Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Wow, Rayvon Owen is the contestant who just will not go home.

He earned his third straight instant save Wednesday night in a dramatic ending on American Idol.

From the moment the show began, I predicted the night’s biggest suspense would be learning who would have to fight for the instant save alongside Rayvon.

And I gave Rayvon a very small chance of surviving.

Turns out I underestimated his ability to connect with the audience while delivering an emotional performance of “Always on My Mind.”

And Joey Cook wound up heading home, despite delivering what I thought was an even better closing performance.

On to the recap.

Best of the Night (single song): I don’t know how you could deliver a better save-me performance than Joey did when she played the ukulele and turned Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love” into a half rock, half bluegrass jam. She early in the show people viewed her as quirky with a capital Q. That was quirky in all the right ways.

Best of the Night (performer) That would be Jax, who bounced back strong after a very strange arrangement of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” last week. This time, Jax put her own twist on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart,” and they both worked. She should be Top 5 tour-bound for sure.

Runners-up: The two best vocals of the night probably came from Nick Fradiani for his take on Billy Joel’s “Only the Good Die Young” and Rayvon for his save-me performance of “Always on My Mind.” That was easily my favorite performance from Nick all season.

Please save him: Heck, he’s come this far, I’d almost like to see Rayvon make the summer tour. And, like Harry Connick Jr. said, he seems like an incredibly nice job. Not to mention a performer who’s at his best when he’s singing for his Idol life.

Worst of the night: The first round save-me songs. Joey nearly put me to sleep with her rendition of “My Funny Valentine.” Rayvon did not do a very good job of selling “Long Train Running.”

Weakest vocals of the night: Quentin Alexander’s song choices are great, his style and staging is imaginative. But Harry is right: His vocals are often trailing behind, and that was the case both times he took the stage Wednesday night. “Sounds of Silence” had the potential to be special, until Quentin’s vocals let him down.

Baffled by the judges: They loved Nick’s first-round performance of “American Girl.” I thought he turned Tom Petty’s easy-going him into a frenetic mess.

Prediction for next week: Tyanna Jones and Rayvon Owen land in the bottom two. And Tyanna goes home. Just a hunch.