Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Top 10 on American Idol Season 16 include Caleb Lee Hutchinson, Dennis Lorenzo, Maddie Poppe, Michael J. Woodard, Jurnee, Catie Turner, Cade Foehner, Gabby Barrett, Michelle Sussett and Ada Vox. (ABC Photo)

Well, you can’t say American Idol doesn’t have a lot happening this week on ABC.

Sunday night will mark that start of theme weeks on the show. And we’ll start off with a Disney theme because, hey, this is ABC.

Sunday night will also feature Idol’s first attempt at live voting. To ABC’s credit, the show will be televised to all 50 states at 8 p.m. eastern time Sunday, eliminated that NBC nonsense of asking West Coast fans to vote on The Voice without seeing the performances.

And, finally, the most important fact of all: Three singers go home this week as Idol cuts from a Top 10 to a Top 7 as part of the show’s shortest-ever schedule.

We’ll get those results at the end of Sunday’s show.

Here are the rankings for the Idol Top 10.

1. Gabby Barrett, 18, Pittsburgh, Pa. (1): After last week’s superb vocal on “The Climb” and her fun and raucous performance of “Little Red Wagon,” there’s no way I’m moving Gabby from the number one spot. That said, should she get the freedom to choose any song she wants at some point in her Idol future, I’m hoping to hear something a little less often done than the Miley-mega hit.

2. Cade Foehner, 22, Shelbyville, Texas (2): Ditto with Cade. I mean, how do you bump the guy down when he showed up on stage, rocked out twice on Idol’s big stage and seemed completely in control and confident during both performances. That said, when I look down this list, Cade might be one of the contestants most challenged by a Disney theme week.

3. Catie Turner, 18, Langhorne, Pa. (3): A numbers update — Catie’s Top 10 night performance of Havana has now been viewed 1.2 million times on YouTube. The next closest from Top 10 reveal night: Ada Vox at about half that. At this point, I’m already expecting a Catie victory party a month from now. But she remains at number three until Gabby or Cade falter or until she blows me away with one of her performances.

4. Caleb Lee Hutchinson, 19, Dallas, Ga. (4): I think Caleb was a little under-appreciated on Top 14 night because his very strong performance of “Midnight Train to Memphis,” banjo in hand, opened the night. But does Idol really need to try to pin the heartthrob label on him now? Can’t a white guy with a guitar just be a talent artist on this show, minus the screaming teens in the front row?

5. Jurnee, 18, Littleton, Colo. (8): To me, last week’s biggest revelation was Jurnee’s performance of “Bang, Bang.” It wasn’t vocally perfect, but it showed that this young woman has some serious pop star potential. I considered putting her at number four, but she repeated a song (“Never Enough”) on Top 10 night, something I’m a little surprised was even allowed.

6. Dennis Lorenzo, 27, Philadelphia, Pa. (6): Speaking of star potential, how about that fine performance of “This Woman’s Work” that Dennis turned in on Top 10 reveal night with his Idol fate on the line. That falsetto opening was simply superb. “In My Blood” from Top 14 night was pretty solid too. He needed a save to make the Top 10. I’m hoping viewers vote him into the Top 7.

7. Maddie Poppe, 20, Clarkesville, Iowa (12): Maddie turned in one of my favorite vocals of Top 14 night with her simple cover of “Homeward Bound.” So I was a little surprised when she followed it up with a Top 10 reveal night cover of The Bangles “Walk Like an Egyptian” that honestly did very little to show what makes her unique in this competition — her singer-songwriter vibe. Fortunately, her fate didn’t rest on the Bangles cover.

8. Ada Vox (aka Adam Sanders), 24, San Antonio, Texas (5): How dare I drop the most powerful vocalist in the competition all the way to number eight? Simple. I look at the seven names above Ada on this list and see artists likely to release music I’m going to want to hear after the show. I have no need for yet another cover of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.” If this was The Voice, he’d be in the Top 4. But I’d still have the same concern.

9. Michael J. Woodard, 20, Los Angeles, Calif. (11): I’ve written it before. You have to love Michael’s spirit. The performances? I had trouble making a lot of the lyrics in his “Titanium” cover. And he hasn’t show as much stage presence as the other nine members of the Top 10.

10. Michelle Sussett, 22, Miami, Fla. (14): And with Michelle, there’s no question she’s got stage presence. She still needs to work on her vocal control. But performing an original she wrote called “I am a Dreamer” on Top 10 reveal night was both very brave and very smart.