Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Rae Boyd of Frederick, Md., competes on Top 20 night on American Idol. (ABC Photo)

The second half of American Idol’s Top 20 perform tonight for a spot in next week’s Top 14 show.

Last week, voting ran from the beginning of the show until 6 a.m. eastern time on Tuesday. The voting window will likely be the same this week.

And remember, there are new ways to vote, by commenting your favorite’s first name on American Idol social media voting posts on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.

You can also text votes to 21523 (make sure to text the singer’s assigned number). And you can vote on American Idol’s website. With 10 votes per method, you can cast as many as 50 votes for your favorite.

As in past blogs, I’ll note that American Idol has not fully explained how this season’s Top 20 voting will work. Last year, the top five vote-getters from each night of Top 20 performances automatically made the Top 14. Then the judges picked the final four members of the Top 14.

Just like last week, I’ll be providing song by song grades throughout the course of Monday’s show.

See also …
Ranking Monday night’s singers
Song by song grades for the Top 20, Night 1
Fan favorite performances from the Top 20, Night 1

Philmon Lee, 25, LeGrange, Ga., “Don’t Stop Believin'” by Journey: Philmon admits he’s been getting more nervous and nervous each round. From my perspective, vocals have not been Philmon’s biggest obstacle. Stage presence has been. You could almost hear the nerves near the end of the that first verse. But he is working the stage a bit. He didn’t cut loose quite the way I thought he might, but landed a nice ending. Lionel Richie applauded him on a great job. Grade: B–

Rae Boyd, 24, Frederick, Md., “Respect” by Aretha Franklin: Rae says her mom always played Aretha music. No idea why Rae didn’t open the show. She’s just a born performer. She moved more in the first 30 seconds than Philmon did in his whole song. She’s putting her own spin on the song, delivering tons of attitude. And her vocal didn’t waver a bit in spite of all that movement. She brought the judges to their feet. Keke Palmer says Rae set the stage on fire. Luke Bryan proclaimed “you’ve got my respect” and said Rae might be the show’s best singer. Combine vocals and stage presence, and she’s been the show’s best.Grade: A–

Lucas Leon, 18, Gallatin, Tenn., “Just to See You Smile” by Tim McGraw: Lucas goes country for this song. He’s gone impressive stage presence for someone so young. He doesn’t show the slightest sign of nerves. Not sure about the song choice in terms of its potential as a memorable performance. But Lucas certainly delivered a confident, self-assured, solid vocal. Lionel Richie called his delivery “fantastic.” Carrie Underwood loved the performance as well. Grade: B

Jordan McCullough, 27, Murfreesboro, Tenn., “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” by U2: Jordan is coming off a platinum ticket performance in the Top 30 round. Before we proclaim anyone the best singer on Idol, folks should listen to Jordan. He is changing this song up, and sounding unbelieveable doing it. With a nearly a cappella opening. He is turning in a show-winning type of performance. I mean, this is just an amazing vocal, high notes, emotion and all. Yeah, Jordan lived up to expectations. Lionel Richie loved the way he turned a U2 song spiritual. Carrie called his performance mind-blowing. Grade: A+

Abayomi Lewis, 16, San Francisco, Calif., “Mamma Knows Best” by Jessie J: She’s the youngest performer on the show and is dedicating this performance to her mother. I absolutely love Abayomi’s confidence for a performer so young. That said, her vocals are being swallowed up a bit by the band, and that’s detracting from the performance. Still, love her attitude. Lionel Richie loved the way she was in charge on stage. Carrie Underwood calls her a Disney star in the making. Luke called is a great performance. Grade: B–

Madison Moon, 21, Orlando, Fla., “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson Madison brings tons of energy to the stage. But the vocal is getting pretty shouty. And I’m not sure she nailed that high note. She’s bringing plenty of energy to the stage. And the crowd seems to be having fun. But that was pretty pitchy in spots. Nice ending though. Carrie Underwood says she has “incredible pipes.” Lionel Richie says she blew his wig off his head. Grade: C

Chris Tungseth, 27, Fergus Falls, Minn., “Apologize” by OneRepublic: This is a song, Chris says he used to sing while doing his paper route. I’m a little surprised that Idol hasn’t done more to elevate Chris, the last singer we met during a memorable audition. He’s delivering a nice, sensative vocal here. Solid performance. Lionel Richie said he needs to relax and enjoy the stage. Keke Palmer has a great vibe he needs to lean into. Carrie Underwood says she loves his laid-back voice. Grade: B–

Rudy Rae, 16, Pacific Palisades, Calif., “Drag Me Down” by One Direction: She dedicated this song to her three older brothers and the support they showed her when she was being bullied. Where did these young performers on Idol get so much confidence? Like Abayomi, she’s performing with ease so of the older contestants aren’t showing. Now, vocally we were about midway through the performance before Rudy sounded Idol-special. But that was a nice glory note at the end. Carrie called her a ray of sunshine. Luke wanted to see more angst to go with her great voice. Grade: C+

Julian Kalel, 19, El Paso, Texas, “Tourniquet” by Zach Bryan: He’s my favorite of the male singer-songwriters on Idol. And he’s sounding very good on this. If you haven’t checked out Julian’s original music, do yourself a favor and do so. Keke Palmer calls his voice beautiful and his performance hopeful. Carrie Underwood loves how believable Julian is. Remember, Julian dropped out of Idol last year because of his anxiety. Luke calls it a star-is-born sort of moment. Grade: B+

Keyla Richardson, 29, Pensacola, Fla., “With a Little Help from My Friends” by The Beatles: Keyla’s reharsal brought tears to Keke Palmer. And the opening gives an indication why. Keyla sounds like she was born to sing this song. She’s going to take Idol to church with her version of this song. Then Keyla leaves the mic stand, and the performance goes to another level. This is by far Keyla’s bet performance on the show. She’s going wild on stage, in the best way. That was superb. Lionel Richie called it the greatest performance he’s seen on the Idol stage. Keke compares her to Fantasia. Grade: A

In my mind, there were three great performances tonight — the ones from Jordan McCullough, Rae Boyd and Keyla Richardson. And then there was everyone else.