Idol Chatter & Voice Views

After the top vote-getter for each team advanced on The Voice Tuesday night, the remaining five semifinalists competed for an instant save.

That save went to Ian Flanigan, a one-chair turn for Team Blake who is now finals bound.

In fact, Ian had been the top vote-getter for Team Blake in the playoffs just a week ago before having teammate Jim Ranger turn the tables on his this week.

Ian had to compete for the save against Tamara Jade and Bailey Rae of Team John, Cami Clune of Team Kelly and Ben Allen of Team Gwen.

Here’s how Voice Views graded those performances.

Ben Allen (Team Gwen), “Prayed for You” by Matt Snell — Ben’s chance of getting the instant save was about as good as his chance of advancing after Monday’s show. He turned in another adequate performance, though the vocals got a little wonky near the end. But with Cami and Ian and, especially, Tamara coming up, it wasn’t going to be enough. Grade: B–

Cami Clune (Team Kelly), “when the party’s over” by Billie Eilish — Cami, a singer with Top 5 talent, needed a performance that absolutely screamed “save me.” I’m not sure she was ever going to get it with a song that’s more haunting than bombastic. Cami did her best to wring some vocal moments from the song, reminding up how pretty her voice is, but fell short of creating the moment she needed. Grade: B

Bailey Rae (Team Legend), “Your Cheatin’ Heart” by Hank Williams — I had to chuckle when I saw The Voice YouTube caption indicating that Bailey Rae was cover “Your Cheatin’ Heart” by LeAnn Rimes. I think country fans know who Hank Williams is. As for Bailey, this was much better than her Monday performance. Okay, she was shouty in spots. But she showed off a lovely little lilt in her voice a couple of times too. Grade: B–

Tamara Jade (Team Legend), “Feeling Good” by Nina Simone — One word: Wow! And, yep, The Voice finals is going to seem awfully empty without the singer that should have become the first black female to win the show. This was flat-out the best vocal of the save performances. I mean, hands down. No contest. Check out that ending folks. And it’s not just the fact that Tamara can sing anything. She lights up the stage doing it. Grade A

Ian Flanigan (Team Blake), “Anymore” by Travis Tritt — Granted the pimp spot, Ian went with a country song and delivered another earnest performance featuring his unique deep, raspy vocals. I actually liked his Monday performance better. As for the fact that he advanced, blame The Voice’s silly every-coach-must-have-a-finalist format. I’d be willing to bet both he and Jim Ranger were among the top four vote-getters. Grade: B+