Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Top 11 on The Voice — back row (from left) — Bryan Bautista, Nick Hagelin, Adam Wakefield, Daniel Passino; front row (from left) — Paxton Ingram, Mary Sarah, Alisan Porter, Hannah Huston, Shalyah Fearing, Owen Danoff, Laith Al-Saaid. (NBC Photo)

Hold on tight.

We might just have a photo finish on Season 10 of The Voice.

Or at least a far less predictable victory march than in either of the past two seasons.

Last week, Adam Wakefield trumped Alisan Porter on iTunes.

Two weeks ago, Shalyah Fearing came close to doing it.

And in the knockout round, the biggest iTunes hit was scored by Hannah Huston.

In other words, don’t count on becoming the first female coach ever to win The Voice, witchy Christina (what was with that performance show costume?)

Over at American Idol, LaPorsha Renae can tell you all about the plight of an early-season favorite.

That said, time for this week’s ranking. Last week’s appear in parenthesis.

1. Alisan Porter (1): I’m certainly not bumping Alisan from this spot yet. Not after that brilliant vocal on Demi Lovato’s “Stone Cold” last week. Remember Jordan Smith’s “Somebody to Love” performance from Season 9? If I’m Christina, I’m searching long and hard for a song that will deliver a moment like that for Alisan. Vocally, she can deliver that kind of magic.

2. Shalyah Fearing (2): She didn’t do as well on iTunes last week (7th among the 12 performers) and her vocals aren’t always spot on. But she has a lower bar to clear than Alisan. Remember, Christina was the only coach to turn for her blind audition and she needed two steals to make it this far. But the fire this teen brings to the stage reminds me of young Jacqui Lee back in Season 5.

3. Adam Wakefield (3): You just knew a country singer would be in the running for the Season 10 title. I just didn’t know it would be Adam. But his cover of “Soulshine” wound up being the week’s biggest hit on iTunes (number eight on the singles chart, number one on the country singles chart) and Blake will have no problem matching him with songs that capitalize on his soulful, gritty vocals.

4. Laith Al-Saaid (4): He might not wind up finishing this high, but for now I love the fact that Voice fans seem to be embracing what Laith is doing even though, at 38, he isn’t your conventional singing show contestant. Then again, neither was Nicholas David back in Season 3, and he wound up finishing third.

5. Hannah Huston (8): Dang, the pre-school teacher from Nebraska with very limited performing experience continues to impress every time she takes the stage. Adam Levine called her performances “alien soul.” Not sure what he meant, but it’s working. Her performance of “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” was one of the most fun on a night of very strong performances on The Voice.

6. Nick Hagelin (6): The guy who’s likely to be the final comeback artist standing went country last week, singing a Blake Shelton tune. It only partly worked, but give credit to Nick for taking the risk. I think he could afford to do it again this week. Succeed or not, I have a feeling he’s popular enough at this point that he won’t land in the bottom two yet.

7. Mary Sarah (5): No doubt Blake and Mary Sarah are scratching their heads, trying to figure out how to improve her connection with fans. She’s cute, personable, spunky, likable and has a ton of social media support, so I’d be scratching my head too. But if she was going to tackle a much more current song, and a Carrie Underwood song, “Before He Cheats” would have been a much better pick than “So Small.”

8. Bryan Bautista (9): So, is Bryan going to be freed from the prison of romantic ballads anytime soon? Because I remember his cover of “The Hills” from the blind audition as being very good. And unlike anything anyone else in the Top 11 is doing. If that Bryan returns to the stage … well, it would be a refreshing change of pace.

9. Owen Danoff (7): Sometimes singer-songwriters don’t make the best contestants on singing shows, where glory notes and big bold performances tend to steal the show. Funny thing is, Owen was fifth from the bottom on iTunes last week, yet landed in the bottom two. Hopefully his fans figured out the math. A download counts as a single vote, unless you crack the Top 10. But you can automatically cast 10 votes via the other methods.

10. Daniel Passino (11): In the past two weeks, he’s performed Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man” and Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature,” two songs done to death on singing shows. Classically trained, he’s got a great voice. He’s going to need better song choices to hang around.

11. Paxton Ingram (12): Just call him Houdini. I mean, two weeks ago, he failed to crack the Top 200 on iTunes. Heck, he failed to crack the Top 300, but Blake saved him from elimination anyway. Last week, he was nearly 100 spots below his nearest competitor on iTunes with his cover of “Hands to Myself.” Yet he didn’t even land in the bottom two.

See also:
Emily Keener already talking new album
iTunes results for the Top 12
Song by song grades for the Top 12