Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Tyanna Jones performs on American Idol. (FOX Photo)

The bad news was that Sarina-Joi Crowe sang last and couldn’t entice the judges to use their instant save.

Hence, the 19-year-old from Columbia, Tenn., became the first casualty of the Season 14 finals.

As for the rest of the cast, it was another night of solid performances, though they failed to deliver as many highlight-reel worthy moments as they did on Wednesday.

For song by song grades, head here.

Here’s the rundown … on who should stay and who should go home.

Best of the Night: Harry Connick Jr. said if he was an Olympic judge, he would have given Tyanna Jones a 10 for her rendition of Janelle Monae’s “Tightrope.” I would have scored it a 9, but why quibble? The 16-year-old looked incredibly composed for her age and delivered one of the night’s best vocals.

Runner-up: Joey Cook seemed absolutely astonished to have been voted through on the past two shows. She controlled her emotions better on Thursday. More importantly, she put a fresh spin on Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy.” It’s nice to see Idol fans are open-minded enough to embrace Joey’s quirky artistry.

Also worthy of mention: Adanna Duru proved she was worthy of the judges’ save she received on Wednesday with a fun performance of Bruno Mars’ “Runaway Baby.” And Nick Fradiani showed marked improvement when he tackled Avicii’s “Wake Me Up.”

Please keep them: Jax and Qaasim Middleton stumbled. Jax tackled Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” and the judges were dead-on with their critique. Her performance mimicked the original too closely and she failed to deliver the originality we’ve come to expect from her. Qaasim decided to trade dance moves for a guitar while singing Paul McCartney’s “Jet.” Unfortunately, that highlighted a subpar vocal. But Idol needs both of these singers to hang around. They’re just too good to go home this early in the competition.

Worst of the night: Daniel Seavey deserved to go home Thursday night. He’ll deserve to go home again next Thursday night after a performance of Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” that shouldn’t have left too many people smiling. Unless they’re bewitched by Daniel’s cuteness. He does smile a lot.