Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Well, viewers have made their decisions on who will come and who will go.

Tonight at 9 p.m. — well, likely closer to the close of the show at 10 p.m. — we’ll find out who’ve they given the boot.

Will those with the weakest round one performances be packing their bags?

Don’t count on it. With so many contestants still around, pre-Idol popularity might be as much a factor in who stays and who leaves as this week’s singing.

Here are my final predictions on who will depart. Plus a prediction on who’s a lock for the final six.

Girls going: “Landslide” and Lacey produced a loser, so look for Ms. Brown to be homeward bound. Deservingly. Paige Miles opened Tuesday’s show with a forgettable performance of “All Right Now.” That will spell her doom because, let’s face it, no one remembered her heading into the show, she’d received so little airtime.

Finals bound: Crystal Bowersox’s “Hand In My Pocket” turned out to be the top round one performance, period. No way she doesn’t make the finals. The race for the other five top spots looks wide open.

Guys going: Joe (Who?) Munoz suffers from the same problem as Paige Miles, virtually zero airtime. Except when he flubbed at playing the guitar. On a night when Simon was at his sniping best, the most pointed put-down was reserved for Tim Urban. That the judges made the right call by passing on him before Tim got a second chance thanks to Chris Golightly’s disqualification. Ouch.

Finals bound: Andrew Garcia. Casey James. Michael Lynche. They’re locks. Add Aaron Kelly to that list. The judges are right; the young girls will love him. I’d like to add Lee DeWyze, but his rendition of “Chasing Cars” wasn’t so good that he won’t have to keep chasing votes. Doesn’t leave much room for the other guys, huh?

Check back tonight. I’ll be blogging live during the results show, and providing lots more photos from the opening round of the semifinals.

Go here for the girls recap blog and here for the guys recap blog, both of which include the song-by-song grades from the live blogs.