Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Will Breman reacts to advancing on The Voice while Marybeth Byrd and Katie Kadan look on. (NBC Photo)

Two contestants head home on The Voice tonight.

And Shane Q. better dust off his new save-me song.

Shane needed an instant save to survive the Top 11 eliminations. All signs point to him needing another tonight to advance to next week’s semifinals.

When voting ended this morning, only one cover song from Monday’s show failed to crack the Top 200 on iTunes — Shane’s version of “Caribbean Queen.”

That’s a sure sign that he’s likely to wind up in the bottom three when Voice host Carson Daly announces results tonight.

Who else is in danger?

Well, Joana Martinez was the next lowest performer on iTunes, finishing at #181 on the overall singles chart, a whopping 139 spots behind Marybeth Byrd, who ranked eighth in those rankings.

But in my mind, the second act that deserves to head home tonight is the youthful duo Hello Sunday.

The 14-year-olds have now performed live four times. Only one of those performances was a semifinals-worthy effort. Last night’s surely was not.

Now look, the teens have come a long way since only Kelly Clarkson turned for them in the blind auditions. But they were also probably at least a year — and many, many performances — away from being truly prepared to go up against some of the singers on The Voice cast.

Tonight, we’ll also be treated to a performance by Meghan Trainor and Mike Sabath and a holiday number by Kelly Clarkson and John Legend.

As I wrote in an earlier blog, I find that hugely disrespectful to past contestants from the show who have ample excellent music to fill any guest spots on The Voice.

Kelly can sing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” with John on her own show. As I noted last night, two past winners — Brynn Cartelli and Maelyn Jarmon — just released holiday singles.

Or The Voice could invite Dia Frampton and her sister Meg back to perform one of their new Meg & Dia holiday songs. That would be a nice full-circle moment.

Won’t happen though. There are apparently too many celebrity coaches and superstars to promote for The Voice to make time for past contestants.

Oh, and don’t forget tonight’s results show begins at 9 p.m., an hour later than normal.

See also ..
iTunes rankings for the Top 10
Song by song grades for the Top 10

Advancing to the Top 8 on The Voice are …

* Will Breman (Team Legend) — Well deserved after last night’s show-closing performance
* Rose Short (Team Gwen) — Way to go, voters. The artists who delivered my favorite two performances last night have advanced
* Ricky Duran (Team Blake) — His performance last night was perhaps his best yet.
* Katie Kadan (Team Legend) — She’s been first or second on iTunes every week, so that should come as no shock
* Jake Hoot (Team Kelly) — Again, no surprise to see him advance. No only did he lead everyone on iTunes, he topped the country singles chart.
* Hello Sunday (Team Kelly) — While, they’re in the semifinals. Sorry, but that means someone more deserving is going home tonight.
* Kat Hammock (Team Blake) — You have to know she was getting nervous. But she’s better than last night’s performance.

That leaves a bottom three of Joana Martinez, Marybeth Byrd and Shane Q. Based on what we’ve seen to date, Marybeth deserves the save.

After the save performances, fans seem to agree. Results show Marybeth with 49 percent of the vote, Joana with 26 and Shane Q with 24.

And the singer receiving the instant save is: Marybeth.

That means she advances to next week’s Top 8. That means Joana and Shane head home.