Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Three last songs for the win.

And when Tuesday night’s episode had finished, you certainly got the feeling Phillip Phillips was already being crowned the Season 11 Idol champ.

The judges were raving over his final performance.

Randy Jackson — who’s not known for overstatements (yeh, right!) — called the performance genuis.

But before we crown anyone, let’s go back and recap what we just witnessed.

Round 1: Simon Fuller picked “I Have Nothing,” a Whitney song, for Jessica. Phillip got to perform “Stand By Me.” Neither was a novel song choice. But Jessica’s was certainly the more difficult. She pulled it off, with a couple of big glory notes and her trademark growl in the middle of the song. Phillip did a commendable job, though he voice strained when he tried to hit a couple of  notes, a problem he’s had all season. Round 1 to Jessica.

Round 2: Jessica reached all the way back to Vegas for her song choice, “The Prayer.” It was a song that allowed her to show off her range and her passion. Wow, and she’s just 16. Phillip chose “Movin’ Out,” the song he performed on Billy Joel week back when Idol had a Top 10. It was a wise pick in terms of showing his knack for changing up a song to suit his vocal style. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a song choice that was going to allow him to match the type of vocal Jessica delivered. Round 2 to Jessica, by a tiny margin.

Round 3: The potential singles turned into a landslide in Phillip’s favor. Jessica’s song was “Change Nothing.” Good luck trying to turn that into a hit, American Idol. And she didn’t sing it well, something I very seldom think after a Jessica Sanchez performance. It sounded like she was shouting the chorus. Phillip’s song wasn’t vocally demanding, but it was a catchy tune and a perfect fit for his vocal and musical style. I don’t know whether it was genius. I do believe it was a much better performance than Jessica’s. Round 3 to Phillip, by a wide margin.

Who won the night: If I averaged out the grades from the live blog, Phillip would win. I gave Jessica the first two rounds by a narrow margin; Phillip the final round by a much wider margin — an A- compared to a C.

Who should be the Season 11 Idol: Jessica Sanchez. Look, Idol contestants don’t sing for 11 weeks to have the outcome boil down to one song. At least they shouldn’t. And I can give you 16 reasons why Jessica Sanchez should win American Idol. Because out of the 21 performances from each singer that I’ve graded since the finals began, Jessica would have come out on top of Phillip 16 times. Twice, I had them tied. I gave Phillip the edge on just two performances. Just two, over the entire season.

Because of her consistency, because of her ability to sing a wide range of music, but mostly because of that amazing voice, Jessica Sanchez should be the Season 11 winner of American Idol.