Idol Chatter & Voice Views

By the end of tomorrow night’s results show, The Voice finalists will have been whittled in half to a Top 6.

And with so much talent remaining on the show, it’s not easy to pinpoint who might be in danger this week.

The Top 8 on The Voice, including Josh Kaufman, Jake Worthington, Sisaundra Lewis, Audra McLaughlin, Christina Grimmie, Kristen Merlin, Kat Perkins and Delvin Choice. (NBC Photo)

Kat Perkins of Team Adam faces the longest odds. She needed an instant-save to advance to this week’s show.

And no contestant has survived the week after a save since The Voice introduced the twist in Season 5.

So far, Team Adam and Team Blake are still intact. Meanwhile, Team Shakira and Team Usher have been cut to one singer each.

And Carson tells us that this week — three — get that — three — artists will go home.

Now, it’s time for this week’s song by song grades.

For photo galleries from Monday’s show, head here for Team Blake, here for Team Adam, here for Team Usher and here for Team Shakira.

1. Sisaundra Lewis (Team Blake): She got to close last week’s show, but her version of “Oh, Sherrie” got a lukewarm response — by Voice standards — on iTunes, landing seventh among the Top 10. The week before, she was sixth among the Top 12 with “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.” This week, with her mom in the audience for the first time, she’s going to tackle “River Deep Mountain High.” Blake calls it a potential show-stopper, a song she used to sing background on for Celine Dion. Of course, it’s also a song that’s been done to death on singing shows. Sisaundra is backed by a full band, but her voice rings through loud and clear. This woman is a flat-out incredible singer. But she needs to make a better connection with The Voice audience. Will this be the song to do it? My only mild complaint about that performance is that Sisaundra hit 10 on the volume level about 15 seconds in, leaving her nowhere higher to go. And Sisaundra is tearing up at the presence of her mother. Usher calls it an incredible job and calls Sisaundra “a diva.” Shakira says if she ever opened the School of Sisaundra Lewis, all four judges would enroll to learn how it’s done. Grade: A

Josh Kaufman (Team Usher): He earned bonus points two weeks ago by cracking the iTunes Top 10 with “Stay with Me.” Last week, he was fifth among the Top 10 on iTunes with “This is It.” This week, he’ll take on “I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt. With just one singer remaining, Usher says he thinks it’s the perfect song to allow Josh to open up to the audience. I’m not sure about the song choice, but I like it better than last week’s. This is a wonderfully emotional performance from Josh, but it’s also a bit sleepy. And performing second on these singing shows seems to be the kiss of elimination. Well, no sooner had I typed “sleepy,” than Josh kicked up the performance a notch. Really strong last 30 seconds from Josh. But I still think a better song choice would have served him better. Shakira compliments his artistic taste. Blake calls it a “perfect performance” with magic all over it. Usher, of course, says the performance was everything he hoped for. Grade: B+

Now, a musical interlude from Blake Shelton, singing “My Eyes.” Accompanied by former finalist Gwen Sebastian. Oh, my, these lyrics: “My eyes, are the only thing I don’t want to take off of you.” Oh, my.

Kat Perkins: As I noted in the opening, she’s trying to bounce back from a bottom three finish. Her cover of “Landslide” was actually the fourth most successful Voice cover on iTunes last week. On Top 12 week, she ranked number five on iTunes with “Magic Man.” And the odds just got longer with the news that three singers will go home tomorrow night. Kat wants a breakout moment. And she’s picked an odd song to do it with — the dance tune “Get Lucky.” But she says The Voice audience is going to get the Kat version of the song. Well, Kat gets high marks for originality. I complained in my ranking blog that she hadn’t done enough to change up songs. She sure changed this one into a rocker. Complete with fire. Complete with Kat stalking all over the place. My only complaint: I didn’t love Kat’s vocal on that song. But the crowd sure appreciates the energy she brought to the stage. Usher says he wishes he had long hair so he could fling it around in time with the performance. Shakira calls it great. Adam leaped out of his chair with enthusiasm over that performance. His reaction: “Bottom three my a–. Vote for this girl. … There’s nothing that wasn’t amazing about that.” Grade: B

