Idol Chatter & Voice Views

This week, the Top 5 on American Idol get another brand name theme and a star mentor to boot.

The mentor: Jason Mraz, who’s apparently already enjoyed coffee with Alex Preston.

The Top 5 on American Idol, from left Jena Irene, Alex Preston, Caleb Johnson, Sam Woolf and Jess Meuse. (FOX Photo)

The theme: America’s Request, which means at least one of the songs performed by the Top 5 will be a song suggested by fans at Ryan Seacrest’s request earlier in Season 13.

Now, the press release announcing the theme says each contestant will sing “a song” chosen for them by viewers.

So I’m not sure what the Idols will be singing for their second song, or if we’ll be treated to the return of group numbers.

Let’s hope not. It’s too late in the competition to have a contestant’s fate determined by how well a possibly ill-fitting duet might work out.

Here are this week’s rankings with last week’s rank in parenthesis.

1. Caleb Johnson (2): Last week’s theme might have been rock and country, but Caleb rocked the stage twice last week and did it very well. But that wasn’t even the most impressive part of his performance. That came when he dropped the mic midway through his cover of “String Me,” slid to the back of the stage, recaptured it and barely missed a beat. I didn’t appreciate how skillful it was until Idol showed it from a different angle on Thursday’s results show.

2. Jena Irene (1): Jena was probably the third most impressive contestant last week after Caleb and Jess Meuse. That won’t win the Season 6 crown. Not in a competition where voters show a clear preference for guys. It’s not necessarily fair, but in order to have confetti raining on her head on May 21, she’s going to have to deliver the best performance every week between now and then. Even that might not be enough. Just ask Crystal Bowersox.

3. Jess Meuse (4): She’ll be eliminated this week. The reason: See the blurb beside Jena’s name. Then add judges that nitpick her every performance to death. Last week, she got to close the show, slayed “Jolene” and did very well with a Heart cover and still landed in the bottom two. So I have little hope that she’ll survive to make the Top 4, regardless of how well she performs Wednesday night.

4. Alex Preston (3): I see the Top 5 in three groups — the finals worthy, which would be Caleb and Jena; the singers who should be candidates for the Top 3, which would include Alex and Jess; and the not so worthy, which … well, we’re down to Sam. Alex had a chance to make a leap into the upper tier last week and just didn’t get there. Of course, he did as well as could be expected with a theme that didn’t exactly play to his strengths.

5. Sam Woolf (5): Isn’t he so cute? That was the sum total of Jennifer Lopez’s critique after Sam delivered a so-so cover of Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One.” It’s working; the song was the Idol’s most successful of the week on iTunes. Hey, Idol judges, it’s time for some brutal honesty with Sam. Otherwise we’re going to have a very undeserving member of the Top 3 a couple of weeks from now.