Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Two of the guys ranked in the bottom three last week went home on The Voice, so you can’t exactly say the Tuesday night eliminations were surprising.

If you’re looking for a surprise from the first week of The Voice finals, look to Josiah Hawley.

The 27-year-old former model from Alabama was ranked 11th a week ago. But his performance of “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved” was the third most downloaded when voting closed for the Top 12 show.

Judith Hill with Carson Daley after her performance last week. (NBC Photo)

Now, on with my rankings for Top 10 week. Last week’s rankings are in parenthesis.

1. Judith Hill, Team Adam (2): That piano-accompanied version of “You’ve Got a Friend” was beyond splendid, showing what an accomplished musician Judith already is. Combine that skill level and her amazing voice, and it’s a tough combo to beat. Now, Adam, a more current song choice, please.

2. Sasha Allen, Team Shakira (1): Apparently I liked her version of “Alone” more than Voice voters did. It ranked just eighth among the 12 performances last week on iTunes. Still, I refuse to believe she was really on the verge of ouster as last week’s results show seemed to indicate. If she was, America needs an ear checkup.

3. Danielle Bradbery, Team Blake (3): Blake calling this teenager the favorite so early in the competition might be a little premature. Especially considering her youth and the quality of the competition. But through two weeks of live voting, her performances have the best combined performance on iTunes.

Amber Carrington performs on Top 12 week on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

4. Amber Carrington, Team Adam (4): Last week’s show-closing performance of “I’m Going to Love You Through It” might have been her weakest vocal yet. But it was still solid, and I’m inclined to give her a pass since it was such a personal performance, dedicated to her late mother.

5. The Swon Brothers, Team Blake (6): The George Jones tribute might be just what the doctor ordered for Zach and Colton to get voters to consider them more than a novelty act. “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes” was Top 12 week’s biggest success on iTunes and showed the fun-loving duo can do serious, too.

6. Sarah Simmons, Team Adam (7): She demonstrated that wonderful combination of tenderness and grit in her voice again last week when she performed Brandi Carlile’s “Stay.” It’s a sound uniquely hers among the female singers on The Voice, and Adam would be wise to continue to play to it with his song choices.

7. Michelle Chamuel, Team Usher (5): “Call Your Girlfriend” might have been her weakest performance yet on the show. She can’t let it happen two times in a row, because the female talent is too deep on Season 4. Give Michelle this. If she really suffers from stage fright, it has not shown to date.

Holly Tucker performs last week on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

8. Josiah Hawley, Team Usher (11): His performance of a rock song in the live playoffs barely made the top 200 on iTunes. Last week’s stripped down performance was the third most popular. Let’s see, what type of song should Usher give Josiah this week? Note that he’s the first male soloist to show up on this list.

9. Holly Tucker, Team Blake (8): The fact that Holly slips slightly in the ratings has less to do with last week’s fine performance of “Broken Wing” and more to do with the fact that there are so many talented country artists left in the finals. There are only so many country votes to go around.

10. Kris Thomas, Team Shakira (9): He’s still around despite some pretty crappy song choices, like “A Wonderful World” and “I’ll Be There.” Hey, Shakira, we don’t have to hear him sing at the top of his range for an entire song to know he can go higher than the typical male singer.

Check back Monday night for a live blog, complete with song by song grades.