Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Top 10 will be singing hits since 2010 tonight.

And from the spoiler list I saw earlier today, we’ll be treated to some Lady Gaga, some Pink, even some One Direction.

I won’t spoil the suspense by telling you who’s singing who or who’s singing what.

I will say this is probably the most current theme Idol has ever attempted.

And it’ll be interesting to watch the results. The Idols showed marked improvement last week. But in many cases, they were singing classics they’d performed for years.

Emkay Nobilette

1. M.K. Nobilette: Oh, my. M.K. is going to tackle Pink. She’s singing “Perfect.” And this could be an absolute train wreck. And she’s singing to a mirror. Gee, did Idol learn that by watching Michelle Chamuel? Sorry, but M.K. should not try to sing a Pink song. She just doesn’t have the vocal chops to pull it off. This is absolutely horrible. She’s fading in and out. It sounds like she’s skipping lyrics. Then she sorta coasts through a large portion of the song. Oh, my. That was just not good. Keith says she needs to loosen up a little more. How about singing well? Jennifer calls the beginning of the song pretty good, but says the flaw in the middle of the song threw her completely off. Harry says it wasn’t one of her strongest performances. That’s an understatement. It might have been the worst performance of the season. I’m grading it as such. Grade: F

Dexter Roberts

2. Dexter Roberts: The country guy has picked a big country hit, “Cruise.” Hey, Dexter, you still need to work on your diction. If I didn’t know the song, I wouldn’t have any idea what those first two lines were. As for the rest of the song: another so-so vocal and totally forgettable performance from Dexter. This is a party song. He should be bopping all over that stage. Instead, it’s like he’s out for a stroll in the park. Jennifer calls it really good. She’s suggesting that Dexter should have been a little more enthusiastic on stage, I think. Harry didn’t like the performance. He says if you’re going to do a song so popular, you have to do more with it. Keith calls it a good song choice and likes the fact that he changed it just a little at the beginning. Grade: C–

Jena Irene Asciutto

3. Jena Irene: She’s going to sing “Clarity” by Zedd. She isn’t at her keys, which is where she normally excels. And as the song opens, I’m wondering if her mic is on. I swear, it sounds like something is off with the sound on this song. That said, Jena turns in a decent performance. She tries on a couple of occasions to get the crowd riled up. Harry says he really enjoyed the performance. Keith calls it easily the best performance of the night. She not only moved around, he says, she looked comfortable doing it. Jennifer says she loved her singing that song. Jena gets glowing reviews. I hope they keep her out of the bottom three. Grade: B

Alex Preston

4. Alex Preston: Alex has decided to sing One Direction’s “Story of My Life.” He likes the song because it’s a change of pace from what he did last week. He’s a little worried about the song because One Direction is so popular and if he doesn’t do well, those millions of fans might show him their wrath. Wow, I was prepared not to like that. Instead, it was my favorite Alex performance of the season. By a big, big margin. He changed up the song. He sounded good. I mean, I’d even volunteer to listen to that again. Keith loved the performance. Jennifer liked the way he commanded that stage. Jennifer says he “evokes greatness.” Harry says Alex hit the bulls-eye on the artistic target. In other words, he really liked it. Grade: B+

Malaya Watson

5. Malaya Watson: Interesting song choice. Malaya is going to sing “When I Was Your Man” by Bruno Mars. Poor Malaya, she says no one has sent her flowers or held her hand. Of course, she is only 16. Instead of sitting behind a piano, Malaya is sitting beside one this week. She’s going OK on the first part of the song. Let’s see if she can control her emotions. An inability to do so got her into all sorts of problems last week. Hey, Malaya just delivered her best performance to date. She showed nice range. She hit some really nice notes. Best of all, she maintained control of the performance. Not as good as the last two performances, but very good compared to her previous efforts. Jennifer says she didn’t change up the song, but it didn’t matter. Harry liked the conviction she showed. Keith also notes she showed more control. Grade: C+

Caleb Johnson

6. Caleb Johnson: Caleb has this Idol thing figured out. He’s doing another song by a female — Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory.” It’s a rock song. It’s a theatrical song. Because he’s a guy, he’s sure to be different than the original. No way the background music is going to drown out Caleb. But this vocal is starting just a little slow for me. Is he singing this in the right key? OK, didn’t love the vocal overall. I loved the ending. But for much of the song, I was waiting for it to kick into high gear, and it didn’t. Harry liked the fact that he took a pop song and made it rock. Keith felt like the song was lumbering along, and that his voice was too big for the song. Well said, Keith. Jennifer said the performance lacked feeling and as though Caleb was just showing off vocally. Grade: B–

Curtis (C.J.) Harris

7. C.J. Harris: He’s going to tackle the new Hunter Hayes song — “Invisible.” Not sure I expected C.J. to cover Hunter. He’s sitting on a stool playing guitar. Again, C.J. has a tendency to mutter his lyrics so that if you don’t know the song, you’re not sure what he’s singing about. The bigger problem is that he seems to be fighting the song. Not to mention straying off pitch in a number of spots. Oh, my, this is not good. Wow, that was kinda a mess. Keith calls the performance really shaky in terms of staying in tune. Jennifer calls him Idol’s quiet killer. Well, he killed that song. That’s for sure. Harry says C.J. was constantly singing sharp and must get the pitch under control. Grade: D

Jess Meuse

8. Jess Meuse: She is going to sing “Pumped Up Kicks.” This is a bit more upbeat than what she’s done since the finals started. She’s stripped it down to make it an acoustic song. Hey, a really nice vocal from Jess. The song took a few seconds to get going, but once she hit the chorus she hit her stride. She’s got a really distinctive tone. And I don’t think it’s a stretch to say she’s one of the best singers on the show. Jennifer liked the performance. Harry wants her to show emotion on a different level. Keith really liked the way she changed the lyrics. Wow, the judges get in a prolonged debate over whether Jess did a good job of interpreting the lyrics. Grade: B

Majesty York

9. Majesty Rose: She says being in the bottom three last week was scary, sad and humbling. Tonight, she’s singing “Wake Me Up.” This is much, much more in her wheelhouse. Unfortunately, I really sense a bad case of nerves early in her performance. Come on, Majesty, shake it off. Let your voice soar. Nope, it ain’t happening. Shame. I really thought she might pull off a moment with this song. Instead, she’s just sorta foundering on stage. She injects a little more vocal firepower into the end of the song, but it’s a case of too little too late. That was just OK. Harry really liked the performance. Keith, however, didn’t like what she did with the song. He didn’t care for the arrangement of the song. Jennifer sensed fear in Majesty. Majesty’s response: Of course it did. Jennifer’s response: But you can’t let it. Excellent coaching, Jennifer. Grade: C

Sam Woolf

10. Sam Woolf: He calls last week a “wakeup call” because he landed in the bottom three. He’s going to sing “We Are Young” by FUN tonight. This from a guy who’s had trouble cutting loose on stage. Interesting. Sam starts off strong, but I’m not sure he’s quite as strong a singer as I thought he was when this competition began. He sounds great when the tempo is slowed down. During the chorus, he seemed to be straining just a bit. Keith liked it. Jennifer liked it. Harry still thinks he needs to deliver more in terms of performance. Wow, the critiques were really rushed for Sam, and then the contestants start walking in front of the camera. Very amateurish. Anyway, back to Sam. Grade: B–