Idol Chatter & Voice Views

There were times during the blind auditions when I wondered whether Cee Lo Green was paying attention.

He certainly wasn’t trying very hard to convince some of the contestants to join his team.

So what happens?

He’s the only coach with all three finalists still alive on The Voice.

What’s more, one of Adam’s contestants (Amanda Brown) was a Team Cee Lo member before being stolen after losing a battle round against Trevin Hunte.

The Top 8 on The Voice become a Top 6 this week. Follow along Monday night for a live blog complete with song by song grades.

In the meantime, here’s how I’m ranking the final eight.

1. Amanda Brown (3): After “Spectrum” fizzled two weeks ago, it must have been tempting for Amanda Brown to go back to something like “Dream On.” Instead, she sang the relatively obscure “Stars” by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and did so well that both her version and the original were in the top 30 on iTunes the next day. So she’s not only among the most talented singers on The Voice, she’s versatile too.

2. Cassadee Pope (2): Speaking of versatility, the former lead singer for Hey Monday sang her first ballad last week. How did she do? Oh, the song (Blake Shelton’s “Over You”) simply landed in the top spot on the iTunes chart the next day. She’s been solid every week and, given her fan support, can probably punch a ticket right now for the final four if she doesn’t stumble badly.

3. Dez Duron (6): I was a little surprised to see Dez selected to close the show last week. Then he turned around and surprised all those who think he’s just a pretty face by turning in one of the night’s best performances with “Feeling Good.” So I’ll throw in a surprise of my own by moving him up three spots in the rankings. The key is song choice. He and Christina have not consistently chosen well.

4. Trevin Hunte (1): Sounds superb on the ending of those big ballads. Sounded ordinary, and perhaps less, when he imitated Usher last week and his song ranked dead last among the Top 10 performances on iTunes. Ouch. The bigger problem: That points to a serious lack of versatility unless Trevin simply picked the wrong song to go upbeat with. Here’s betting he doesn’t try again and returns to balladeer Monday night.

5. Melanie Martinez (8): She might have modeled her hair style after Cruella De Vil of “101 Dalmations,” but Melanie seems oh-so-sweet, looks oh-so-cute and has picked really smart songs two straight weeks. What’s more, among the non-favorites, she seems to be gaining the most momentum. Her version of “Seven Nation Army” cracked the top 10 on iTunes last week

6. Cody Belew (5): He delivered plenty of bam-bam last week in a performance that showed tons of style but lacked the stellar vocal he’d delivered the previous two weeks on slower songs. Perhaps he can find a happy medium between Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” and Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love.” Then again, with Cee Lo as his coach and Cody’s penchant for flair, big black wings aren’t out of the question.

7. Nicholas David (9): He trimmed the mustache and turned in a solid version of “Lean on Me,” but I’m still not convinced he’s top four material on this show. That said, he has a legion of avid followers. His singles keep performing better than I would expect on iTunes. Last week, only the performances from Cassadee, Melanie and Amanda were more popular.

8. Terry McDermott (10): The guy who specializes in rock classics found his vocal groove again with “Summer of ’69,” reversing a trend of two straight subpar performances. He says fans keep asking for more of the same, but I think he’s going to have to shock us with something different to hang around the competition much longer.