Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Early in each season, there’s a lot of talk on The Voice about how the show is all about vocal talent.

Well, that might be true in the early stages of the competition, especially the blind auditions.

Jake Worthington performs Monday night on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

But other factors come into play once fan voting begins, and I have a feeling that’s about to be demonstrated tonight.

Take Sisaundra Lewis, unquestionably one of the most talented singers in Season 6.

She’s in jeopardy on this triple elimination night and sure to go home if voting results mimic the iTunes results, which they’ve done pretty closely to date.

Then take young Jake Worthington, who can’t match Sisaundra in vocal firepower or stage presence.

Unless I’m fooled, he’s advancing to the Top 5 tonight. Again, that’s a certainly if the vote totals match today’s iTunes results.

The difference: Jake’s clearly made a connection with the audience at home. Sisaundra, who seemed like a polished pro the minute she walked on The Voice stage, has not.

Adam Levine was in trouble last night, not because of fan voting, but because of his new hair color. (NBC Photo)

Who else is in trouble tonight?

Well, again, it you’re basing it on iTunes success, Audra McLaughlin and Delvin Choice should be worried.

On a day when five artists cracked the Top 30 on iTunes singles chart, they failed to do so.

Audra, the Philly gal, was the only singer not to crack the Top 10 on an iTunes’ genre chart.

Wow, talk about an accomplishment. Eight singers from The Voice performed last night, and all but one made the Top 10 in their respective genre.

That’s quite a testament to the vocal talent on this show.

For a look at where all the artists landed on iTunes today, head here. For song by song grades from Monday’s show, head here.

For photo galleries from Monday’s show, head here for Team Blake (Jake, Audra and Sisaundra), here for Team Adam (Christina, Delvin and Kat), here for Team Usher (Josh) and here for Team Shakira (Kristen).

And we start off tonight with a group number, Audra McLaughlin, Jake Worthington, Kat Perkins and Kristen Merlin singing “Chainsaw” by The Band Perry. Audra sounded great on that. Rooting for the Philly gal to hang around another week, but I fear she won’t.

Results time. Advancing to the Top 5 …

* Josh Kaufman of Team Usher. Well, he did wind up at number two on iTunes.
* Kristen Merlin of Team Shakira: Last night’s performance wasn’t her best, but she just made the final five.
* Christina Grimmie of Team Adam: Hooray, Christina advances. Looks like she and Josh are the front-runners.
* Jake Worthington of Team Blake: See explanation above.

That means Kat Perkins, Delvin Choice, Sisaundra Lewis and Audra McLaughlin will have to sing for the save.

And here we go …

* Sisaundra Lewis: She’ll sing another old classic, “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman.” The vocal frills come out from the word go. I really think Sisaundra might be more impressive if she didn’t hit 100 mph vocally within 30 seconds and stay there for the entire song. That said, her vocal talent is undeniable. And she held that glory note forever. Grade: B+ (just in case there’s something better)

Audra McLaughlin: Interesting choice. Audra is going to take on “Done” by The Band Perry. Wow. Nice performance by Audra. Didn’t know she had that much attitude in her. And that last note was fantastic. Shakira loves the attitude Audra showed on that song. She just sang the crap out of that song. Blake, who just had Sisaundra sing, is calling on the country fans to save Audra. Grade: A–

Kat Perkins: She’ll tackle Heart again, signing “Barracuda.” And Kat is turning in another nice vocal, though the background music is so loud it’s muting it a bit. She didn’t change up that song, but she certainly delivered a fine vocal in her search for a second instant save. Usher says the performance made him want to hit his button five times. Grade: B+

Delvin Choice: He’ll sing “Young Girls,” by Bruno Mars. Nice to see Delvin sing something current, though I fear this is going to be the weakest of the four vocals. Wow, did that seem like a short song? There wasn’t enough time for it to build like it needed to. Shakira calls him an amazing vocalist who does nothing wrong on stage. Grade: B–

My vote went to Audra. The Philly gal was impressive on that final song.

It looks like Kat’s going to get the save. It looks like Sisaundra is the least supported of the bottom four.

And the instant save goes to: Kat Perkins. Again.

Well done, Kat. Three straight weeks at the top of the iTunes rock chart. And now she’ll go down as the first Voice artist to survive the week after being saved. By earning another save, no less. Amazing.