Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Ryan Seacrest tried the best he could to build the suspense.

He reminded us that we’d been shocked at this point in the competition before.

Like back in Season 5, when Chris Daughtry went home in fourth place.

But there would be no shock Thursday night.

What happened was what everyone who has watched Idol through Season 11 knew was going to happen.

And they knew it from the moment Wednesday’s show ended.

Hollie Cavanagh is out of the competition.  We have a final three of Phillip Phillips, Jessica Sanchez and Joshua Ledet.

One of the more intriguing moments on the show came before any results were revealed.

Jimmy Iovine said he knew Scotty McCreery was going to win Season 10.

This year?  He says he has no idea who will come out on top.

Join the club, Jimmy.  Join the club.

Stock on the rise:   If we needed a reminder, Jessica Sanchez reminded us what a special talent she is at just 16 this week.  But one of my favorite Jessica moments came when she flashed some personality … and humility … during a pre-song interview.  “I literally can’t do anything (well) but sing,” she said, flashing a big smile. “That’s why I’m here.”  But, man, oh, man, can she sing.  And I think her style of singing might have the broadest appeal of any contestant left in the competition.

Stock holding steady:  Jimmy made an interesting observation about Joshua’s first performance from Wednesday night.  He criticized him for taking “Raise Me Up” to “church,” and says he needs to use more discretion about lending gospel flavor to a song.  It’s a style of singing that doesn’t appeal to everyone.   More than that, I worry that the judges’ high praise of Joshua is going to cause a backlash.  I mean, speaking in different languages?  Calling his second performance “the best I’ve ever seen?”  Oh, the latter comment came from Steven Tyler, who has probably seen a few thousand performances in his 64 years.  Of course, how many he remembers … well, that’s probably another matter.

Still not convinced:    Jimmy and the judges can heap all the praise on Phillip Phillips they want, and I’m still not convinced he’s finalist material.  “Volcano” was OK Wednesday night.  It was not among this year’s top 10 performances.  Heck, it was no better than Wednesday’s fourth best.   And I dare say that if that’s Phillips’ best … well, I saw much better from other Idol “artists,” including Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze and David Cook.  Several better performances, in fact, from Mr. Cook.

Hypocrite of the night award:   No way I was going to pass up an opportunity to take a shot at Jennifer Lopez.  Not after she lectured Jessica Sanchez about her tight white dress last week.  Somewhere I read that Jennifer jumped to Jessica’s defense.  Huh?  Telling a 16-year-old her look “might be a little difficult for certain people in middle America to swallow” is not jumping to her defense. So Jennifer performed “Dance Again” Thursday, flaunting lots of cleavage, dancing around a bunch of beefy, shirtless guys in a performance that zipped right past sexual innuendo to blatantly sexual.  Tweeted Season 5’s Mandisa:  “Remember when Idol used to be appropriate for families to watch together? Sigh.”  Yep, just a mite hypocritical.