Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Blake Shelton with his large contingent of semifinalists (from left) Gyth Rigdon, Dexter Roberts, Carter Lloyd Horne, Kim Cherry and Andrew Sevener. (NBC Photo)

The Top 8 perform Monday night on The Voice, vying for a spot in this year’s finals.

Host/producer Carson Daly has already announced that contestants will be singing songs by The Beatles on Monday.

Contestants will also be paired up for duets Monday night.

I’ve long argued duets should not be part of the competition this late in the game.

We’re supposed to be selecting the best voice, not the best harmonizers for crying out loud.

They make even less sense in Season 16.

Having robbed us of two weeks of finals, having allowed us to see just five performances so far from the Top 8, you’d think producers could at least allow each singer two solos in the semifinals to prove he or she belongs in the Top 4.

But, oh, no, that might be a positive change. We can’t have that. Not on The Voice. And especially not in Season 16.

Remember how the voting works in the semifinals. The top three vote-getters advances. The bottom two automatically go home. The three in between compete for an instant save Tuesday night and the final spot in the season finale.

Here are my Top 8 rankings. Last week’s rankings appear in parenthesis.

1. Maelyn Jarmon (Team Legend) (2): Three reasons Maelyn moves into the top spot. One: Her brilliant performance of “The Scientist.” Two: She was last week’s most-streamed artist, proving she has a solid fan base. Three: Up until now, country music lovers have been able to vote for all their favorites with no repercussions. They won’t be able to do that this week.

2. Gyth Rigdon (Team Blake) (1): My guess is that Gyth and Maelyn are the two sure bets to make the finals. Gyth topped everyone on iTunes after Top 24 night and was the top finisher on iTunes among Team Blake members last week. And he did that in spite of singing first on a two-hour show.

3. Shawn Sounds (Team Legend) (3): Shawn has the R&B lane all to himself now that fellow four-chair-turn recipients L.B. Crew and Matthew Johnson have been eliminated. He’s one of the show’s most fun performers to watch, and he might get additional support from fans determined to prevent an all Team Blake finale.

4. Dexter Roberts (Team Blake): (5): I see more support for Dexter on social media than anyone else on the show. But it isn’t evident on iTunes, so I’m wondering if that’s misleading. Eight singers from Top 13 night cracked the Top 200 on iTunes. Dexter ranked sixth among those eight and only three among members of Team Blake Shelton.

5. Carter Lloyd Horne (Team Blake) (9): He’s the youngest contestant on a show where teenagers have taken the title each of the past two seasons. The plug he got from Blake about being the show’s Season 16 heartthrob can’t hurt either. Bottom line, I won’t be surprised if Carter’s in the running for that last spot in the finals.

6. Rod Stokes (Team Kelly) (10): He benefited from a great song choice (“When a Man Loves a Woman”) and excellent performance placement (next to last) on Top 13 night. This week, he might benefit from being the lone remaining singer on Team Kelly. Remember, Kelly won the show the past two seasons.

7. Andrew Sevener (Team Blake) (6): I absolutely love the intensity this guy brings to The Voice stage. He lands here — one spot lower than a week ago — only because The Beatles theme week seems such a poor fit for a guy who’s at his best rocking out country style.

8. Kim Cherry (Team Blake) (7): She lands here because she needed this week’s instant save to advance. Two factors that could lead to a Kim Cherry surprise: 1) she shouldn’t be affected by the country vote-splitting I expect this week; 2) I’ve gotta think Kim’s performed a Beatles song or two at some point with Legends of Summer.