gwen is absolutely correct: That was a very smart song choice. Grade: B–

Madi Davis, Team Pharrell Madi’s artistry at age 16 still makes her my favorite among the show’s contestants, but her cover of Jewel’s “Who Will Save Your Soul” didn’t go over as big on iTunes as her previous week’s reworking of Fleetwood Mac’s “Songbird.” With Mark Hood gone, Madi looks like Pharrell’s big hope for making the finals.

Tonight: She’s going to tackle U2’s “Love is Blindness,” which was done pretty darn well by Jacqui Lee back in Season 5. Madi is playing the piano for this performance, and starts very strong. Wow, Madi did a really great job with that, building to a really nice climax. Adam calls the performance “amazing.” Gwen is in tears. Blake calls it the perfect match of artist and song and calls it the best performance of the night so far. I’ll be interested to see how that is received on iTunes, because Madi just turns in her best performance so far. Grade: A.

Braiden Sunshine, Team Gwen: Forced to open the show last week, Braiden sang Styx’s “Renegade” and wound up dead last among the To 12 on iTunes, though that was still good enough for number one on the rock chart. The song choice was in keeping with the 15-year-old’s background, however. He started out singing in a rock-and-roll cover band.

Tonight: He’s going to sing Spandau Ballet’s “True.” Hmm. Apparently, this song choice was Gwen’s idea. Hmm. She wants fans to forget he’s 15, she says in one breath. In the next, she wants the young girls to be wowed by him. Oh, and it doesn’t sound like Braiden knows the song. Well, Braiden held a glory note forever and sounded a heck of a lot better than he did a week ago. I just don’t understand that song choice. I just can’t see any non-Braiden fans flocking to iTunes to download that. Perhaps Gwen should pick Blake’s brain for song choices since she accused him of cheating with the tune he picked for Zach. Grade: C+

Jordan Smith, Team Adam: It’s two weeks of live shows and two weeks in the iTunes Top 10 for Jordan. And because cumulative iTunes downloads are added to the finale vote tally, Jordan’s putting himself in very good position to live up to the show’s hype and waltz away with the Season 9 crown. At this rate, he might even spoil any Season 9 suspense.

Tonight: Jordan will sing “Who You Are,” a Jessie J. song. Well, that has been his specialty — putting a male spin on songs done by top female vocalists. Jordan says this song is perfect for him because it shares the message: Be yourself. Wow. Honestly, I thought Jordan Smith’s last two performances were a little overrated. But that was an absolutely great vocal. Jordan got to show off his range, his versatility. And he seemed perfectly at home strolling the stage and delivering a very heartfelt vocal. That was easily my favorite Jordan Smith performance. I’d be shocked if he isn’t headed straight to the top of iTunes again. Grade: A+

Emily Ann Roberts, Team Blake: This teenager voiced her preference for throw-back country way back in the blind audition and has stayed pretty true to that sound during her run on The Voice. Last week, she went up-tempo with “Blame It On Your Heart” by Patty Loveless. The result: She found herself sitting at number five on the iTunes’ country singles chart.

Tonight: Emily Ann will tackle “Why Not Me,” a country hit for The Judds about 20 years ago. You know what I wrote about Zach earlier going nowhere but the Top 10. The same is true for Blake, who somehow managed to snag Season 9’s male and female sweethearts. This isn’t going to be a Jordan Smith vocal that knocks your socks off, it’s just going to be another really solid performance from Emily Ann that this show’s country fans are going to love. Really nice performance from Emily Ann Roberts. Grade: B+

Jeffery Austin, Team Gwen: This young man took six years off from performing after high school and just keeps getting better. Last week, he covered James Bay’s “Let It Go” and I ranked it as the best performance of the night. And in the live playoffs, I rated his performance the best on Team Gwen when he performed Jessie Ware’s “Say You Love Me.”

Tonight: He’ll sing “Dancing on My Own,” by Robyn. Jeffery says he still has a one-chair mindset, feeling he has to prove himself each week. This week, he wants to prove he can take a dance-pop song and make it his own. Mission accomplished. Another great vocal by Jeffery, who continues to be one of the show’s biggest surprises. Jeffery sounded great and delivered that with tons of emotion and a great finish. Blake says Jeffery could win The Voice. Well, there is Jordan standing in his path. Grade: A