Idol Chatter & Voice Views

For the second straight week, I found myself disappointed that a couple of female singers didn’t advance on American Idol.

This week, the disappointment came in the form of Genavieve Linkowski and Demi Rae Moreno, both of whom performed well enough in the Top 40 round to advance.

But Sunday’s “Final Judgment” episode also served as a reminder of what a talented group of female singers Idol rounded up for Season 18.

Eight of the 11 Top 20 members revealed Sunday were women. And a ninth — either Lauren Mascitti or Grace Leer — will join that Top 20.

Voters will decide their fate. The other 19 members of the Top 20 are …

Guys (9): Dillon James, Franklin Boone, Arthur Gunn, Nick Merico, DeWayne Crocker, Louis Knight, Francisco Martin, Jovin Webb and Jonny West

Gals (10): Sophia Wackerman, Julia Gargano, Kimmy Gabriela, Makayla Phillips, Cyniah Elise, Lauren Spencer-Smith, Just Sam, Faith Becnel, Olivia Ximines and Aliana Jester

Now, here are my picks for the Top 5 performances from Sunday’s show. And this is tough because of the way Idol cuts up the performances to accommodate interviews, etc.

I’ve embedded the videos too. But in some cases, the musical interlude is even shorter than what aired on the show.

1. Sophia Wackerman, “Levels” by Nick Jonas: I loved the fact that Sophia went up tempo to show off her performance skills. She danced around the stage like a pro. And still managed to hit some incredible glory notes.

2. Kimmy Gabriela, “You Don’t Do It for Me Anymore” by Demi Lovato: Katy Perry gave Kimmy grief during the judgment, but I thought this was a pretty darn flawless vocal from a 17-year-old who lights up the Idol stage.

3. Lauren Mascitti, “Two More Bottles of Wine” by Emmylou Harris: There aren’t a lot of country singers left on Season 18, and I loved the fact that she embraced her country in that upbeat performance.

4. Julia Gargano, “Glitter in the Air” by Pink: I love the tone in Julia’s voice, and she showed it off to great effect on Top 40 night despite her admission that she wasn’t completely able to “wrangle” her nerves.

5. Olivia Ximines, “Proud Mary” by Tina Turner: Olivia doesn’t have the performance experience of many Idol hopefuls, but this was a remarkably self-assured performance complete with kicking over the mic stand as an exclamation point.