Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Wednesday night, American Idol celebrated its 500th episode.

Tonight, the show will celebrate its Season 13 finalists.

Jennifer Lopez cuts into the celebratory 500th episode birthday cake on American Idol. (FOX Photo)

But who will be celebrating tonight? Jena Irene? Caleb Johnson? Alex Preston?

That’s difficult to say as American Idol begins one of its most unpredictable Top 3 results shows ever.

Think back.

In Season 12, Candice Glover was a lock for the finals. It was just a question of whether she would square off against Kree Harrison or Angie Miller.

In Season 11, Jessica Sanchez and Phillip Phillips were the clear favorites for the finale, despite all the vocal firepower Joshua Ledet brought to the stage.

And in Season 10, deserving as she was, Haley Reinhart would have had to pull off a pretty big upset to prevent a county music showdown between Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina.

Tonight, I’d like to think Jena Irene is a lock for the finals. I’m not sure she is. Not considering the male voting bias I’ve seen from viewers of the show for the past … oh, six seasons or so.

Sure, ladies took the top three spots in Season 12. But the Season 12 cast didn’t exactly have male performers of the caliber of Caleb Johnson. Or Alex Preston. Or Sam Woolf, for that matter.

Looking for some hint as to who might come out on top?

Well, on Twitter, Alex has the most support. On Facebook, Caleb has the most support. Jena falls between two guys on both social media platforms.

Even last night was indicative of what I’m talking about. Alex was the evening’s most consistent performer. Caleb provided the most dynamic performance with “Dazed and Confused,” made all the more surprising by his vocal chord issues. And Jena probably provided the night’s best vocal on “Creep.”

Oh, that was also the only song to crack the Top 200 on iTunes from Idol’s Wednesday night show. For more on that, head here.

As I wrote last night, any combination of the final three wouldn’t shock me tonight.

But I’ll be rooting for a Caleb-Jena showdown. If Caleb gets enough vocal rest, it could be one heck of a showdown.

If you missed the song by song grades from last night’s show, head here. And you can go here for the photo gallery.

American Idol’s Top 3, Caleb Johnson, Jena Irene and Alex Preston (FOX Photo)

OK, I guess that makes up for not getting new Idol downloads this week. The singles planned for next week’s show will be available starting tonight.

Time to recap some hometown visits. That was a really touching hometown visit for Jena irene. And she learns that she’ll be performing with Paramore during next week’s season finale.

Hey, we have some Idol alumni in the house — Danny Gokey and Elliott Yamin. And we get to hear a new single from Scotty McCreery — “Feelin’ It.” He performed this during a Christmas show in York back in December. It seemed a little out of place then, since it’s more of a summertime tune. Here’s hoping it turns into a hit for Scotty.

Next up, clips from Alex’s hometown visit. I like the fact that they are featuring the originals by Jena and Alex in these segments. And Alex’s singing partner for the finale will be Jason Mraz.

And the final homecoming trip we get to witness is Caleb’s trip back to Asheville. And Caleb will be performing with Kiss in the Season 13 finale.

That’s it. We’ve seen all three hometown visits. Time for results on American Idol.

Here we go …

Advancing to the Season 13 finale are

* Jena Irene. Hooray. The finals would have seemed incredibly empty without the wild card contestant who became a fan favorite.

* Caleb Johnson. Hooray. That should make for one dynamic finale.

Congrats to Alex Preston for a job well done on Idol.

But the finals pairing is the one I had hoped for, the one that will bring the most energy and personality to the Idol stage.

And like Jess Meuse before him, Alex Preston is getting to sing his original — “Fairytales” — for his farewell song. Nice touch, Idol.