Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Idol voters got it right Thursday night.

They rewarded nearly every one of Wednesday’s top performers with spots on the seats of safety early on during the Top 13 results show.

More importantly, the Idol judges got it right.

Faced with a choice between sending Elise Testone or Jeremy Rosado home, they chose Jeremy.

And Jennifer Lopez, who had saved a tearful Jeremy from elimination just a week before, had the tough job of delivering the news.

Here’s the recap:

Stock rising:  A month ago, we had yet to meet Jessica Sanchez and Hollie Cavanagh on American Idol.  Now, they look like the show’s rising stars.  Could one of them break Idol’s string of four straight years with a male winner?

I still doubt it.  But they followed up fine peformances in the semifinals with even better performances this week, and both got ringing endorsements from Jimmy Iovine during his results show commentary on Thursday.  He called Jessica’s rendition of “I Will Always Love You” the best ever on the show.  I know I’ll be rooting for them to hang around a long, long time.

Among the guys, look where Deandre Brackensick wound up   A week after needing a wild-card bid to make the finals, he was among the top four vote-getters with Colton Dixon, Heejun Han and Phlllip Phillips.  The guy’s got a great range, displays confidence on stage and has the look of an Idol.  I think the vocals still need lots of work, but he’s clearly winning over voters.

Stock sinking:   A week after a triumphant semifinals performance, Elise Testone needed the judges’ help to stay in the competition.  Unfortunately, I think she’ll face an uphill battle from this point, more because of her age than any lack of talent.  Wednesday’s performance aside, she’s a terrific singer.  But Idol viewers are voting younger these days.  At 28, she’s the oldest female to make the finals since Melinda Doolittle in Season 6.  Did you hear either Elise or Erika Van Pelt say “the old gals” when they greeted one another on the stools of doom?

Very, very lucky:  Shannon Magrane thought she had one bum note Wednesday night.  Jimmy Iovine sided with the judges.  Her Whitney Houston night performance just wasn’t very good.  She deserved Elise’s spot alongside Jeremy at the end of the night, though I believe the judges would have saved her, too.  Her pre-finals performances were too, too good for one show and gone.

Deserved his fate:  I don’t know if Jeremy Rosado turned in the worst performance on Idol Wednesday night, but he was not going to win this competition.  He was up against a cast of guys that included better singers (including Joshua), better musicians (like Phillip and Colton) and better characters (like Jermaine and Heejun).

Most baffling result:  Josh Ledet, who I still think has the best voice among the guys, wound up among the bottom three.  Now, let’s keep that in perspective.  On this note, the bottom three included about half the cast.  But he did land behind Heejun and behind Deandre.   And Jimmy said he fears viewers will “grow tired” of Joshua’s voice.  Hmm.  I wonder how much of Thursday’s result had to do with the fact that he performed first on a two-hour show.

Finally, favorite tweet of the day from an Idol:   “Really enjoyed last night.  I’m not the best singer AT ALL hahaha, but it’s about having fun and I did.  Jessica KILLED IT.”

That tweet came from Phillip Phillips.  How could anyone possibly root against a guy with an attitude like that?

Check back tomorrow.  I’ll be posting a photo gallery from the results show.

Plus an exit interview with Jeremy Rosado.