Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Well, current music brought out the best in some of the American Idol Top 10 Wednesday night.

For others, it spelled disaster. Or near disaster.

Alex Preston performs Wednesday night on American Idol. (FOX Photo)

The result was a mixed bag musically, and a couple of performances the judges were wildly split on.

Here’s the recap. For the live blog, with song by song grades, head here.

Best of the Night: Alex Preston’s performances have always been distinctive. They haven’t always been pleasing to the ears. Wednesday night, the guy from Mont Vernon, N.H., tackled Story of My Life.” He admitted it was a risk. What if all those One Direction fans didn’t like it? No worries. Alex turned in his best performance of the season. Said Keith: “It was like you merged American Authors with One D and you did your Alex thing with it and made it your own.” Well said.

Runners-up: Jena Irene also excelled, performing “Clarity” by Zedd, urging the fans to follow along and acting totally comfortable on stage, something not a whole lot of these Idols can say. Oh, and she sang pretty darn well, too, though I still think there were some sound problems with her mic.

M.K. Nobilette performs Wednesday night on American Idol. (FOX Photo)

Worst of the Night: Look, M.K. Nobilette looks miserable on the Idol stage. She does not look like she’s having a good time. She can’t even muster a smile at the end of the show. Viewers can’t be having a good time listening to her sing. So let’s end this relationship this week, shall we? Randy Jackson should not have let her tackle Pink. But M.K. gets all the blame for flubbing the lyrics and never recovering.

All that said, C.J. Harris was not much better singing “Invisible” by Hunter Hayes and squandering every bit of momentum he gained with a very well-received performance last week.

Please keep her: Harry Connick Jr. gave Jess Meuse a hard time about smiling while singing the lyrics to pumped up kicks. In one of my favorite lines of the night, Jess assured him: “Oh, I don’t endorse homicidal behavior activity at all.” Hey, Harry, I’d suggest praising Jess. You have 10 finalists. She is one of three who sing very well on a consistent basis. Translation: This show needs her.

Baffled by the judges: The judges, actually, had a very good night. They were still way too kind to M.K. She’s lucky Simon Cowell didn’t witness that performance. And they were a little over enthused about Sam Woolf’s show-closing number. It was an improvement over last week. It was not a superior vocal.

Judge’s line of the night: Jennifer to Majesty Rose: “Tonight I saw something in you I’ve never seen: fear. In the beginning, I felt like what happened last week (landing in the bottom three) really affected you.” Majesty: “Of course.” Jennifer: “But you can’t let it do that when you’re out on stage. That’s why we rehearse. That’s part of show business. There are always going to be people who tell you you didn’t do well. There’s going to be times you mess up. You cannot let it affect you … I never want to see that other girl ever again.” Fabulous coaching, Jennifer. Perhaps you should be mentoring instead of Randy.

What should happen Thursday: Dexter Roberts, C.J. Harris and M.K. Nobilette should be in the bottom three. M.K. should go home.

What will happen Thursday: C.J. Harris, Majesty Rose and M.K. Nobilette will land in the bottom three. If there’s any justice, M.K. will go home.