Idol Chatter & Voice Views

I’ve already made my choices for the American Idol fan-voted finals.

If you missed them and my other reflections on the last two night’s, here they are again.

American Idol judges Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick Jr. during Wednesday’s guys’ semifinals. (FOX Photo)

The guys: Caleb Johnson, Sam Woolf, Ben Briley, Alex Preston and C.J. Harris.

The gals: Jena Asciutto, Majesty Rose, Jessica Meuse, Briana Oakley and Kristen O’Connor.

Tonight, we find out how viewers voted. And I must say, the past couple of years, I’ve been very impressed with viewers’ ability to advance the most talented contestants.

Meanwhile, if you missed the photo galleries from the past two nights, head here for the guys and here for the ladies.

So, I think I’ll rank the fans’ picks with a thumbs up or thumbs down. Or a thumb sideways. Then I’ll grade the wild card performances as normal.

Into the Top 13 is …

1. Malaya Watson: That would be a big thumb sideways. Malaya did OK Tuesday, but didn’t do very well in Hollywood.
2. Ben Briley: That would be a thumbs up. Ben needed a fan save to make the Top 15 guys, then made it count last night.
3. Emily Piriz: That would be a thumb sideways. She was pretty good Tuesday. She didn’t deserve that verbal spanking from Harry Connick.
4. Alex Preston: Another thumbs up for the guys. He turned in one of the most unique performances last night.
5. Jessica Meuse: A thumbs up for the ladies. Jessica is better than she performed Tuesday. Take that, mom of Stephanie Hankey.
6. Dexter Roberts: A thumb sideways. Of the country guys, he probably provided my least-favorite performance last night.
7. Caleb Johnson: Thumbs up to the voters. He opened last night strong and, at the end of the night, I thought it was still one of the night’s best.
8. Majesty Rose: Another thumbs up. Everything I said about Caleb, Majesty did Tuesday night. Except that Jena Asciutto might have been a wee bit better.
9. M.K. Nobilette: Thumb sideways. Because the more talented Jena Asciutto is still sitting over there on the stools.
10. Sam Woolf: Thumbs way up. The finals would have been empty without Sam after as well as he did last night.

Now the judges get to pick five singers to perform for a shot at the Top 13.

And these people will perform …

Curtis (C.J.) Harris

C.J. Harris: Hope that root canal isn’t bothering him, because he’s going to have to give it his all and do his best, as Randy would say. LOL. He’s singing Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home to Me.” Still really like the tone of his voice, but there were a couple of  vocal misfires in there. And I’m not sure what was going on with that ending. Harry says that wasn’t his best performance. Jennifer says the special-ness in his voice shined through. Keith thinks he needs to stay connected. Grade: C

Jena Irene Asciutto

Jena Asciutto: Jena is sitting at her keys, and singing absolutely beautifully. Wow, that was one of my favorite performances from this week. And you can tell from the smile on her face she’s really pleased with her performance. Keith calls her performance “a really good artistic sign.” Not sure why we didn’t hear from the other judges. But Jena (pronounced Gina) just nailed down a wild card spot if there’s any justice on this show. Grade: A

Spencer Lloyd: Bad choice for a wild card pick, judges. He was the absolute worst singer last night. Tonight he’s keeping it simple, playing guitar. He’s singing “Ordinary Girl.” Once again, this is just not a good vocal. It might have been a smidgen better than last night, and he provided a nice ending. But for the majority of the song, the vocal was not very good at all. If Idol is serious about talent versus providing eye candy, then he cannot make the Idol finals. He’s going to be the worst of the wild card contestants unless I’m surprised.Grade: C–

Bria Anai Johnson

Bria Anai: Next up is the lipstick girl. But, look, she toned down the lipstick tonight. She’s promising a show. She’s going to sing the often done “Man’s Man’s Man’s World.” What happened to the promise that we’d get original song choices on Season 13? This is a very animated performance of the song, but at least she’s singing like she wants a spot in the finals, as opposed to Spencer or C.J. Harris. There were ample vocal gymnastics in that performance. Harry says the performance was all over the place. Grade: C+

Kristen O’Connor

Kristen O’Connor: Thrilled to see her get a chance. Not a particularly strong start for the singing nurse. She’s singing “Unconditionally.” Oops, her voice cracked on that first chorus. But she found her groove midway through the song. And she came through with a nice finish. Again, she sang like she really wanted a spot. And I’d rate that as the second best of the wild card efforts. Grade: B

My wild cards picks would be Jena, Kristen and C.J. Harris.

And all this means that Briana Oakley, Marrialle Sellars, Malcolm Allen, George Lovett and Emmanuel Zidor are eliminated from the competition. In all honesty, none of them did well in their semifinal performances.

And the wild cards are …

1. Jena Irene Asciutto: Huge thumbs up. Harry called her a potential sleeper in the competition; I think he’s right.
2. Kristen O’Connor: Another good pick, given the performances we just saw.
3. C.J. Harris: And a thumbs up for that selection. Though it leaves us awfully heavy in terms of country singing guys.