Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Laci Kaye Booth interacts with fans during her performance on American Idol Monday night. (ABC Photo)

Fans voted seven singers into the Top 10 on American Idol Monday night.

And, for the most part, those seven then took the stage and showed why they were worthy of the support they got.

Here are song by song grades for the lucky seven on Idol — Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon, Laine Hardy, Wade Cota, Alejandro Aranda, Walker Burrouhgs, Laci Kaye Booth and Madison VanDenburg.

Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon, “Almost Heaven,” an original — Wow, another absolutely great vocal from Jeremiah. And he did it on an excellent original song, which scores him major bonus points in my book. By the way, congrats to Idol for giving its contestants a chance to take a risk if they want and perform their own music. Grade: A

Laine Hardy, “Hurricane” by Band of Heathens — This might have been my favorite Laine Hardy performance so far in Season 17. Spot on vocally and Laine once again got a chance to show off his guitar skills. Laine looked completely at home on The Voice stage. Grade: A–

Wade Cota, “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd — This was a great song choice for Wade’s raspy vocals. In fact, I liked this performance much better than his Sunday cover of “Trouble.” And you would have thought he was singing for a save considering the passion he poured into the performance. Grade: A–

Laci Kaye Booth, “As Long as You Follow” by Fleetwood Mac — There are lots of Fleetwood Mac / Stevie Nicks’ songs I’d love to see Laci cover. This one isn’t at the top of my list. Laci showed off a neat lilt to her voice and a nice rasp in a couple of spots, but the relief of making the Top 10 on fan voting might have sapped some of the intensity from the performance. Grade: B

Madison VanDenburg, “You and I” by Lady Gaga — Madison was the first to be called to the stage Monday and there seemed to be lots of confusion on stage. Plus she was overwhelmed by making the Top 10 on fan voting. The result was more hiccups than you’ll normally find in a Madison vocal, but also a reminder of how powerful that voice of hers is. In another setting, I’m pretty sure she could add some grit and nail this song. Grade: B–

Alejandro Aranda, “Cholo Love,” an original — Alejandro and Uche took the stage last Monday night. One would advance; one would need to sing for a save. Based on the performances that followed, Uche should have been the safe contestant. This original didn’t work nearly as well as Jeremiah’s. Grade: C+

Walker Burroughs, “Lovebug” by the Jonas Brothers — A fun moment on Top 10 reveal night. But vocally and performance wise, Walker lost me when the song swelled. Until then, I thought this was one of his better performances. Grade: C