Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Team Niall’s Mara Justine, Huntley and Nini Iris await results Tuesday night on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

The Top 9 on The Voice are busy preparing for Monday night’s semifinals.

That’s right, folks, there are only two more weeks in Season 24 of The Voice.

To me, that’s a major disappointment. I’d love to hear lots more from this talented cast of singers.

A cast this good deserves a full slate of live shows — like The Voice once featured — as a showcase for their incredible talent.

And I hate to keep making American Idol comparisions, but I’m going to anyway.

Iam Tongi, the show’s Season 21 champ, performed 14 televised solos en route to his title.

The winner of The Voice will perform just seven. That includes an assumption on my part that each of the five finalists will perform two songs on Monday, Dec. 18.

This week, we’ll be treated to a solo from each of the remaining nine singers and a trio of trios.

At best, the trios will be relatively meaningless in terms of helping viewers decide who should win Season 24.

At worst, they’ll be misleading. That will the case if singers are forced into a mismatched trio or forced to sign songs that fall well outside their wheelhouse.

My guess is Team Reba will perform together, Team Niall will perform together and Team Gwen’s Bias will take the stage with Team Legend’s Mac Royals and Lila Forde.

In other words, hello mismatched trio. In other words, someone better chose the song wisely.

On with this week’s rankings. The number is parenthesis is where the singer ranked a week ago.

See also …
Song by song grades for the Top 12

1. Mara Justine, 21, Galloway, N.J. (Team Niall) (2): In 2018, at age 15, Mara competed on American Idol and was eliminated just shy of the voting rounds. Now, she’s looking like an incredibly motivated, sure-fire finalist on The Voice. She turned in the best of three superb Team Niall performances Monday night, which is why she lands in this spot.

2. Nini Iris, 27, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Team Niall) (1): Last week, I wrote that Nini will need to create a magical voice moment to win Season 24. She might want to create that moment Monday night. There’s no doubt in my mind that all three members of Team Niall should be in the finals. But minus that magic moment, I won’t be shocked if Nini needs an instant save to get there.

3. Huntley, 33, Fredericksburg, Va. (Team Niall) (3): If the show ended tomorrow, Huntley would win. And he turned in another crowd pleasing performance Monday night. But he got more than a little help from his Voice friends (an entire choir) in doing so, while Mara and Nini shined all on their own. That’s the only reason he’s remaining at number three this week.

4. Ruby Leigh, 16, Foley, Missouri (Team Reba) (4): I didn’t think her Monday night song choice was a good fit. But she’d been superb — and superb well beyond her years — to that point. I still think she’s the mostly likely singer not from Team Niall to make it into the finals. A trio of excellent solos and some Team Niall vote-splitting might even bring her the crown.

5. Lila Forde, 24, Seattle, Wash. (Team Legend) (5): Give this young woman a heart-wrenching ballad, and she’d have a real chance of standing out in the semis because the show is so packed with belters. Lila and John have to understand the urgency behind Monday’s performance. Because if Lila winds up singing for a save on East Coast time Tuesday, hometown Seattle is going to be a huge disadvantage.

6. Mac Royals, 30, Wrightsville, Ark. (Team Legend) (7): Having Mac sing Bonnie Raitt on Top 12 night was one of the evening’s smartest song choices. And while I still think he’s the most versatile male singer on Season 24, he’s going to need another song choice along those lines to make it to the finals in this talent laden season.

7. Bias, 23, Little Rock, Ark. (Team Gwen) (6): He got the pimp spot and a big Voice production last week. And he turned it into a fun performance even if the vocal wasn’t finals worthy by Season 24 standards. His best bet this week is to pick a song that plays to a Voice audience that has always rallied around male country singers.

8. Jacquie Roar, 37, North Plains, Oregon (Team Reba) (8): Blessed with that big voice, Jacquie is just flat-out fun to watch when she takes the stage. She’s a fearless, energetic, passionate live performer. That said, look at the of this list and you’ll see three others. So does Jacquie change it up in order to make more of an impression?

9. Jordan Rainer, 33 Atoka, Okla. (Team Reba) (11): Speaking of changing it up, if any singer needs to take the stage with a surprising song choice on Monday, it’s Jordan. She lands here for the obvious reason. She needed Tuesday’s instant save to make the finals.