Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Catie Turner did it again.

For that matter, so did Gabby Barrett, Michelle Sussett and Layla Spring.

They had the most popular performances on YouTube from the first night of the semifinals.

They repeated the feat after Monday’s duets.

And that makes you wonder if judges made the right call in sending home Layla, the country singer from Kentucky with the adorable younger sister named Dyxie.

A couple of other notes after the first week of semifinals.

1. I’m not sure these celebrity duets are a very good way to judge the contestants. They could be, if the celebrities let our Idols sing most of the solo parts and mostly joined in on harmonies. But last night there was one performance where we were 1 minutes, 15 seconds into the song before the Idol contestant got a solo line. What are we supposed to learn from that?

2. I’m not loving the way Idol is handling the eliminations. They’re splitting the singers into mixed-sex groups of 12; then advancing seven and cutting five. How much more dramatic would it be if they advanced five from each round, then invited everyone else back and announced four wild cards? That would also allow the judges to hold the cuts until after we’ve seen everyone perform in the semifinals, just in case the singers in one group outperform the ohter.

Here’s how last night’s performances ranked in terms of popularity. The number of views is as of 6 p.m.

See also …
Song by song grades from Monday
Photo gallery from Monday
Most popular performances from Sunday
Song by song grades from Sunday
Photo gallery from Sunday

1. Catie Turner, 263,000

2. Gabby Barrett, 246,000

3. Brandon Diaz, 234,000

4. Michelle Sussett, 198,000

5. Layla Spring, 184,000

6. Cade Foehner, 144,000

7. Dennis Lorenzo, 140,000

8. Dominique, 133,000

9. Trevor McBane, 127,000

10. Michael Woodard, 124,000

11. Jonny Brenns, 115,000

12. Kay Kay Alexis, 99,000