Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Mattie Pruitt performs during Monday’s Top 24 episode on American Idol. (ABC Photo)

A huge cut is coming on American Idol.

Not all on Sunday night. But also on Monday’s show.

You know that Top 24 that performed in Hawaii on Sunday and Monday?

By the end of Monday’s show, it will be whittled to a Top 14. More than 40 percent of the cast will be gone.

The cuts will start Sunday night when two singers are eliminated from each group that just performed.

That will be based solely on the fan voting that occurred after each show.

And that will leave 20 artists to perform on a special three-hour episode of Idol on Easter night.

The artists will be performing songs of faith, according to an ABC press release. Here’s hoping they aren’t allowed to repeat songs of faith we’ve already heard.

Anyway, fans will vote again.

If Idol follows the same format it has used in recent seasons, here’s what will happen on Monday night.

The 10 top vote-getters will automatically advance. The other 10 will be eligible for one of four wild card selections the judges will reveal at the end of the night.

Each artist will be summoned to the stage by Ryan Seacrest without knowing which group they’re in.

In the past, everyone has performed, but that means Idol will need to squeeze 20 performances into a two-hour window.

Don’t know about anyone else, but I found the Hawaii performance shows at least mildly disappointing.

Breanna Nix and Jamal Roberts slayed on Sunday. Slater Nalley held his own. No one else turned in a performance I’d watch over and over.

On Monday, Thunderstorm Artis stood out. Kyana Fanene impressed. And I’d encourage anyone who wasn’t impressed to watch her performance again. I did, and it was even better the second time around. John Foster was solid.

Otherwise, some front-runners failed to meet the lofty expectations set in previous rounds. And some signers flat-out foundered.

Here’s hoping Sunday’s performances are better. I’ll be live blogging and posting song by song grades throughout, so feel free to follow along.

See also …
Song by song grades from Sunday’s show
Song by song grades from Monday’s show
Coming soon: Idol Chatter picks the 14 who should advance

Thunderstorm Artis is all smiles at the start of Monday’s best performance on American Idol. (ABC Photo)