The Voice Finale Part 2: It Was Just Like A Movie

Curly Sue for the win! After 10 seasons of blind auditions, battles, knockouts, steals, saves, stupid saves and so many other twists and turns, Xtina is the first female coach to finally take home a victory. Alisan Porter walked away with this season's title on The Voice and I'm beyond thrilled for her and her coach. It was an exciting two hours for sure and here are some of the highlights.

Duets: Hannah was paired with CeeLo Green (I'll let his outfit speak for itself) to collaborate on "Crazy." I would have preferred to hear her version of "Forget You," but this was still pretty fun. Laith was able to take the stage with one of his idols, Joe Walsh, to sing "Rocky Mountain Way." These two could have played their guitars for the duration of the episode and I would not have cared one bit. Adam's duet partner was Alison Krauss and they teamed up for "Willin.'" The performance wasn't eventful but I always enjoy watching her play the violin and sing. And finally, Alisan took the stage with Jennifer Nettles (yay!!!) to completely slay "Unlove You." Gorgeous. Just gorgeous.

Bring Backs: Ah, the "bring backs." Such a nice way of saying "potential winners, go ahead and give the forgotten contestants one last chance in the spotlight." Alisan brought back Kata, Paxton, and Ryan to sing "Straight On" by Heart. Man Kata's voice was crazy on this song. Hannah brought back Bryan, Caity, and Brian to sing Adele's "When We Were Young," which was SO much better than I thought it would be. Laith chose to bring back Katie, Owen and Shalyah for a very soulful rendition of "Georgia On My Mind," and Adam teamed up with Nick, Justin and Mary Sarah to sing "Gimme Some Lovin." Nick seemed a little out of place with this group of country singers...but he still looks damn good.

Awesomeness: Little Big Town was in the house to perform their Pharrell produced song, "One of Those Days." He even got up on stage half way through the tune and awkwardly sang along. Sia took the stage as well to sing "Cheap Thrills," a song that will stay in my head for the rest of the week now. Love her. Blake performed "She's Got a Way With Words" sans Gwen Stefani...because this song is oddly enough not about Gwen Stefani. Rounding out the performances and stealing the show were Xtina and Ariana Grande with an "Into You" and "Dangerous Woman" combo.

Shrieks of joy... 

Results! The fourth place finisher was Laith, with Hannah coming in third. Adam and Alisan stood shaking while Carson stalled on the big announcement, and Xtina FLIPPED out when Alisan's name was finally read. Okay...I did too. As the confetti rained down, Alisan tearfully sang her original song "Down That Road," and just when the moment couldn't get any better - her husband and little ones joined her on stage.

And with that the season is over. I can honestly say I loved almost every bit of season 10 and I'm bummed that I won't have The Voice to look forward to next week. Hats off to Alisan though for an amazing ride and congrats to Xtina because she too deserved this win. With that in mind, two female coaches will join the show in a few short months to compete against Blake and Adam, and while I will miss Xtina (always do), I'm interested to see what Miley and Alicia Keys bring to the table...or chairs. Will they start a trend of female coach victories? Will Alicia carry on Pharrell's thoughtful and philosophical critiques? Will Miley come in like a wrecking ball? We'll find out when the show returns in the fall. Til then!

The Voice Finale Part 1: We're Half Way There

This is it! We've reached (the first) 2016 finale of The Voice. All four coaches still have a contestant vying for the title and the competition has really picked up these past few weeks...especially since we saw half of the biggest contenders get the ax last week. Tonight the Final Four will perform three times - a cover song, an original song, and a duet with their coaches. It's a jam packed two hours so let's get to it!

Team: Adam

Artist: Laith Al-Saadi 

Song: "White Room" by Cream

Man I wish the band was closer to Laith on stage tonight. Dude is rocking out and it would be awesome to see that same energy surrounding him with the band. Instead the cameras have to take some strange angles to try to remotely zoom in on anyone besides Laith...and they do so a lot. This is really my only complaint about the performance. Laith, his vocals, his attitude, and his guitar kicked off the finale with a bang!

