Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Top 10 on The Voice include, from left, Zach Seabaugh, Emily Ann Roberts, Barrett Baber, Jeffery Austin, Korin Bukowski, Jordan Smith, Braiden Sunshine, Amy Vachal, Shelby Brown, Madi Davis. (NBC Photo)

Remember how The Voice Season 9 started with a record number of four-chair turns in the blind auditions?

Well, we’re down to a Top 10, and just three of the 14 singers who turned four chairs remain. Those would be Jordan Smith, Barrett Baber and Shelby Brown.

In fact, at this point in the competition, there are more remaining contestants who turned one or two chairs.

Korin Bukowski and Jeffery Austin both made it onto the show with a single chair turn. Braiden Sunsine and Emily Ann Roberts turned just two.

Just another reminder of why fans shouldn’t put so much stock in chair turns when the show starts each season.

This is another single-elimination week on The Voice, with the Top 10 performing Monday night at 8 p.m., then being whittled down to a Top 9 beginning at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Check back: I’ll be live blogging both shows.

Meanwhile, here are the Top 10 rankings. And, this week, every single singer has changed positions.

Follow the links attached to each singer’s name and you can watched all of their Voice performances. The number in parenthesis is where the singer was ranked last week.

1. Jordan Smith, Team Adam (3): Wouldn’t you know it? Just when Jordan dazzles me with a vocal, he fails to wind up at the top of iTunes. I’ve been resisting putting Jordan in this spot in my rankings because of the ridiculous hype he’s gotten from the show. Somewhere along the line, The Voice forgot that fans are supposed to be the ones selecting the winner. But at this point, it seems folly to pretend anyone else is the Season 9 front-runner.

2. Madi Davis, Team Pharrell (1): This 16-year-old continues to impress, not just with her vocals, but with her artistry. And she did very well on iTunes with “Love is Blindness,” landing in the Top 20 and fourth among the 11 contestants. Now that she has Pharrell’s undivided attention — his other two contestants having been eliminated — perhaps they’ll uncover the “moment” that will allow her to challenge for the Season 9 crown.

3. Emily Ann Roberts, Team Blake (6): Gotta tell you, this young lady is winning me over with a string of solid performances and her rapidly improving stage presence. The fact that Blake is carving out a very clear identity for her as the show’s throwback country singer doesn’t hurt. I’m more impressed with Emily Ann at this point in the competition than I was with eventual winner Danielle Bradbery back in Season 4.

4. Barrett Baber, Team Blake (2): I’ll be surprised if the three members of Team Blake don’t sail through another week unscathed. That will set up a Top 9 week when at least three county singers will battle for a spot in the final four. Barrett’s the most polished country singer on the show. But with so much emphasis on young talent in Season 9, you have to wonder if he’s doing as well in the voting as he is on iTunes.

5. Jeffery Austin, Team Gwen (4): Last week, he got the pimp spot. He turned in a splendid and heartfelt performance of “Dancing on My Own.” Yet he finished fifth on the iTunes charts and was closer to landing seventh than fourth. Blake can talk about Jeffery’s chances of making Gwen the first female coach to win the show, but his social media numbers would indicate he’s not catching on with fans as quickly as he should considering how well he’s performed.

6. Amy Vachal, Team Adam (8): Wow, have Adam and Amy stumbled upon the perfect formula or what? Take a very popular current song. Strip it down. Add Amy’s soft jazzy vocals. Presto: A Top 10 iTunes hit. It’s worked two weeks in a row now. And last week, Amy became the first contestant to top Jordan Smith on the charts since the live shows began, hitting number four with Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space.”

7. Shelby Brown, Team Adam (5): One look at her face and you could tell Shelby was very, very nervous about last week’s results show outcome after her version of Lady Gaga’s “You and I” ended up dead last among the Top 11 on iTunes. Alas, her fans came to the rescue. In order to avoid a repeat this week, Adam might want to get a song choice from Blake, preferably something country for his under-appreciated country singer.

8. Zach Seabaugh, Team Blake (7): Gwen called it “cheating” when Blake decided to have country heartthrob Zach sing “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not.” Or you could call it brilliant marketing, which is what it was. Look, Zach isn’t going to sing rings around any of the remaining contestants on the show. Let’s remember, the guy’s just 17. But anyone who thinks it’s all about the voice at this point in the show is kidding themselves, and Zach’s a fine entertainer.

9. Korin Bukowski, Team Gwen (10): A little warning to Korin’s fans: No singer on The Voice has ever earned three straight instant saves. Then again, had she performed her save-me song — Maroon 5’s “She Will Be Loved” — on performance night, I’m not sure she would have needed a second instant save. I turned out to be Korin’s best performance since the live shows began.

10. Braiden Sunshine, Team Gwen (11): I’m shocked a song choice like “True” didn’t get Braiden booted from the competition. In what world was that going to blow up iTunes? Perhaps Gwen needs lessons from Blake on how to cheat (no pun intended). Braiden continues to impress for his age (15) — “True was an improvement over “Renegade” — but he’s simply in over his head at this stage in the competition.

See also …
iTunes rankings for the Top 11 on The Voice
iTunes rankings for the Top 12 on The Voice
iTunes rankings for the live playoffs on The Voice