Idol Chatter & Voice Views

So who’s in danger tonight on The Voice?

Wow, tough question.

It’d be easier to start off with who isn’t in danger.

That list would include …

• Cassadee Pope: Her take on “Are You Happy?” is still parked at number three on the iTunes singles chart, 11 hours after the voting ended. And her song from last week is still number 13. Wow.
• Melanie Martinez: The youngest contestant on the show is gaining momentum. Quickly. Her song — “Too Close” — cracked the iTunes top 10 for the second straight week and was still number six at 6:30 p.m.
• Nicholas David: He should qualify for bonus points this week as well since “What’s Going On” was parked at number nine on iTunes when voting ended. Week after week, Nicholas’ songs do well on the charts.
• Amanda Brown: This might be wishful thinking, but voters wouldn’t fail to support Amanda, right? Even though she performed first? Her version of “Someone Like You” is still sitting at number 20 on the singles chart.
• Dez Duron: He’ll need to rely on his fan base, because Christina stuck him with a turkey of a song (Justin Bieber’s “Smile) and it was the least favorite of the iTunes downloads. But Dez also has the second biggest fan base on the show.

Whom does that leave?

Former frontrunner Trevin Hunte, bam-bam man Cody Belew and classic rocker Terry McDermott.

Of the three, Cody was my favorite last night, reminding us how good his voice is on Queen’s “Somebody to Love.”

Meanwhile, Trevin sang a predictable song predictably.

And if Terry wanted to go slow, he could have chosen more wisely.

We start off the night with a rousing version of Lady Gaga’s “Marry the Night” by Amanda Brown and Trevin Hunte. Amanda shows off her big voice again. But somehow we lost a few lyrics somewhere in there.

Commercial break: Really like the way The Voice plugs its past artists, even if it’s only in commercials.  If you haven’t checked out Dia Frampton’s post-Voice album, it includes some excellent tracks. My favorites are “Bullseye” and “Billy the Kid.”

Now, we’ll interrupt your enjoyment of The Voice with a bizarre muppet  interlude, featuring Cee Lo Green in a green and black checked dress with matching hat. Oh, boy.

Next up, “Rhythm of Love,” featuring Nicholas, Melanie, Terry and Cody.  Interesting.  Nicholas David sounded superb on that.  And the four of them sounded pretty good together, which hasn’t always happened on these group numbers.

Now Cassadee and Dez take the stage for “I Hate How Much I Love You.”  They sound fine, but I don’t love this song choice.

And the artists advancing to the Top 6 include:

• Cassadee:  Hey, why not get the most obvious out of the way first? Congrats, Cassadee.  If you don’t stumble, I expect we’ll see you in the final four, too.
• Amanda:  Absolutely, wonderful.  She brings to an end the string of artists to perform first and wind up being eliminated.  I would have lost some faith in voters on The Voice is she had been eliminated.
• Melanie:  Another pretty sure thing based on her iTunes success. At one point, four of her Voice performances were on Billboard’s Top 200 today. That includes her blind audition of “Toxic” from oh, so many weeks ago.
• Nicholas: Again, you could almost predict that based on his iTunes’ success. The guy’s got a solid fan base.
• Terry: And the Scottish rocker survives to rock again.
• Trevin:  The balladeer must have done just enough to survive.

Which means Dez Duron and Cody Belew head home on The Voice.