Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The jerk is gone.

Finally, in the ninth episode, the judges on Platinum Hit nixed Nick Nittoli.

And, in doing so, they offered a measure of sweet revenge to those who were unfairly eliminated before him.

Because this was pop night on Platinum Hit. And Nick was the self-proclaimed next king of pop songs.

I mean, at one point during the competition, he actually compared himself to Michael Jackson and the rest of the cast to the Jackson Five.

Among his boasts in the early part of last night’s show: He said the show was down to the “fantastic four,” or more like, “the phenomenal three … Jes doesn’t belong.”

Hmm, guess who didn’t belong?

And on this night, Nick would have no one to blame for his failure but himself because the songwriters worked alone for the first time.

“If I don’t write the best song, it’s going to be embarrassing,” Nick said.

Get ready to be embarrassed, dude.

Nick got the boot because the judges said his pop song wasn’t catchy enough. Yikes. That’s like saying no one would want to dance to your dance track. A pop song isn’t anything if it isn’t catchy.

To his credit, Nick didn’t throw a tantrum when he got the news.

“I feel like all of you will know me, whether you like it or not,” he told the judges.

Perhaps. But here’s one music lover who won’t be downloading your music. Unless you happen to write the next big hit for Jewel or Stevie Nicks … or a killer theme song for Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming spaghetti Western.

Whew, thanks for hanging in there doing my rant about Nick.

That felt good.

Now the big news: Next week will mark Platinum Hit’s finale, and three songwriters remain — Sonyae Elise, Scotty Granger and Jes Hudak.

Let’s predict the order of finish:

1. Sonyae: She looks like a star. She acts like a star. Thankfully, she’s toned down the diva-tude she was tossing around in the season premiere. More importantly, she’s got a real knack for lyrics. And won the pop challenge for a song that was catchy because of its lyrical simplicity.

2. Scotty: The creative director for Jordin Sparks has displayed a better sense of melody than Sonyae. But the judges were right in pointing out the flaw to his pop tune: He put end-of-the-world lyrics over an uplifting backing track. Besides, guest judge Taio Crux probably won’t be back next week to tout the virtue of melody. And I have a feeling Jewel and Kara DioGuardi are more easily wowed by clever lyrics.

3. Jes: OK, Nick, on agree on this point. I’m not quite sure what Jes is doing in the finale. Johnny or Brian belonged here. Seriously. She’s contributed to two winning songs in nine weeks. That said, her pop song wasn’t bad at all for a contestant who fits into more of the singer-songwriter mold.

That’s my prediction. What’s yours?

Feel free to let me know by commenting below.

Platinum Hit returns with that season finale Friday at 8 p.m.