Idol Chatter & Voice Views

This week, American Idol contestants will be yanked into the 21st Century. Finally.

Idol’s theme for Top 4, Part 2 will be “Then and Now.”

Meaning each of the Top 4 will get to sing one of those classic tunes they seem to love so much.

But they’ll also have to sing a hit from 2013. Oh, what will they do?

On with this week’s rankings, which are going to look very similar to last week’s.

I am, however, much more confident in the placement after what we witnessed on Top 4, Week 1.

As always, last week’s rankings are in parenthesis.

1. Angie Miller (1): I don’t know if she snatched any wigs last week, to borrow a Nicki Minaj illusion, but Angie was the only Idol contestant who showed up on stage with a fierce I-will-be-in-the-Top-3 attitude. Her cover of Jessie J’s “Who You Are” was one of Season 12’s best. On a show where everyone left sings well, a flair for performance counts. And on that count, Angie wins. Hands down.

2. Candice Glover (2): Gasp. The best singer on Idol landed in the bottom two last week. Let’s see if that outcome ignites a fire in Candice that a similar finish failed to ignite in Kree just a week ago. Candice would be well advised to heed the advice of Jimmy Iovine: safe song choices are not going to get her the Season 12 crown. She’ll need more performances along the lines of her take on Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up.”

3. Kree Harrison (3): A high percentrage of what was coming from the judges’ panel last week was garbage. But Keith Urban’s critiques of Kree were dead on. He said she keeps picking “middle-ground” songs that show neither raw emotion nor the fire you’d expect from someone vying for the Idol crown. Always great vocally, Kree need to kick up her performance level … oh, about 100 notches.

Insert art of Grand Canyon here for same reason as last week. There’s a huge gap between the top three and …

4. Amber Holcomb (4): I keep hearing that Amber might be the most commercially viable contestant. Let’s see. She sings ballads well. Candice and Kree sing them better. Amber has gone upbeat three times. She’s fallen flat three times. You’d expect the most viable contestant to have a burgeoning fan base. Angie picked up more Facebook fans in the past week than Amber has all season. If there’s any justice, this week will end Amber’s Idol viability.