Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Clark Beckham performs Tuesday night on American Idol. (FOX Photo)

Jax was eliminated at the start of Tuesday night’s Idol episode, leaving early favorite Clark Beckham to take on Nick Fradiani for the crown.

The winner will be announced during a special two-hour season finale Wednesday, beginning at 8 p.m.

On Tuesday, each singer performed one song they had already done on the show, one selected by Idol creator Simon Fuller and the single they’ll release should they win.

Here’s the recap:

Best performance of the night: Nick Fradiani slipped behind a keyboard for the very first time this season to perform Jason Mraz’s “I Won’t Give Up.” He started slow, but quickly got into the performance and delivered one of his best vocals during his Idol run.

Best new single: Nick also benefitted from getting the best of the three new original songs presented to Idol’s Season 14 Top 3. You can download all three of those songs — including Jax’s — now. The only one that sounds like a potential hit is the one given to Nick, “Beautiful Life.”

Who should win American Idol: Clark Beckham. He delivered the better vocal in round one and round three Tuesday night despite being on the short end of the song selection process. But I’ve also never believed the Idol winner should be selected based on one night of performances, so …

Reason #1 Clark should win: I graded every Idol performance since the semi-finals. Clark wound up with seven grades of A– or better; Nick wound up with three.

Reason #2 Clark should win: He took far more chances over the course of his time on Idol, like going acoustic for that version of “Ain’t No Sunshine” Tuesday night, even when bigger and bolder is usually better in the Idol finale.

Reason #3 Clark should win: Has everything to do with Nick, who certainly came on strong late in the season. However, I can’t see the Idol title going to someone who did not take risks and who failed to deliver a single “moment” or surprise performance that I’ll remember beyond next week.