Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Voice fans have such a poor track record when it comes to supporting R&B female powerhouses, that I guess they decided to play rock star Monday night.

That worked better for some (see We McDonald) than others (see Sa’Rayah and Courtney Harrell) as the Season 11 Top 12 took the stage Monday night.

Here are the song by song grades for Monday’s performances.

Sundance Head (Team Blake), “My Church” by Maren Morris — Sundance flips another song from a female country singer and this was a whole lot more fun than his cover of Miley’s “The Climb.” Sundance poured plenty of soul and passion into his performance. He was forced to sing first, but I’ll be shocked if he isn’t voted through to next week. Grade: B+

Darby Walker (Team Miley), “Ruby Tuesday”by The Rolling Stones — I might have nightmares about giant flowers. I mean, there were just two many flowers assaulting the senses during that performance and is distracted from a passionate — though spotty — vocal from Darby. Grade: C–

Christian Cuevas (Team Alicia), “The Scientist” by Coldplay — This was far from Christian’s best moment on the show. It felt like he was shouting, rather than singing, the bigger notes and that ending missed the mark. Christian dedicated the performance to his girlfriend. Grade: C

Sa’Rayah (Team Alicia), “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi — Sa’Rayah, the stylish R&B diva, I’ll buy. Sa’Rayah belting out rock seemed like Sa’Rayah only “halfway there.” There was plenty bombast in that performane. Plenty of bum notes too. Grade: D+

Billy Gilman (Team Adam), “The Show Must Go On” by Queen — I don’t see Billy as the next Fredie Mercury, so I wasn’t loving this song choice. But the Season 11 front-runner had the luxury of following three not outstanding performances, was solid throughout and delivered especially well over the final 30 seconds of the song. Grade: B

Austin Allsup (Team Blake), “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man”by Aretha Franklin — So while The Voice R&B singers were playing rock star Austin decided to go in the opposite direction and sing an Aretha song. It mostly worked, including a wonderful opening that made me sorry when the other instrumentalists kick in and Austin’s big ending. Grade: B–

We McDonald (Team Alicia), “Take Me to Church” by Hozier — And this unexpected song choice turned out to be a great match of singer and song. We looked so much more confident than she did just a week ago. She also delivered a sublime opening and enough glory notes to show she can belt with anyone on the show. Grade: A–

Aaron Gibson (Team Miley), “Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings” by Father John Misty — By Voice standards, this was an obscure song choice, and it was apparently all Aaron’s own. I like Aaron’s raspy vocals, but I’m not sure that performance is going to be a crowd pleaser. Grade: C+

Courtney Harrell (Team Blake), “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith — Dear Blake: If Courtney survives Tuesday night, please go back and listen to her performance of “River Deep, Mountain High” and give her songs in that vein. Courtney tried her best with this overdone power ballad, but it really didn’t work, even with the black rocker gloves. Grade: C-–

Josh Gallagher (Team Adam), “Why” by Jason Aldean — As the show’s most traditional country singer, Josh probably has a couple of weeks to find his groove. He wasn’t in a groove on this performance, straying off tune on several occasions to my ears. Didn’t buy the knee drop, head clutch at the end either. Grade: C–

Ali Caldwell (Team Miley), “Did I Ever Love You” by Leonard Cohen — Welcome to the performance of the night, coming from a young woman who is rapidly becoming my Season 11 favorite. She delivered heartbreaking vocals one minute, unbelievable power the next. What didn’t Ali do during that performance? Grade: A+

Brendan Fletcher (Team Adam), “Whipping Post”by The Allman Brothers — Adam wanted to bring Brendan out of his shell with this song choice. Well, Brendan certainly delivered tons of intensity. Not to mention his trademark raspy vocals, though I’m not quite sure that merited being the night’s final performance. Grade: B