Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The judges’ save has already been used on American Idol Season 14.

But say “hello” to the fan save.

Stealing a spice-it-up tactic from The Voice, American Idol has decided to devise its own version of the instant save.

Beginning tonight, the bottom two vote-getters will sing for a fan save.

Fans will have 5 minutes to send tweets to save the contestant they consider most deserving.

Viewers in the time zones other than central or eastern are invited to follow along on Twitter or AmeircanIdol.com so they know who to try to save.

And if a new save wasn’t enough of a bonus for tonight’s show, Idol will also welcome back its original champ, Kelly Clarkson.

She’ll be mentoring the contestants, and they’ll be singing her songs.

And it’s time for some performances …

1. Nick Fradiani: He’s the first contestant safe this week. He’s decided to sing “Catch My Breath.” It’s a song Nick and his band used to do acoustically, so it sounds like he’s familiar with the tune. Kelly calls it one of the toughest of her songs to sing. Her advice to Nick: Smile to the ladies out there through the camera. Nick says his biggest adjustment on Idol has been singing without his band. Nick is turning in another solid performance. Not crazy with the way he sounded when the tune soared near the end of the song. His performances still look a bit stilted. Keith wants him to loosen up more. Jennifer still wants him to find his groove. But she compliments him on his energy and his vocal. Harry says it wasn’t his favorite Nick vocal, but says he seems to be getting more comfortable. Grade: B–

2. Jax: Fantastic. Thrilled to see Jax make it through. She’s going to sing “Beautiful Disaster.” And Kelly Clarkson says she doesn’t have any notes for Jax, she was so pleased with her vocal. Scott says we should be prepared for the most vulnerable Jax performance yet. She lends her own unique tone to the song, and sounds fantastic on the chorus. And she delivers a very tender ending. Nice performance from Jax. I’ll be interested to hear what the judges have to say. Jennifer called it “beautiful.” Harry said he really loved the performance. Keith calls her an artist, but says she’s still a little inconsistent. Grade: B+

3. Tyanna Jones: She’ll be singing “Mr. Know it All.” Tyanna said she wants to be bold and tap into her emotion. She says she was bullied, so she thinks she can relate to this song. She sounded a little sharp at the beginning of the song, but recovered pretty quickly. I’m still waiting for the emotion though. OK, she delivers it in the last 45 seconds or so of the song. A solid performance from Tyanna. Harry says there might have been some pitch issues, but says she sang it about as well as she could. Keith isn’t sure she connected to the song as well as she could have. Jennifer says she reminded everyone she has an amazing voice. Grade: B–

4. Joey Cook: She wasn’t at the top of her game last week. Glad to see she made it through anyway. She’s going to sing “Miss Independent,” and she warns us that she’s changing it up. Kelly says she’s performed this song countless times and never thought of doing it this way. Yep, she’s changed it into a jazz number. Interesting for sure. But I’m not sure this is going to reel in the votes. The vocal was fine, but she absolutely recreated the song. Keith praises her creativity. Jennifer calls it one of the best performances of the night. Harry gives her an A+ for bravery and going left of center, but doesn’t like the old-fashioned flair of the staging. My prediction is that the judges like that more than Idol voters will. Grade: C+

And, now, for a change of pace, Idol delivers a welcome musical interlude — Kelly Clarkson singing her hit, “Heartbeat Song.”

5. Quentin Alexander: Nice choice, America. Not surprised by the song choice. Quentin is going to sing “Dark Side.” Scott calls him the most intense contestant on the show. Interesting, he’s singing “Dark Side” dressed in all white. Hey, Quentin just delivered a very, very good vocal. His voice strayed a bit the first time he hit the chorus, but the rest of that performance was absolutely dead on. Jennifer compliments his ability to pick the right song and says he “killed it.” Keith likes his poise and says he performs like he’s delivering the truth. Harry wants him to work on the technical aspects of his performance as much as the creative aspect. Grade: A–

6. Qaasim Middleton: He’s going to sing “Stronger.” And he’s rearranging it, too. Kelly calls his performance of the song clever and strategic. Qaasim says he wants to show America Idol viewers something they haven’t seen yet. Qaasim isn’t always spot-on vocally, but sounds good on the opening of this. Uh-oh. The vocal falls apart when he hits the chorus and tries to reach higher into his range. His voice isn’t strong enough to pull that off, so he just makes noises the second time through. Hmm. Not my favorite of the night by a long shot, but the fans seemed to like the coolness factor. Harry thought it was OK, but not his best. Keith notes that he struggled on the chorus. Jennifer says it fell short, too. Grade: C–

Another musical interlude. This time Kelly Clarkson covering “At Last,” the same song she sang in her Idol audition.

7. Clark Beckham: And Clark’s the last contestant safe tonight, which means Idol voters did a fantastic job of singling out the bottom two — Rayvon Owen and Daniel Seavey. Meanwhile, Clark is going to sing “The Trouble with Love Is.” Kelly is urging him to light up, open his eyes and connect. Clark calls the song totally his style. Clark sounds great from the first note. Gotta tell you, folks, this young man is putting more and more distance between himself and everyone else on the show. His voice absolutely soared over the last 30 seconds of that song. And it brought Jennifer and his Idol colleagues to their feet. Keith wants him to lead with the feeling and says his tone and voice is beautiful. Jennifer says he gave her goosies from head to toe. Harry says he followed Kelly Clarkson to the stage with one of her own songs and “nailed it.” Grade: A

And now the bottom two sing for the fan save.

8. Daniel Seavey: She’s going to sing “Breakaway.” Daniel says he’s been struggling with his voice. Oh, boy, this is one of my favorite Kelly Clarkson songs. And Daniel is going to kill it. And he doesn’t disappoint in that regard. Shame. He seems like a really nice guy. He’s just over his head — and probably a couple of years too early — in this competition. He did stretch admirably for that glory note in the middle of the song. But, all in all, that was pretty bad. Harry tells him to keep practicing. Keith says he looks great on camera. Jennifer says he did OK. Grade: D

9. Rayvon Owen: He’ll sing “Since You’ve Been Gone.” He says he’s slowing it down and trying to show the beauty of the song. He’s two lines in, and he’s already beaten Daniel. Actually, I think he’s going to deliver a surprisingly good performance of this song. And he has turned it into a much sadder, somber song. And Rayvon is actually delivering his best vocal in weeks. Not perfect, but certainly worlds better than the last two weeks. He might have done a wee bit too much with that ending, but that was honestly one of the better performances of the night. Harry compliments him on a beautiful voice, but wants to hear his “gravy.” Keith thought he did a great job of picking a song for his voice. Jennifer liked the performance, too. Grade: B

And it’s time for the instant save results.

Rayvon gets the save.

Daniel goes home.