Coaches Say: Blake tells Laith that he made it to the finale (yup) and mentions the guitar playing to singing ratio again. I agree, but clearly America appreciates musicianship. Xtina is sporting a black widow look tonight and she says it's always a pleasure to see Laith tear that guitar up. Pharrell loves Laith's vibe and Adam says people like Laith have been missing from this show. 

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Team: Xtina

Artist: Alisan Porter

Song: "Down That Road"

Alisan penned this tune hoping the lyrics will help any fans who may be having a tough time following their dreams. The performance is of course full of power vocals, and there's even a lantern carrying choir to compliment the inspirational lyrics. Compared to the many other would be coronation songs we've heard throughout these 10 seasons, "Down That Road" is the most bearable of the motivational tunes. 

Coaches Say: Adam says Alisan has "the voice" that deserves to win, and he stops short of saying other factors should also play into America's choice. Blake tells Alisan it's cool to see her connect with a song that she wrote and Xtina loved seeing her contestant record her own material. She says Alisan is the epitome of The Voice. 

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Team: Pharrell

Artist: Hannah Huston

Song: "Every Breath You Take" by The Police

What I looooove about Hannah's rendition of this song is how creepy it is. The message of the song itself is an obsessive, stalker-ish profession of love, but the original is so upbeat that the creepiness is hard to remember at times. Hannah's performance is haunting and raw, and I give her a standing ovation from my living room. I could not be more happy that she made it to the finale. 

Coaches Say: Adam thinks Hannah's version of the song is cool and calls her a badass. Blake tells Hannah her take on the song was risky but he believes she will see a reward from it. Pharrell thanks the band for the arrangement (yes indeed!) and says Hannah came out tonight with grace and humility and lit the stage up. 

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Team: Blake

Artist: Adam Wakefield

Song: "Lonesome, Broken, and Blue"

Adam wrote this song solo and it's a tearjerker. He does not have to do anything crazy with his vocals in order to sell this song - the lyrics sell themselves and the tune is beautifully written. The performance is subtle, genuine, and lovely. I can't wait to see what Adam does with his cover later on this evening. 

Coaches Say: Pharrell congratulates Adam on the song and loves that Adam has so many different palettes to pull from. Coach Adam rambles about the audience being bad clappers and wastes a lot of time, and Blake is blown away by his contestant. 

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Team: Adam

Artist: Laith Al-Saadi

Song: "Morning Light"

Laith calls himself the "brie cheese" of the competition and I love it. He wrote "Morning Light" and is so excited to sing it for everyone tonight. I'll be honest and say I'm not a huge fan of the song, but I do appreciate Laith and have really enjoyed watching his journey this season.  

Coaches Say: Xtina loved the bluesy vibe of the song and Pharrell compliments the chord changes throughout the performance. Adam says Laith is his favorite of the Final Four because he plays music for all of the right reasons. Says it has nothing to do with Laith being on his team. Eye roll. 

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Team: Blake

Artist: Adam Wakefield

Song: "When I Call Your Name" by Vince Gill

So...I'm glad I know the lyrics to this song because at times I feel like Adam is mumbling. Thank goodness for the second half of the song where the crazy Adam vocals emerge and remind us why he is a contender. I probably prefer Adam's original tune to this cover, but this guy definitely had a good night. 

Coaches Say: Xtina loves what Adam does and she is never disappointed when he takes the stage. Coach Adam compliments Adam's great taste in putting together each of his performances. Blake thinks Adam just blew the roof off the place. Calm down cowboy. 

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Team: Pharrell

Artist: Hannah Huston

Song: "I Call the Shots"

Hannah and Pharrell wrote this song together and it's hands down the most catchy, fun, and radio ready original song of the night. Hannah owns each "I call the woo!" and her sass knows no bounds. This woman has gone from looking very unsure of herself to commanding a stage and I'm thrilled for her. 

Coaches Say: Pharrell runs up on stage and gives Hannah a hug and it's a great moment. Adam loves watching Pharrell work and loves what they did with the song. Pharrell is beaming and tells Hannah it's been a pleasure to see her realize her talent this season. 

