Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Among my favorite things to watch are a Spaghetti Western (when well done) and a singing show (when it’s not called The X Factor).

Put the two together in a video, and it absolutely has to wind up in my blog.

Besides, it makes for a fun way to kick off the last ranking of Season 3 singers on The Voice.

Nicholas and Terry look like they were born to wear cowboy hats.

Cassadee? She has a tough time looking tough.

But no trouble on stage. Which brings us to the rankings … with last week’s rankings in parenthesis.

1. Cassadee Pope (1): When I profiled the singers after the blind auditions, I wrote that she was a potential winner and had the potential to be the show’s first breakout star. She’s lived up to that potential. If she hadn’t completely won me over before, she did last week. While the rest of the final four were doing good renditions of predictable songs with predictable arrangements, she took a country song I’d never heard (“Stupid Boy”) and turned it into one of the best performances we’ve heard on the show this season. Not to mention something that sounded like it could be a hit. Right now. It, of course, became her fifth straight Voice performance to land in the Top 10 on iTunes, and her second number one. I’ll be hoping she sings something that shows off the sensitive side of her voice again Monday, because that’s when she’s at her best.

2. Nicholas David (2): If anyone’s going to take a risk and change up a song in a way that steals the night away from Cassadee, it figures to be Nicholas. After all, he tried with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” It didn’t totally work, but it’s the type of risk he’s going to have to take again Monday night. More current music might help too. I checked, and the most current song he’s performed on the live shows is Huey Lewis’ “Power of Love,” which dates to the mid-1980s. That — and his so often mismatching attire — makes Nicholas look more like an old fogy than he is. I wouldn’t suggest black wings and a rocked-out version of “Roxanne,” but Nicholas needs a moment. Otherwise, the big moment on Tuesday will belong to Cassadee.

3. Terry McDermott (3): He keeps singing classic rock and Voice viewers keep buying it. He’s been number two on iTunes two straight weeks. Two weeks ago, he topped Cassadee on the charts. I would argue that he needs more current material, too. Something that sounds more like a song we’d hear the charts today than a classic rock throw-back. Last week’s “I Want to Know What Love Is” dates to dates back to 1984. But Blake’s less likely than Cee Lo to mess with a formula that’s working. Like Nicholas, Terry faces a night when he needs to brightly outshine Cassadee, because she’s banked major bonus points toward the finals vote total with all those iTunes downloads.

Check back Monday night at 8 p.m. for a live blog, complete with song by song grades for the final three on The Voice.