Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Maddie Poppe on her return to American Idol last month. (ABC Photo)

And one name is conspicuous for its absence — Season 16 winner Maddie Poppe.

If you’ve missed it, Maddie has voiced her disappointment with that development.

She had clearly hoped a performance of her new single “Made You Miss” on the show would help market her new album.

And that seems like a fair expectation since the album, “Whirlwind,” comes out Friday, a release date clearly picked because it’s the same weekend as Idol’s Season 17 finale.

Then there’s the fact that Maddie was the first winner of the show since it moved to ABC. You’d think the show would be eager to do anything possible to help her post-show debut album be a success.

And Maddie certainly seemed to be doing her part, live tweeting encouragement to the show’s contestants all spring. (She recently stopped; see the Tweets below.)

But Maddie’s album wasn’t mentioned when Maddie and boyfriend Caleb Lee Hutchinson performed on Idol’s Disney themed show on April 21.

And now she isn’t booked for the finale.

Now, there might be more going on behind the scenes that we don’t know, but that seems like a major snub.

Yep, Idol has combined its performance finale and its season finale into one three-hour show Sunday night, so time is tight.

But the show is going to find time for Shayy Wynn to perform; she didn’t make the Top 24. And Montell Jordan will be on hand to perform with some of Season 16’s most viral contestants. Oh, yeah, I can see why that was absolutely essential.

And, for crying out loud, if there wasn’t going to be room for Maddie in the finale, why not let her perform the single on Queen night? Instead, we had to suffer through some 7-year-old trying to sing “Bohemian Rhapsody” and attempt to accompany himself on piano.

Why is an Idol performance important?

Well, let’s see. Gabby Barrett, last year’s third-place finisher, performed her new single “I Hope” on Idol a couple weeks back.

Before the show, “I Hope” was number 18 on the iTunes country singles chart and nowhere to be found among the Top 200.

Two hours after the show, the song was number six on iTunes country singles chart and number 28 on the Top 200.

Meanwhile, Maddie’s “Made You Miss” debuted at number 39 on Billboard’s Adult Pop chart this week. And she has an album release show set for The Grove in L.A. on Thursday night.

And maybe Idol will have a change of heart. The show should. Producers pulled together a very good, very entertaining Season 17.

It’d be a shame to have it tarnished by a move that’s likely to tick off lots of fans. Not to mention a move that sends the wrong type of message to future contestants.

Unfortunately I won’t be returning to perform for the finale 🙁

— Maddie Poppe (@MaddiePoppe) April 29, 2019

Trust me, I cried a lot too lol.

— Maddie Poppe (@MaddiePoppe) April 29, 2019

Eh. Love the contestants, but I’m not interested in promoting/showing loyalty when I don’t receive it in return.

— Maddie Poppe (@MaddiePoppe) May 6, 2019