Idol Chatter & Voice Views

 

This should be a suspense-filled results show on The Voice.

Today, five of the Top 11 finished in the Top 20 on iTunes.

If voting mirrors those results, you have to think Lauren Duski, Hunter Plake, Brennley Brown, Chris Blue and Jesse Larson will be advancing to the Top 10.

But all the other artists were grouped between number 36 (Lilli Passero) and number 70 (Aliyah Moulden) on iTunes. You have to figure any of them could wind up in tonight’s bottom two.

Meanwhile, there was something very strange going on with TSoul’s iTunes chart placement today.

When I checked at 8 a.m., he was number 108 on the overall singles chart, well behind everyone else. But, at the same time, he was ahead of Vanessa Ferguson on the R&B singles chart. Both, obviously, can’t be true.

When I checked back at noon — when voting ended — he had surged ahead of Vanessa on the overall singles chart. But he was behind her on the R&B chart and listed twice, once at number six and once at number nine. Again: Impossible.

I just hope it isn’t the type of iTunes snafu that will lead to the disqualification of all those download votes. You’ll recall that’s precisely what happened in the Season 6 finale, when Josh Kaufman took the crown, despite being outperformed on iTunes.

And it’s already time for results.

Advancing to the Top 10:

* Lauren Duski: Smart announcing her first. Great night for Lauren. Her song became the best charting of Season 12.
* Jesse Larson: That guy has to be thrilled with his showing on The Voice. From one-chair turn to the Top 10.

Time for a group performance, “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman” by Team Alicia. Nice. Stephanie, Vanessa and Alicia are all at their own pianos. Folks, this is easily the best group performance of Season 12 so far. Course, I don’t know how Chris Blue feels about singing that song.

Also bound for the Top 10:

* Chris Blue: Hmm, was he really the last artist to earn a spot on Season 12? Or was that creative editing? In a YouTube interview, Davina Leone made the same claim.
* Brennley Brown: The teen breaks into tears. Like the fact that she seems genuinely shocked by her success on the show.

Next up, a group performance of “Fix You” by Hunter, Brennley and Gwen. Okay, this week’s group performances are coming off much better than last week’s bum-note filled efforts. Maybe The Voice put more time into this week’s efforts.

Next to advance:

* Aliyah Moulden: With a fan base in Cali, I’m glad Aliyah doesn’t need to rely on an instant save yet. A West Coast singer has never won one. Surprise.
* Lilli Passero: Lilli did much better on iTunes than I expected with last night’s throwback tune.

Yes!!!!!

Alisan Porter is back to sing her new single, “Deep Water.” She says it’s a song about connections and finding your way with another person who is finding their way.

Sounds great, doesn’t she? I’ll be interested to she how this does on iTunes. Wasn’t charting before the show. Her EP, “I Come in Pieces” will be released this summer.

More results:

* Vanessa Ferguson (Team Alicia): Her performance last night was definitely Top 10 worthy.
* Hunter Plake (Team Gwen): No question about whether he was advancing.
* TSoul (Team Blake): Yikes, that means Stephanie Rice is in the bottom two. And she doesn’t deserve to be there.

Okay, folks, time to correct this injustice. Stephanie Rice was very good again last night. Mark Isaiah was just … cute. So at least so says Troy Ramey, last week’s Twitter save victim.

Time for save-me songs.

Stephanie Rice: She’ll sing “Issues.” Interesting song choice. But it shows her versatility. Here’s the thing, Stephanie is already an artist with style, identity and so much passion in her music. Mark is still learning to become an artist. Impressive performance in a pressure situation even if I wasn’t thrilled with the song choice. Grade: B–

Mark Isaiah: Well, he starts off with a much smarter song choice. And he was doing fine until he tried to go for that big note and missed very badly. And here he goes. He seems to lose control when the music soars. Otherwise, he’s doing a decent job. Grade: C

And the instant save goes to: Mark Isaiah.

Stephanie Rice is eliminated from The Voice.