Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Clark Beckham turned in the performance of the night on American Idol. (FOX Photo)

It just might be the best season of American Idol in years.

Because American Idol has found a deep pool of talent, something the brand new finalists displayed Wednesday night.

And they displayed that talent even though they were plucked from their seats and asked to sing at a moment’s notice.

So who shined the brightest, and who might not be around for long?

Here’s my recap.

Best of the night: The singers were asked to reprise their audition song and, lucky for him, Clark Beckham auditioned with “It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World,” a great tune to show off one’s voice. Especially when you have a voice like Clark. He wasn’t the flashiest performer Wednesday. But he sure delivered the most special vocal.

Runner-up: Jax is a wanna-be pop star who’s stringing together one impressive performance after another. A couple of the judges wished she had stayed at the piano for the full rendition of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand.” I appreciated the fact that she served up something different from her audition.

Also worthy of mention: Oh, my, the night wasn’t short on very strong performances. We got them from Adanna Duru, Joey Cook, Quentin Alexander, Qaasim Alexander, Rayvon Owen and Tyanna Jones.

Jax turned in another standout performance Wednesday on American Idol. (FOX Photo)

Worst of the night: Daniel Seavey was the exception, the contestant who clearly is just too young and inexperienced for this competition. Someone on Twitter compared him to David Archuleta. Both are young. Both have that cuteness factor in their favor. But please go back and watch video of David’s early Idol performances. He was a much, much better singer.

Please keep them: Quentin Alexander and Adanna Duru were brilliant choices for judges’ saves and both then took the stage and showed why they should hang around for at least a couple more weeks. Quentin isn’t your typical American Idol contestant, but his talent is undeniable. I’m also hoping Idol voters give quirky Joey Cook a couple more weeks to show us what she can do.

If there’s a bottom three: Who knows what format Idol will use for its results show this year, but if there’s a final three Thursday night, it should include Nick Fradiani, Maddie Walker and Daniel Seavey. And Daniel should go home. Idol has too much talent this year for a singer to skate by on cuteness alone.