Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Top 7 — Jay Copeland, Noah Thompson, Leah Marlene, HunterGirl, Christian Guardino, Fritz Hager and Nicolina Bozzo — with the American Idol judges after Disney night (ABC Photo)

Each member of the American Idol Top 7 will perform twice tonight, giving the contestants a chance to show their versatility.

Each singers will perform a Mother’s Day dedication and perform a song that went viral on TikTok.

Idol Chatter will be doling out song-by-song grades during the show.

At the end of the night, two singers will go home, leaving American Idol Season 20 with a Top 5.

Uh-oh, two of the Top 7 — Fritz Hager and Noah Thompson — have tested positive for COVID. Noah will perform from his hotel room. We’ll see rehearsal video of Fritz.

TIKTOP ROUND

1. Leah Marlene, 20, Normal, Ill. “Electric Love” — Leah kicks off the night with an upbeat number for her viral song choice. She looks like a pro on stage. She sounds great. And she delivers a big ending. Of course, Leah delivers every time. Grade: A–

2. Jay Copeland, 23, Salisbury, Md., “I Have Nothing” by Whitney Houston — I don’t like this song choice. Viral songs from TikTok told me we might hear some fresh tunes. Instead, Jay serves up a song we’ve heard on singing shows forever. That said, the ending was really great. Grade: B–

3. Fritz Hager, 22, Tyler, Texas, “All My Friends” — This is an original song off Fritz’s EP. And because Fritz has COVID, we’ll be watching video of his rehearsal performance. Hey, this sounds like a hit song. Not sure that vocal was perfect, but I give Fritz bonus points for showing up on stage with a great original. Grade: A–

4. Christian Guardino, 21, Patchogue, N.Y., “Lonely” by Justin Bieber — Nice advice from will.i.am to go soft on the opening lines and draw the audience in. Of course, this being Christian, the song swelled at the end. And Idol announces that Christian will perform with Michael Bublé on the Season finale. Grade: B

5. HunterGirl, 23, Winchester, Tenn., “You Broke Me First” by Tate McRae — She’s putting a country spin on a pop song. There were sublime moments in that performance. But the big part of the song got pretty shouty and I didn’t love the rapid-lyric opening. Grade: C+

6. Noah Thompson, 19, Louisa, Ky., “Painted Blue” by Sunday Best — Noah is performing from his hotel room because he has COVID. And that might actually work to his advantage on an intimate song like this, because it’s just Noah and his acoustic guitar. Dang, that was one of my favorite performances from Noah yet. Very well done. Grade: A–

7. Nicolina Bozzo, 18, Toronto, “Alone” by Heart — And Nicolina gets to close out tonight’s first round. I like the way she went soft when you first expected the song to swell. Of course, this being Nicolina, it eventually swelled. Not all the booming notes were perfect, but Nicolina belongs in the Top 5. Grade: B+

MOTHER’S DAY DEDICATIONS

1. Jay Copeland, “A Song for Mama” by Boy II Men — Yikes, this opening was rough. First, the band drowned out Jay. Then the timing seemed off during that first verse. Jay pulled it together near the end, showing off his range once again. But that was his weakest performance in weeks. Grade: B–

2. Fritz Hager, “The Ocean” — Look at that, Fritz is performing a pair of originals tonight. This one isn’t quite as catchy as the first. But it’s a heartfelt song about his memories of times spent at his grandparents’ beach house. Fritz is going to wind up winning American Idol. He’s the guy on the show who just keeps gaining momentum. Grade: A–

3. Leah Marlene, “Sanctuary” from Nashville — Leah Marlene goes country and delivers one of the best female country performances we’ve heard all season. She might not win Season 20, but she’ll be the singer I’ll want to hear new music from when it ends. That was sublime. Grade: A

4. HunterGirl, “Like My Mother Does” by Lauren Alaina — Okay, that got a bit too bombastic, for a song where emotion should rule. And a bit off pitch. And HunterGirl isn’t having her best night vocally. Grade: B–

5. Noah Thompson, “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac — No. No. No. Someone should have told Noah to pick a different song. He’s done a nice job of flipping non-country songs. But this cover of “Landslide” was downright painful. Grade: D+

6. Nicolina Bozzo, “Lighten the Hallway” by Pentatonix — You know what I said about versatility early in this blog. That’s what Nicolina is showing tonight. Following up a fine cover of “Alone” with this wonderful vocal on an emotional ballad. Very well done. Grade: A–

7. Christian Guardino, “Dear God” — Christian gets to close the show for a second straight week? Huh, Idol? Then again, with live voting, I’m not sure the pimp spot is as important as it used to be. This is going to be another Christian performance that is vocally impressive, but that I’m not going to love. Grade: B+

Contestants who must advance tonight: Fritz Hager, Leah Marlene, Nicolina Bozzo.

Contestants who should advance: Christian Guardino, Noah Thompson.

Contestants who should go home: HunterGirl and Jay Copeland.

And here are the results. Advancing on American Idol …

* Noah Thompson
* Nicolina Bozzo
* HunterGirl
* Leah Marlene
* Fritz Hager

That means the elimination of Jay Copeland and Christian Guardino.