Idol Chatter & Voice Views

American Idol’s Season 16 finalists Maddie Poppe, Caleb Lee Hutchinson and Gabby Barrett. (ABC Photo)

Now they’re finalists on American Idol.

Maddie was 17 when she auditioned for Season 10 of The Voice with “Dog Days Are Over” by Florence and the Machine.

No coaches turned, so she didn’t make the show.

By that time, Caleb had already met the same fate when he auditioned for Season 9 at age 16 with Garth Brooks’ “The Dance.”

But he wasn’t about to let his failure to make The Voice derail his musical aspirations. The next year (2016), he released a five-track country EP.

“Every time you put yourself out there and get a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ or whatever it may be, I think it’s another opportunity to gain some experience and move on to whatever comes next,” the now 19-year-old told AtlantaAccess.com before his Idol audition aired.

Unlike on Idol, Maddie told her hometown newspaper, The Courier, that she didn’t get to chose her audition song on The Voice. “Dog Days Are Over” was assigned to her.

“I was a terrible singer at that song — it was not good,” she told the newspaper. “I’m not making excuses, I just wasn’t ready.”

Now 20, she admitted being despondent at the time, but now says “I’ve changed so much in three years that I’m glad it didn’t work out.”

Failing to turn a chair might have worked to both singers’ benefit when ABC revived American Idol.

It was clear producers weren’t interested in making the first season of Idol on ABC seem like a Voice rehash. Several past Vocie contestants auditioned — Johnny Rez, Elia Esperza, Taylor John Williams and Ricky Manning among them. Only Ricky got any significant screen time on Idol.

As for 18-year-old Gabby Barrett, she seems very much an Idol gal. As her Idol audition approached, she told her local ABC affiliate she had dreamed about being on the show since watching Carrie Underwood win Season 4.

And even before her audition aired, she was touting the show on Facebook, writing: “Can’t tell you guys enough that if you want to try out for a singing show then American Idol is the 1!!!! Great judges but they actually make the show about the singers.”

Gabby, Maddie and Caleb will square off for the Season 16 American Idol title Sunday night. Results will be announced during a two-hour season finale Monday, May 21.