Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Voice coaches on their remote feeds last week with show host Carson Daly. (NBC Photo)

With nine semifinalists instead of eight, you just knew things would change with The Voice Season 18 semifinals.

First change: For the first time since Season 9, each semifinalist will only perform once during the semifinals show.

Second change: Five singers will advance to the Season 18 finale instead of just four.

Third change: The top vote-getter from each team will advance, instead of the top vote-getters regardless of teams.

Fourth change: Everyone who doesn’t advance based on the overnight voting — even the contestant with the fewest votes — will get a second chance to snag the fifth spot in the finale during a Tuesday night instant save.

I’m quite frankly tired of trying to figure out the reasoning behind what Voice producers decide to do.

And if those producers think three voting shows is enough to determine a legitimate Season 18 champ … well, their logic is so off kilter it isn’t worth the time or energy to try to figure it out anyway.

I will say that with nine contestants I was hoping we’d get to see two solos from each contestant Monday night.

I mean, that would equal 18 songs, two fewer performances than The Voice had to squeeze into this week’s show.

And two solos per singer would help make up for a week cut out of the schedule. And help by giving fans another chance to determine who deserves the Season 18 title.

Nope. Instead, The Voice will fill out Monday’s show with performances by James Taylor, Doja Cat and Kane Brown.

And, trust me, this is quite telling: Those guest performances are the first thing mentioned in the press release about the upcoming semifinals.

Now, if The Voice needed guest performers, I could point out that Season 17 champ Jake Hoot, Season 15 champ Chevel Shepherd and Season 4 finalists The Swon Brothers released new singles Friday.

Season 2 finalist Chris Mann has a fun new pandemic single out and has gone viral with his quarantine covers. A host of other past finalists have released music in the last month.

I could even point out that, during the pandemic, since they can’t perform live shows, Voice alumni are more in need of support than ever, especially those trying to make it as independent artists.

But I also know that doing so would be like whistling in the middle of a hurricane because The Voice only very rarely grants guest performance spots to alumni.

Regardless, remember that the talented Top 9 — Joanna Serenko, Toneisha Harris, Todd Tilghman of Team Blake; Megan Danielle and Micah Iverson of Team Kelly; CammWess and Zan Fiskum of Team Legend; and Thunderstorm Artis and Allegra Miles — should be the focal point of the Monday and Tuesday shows.

And support your favorite, regardless of what format the show foists upon them and the fans — fans who are far more faithful than the show deserves.

Disclaimer:
Producers, coaches, judges and hosts on American Idol and The Voice will pretend they are hosting a legitimate singing competition over the next few weeks. Having blogged about singing shows for more than a decade, I can assure you they are not.

You cannot go from a Top 20 to a winner in four weeks (American Idol) or a Top 17 to a winner in three weeks (The Voice) and call it a fair and legitimate singing competition.

So have fun watching. Vote if you want. Put very little stock in the results because they will mean virtually nothing.

Most of all, support the singers when their time on the show ends. They deserved a better showcase for their talent.