Idol Chatter & Voice Views

So, if all goes as expected tonight, Hollie Cavanagh will make a third straight trip to Idol’s stools of danger.

And this time, she won’t survive to sing again. Well, at least not on the Idol stage. At least not after her save-me song.

Save Hollie?

Nah, you can count that out after the critiques she’s gotten the past two weeks. Especially last night from Steven. Ouch.

But time is running out for that save. If the judges don’t use it this week or next, it’s gone for good along with the annual drama its use creates.

That might make drama-loving Nigel Lythgoe frown nearly as much as some of Idol’s silly themes have made viewers frown this season.

Not last night though. Idol served up a theme of current music, and the Idols — save for an ill-advised attempt at Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” — met the challenge.

If you missed the photo gallery from last night’s show, go here. And if you missed the recap on who should stay, who should go and who was the best, head here.

Tonight we’ll also get performances from two past Idols — Jennifer Hudson and James Durbin.

But we start the night with a group performance of Pink’s “Raise Your Glass.” Hmm, that won’t go down as one of the best Idol group numbers ever. For one thing, I have a hard time classifying some of these contestants as “dirty little freaks.”

So, I log onto Twitter and I’m reading all these tweets about a shocking result tonight.  Well, having Hollie go home wouldn’t be shocking.  So maybe she will be smiling at the end of the night.

And maybe the Idol judges will need that save.

Here we go with results:

Jessica Sanchez:  Jimmy says Jessica learned the right lessons and performing seems to come effortlessly.  He says she “won the night.”

Hollie Cavanagh:  Jimmy says Hollie learned habits that made her look stiff. Jimmy says she sounded “contrived, stiff and just not in the right place” last night.

Oh, crap, Ryan’s doing that old Idol routine where they split the contestants into groups.  The seventh contestant out will likely have to pick which group is safe and which isn’t or some such nonsense.

James Durbin time. Hold it, is he using Colton’s hairdresser?  That said, I like this song.  One of the best off James’ debut album, “Memories of a Beautiful Disaster.”  Don’t forget, James will open for Buckcherry in Baltimore later this year.

Elise Testone:  Jimmy says he thinks Elise did a lot of things right last night, but not enough to pull herself out of the bottom three.

Phillip Phillips:   Jimmy didn’t like Phillip’s performance, predicting he’ll be in the bottom three.  It was like Dave Matthews singing Maroon 5, Jimmy says.

Interesting, Ryan has sent Phillip to Hollie’s group; Elise to Jessica’s.  Doesn’t mean much. He’s been known to switch contestants around in the past.

Now it’s Jennifer Hudson time, singing “Think Like a Man.”  The video for this song is pretty cute.  If you haven’t seen it, it’s embedded here.

Meanwhile, watching that performance made Heejun Han tweet that he’s voting for Jennifer Hudson right now.  If you don’t follow Heejun on Twitter, you should.  He’s still cracking jokes on a regular basis.

Colton Dixon:  Jimmy says Colton needed a “poignant” moment and got it by singing Skylar Grey’s “Love the Way You Lie.” Jimmy loved the performance.

Joshua Ledet:  Jimmy says Joshua nailed it with a “natural” performance and that the Bruno Mars song could have been written for him.

Ryan sends Joshua to stand with Elise and Jessie.  Ryan send Colton to stand with Phillip and Hollie.

Skylar Laine:  Jimmy says he’s afraid she’ll get left behind in the competition, but she shouldn’t be in the bottom three.

And Ryan asks her to pick a group to join. She won’t.

He puts Skylar with Hollie, Colton and Phillip and declares them safe.

That leaves Jessica, Joshua and Elise in the bottom three.

Anyone smell cooked results?

I can understand Joshua and Elise in the bottom three.  As I said earlier this week, I think the judges have been holding their save for one of them.

No way Jessica Sanchez was one of the lowest three vote-getters, right?

Joshua is sent to safety.

That leaves Jessica and Elise in the bottom two.

And Jessica Sanchez is the bottom vote-getter.

Ridiculous.  Just ridiculous.

She’s barely into the first verse when Jennifer grabs the mike and saves Jessica.

And Randy makes an appeal on Jessica’s behalf, encouraging everyone to vote for the best and calling her “one of the best singers in America.”