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Team: Xtina

Artist: Alisan Porter

Song: "Somewhere" from West Side Story

Alisan receives the honor of closing out the show this evening and she picked a doozy of a song to tackle. Aside from being a plot turning point in West Side Story, "Somewhere" has been covered by artists like The Supremes, Celine Dion, and Barbara Streisand. I know I've been a little over the top at times with my Alisan praise but with this performance...I just can't say enough so I'm just going to post the video. Feels. Chills. Goosies. Tears. 

Coaches Say: Xtina is on her feet well before the song ends. So am I. She's crying and thanks Alisan for trusting her. Alisan starts to cry as well and Xtina pleads with America to give this girl "a second chance."

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As for the duets, they were all pretty fantastic which is never the case on this show. Pharrell and Hannah took on his song, "Brand New" and sounded silky smooth together, while Adam and Laith were super gritty with a Beatles medley. Xtina and Alisan kept it mellow with Carole King's "You've Got a Friend," and I thoroughly enjoyed Blake and Adam's take on Hank Williams Jr's "The Conversation." Really all of the contestants had a great night. I can't say any of the performances were weak and I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a The Voice finale this much. Obviously I want Alisan to win. Obviously I think she deserves to win. But obviously...the other three contestants may make that tough for her. Can she become Xtina's first winner? Will Hannah pull off an upset? Will Adam's heartbreaking original song give him the boost he needs to win? Will Laith's guitar playing musicianship ultimately win over America? We'll find out when part 2 of the finale airs tomorrow. Til then! 

The Voice Semi-Finals Elimination: Give It All That I Have

Tonight's elimination format saw two artists sent home with no second chances, three artists automatically making it through to the finale, and a fight between the remaining three artists for the Stupid Twitter Save. The fact that a finale spot is ultimately determined by Tweeters and not the votes and iTunes downloads is beyond me. Anyway, this was a pretty intense hour. Here are the highlights.

Next season's newest coach Alicia Keys performed tonight, treating the audience to her new song "In Common." That's right - she and Miley Cyrus will be filling Xtina and Pharrell's chairs next season, which is interesting considering Gwen had been taking Xtina's spot pretty consistently. OneRepublic took the stage as well to perform "Wherever I Go," but the whole time I was just thinking about who would be sent home this evening.  

Results! The first person to breath a sigh of relief was Adam as he took a spot in the finale in the first 6 minutes of the show. He was joined by Alisan not too long after and I was sooo happy. The final person to automatically make it through to the finale was Hannah. Yes! My happiness became an immediate happy dance. At the 33 minute mark Carson announced the three contestants who would be singing for the Stupid Twitter Save. In no particular order, Mary Sarah, Bryan and Laith were called to prepare for their performances. We then said goodbye to Paxton and Shalyah and that's totally fine. 

Mary Sarah kicked things off with "Something in the Water" by (you guessed it) Carrie Underwood. I could barely hear her at times and she seemed very nervous and shaky. Not her best performance, which is a shame since it was most likely her last one. Bryan chose "Adorn" for his "save me" song, and he went straight for the sexy and sounded great. Looooved his falsetto. Laith rounded out the performances with "All Along the Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix and it was SO badass. Sheer badassery. This performance was badasstic. You get the picture. While I still had my fingers crossed for Bryan, Laith ended up winning the Stupid Twitter Save and landed a spot in next week's finale. Laith couldn't have sang/played for his life any better than he did tonight so congrats to him. 

For the first time in a while each coach will be represented in the finale. While I have long thought Alisan had it in the bag, I believe it's really anyone's game at this point. Adam has been a tough competitor all season and Hannah and Laith have both had a slow but consistent build leading up to now. Will Xtina finally get a victory? Will Pharrell's dark horse win it all? Will voters be confused by all the hair Adam and Laith have between them? As the season draws to a close I will say this is probably the best Final Four The Voice has had in a long time and I can't wait to see what they do next week. Til then!