Idol Chatter & Voice Views

In the end, I count two surprises on The Voice results show Thursday night.

And the big news locally: James Wolpert of Lancaster has made the final 12.

James Wolpert with Carson Daly during Monday’s episode of The Voice. (NBC Photo)

He didn’t even need a save to do it. Fans voted him into next week’s show.

That isn’t one of the two surprises. After all, James scored a major moment with his version of “A Case of You” Monday night.

Three nights later, the song is still number 23 among iTunes’ top 200 singles of all genres.

And it’s sitting at number seven on the pop chart.

The 22-year-old Lampeter-Strasburg grad entered this week looking for redemption after what he considered a so-so performance in the knockout round.

I’d say he got it. In a big way.

The surprises …

1. Faced with a decision to save Grey, Preston Pohl or Will Champlin, Adam Levine picked Will, not Preston. Sure, Preston stumbled this week. But he also had one of the most distinctive voices among the guys on the show. Will, meanwhile, needed saves to survive that battle and knockout rounds. On the other hand, he drew tough assignments both times (James and Matt Schuler).

2. Fans voted both Austin Jenckes and Cole Vosbury into the Top 12. Since they’re so similar in style, I figured that was unlikely. In the end, it meant Blake Shelton had a pretty easy decision: He had to save Ray Boudreaux, who has been consistently impressive to date. That meant bye-bye Shelbie Z. and a competition that’s without a country female after gals singing country won the past two seasons.

Who else survived? Well, the live blog is embedded below, but if you don’t feel like reading through the entire thing …

Team Adam: James Wolpert and Tessanne Chin (by fan vote) and Will Champlin (courtesy of Adam’s save).

Team Christina: Jacquie Lee and Matthew Schuler (by fan vote) and Josh Logan (courtesy of the save).

Team Cee Lo: Caroline Pennell and Jonny Gray (by fan vote) and Kat Robichaud (courtesy of the save).

Team Blake: Cole and Austin (by fan vote) and Ray (courtesy of the save.).

The live blog …

Usually I dread hour-long results shows.

But I’m figuring The Voice can keep us entertained tonight.

After all, they’re eliminating eight contestants, not just one.

They’ve got voting results to reveal from four teams.

And they’ve got four coaches who will each save one artist. That’s good for at least a few minutes of drama.

If I could save one artist from each team, I’d choose Jacquie Lee from Team Christina, Kat Robichaud from Team Cee Lo, Austin Jenckes from Team Blake and James Wolpert from Team Adam.

At 16, Jacquie Lee has been phenomenal through four rounds. Kat might be the best female rocker the show has seen. I really enjoy Austin’s pre-show music.

And how can I not root for James, who grew up less than a half-hour from here. Besides, that Monday night performance was pretty special.

Hopefully, none of them will need saving and will sail into the finals on fan voting.

Otherwise, I might get a tad nervous tonight.

For my predictions on who will advance from each team, head here.

I also graded the performances from earlier in the week. You can find the night one grades here and the night two grades here.

Team Blake

Team Blake kicks things off with a version of “Free Ride.” We get a little dance segment from Nic Hawk, and another chance to hear the big voices of Austin and Shelbie. Next up, we find out who advances from the team based on fan voting.

Top vote-getters from Team Blake: Austin Jenckes. Nice choice. Cole Vosbury. Interesting. Austin and Cole are very similar. That means Blake must chose between Shelbie, Ray and Nic. Blake decides to save Ray Boudreaux. Good call, Blake.

Team Cee Lo

Cee Lo has his team singing “Give a Little Bit.” Kat is trying her best to rock. Jonny mostly seems content to strum guitar and let the ladies sing. Not a particularly cohesive performance.

Top vote-getters from Team Cee Lo: Caroline Pennell. That was obvious. And Jonny Gray. Not surprised to see the male rocker survive. Now Cee Lo has to pretty much decide between Kat and Tamara. And Cee Lo saves Kat Robichaud. Wise decision.

Team Christina:

Christina has her team singing “Love Somebody” by Maroon 5. Wow, that was a rough opening. And it isn’t getting a whole lot better. Individually, these singers really are much better than this.

Top vote-getters from Team Christina: Jacquie Lee advances to top 12. Go, Jacquie Lee. Matthew Schuler. Dang, voters got it perfect. They slayed their performances Tuesday night. Toughest decision so far because Josh, Stephanie Anne and Olivia are very even. And Christina saves Josh Logan. Not a big surprise.

Team Adam

Adam will have his team sing “Safe and Sound.” Wow, they sound like they rehearsed this. But, in defense of the other teams, Adam’s singers are probably more similar than those on any of the other teams. But this is definitely the best of the group numbers tonight.

Top vote-getters from Team Adam: James Wolpert. Way to go Mr. Pa. And Tessanne advances by fan voting, too. Again, voters got it right based on Monday’s performances. That leaves Adam to decide between Grey, Preston and Will. And Adam saves Will Champlin. And he’s saved for the third time. Wow, surprised to see Preston gone.