Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Top 10 on The Voice include, from left, Kaleb Lee, Kyla Jade, Spensha Baker, Brynn Cartelli, Christiana Danielle, Jackie Foster, Britton Buchanan, Rayshun LaMarr, Jackie Verna and Pryor Baird. (NBC Photo)

This is challenge week on The Voice.

What’s that mean? Well, the singers are supposed to pick a song that gives them an opportunity to overcome some sort of obstacle, such as working on their stage presence.

But, hey, don’t worry too much about the theme. It’s nice and broad and should allow every member of the Top 10 to sing a song they’re comfortable performing.

The real challenge might be staying out of the bottom three.

That’s right, it’s a bottom three this week with two singers going home.

After all, next week is the semifinals, with eight singers squaring off for a shot at the Season 14 crown.

Here are this week’s rankings. Check back Monday night for a live song-by-song blog as the Top 10 take the stage.

1. Britton Buchanan (Team Alicia Keys) (2): Last week was a pretty special one for Britton on The Voice, one that gave fans more reasons to vote for him. There was that impassioned cover of “Perfect,” made more special when he dedicated it to girlfriend and fellow Season 14 contestant Livia Faith. Then there was that rousing guitar solo on the Team Alicia group performance of “Gimme Shelter.” Yep, I’d say Britton likely won over a few more fans.

2. Brynn Cartelli (Team Kelly Clarkson) (1): I still expect the youngest contestant on the show to make the finals, but Brynn slips a notch from the last two weeks based on the fact that she isn’t topping the charts and last week marked the first time I thought she tackled a song (Lady Gaga’s “You and I”) that might have been too big and too mature for her. Let’s remember, this young lady just turned 15.

3. Pryor Baird (Team Blake Shelton) (3): Putting a bit of a country touch on songs like “Night Moves” just might be Pryor’s ticket to the finals. And don’t think Blake Shelton won’t help guide him in the direction. Pryor’s caught fire since the live playoffs, topping the show on the charts the past two weeks. You just knew one of Season 14’s veteran performers was going to become a fan favorite. Pryor seems to be that guy.

4. Jackie Foster (Team Alicia Keys) (4): This young lady probably turned in the most impressive vocal performance this week with her cover of “Love, Reign O’er Me.” And she’ll have extra motivation to impress this week, with her boyfriend in the audience. If the boyfriend looked familiar in the snapshot we saw, it’s because he’s none other than fellow Berklee student Brandon Diaz, a semifinalist on American Idol this year.

5. Kyla Jade (Team Blake Shelton) (5): Kyla went upbeat last week and showed front-woman sassiness. But her vocal suffered a bit and her chart performance slipped. I won’t be surprised if Jennifer Hudson’s background singer isn’t back behind a mic stand, dazzling us with just her vocals this week. I will be surprised if she doesn’t make the Top 8.

6. Kaleb Lee (Team Kelly Clarkson) (6): Kaleb needs a breakout performance this week, because he seems to be slipping in his standing with the show’s large country fan base. I thought this week’s up-tempo cover of “Trouble” was tons of fun. Fans liked it least of the four country songs from the show on iTunes. If Kelly’s been watching The Voice, she knows this is about the time Blake would uncork a country/gospel song selection.

7. Spensha Baker (Team Blake Shelton) (7): After a very rough opening, Spensha pulled together a nice performance of “Better Man” this week and wound up scoring an iTunes hit. Folks, she was third among all contestants on the charts. That’s quite impressive for a gospel-turn-country artist who cracked the Top 200 just once in the first four rounds of the show. Put simply: Country fans are embracing Spensha.

8. Jackie Verna (Team Adam Levine) (10): Jackie turned in her best performance yet on the show this week when she covered “Strawberry Wine.” And suddenly, Adam’s decision to save her is looking pretty smart. To date, she’s his only team member to avoid the bottom two. So what’s she doing ranked way down here? She has Adam as a coach, and I don’t trust him not to serve up a clunker of a song choice.

9. Rayshun LaMarr (Team Adam Levine) (10): It bears repeating, since the instant save was created in Season 5, Rayshun is the first singer to be saved on Top 12 week and avoid the bottom two the following week. There isn’t a contestant on the show who expends more energy or pours more passion into his performances. But I expect Rayshun to be singing for an instant save again this week.

10. Christiana Danielle (Team Alicia Keys) (9): Ditto for Christiana. Remember, it’s going to be a bottom three this week with one singer saved, not a bottom two. She and Alicia need to quickly figure out why “Umbrella” fizzled. It seemed like a good song choice. But it just didn’t work.