Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Top 8 perform Geronimo on Monday’s episode of The Voice. (NBC Photo)

Limber up your fingers. Because in about 55 minutes, there’s going to be some frantic tweeting going on.

Four singers are going to be in desperate search of the last instant save of Season 7 tonight as The Voice narrows its talented field of eight singers down to an elite group of five.

Based on iTunes results, you have to figure Matt McAndrew, Damien and Taylor John Williams are finals bound.

Based on those same results, you have to figure Luke Wade, Ryan Sill and York’s DaNica Shirey are going to need that save to advance.

The real suspense tonight is about who will join them in the bottom four. Could it be country music veteran Craig Wayne Boyd, who I, quite frankly, expected to waltz into the finals.

He hit a “Take It Easy” bump in the road last night. The song was only the fifth best on iTunes. And if voting follows the iTunes results, he’ll need his fans help to stay alive.

Oh, by the way, you don’t have to be all that precise when you’re tweeting out your saves. At least not as long as you use one of the four acceptable mistakes when sending that tweet.

What am I talking about, you might be wondering.

Well, in addition to the proper form of a save tweet — say, VoiceSaveDaNica — each singer has apparently identified four mistaken forms of their names that can be used and the tweet still counts.

For DaNica, the mistakes inculde VoiceSaveDaNika, VoiceSaveDenika, VoiceSaveDonika and VoiceSaveDanika. Oh, the tweets aren’t case sensitive, either.

You can find all the acceptable alternatives on The Voice website. My favorite alternatives might be Luke Wade’s. They include VoiceSaveLike, VoiceSaveLake, VoiceSaveLuc and VoiceSaveLuck, which is what he might need after finishing dead last on iTunes.

To check out last night’s song by song grades, head here. To check out my predictions on how this will all play out, head here.

We’ll also be treated to a live version of Christina Grimmie’s new single tonight, and we’ll get to hear from RaeLynn, who will be playing a show in York later this month.

We start off tonight with a performance by Christina, last season’s third-place finisher, and the recipient of one of those instant saves. Hey, nice performance from Christina. She would have gotten my vote to win Season 6.

And we’re already going to get some results. Safe is …

* Matt McAndrew (Team Adam) — No surprise. He only wound up with the number two song on iTunes. And looks like the favorite.
* Damien (Team Adam) — And he took earned bonus points based on his iTunes finish. Glad fans recognize his talent. He was great last night.

And now a musical interlude featuring RaeLynn, singing her hit country single “God Made Girls.” Remember, she’ll be performing in York at Jingle Bell Jam later this month, opening for Dan & Shay. Tickets are just $15.

Time for more results … advancing is …

* Taylor John Williams (Team Gwen): “Royals” was a brilliant song choice, and he pulled it off well.
* Craig Wayne Boyd (Team Blake): I was really hoping he’d advance. He deserves it based on his performances this season.

That leaves DaNica Shirey, Luke Wade, Chris Jamison and Ryan Sill to perform for the instant save.

The save songs, with grades …

* DaNica Shirey: She’ll sing “I’d Rather Go Blind.” Earlier today, she said she had knots in her stomach, fearing this would happen. She’s showing no sign of nerves though. Of the four remaining artists, I truly believe she deserves the save. But I’m not at all certain she’ll get it. Nice glory note to close out a solid performance. Pharrell tells DaNica she has “a super bright future and I’m gonna be involved.” Grade: B

* Luke Wade: He’ll sing “Stand By Me” and calls it a thank you for his fans. Luke turns in another solid performance, though I would have liked to have seen a little more pizzazz from him with his Voice life on the line. Pharrell gives him high marks as well. Grade: B–

* Ryan Sill: He’ll sing “Heaven,” and hits a couple of bum notes early in the performance. He’s earned two straight instant saves, but I can’t imagine him pulling it off again tonight. This is the weakest vocal we’ve heard during this save-me round by a wide margin. Grade: C–

* Chris Jamison: The heartthrob — why am I not surprised he’s getting the pimp spot — will sing “Georgia on My Mind.” Folks, Luke and DaNica are both better singers and have done a better job over the course of this competition. Chris does get high marks for that note he hit at the end of the performance. Grade: B

And the instant save goes to …

Chris Jamison, of course.

Photo gallery coming soon.