Idol Chatter & Voice Views

First off, a huge thank you to American Idol’s Top 7.

I needed something to help me get past this week’s dreadful episodes of The Voice.  And tonight’s show did just that.

But Nigel, Nigel, Nigel … please, let the cast sing current music from this point on.  Each and every week.

Everytime you give them a current theme, they respond with brilliant performances.  I mean, the first half of tonight’s show was on fire.

The second half … well, it wasn’t bad.  But it was a bit of a letdown.

On to the recap:

Best of the Night:    The single best vocal of the night was Jessica Sanchez’s version of Alicia Keys’ “Fallin’.”   I mean, if you wanted a 2-minute reminder of why there’s no way in the world she should have needed a save last week, Jessica provided it with that performance.  It wasn’t the flashiest of the night.  But it was vocally fabulous, from beginning to end.  After that performance — and last week’s scare — I don’t think there’s any way Jessica’s fans will let her wind up on the bottom again.

Runner-up:   I don’t know if the grades I gave her were the second best of the night, but Skylar Laine was downright impressive Wednesday.  First, she went country with Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way.”  And it worked.  Then she took on soul, which isn’t exactly her specialty, and made “Heard It Through the Grapevine” a country song.   It wasn’t vocally flawless, but what a performance.  I mean, talk about sassy.  Skylar has found her groove.  And might be a better performer than either of last year’s finalists.

Worst of the night:   Well, this won’t win me any fans, but on a night of solid performances across the board, I was not at all impressed by Colton Dixon.  He changed up “Bad Romance,” and it didn’t work as well as Skylar’s change on “Born This Way.”   He sat behind his piano and performed “September” in the show’s second half, and it came off as flat.  To be fair, the theme put him at a disadvantage.  But Skylar managed to prevail.  Colton didn’t.

Please keep her:   I really enjoyed Elise Testone’s version of “No One” during the show’s first half.  I mean, the things she can do with her voice … well, only Jessica sings better among the girls.  But Elise might have tried to do too much with “Let’s Get it On” during the show’s second half.  Yep, I found myself agreeing with Randy.  Imagine that.  In the segment before she sang, Jimmy Iovine noted that Elise doesn’t have the huge fan base of some of the other contestants and that she has to be perfect to stick around.  If that’s true … well, please keep her, voters.

Baffled by the judges:  Is it just me, or does it seem like the judges start the night with a script, then revert to that script throughout the evening, regardless of what happens on stage.  Last night’s script — Phillip Phillips is great;  Joshua Ledet’s show-closing song will be an Idol moment.  Phillip was far short of great — at least to my ears — on “Midnight Hour.”  Joshua’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” ended with a flourish, but fell well short of a moment.  It wasn’t anywhere near his best performance of the competition.

What should happen Thursday night:   The bottom three should consist of Colton Dixon, Elise Testone and Hollie Cavanagh.  And Hollie should go home.  Look, she bounced back strong on Wednesday, turning in two of her best performances in weeks.  But she doesn’t match up to Jessica or Elise vocally and she doesn’t have the flair for performance that Skylar demonstrates.

What will happen Thursday night:   Colton Dixon will not be in the bottom three.  Hollie and Elise will.   And, to Idol’s dismay, they might be joined by Joshua.  And if the Holliepops rally around the gal from Texas by way of Liverpool the way I think they might, Elise could be in big trouble.  She was good, but short of perfect, on Wednesday.

For tonight’s song by song blog, go here.

Coming tomorrow: A photo gallery from tonight’s show and live blogging during the Thursday night results show.

The grades:

Current songs …

Jessica Sanchez: “Fallin'” — A
Elise Testone: “No One” — B+
Skylar Laine: “Born This Way” — B
Joshua Ledet: “I Believe” — B
Phillip Phillips: “U Got It Bad” — B
Hollie Cavanagh: “Rolling in the Deep” — B-
Colton Dixon: “Bad Romance” — B-

Soul songs ….

Jessica Sanchez: “Try a Little Tenderness” — B
Joshua Ledet: “A Change Is Gonna Come” — B
Hollie Cavanagh: “Son of a Preacher Man” — B-
Skylar Laine: “Heard It Through the Grapvine” — B-
Elise Testone: “Let’s Get It On” — C+
Phillip Phillips: “Midnight Hour” — C
Colton Dixon: “September” — C-