Idol Chatter & Voice Views

And then there were three.

As in just three spots left in The Voice finals.

Tonight, Usher must decide who to advance between Bria Kelly, T.J. Wilkins, Josh Kaufman, Melissa Jimenez and Stevie Jo.

You have to figure Bria and Josh are favorites. The third spot? Wow, tough to say.

The winners tonight will join a 12-singer Voice finals that will also include …

Team Shakira: Dani Moz, Kristen Merlin and Tess Boyer;

Team Adam: Christina Grimmie, Delvin Choice and Kat Perkins;

Team Blake: Sisaundra Lewis, Audra McLaughlin and Jake Worthington.

1. T.J. Wilkins: Wilkins, 23, of Los Angeles, turned three chairs in the blind audition, then scored a mild upset in the battle round, defeating Biff Gore when they sang “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.” Biff was stolen by Blake Shelton. In the second battle round, he defeated Cierra Mickens as they performed “Get Here.” T.J. is going to sing “Tell Me Something Good,” a song written by his idol, Stevie Wonder. T.J. is turning in a smooth performance of this classic. He threw in a nice shriek in the middle of the song. He displayed nice showmanship. An overall good performance. That said, I’m not sure it would have been good enough to make the finals, the singers were so good last night. Shakira compliments him on being “so soulful.” Blake calls it “solid” and says he’s “on board,” though he wondered about Usher’s wisdom when he decided to keep T.J. over Biff Gore in the battles. Usher says he “killed it.” Grade: B

2. Melissa Jimenez, 29, of Fort Lee, N.J., turned two chairs in the blind audition, then defeated Brittnee Camelle in one the most spirited of the battle round matches. Brittnee was then stolen. In the second battle round, she went up against Music Box and won when they sang Alicia Key’s “Girl on Fire.” Melissa says Usher was the reason she tried out for the show. She’s decided to sing “Halo” by Beyonce because it’s so emotional. She also says she’s stripping down the song. Wow. And I really like the way she stripped down the song. Talk about vocal gymnastics. There were tons of them during that performance. Very brave, and she delivered some fabulous moments. As Adam pointed out, there were a couple of missteps, but all in all, a fine effort. And far better than just a karaoke cover. Grade: B+

3. Stevie Jo, 19, of Tyler, Texas, turned just one chair with his blind audition but was impressive in the battle round, besting Jake Barker. Both wound up safe when Adam stole Jake. He also won a second battle round against Morgan Wallen, singing “Story of My Life.” Morgan was stolen by Adam. He’s going to sing “The Thrill Is Gone,” saying the song displays exactly the type of artist he’d like to be. My, my. Another nice performance. In fact, he might have out R&B’d T.J. Wilkins. Really nice performance style. And really nice vocal. Shakira says he got her in the first 20 seconds. Adam and Blake really liked the performance. Usher compliments him on his courage as a vocalist and likes the way he connected with the song. The performance dragged a bit at one point. Otherwise, I thought it was solid. Grade: B+

4. Bria Kelly, 18, of Smithfield, Va., sang “Steamroller Blues.” and turned four chairs in the blind audition. She defeated Tess Boyer in the battle round, though Tess was saved by Blake Shelton. And she won the very last battle in the second round, defeating Madilyn Paige when she sang “I’ll stand by You.” Madilyn was stolen by Blake; then cut in the first playoffs show. She is going to perform “Wild Horses.” I was a little worried for the first couple lines of that performance because you could barely hear Bria over the backing music. Then she launched into the vocal fireworks portion of the song. And showed off the same kind of power that turned four chairs in the blind audition. How does she not move forward? She held a couple of notes absolutely forever. Bria gets praise from Adam, Shakira and Blake. Grade: A–

5. Josh Kaufman, 38, of Indianapolis, turned all four chairs in the blind auditions when he sang George Michael’s “One More Try.” In the battle round, he defeated Austin Ellis. He was pitted against Delvin Choice, whose audition also turned four chairs, in the second battle round. He lost, but was stolen by Usher. He’s going to sing “It Will Rain,” a difficult song, but one he has the ability to pull off, according to his new coach. Yep, he had the ability. He sold that song better than anyone sold a song tonight. Gotta love the grit and unique tone of his voice, too, don’t you? Gotta confess, I’m not a huge fan of the song, but Josh did a really nice job on it. Shakira calls him an “unbelievable singer.” Blake says he’s one of the show’s best. Usher says he did an incredible job. Grade: A–

My picks for Team Usher: Josh Kaufman, Bria Kelly, Melissa Jimenez. Though I won’t be surprised if M.J. gets bumped by Stevie Jo.

Usher’s picks: Bria Kelly, Josh Kaufman, T.J. Wilkins.