Idol Chatter & Voice Views

All season long, the studio audience determined who got a seat on The Four and who went home.

Thursday night, the judges decided they would be the ones to hand pick the four Season 2 finalists.

That wound up being great news for Sharaya J, Leah Jenea, James Graham and Whitney Reign. They’ll compete for the Season 2 crown.

That wound up being not-to-great news for Ali Caldwell and Jeronelle McGhee, who lost their spots on The Four one week shy of the championship show.

Eight artists were invited back for Thursday’s show. They squared off to determine who would get a chance to challenge a member of The Four.

A video recap follows. The winner of each match is in italics.

And, yep, this is an actual exchange from this ridiculous mess masquerading as a singing show.

Host Fergie to judge DJ Khaled: “Khaled there’s going to be some epic sound clashes tonight. Will your head explode?”

Khaled: “Well, we don’t want it to explode cause I love myself.” But it would get hot, he predicted, whereupon he unbuttoned his shirt to show off a huge belly adorned by a huge gold chain that reads: “We the best.”

Oh, my.

Please, FOX, pull the plug on this nonsense before there’s a Season 3.

Stephanie Zelaya vs. Whitney Reign: Stephanie was an original member of this year’s The Four. She lost her seat to Whitney in Week 2. Whitney then lost the seat to Ali in Week 4.Stephanie sang Bailamos; Whitney performed Mama Knows Best. Whitney certainly brought intensity to her performance. And as short as the performances were Thursday night, that was a must. Maybe Diddy would have been more impressed with Stephanie is she dropped to her knees and squirmed around a bit at the end of her performance. In my mind, this was pretty much a toss-up.

Whitney Reign vs. Ali Caldwell: Whitney’s win set the stage for another rematch. She went with Don’t Let Go by En Vogue. Ali performed My All by Mariah Carey. I guess the lesson from this challenge was that, when Diddy’s signing artists, flash means more than substance. Because there is no way — absolutely no way — Whitney’s vocal was better than Ali’s. I honestly figured Ali was the only singer on the show with a chance to topple Sharaya J. Well, that won’t happen. She won’t even be in the final. Give Whitney an A for stage presence and an A+ for intensity. But that match should have gone to Ali.

Lil Bri vs. Dylan Jabob: Don’t really remember them? You’re forgiven. Neither landed a spot on the show because they went up against Sharaya J and lost. Dylan performed “A Milli.” Lil Bri performed All I Do is Win by the show’s own DJ Khaled. It was hard to get too invested in this battle, knowing the winner would have no chance against Sharaya. I’d agree with Diddy’s assessment of Lil Bri, I had trouble making out some of her lyrics. Meanwhile, for a teenager, Dylan showed tons of confidence.

Dylan Jacob vs. Sharaya J: So, what prize did Dylan get for winning that match. An opportunity to go down in defeat to Sharaya a second time. Seriously, this woman slays it every time she takes the stage. Her toughest competition on the show was Ali, and now Ali’s gone. She performed Mamma Said Knock You Out. Dylan performed Quiet Storm. He didn’t back down. But by the time Sharaya finished “Knock You Out” it was pretty darn clear, she’d be knocking Dylan out for the second time. Love that hug she gave Dylan at the end of the performance. Nice sportsmanship on a show that hasn’t always shown it.

Carvena Jones vs. Ebon Lurks: Carvena was another member of Season 2’s original The Four, but failed to survive the season premiere. Ebon went up against Jesse Kramer in Week 3, but lost. For this match, Ebon performed Congratulations. Carvena decided to be really original and perform I Will Always Love You. I’m joking, of course. About the original part. She sounded fine, but that song is best when you can build to that big ending, and Thursday’s performances were so brief, singers didn’t have time to build to anything. Ebon showed off a unique tone, but on a night that featured some moving performances, his wasn’t.

Carvena Jones vs. Leah Jenea: Leah, 17, of New Jersey, just won her seat on The Four last week. Could this be the second season in a row that the winner didn’t show up until late in the season? Leah Jenea performed Focus. Carvena dug up another done-to-death singing show song, Feeling Good. But you know what? That a cappella opening won me over. And Carvena followed it up with superb vocals through the rest of the song. Her performance was actually more impressive vocally than the one Whitney used to beat Ali Caldwell. But she was up against Leah Jenea, a teen with a distinct look. And, more importantly, the most distinct voice of the show’s remaining singers.

James Graham vs. Jesse Kramer: This was the most interesting comeback matchup of the night because Jesse spent four weeks on the show and James was a Season 2 original. Jesse performed Come Together; James performed Writing’s on the Wall. And what I wrote earlier about the inability to build a song in such short performances? Forget it. I was wrong. Because James managed to do it here. That might have been his best performance to date. Jesse, meanwhile, growled his way through a hair-flipping, head-banging version of a Beatles tune that was just fine. But in this battle, he was overmatched vocally.

James Graham vs. JeRonelle McGhee: James has been a show favorite all season, so with the judges making the decision, he figured to be the favorite here. He performed Without You. Joronelle performed All of Me. I did not like this performance by James nearly as much as the one that proceeded it. Meanwhile, JeRonelle showed off great range in a pretty darn near flawless performance. Based on those two performances alone, I would have awarded JeRonelle the win. But I’m sure Diddy took James “heartthrob” factor into consideration. Oh, and don’t you love the way the intensity of the moment was interrupted by Khaled’s need to promote his own music. Well, at least the breaking news wasn’t another season of The Four.