Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The night one performers on American Idol’s Top 24 shows include, from left, MKY, Victor Solomon, Jamal Roberts, Kolbi Jordan, Breanna Nix, Penny Samar, Zaylie WIndsor, Gabby Samone, Che Chesterman, Baylee Littrell, Slater Nalley and Isaiah Misailegala. (ABC Photo)

Voting begins tonight on American Idol as the show airs Hawaii performances from the first half of the Top 24.

How do you vote?

There are three methods, via the Idol app, at americanidol.com and via text. You can vote up to 10 times per method per contestant. Each artist will be assigned a number during tonight’s show; you’ll need that to vote via text.

When do you vote?

Voting begins when the show begins tonight and continues until 6 a.m. eastern time for the two Top 24 shows. Remember, you can only vote for the contestants performing that night, so trying to vote for Drew Ryn this evening will get you no where and, by tomorrow night, you’ll no longer be able to vote for the contestants below.

Voting results will be revealed next Sunday. Last season, two singers were eliminated from each group.

Technology permitting, I’ll be blogging live tonight with song by song grades. Should you get a database connection error when trying to reach the site, wait a minute and try again. The problem corrects itself.

And thanks for your patience. My web host decided my blog needed to be on a more expensive and more powerful server, so now it’s be going down for a couple of minutes from time to time. Makes sense, right? Any, my apologies ahead of time for any inconvenience.

See also …
Idol Chatter ranks the Top 24
How the Top 24 stack up on social media

Che Chesterman, 28, Essex, England, “Master Blaster” by Stevie Wonder: Che says this is something different for him since he typically sings ballads. Che did very well on the X Factor UK a few years back. Nice vocal by Che, but he didn’t raise the roof with the vocal or the performance. And the song choice, while upbeat, seemed old. He gets praise from the judges though. Luke says he never misses a note. Grade: C+

Penny Samar, 23, Williamsport, Pa., “Good Luck, Babe” by Chappell Roan: Hey, I really liked that performance from Penny, who we haven’t seen enough of on Idol. She was especially strong during the verses. And she said she didn’t know what to do with her body, but she sure figured it out, showing off very nice stage presence. Nice job. And she gets compliments from all the judges too. Grade: B

Kolbi Jordan, 26, Tulsa, Okla., “New Attitude” by Patti Labelle: Kolbi says she was sick during Hollywood Week, which might help explain the oversinging as a means of compensating. Lionel calls it amazing. Luke says it’s one of his favorite Hawaii performances ever. It was definitely the most powerful vocal we’ve heard so far tonight. But Kolbi still needs to show more control over her vocal, which while impressive, went over the top more than once. Tone it down just a bit, and she’ll be one of the best female singers on the show. Grade: B–

Baylee Littrell, 21, Atlanta, Ga., “Happy” by Pharrel: If Baylee had another heartfelt original, he should have pulled it out. He’s been great on those. That was a weak vocal and makes me wonder about Idol’s decision to put him into the Top 24 instead of some very fine female singers. The judges praised his stage presence. Grade: D

Victor Solomon, 26, Peoria, Ill., “That’s My Kind of Night” by Luke Bryan: Victor dons a cowboy hat and decides to sing a Luke Bryan song. Interesting move because it could be a nice way to stand out among the male R&B singers ont he show. Victor is a solid showman. But his voice is being swallowed up by the backing band on this song. A big ending helped salvage the performance. The vocal was not a good indication of what Victor is capable of. Carrie predicts America will love that. Grade: C

Gabby Samone, 22, Baltimore, Md., “It’s All Coming Back to Me” by Celine Dion: Love songwriter Jim Steinman’s songs, but they’re hard to boil down into a couple of minutes. They’re epic in scope. So let’s see how Gabby does. Well, she did a nice job of navigating a difficult song. She delivered a nice mix of emotion and power. That said, I would have preferred emotion over power at the end. It would have been more unexpected from Gabby. The judges loved the performance. Grade: B

MKY, aka Mikey Jimenez, 25, East Los Angeles, Calif., “Adorn” by Miguel: They call him the Latin Elvis, and he takes the stage with a heartthrob look. But what’s up with the sound mix. That opening was rough. MKY is showing off nice range and doing a nice job of working the stage. The vocal isn’t winning me over. Not by a long shot. Though he delivered a nice performance ending glory note. Grade: C–

Zaylie Windsor, 18, Safford, Ariz., “Heart of Glass” by Blondie: She’s worried her song lacks big moments. Lionel says it was the perfect song for Zaylie. Disagree. She’s a singer-songwriter among belters. So don’t try to belt. Pick something that’s emotional. Instead, she oversang in spots. The highlights of the performance were when Zaylie switched up the song. Wish she would have done more of that. I’ll still be rooting for her because I think she’s among Season 23’s best. Grade: C+

Breanna Nix, 25, Denton, Texas, “Still Rolling Stones” by Lauren Daigle: Thank you, Breanna Nix, for delivering the first truly standout performance we’ve heard tonight. She sounded great on the soft parts. She belted impressively. She showed off a nice growl. She showed more stage presence than one should expect from a “stay-at-home mom.” And that big ending was special. Dang, nice job. Grade: A–

Isaiah Misailegalu, 17, Las Vegas, Nev., “You Can Have It All”: Isaiah says this is his mom’s favorite song. Isaiah needed a solid performance tonight, because his head-to-head duet had Idol fans wondering if he should be in the Top 24. He’s doing a nice job here and having fun on stage. I’m not sure the song ranks high on the difficulty level. Lionel praises his silky vocals. Luke loved his vibe. Grade: B–

Slater Nalley, 17, Atlanta, Ga., “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”: Why this song? I mean of all the songs Slater could sing. That said, he’s doing a nice job of changing it up. And his voice always pierces through. Without question one of the show’s best male vocalists at 17 because of his power and tone. Okay, he wound up delivering a nice version of the song. Especially liked that ending. Luke predicts Slater will get to do music for a long time. Grade: A–

Jamal Roberts, 26, Meridan, Miss, “Liar” by Jelly Roll: Okay, I thought Idol might be sucking up by having the guy singing a Jelly Roll song in the night’s glory spot. Nope. Jamal earned that spot with a great vocal and an impassioned performance. I understand why Jelly Roll sang his version of the song sounded like testimony. Not sure it was a perfect vocal. But it was a great way to end the first night of performances from the Top 24. Grade: A