Idol Chatter & Voice Views

American Idol contestants Leah Marlene, Nicolina and HunterGirl with Fritz Hager and Noah Thompson on their cell phones (ABC Photo)

American Idol viewers will select the Season 20 finalists Sunday night.

Five hopefuls — HunterGirl, Noah Thompson, Fritz Hager, Nicolina (Bozzo) and Leah Marlene — will start the night as Idol hopefuls.

Two will be eliminated by the time the two-hour episode ends.

For at least three weeks now, I’ve felt three singers — Leah, Nicolina and Fritz — have distinguished themselves from the rest of the contestants and are most deserving of a spot in the finals.

Does that mean they’ll be the three to advance?

I doubt it. Country singers — Noah and HunterGirl — have always done well on Idol. Female singer-songwriter types like Leah have not been as quickly embraced.

Here are my rankings heading into Sunday’s show, with last week’s rankings in parenthesis.

1. Fritz Hager (3): Fritz took the stage with a pair of original songs last week and dazzled — albeit in different ways — on both. And that’s despite the fact that Idol had to air rehearsal performances because he came down with COVID. He’s a singer who has absolutely blossomed on Idol.

2. Leah Marlene (1): She started as Idol’s “quirky” girl for Season 20 and has transitioned into the show’s most versatile performer, consistently impressing with her creative arrangements of well-known songs, her vocals and her stage presence.

3. Nicolina (Bozzo) (2): Her audition performance of “She Used to be Mine” was one of the best auditions of Season 20 and proved a sign of things to come. She’s at her best performing dramatic songs with tons of emotion. And she’s got the most powerful vocals of the Top 5.

4. HunterGirl (5): She’s the last platinum ticket holder standing. But her recent performances haven’t exactly been the stamp of a front-runner. In fact, they been a bit inconsistent. Singing Carrie Underwood, she has a chance to bounce back in a big way on Sunday.

5. Noah Thompson (6): Thanks to COVID, he had to perform from his hotel room last week. I loved his cover of “Painted Blue;” it was one of his best Idol performances yet. I did not like his cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide.” He’s the singer most likely to finish better than my ranking.