Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Last week, American Idol kept the Top 8 in their comfort zone.

They were asked to reprise their audition songs, and responded with the best episode yet during Season 13.

The Top 8 will take the stage again Wednesday night on American Idol. (FOX Photo)

This week: No more comfort zone.

The singers are being yanked back into the 1980s — before they were born — and asked to sing songs from that decade.

Her are the rankings for the Top 8, round two.

And there won’t be any more save-me performances at the end of results show. The one and only save is gone, awarded to Sam Woolf last week.

1. Jena Irene (1): I moved Jena into this spot two weeks ago, and I’m not going to bump her out just because I didn’t happen to love her rearrangement of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.” Vocally, the beginning and end were wonderful. And at least she had the creativity — and good sense — not to go for a straight-forward cover of the oft-done hit.

2. Caleb Johnson (2): He remains locked in this spot and, truth be told, I’d put a pretty sizable gap between the top two and the rest of the Idol field. Riding the wave of several strong performances, Caleb probably isn’t in danger of falling into the bottom two. Meaning this might be the perfect time to deliver the ballad Harry Connick Jr. has been begging for.

3. Jess Meuse (3): It’s a shame Jess can’t perform another original this week, because — in spite of the judges’ nit-picking — she certainly seemed more animated than usual delivering her fabulous “Blue Eyed Lie.” That’s been my only complaint about Jess to date. The vocals are fabulous; she just needs to inject her performances with a touch of Caleb.

4. Alex Preston (4): The most successful original from last week’s show — heck, the best-selling song overall — was Alex’s own original, “Fairytales.” And he’s yet to land in the bottom three. And he somehow projects more intensity than Jess or Sam Woolf, a colleague who is also perfect to play guitar standing behind a mic stand. But would someone please roll down Alex’s pant legs?

5. Dexter Roberts (7): The guy from Fayette, Alabama, turned in his best performance yet singing “One Mississippi.” To this point, I haven’t considered Dexter a serious contender for the Season 6 crown because most of his performances have bordered on solid karaoke. Then I remind myself how loyal and dedicated Idol’s country fans are in supporting their favorite singer.

6. Malaya Watson (5): Between that adorable personality and her newfound ability to control her on-stage energy, I figured Malaya was on the upswing, out of harm’s way for a couple of weeks. Then she landed in the bottom three again. Last week’s solo was fine; that duet with Sam Woolf might have ranked as the worst performance we’ve seen this season.

7. Sam Woolf (6): The judges saved him. Now we’ll see if the young girls who are supposedly Sam’s biggest fans rally behind him. If he wants to stay out of the bottom three for the fourth time, it will likely take a performance more inspired than his save-me version of “Bablyon.”

8. C.J. Harris (8): Truth be told, C.J. should have been the singer in need of a save last week. Then we would probably have a bottom seven right now. He controlled his pitch problems a little better on his “Soul Shine” solo last week. Then his vocals strayed all over the place during his duet with Dexter.