Kristen Merlin (Team Shakira): The most pleasant surprise among the finalists. Her cover of “Let Her Go” was the second most successful on iTunes last week and cracked the Top 10 on the site’s country chart. She also had the second most successful song on iTunes on Top 12 week. She’s going to sing “I Drive Your Truck” by Lee Brice, a song she says she performs regularly. If Shakira wanted Kristen to sing delicately at the opening of this performance, she should have applied the same advice to the backing music. I lost the entire first verse to the musical clutter that’s backing Kristen. Not her fault, but it’s going to affect the way this performance comes across because you have to hear and follow the lyrics for the song to mean what it should. Fortunately for Kristen, the last minute of that performance was very, very good and very heartfelt. Wow, the crowd loved that performance as well. Blake calls it a great job and says Adam loved it so much he copied her hairstyle. Usher’s take: “Wherever you’re heading in that truck, you’re on the right direction.” Shakira loved it, of course. Shame the beginning didn’t cut through more clearly. Grade: B

Delvin Choice (Team Adam): His version of “Bright Lights was one of the highlights of last week’s show, but it ranked just eighth of the Top 10’s performances on iTunes. His song, “Unchained Melody,” also landed eighth on iTunes in Top 12 week. Oh, my, after last week’s brilliant song choice, he’s decided to take on “I Believe I Can Fly” by R. Kelly. Wow, that song choice alone is going to be a big obstacle to overcome on a night when three artists are in jeopardy. Delvin is breaking down during rehearsals, I suppose because the lyrics are hitting home. Oh, no. They’ve got Delvin floating on clouds on stage. Hope he isn’t weighted down by all the jewelry. He’ll fall right through those clouds. Delvin isn’t breaking down this time around, and walking out to touch hands with members of the audience actually might take away from the emotion he’s trying to convey. And here comes the chorus. There for a second, Delvin and the chorus seemed slightly out of sync. But Delvin bounces back with a really big finish, a great finish, as a matter of fact. Still didn’t like the song choice. Blake says that’s “as good as it gets.” Adam defends the song choice because it represents that belief Delvin has gained in his own ability. Hmm, we’ll see. Grade: B–

Audra McLaughlin (Team Blake): She performed first last week and still had the third most successful song on iTunes. Her cover of “You Lie” hit number five on the site’s country chart. The week before, “Angel of the Morning” was seventh among the songs performed by The Voice Top 12. She’s going to sing “Forgive” by Rebecca Lynn Howard. Blake thinks it’s a song that will push her as a vocalist. Well, the coaches told Audra in the opening that diction is important, and I had a heck of a hard time making out the lyrics on that first verse. Audra is singing with tons of conviction, and she’s showing off how much power she has in her voice, but I’m not familiar with that song, so understanding the lyrics would have been a help. As the song went on Audra got stronger. That said, that’s probably my least favorite performance of the night, along with Delvin’s. Blake says she’s unstoppable as a vocalist and predicts that it’s going to be a really good night for Audra. For some reason, we only got critiques from two coaches. Shakira loved it as well. Grade: B–

Jake Worthington (Team Blake): Two weeks in the finals, and he’s cracked the Top 10 on iTunes’ country charts both times, with “Anymore” and “Run.” The tunes ranked third and sixth, respectively, among Voice performances on iTunes. Jake is suffering from allergies. Blake wants to show off “the bada– side of Jake.” He has one? Well, he sounds excited to show off his redneck side singing “Hillbilly Deluxe” by Brooks and Dunn. Well, I would agree with Gwen Sebastian, who said this song was a good fit for Jake vocally. He sounded much better on this than he did last week. He rocked the stage about as hard as Jake is going to rock one, serving up a leg kick in the process. Hey, really fun performance that’s likely to earn Jake another week on the show. Shakira says he had her “air drumming,” which is a good thing. Adam calls Jake “cool, so much cooler than Blake.” In terms of country, he calls Jake “about as authentic as it gets.” Blake congratulates Jake on taking his performance to the next level with that number. Grade: B+

Christina Grimmie (Team Adam): She cracked the Top 10 on iTunes last week with “Hold On, We’re Going Home,” the most successful of last week’s performances. The week before, she ranked fourth among the Top 12 on iTunes with “Dark Horse.” Tonight, she takes on “How to Love” by Lil Wayne. And Christina was clearly broken up because her two best friends on the show — Bria Kelly and Tess Boyer — went home last week. But she also wants to top last week. This young lady has a really, really great voice. And not only when she’s belting. The crowd is going wild over that show-closing performance, and it’s not surprising. Christina poured heart and soul into that performance. Blake says she looks and sounds like a superstar. Usher calls it a “great performance.” Shakira calls it “something huge.” Adam’s take: “I don’t think anyone has heard Lil’ Wayne sound like that.” Grade: A