Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Peyton Aldridge and Madison Paige advanced in spite of some trouble with their duet on American Idol. (ABC Photo)

The American Idol judges seemed thrilled with the show’s decision to scrap group night in favor of duet night for Season 18.

Indeed, I’ve always wondered about the wisdom of group night as a means of determining which singers advance and which don’t on the show.

In a group of four or five singers, it’s hard for an individual to stand out. Duets, clearly, offered a much better opportunity to do that.

But Idol still fell into the same old trap, letting drama trump talent in the show that aired Sunday night.

So instead of seeing extended clips of the best duets the Season 18 cast served up, we saw Peyton Aldridge run into trouble with partner Madison Paige because he went out to get chicken wings.

We saw Just Sam get so stressed, she needed a medic’s help. We saw indecision over song choice doom Zack Dobbins and Courtney Timmons.

And when there wasn’t enough drama, Idol seemed to invent some. For instance, when Katy Perry suggested that Jonny West and girlfriend Margie Mays shouldn’t have teamed up and barely made it through duet night.

That in spite of the fact that the couple delivered a fine rendition of “Like I’m Gonna Lose You,” one that worked all the better because of their obvious connection. And the support Margie showed Jonny as he struggled with nerves with flat-out touching.

What didn’t we see?

Well, I sure would have like to have heard more of that duet featuring Kimmy Gabriela — love her voice — and Elyjuh Rene.

And while the judges told us that the distinct sounds of Evan Kuriga and Dillon James sounded great together, we sure didn’t get to hear much of their duet.

We did get to see a couple of great duets. My favorites: The Louisiana duo of Faith Becnel and Jovin Webb taking on “It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World” with such gusto.

And that remarkably lovely rendition of “The Prayer” by Travis Finlay and Genavieve Linkowski.

I’ll embed both of those below.

And I’ll look forward to knowing that solo night will air Monday, and talent will once again — most likely — come to the forefront.

Which is good because Idol has assembled a very talented Season 18 cast.

See also …
Photo gallery with results from Sunday’s show