The Voice Finale Part 2: Rhythm Nation

Alicia has herself a winner! Chris Blue emerged victorious in part 2 of The Voice season 12 finale and we're all lucky neither he, nor his coach needed to be hospitalized from all the emoooootions of the evening. Here are some of the highlights from the two hour extravaganza filled with surprise performers and, well, filler. 

Guest Stars

• Chris Stapleton was in the house to perform "Either Way" and I'm sure Jesse was chomping at the bit to storm the stage and turn the song into a duet. Hold back dude. Chris is amazeballs all on his own. 
• Former and future The Voice coach Miley Cyrus took us all to Malibu... well not really. But that song "Malibu" is super catchy and I love it. She also made a special dedication to Ariana Grande and the folks in Manchester. 
• Jennifer Hudson brought the house down with "Remember Me." Her voice is just phenomenal. J-Hud will soon be a coach on this show and I really look forward to seeing her mentor a team. 

Collaborations

• For whatever reason someone decided it was a good idea for Marky Mark to join Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi on stage for "Despacito," a song I thoroughly enjoyed until those few minutes of collaboration.
• Brennley was up next and she performed "Yours If You Want It" with Rascal Flatts and she killed it. Looked totally natural up there with those guys and I hope she's made some good connections there. 
• Jesse paired up with former The Voice coach CeeLo Green for a funky rendition of "Shining Star," and Adam was right in saying these guys were a good match. I really enjoyed this. 
• Lauren took on "Better Man" with Little Big Town and the performance was awesome. I love Little Big Town and adding Lauren to the mix worked great. Puhleeeease take her on tour with you!
• Another perfect pairing was the duet between Hunter and Gwen. Their rendition of "Don't Speak" gave me the chills and made me very sad that he was not in the final four tonight. 
• Alessia Cara and Aliyah collaborated on "Scars To Your Beautiful" and it was really nice to see Aliyah sing with another youngster. She had a great time and the performance was fun to watch.
• TSoul, Vanessa, and Gladys Knight(!) took the stage to perform "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" and "If I Was Your Woman." Gladys Knight is 72 years old and I am always blown away by her voice. Sure, TSoul and Vanessa held their own, but I would bow down to this woman if I was ever in the same room with her. 
• Chris and former The Voice coach Usher chose to sing "Everybody Hurts" tonight as their thoughts are with the victims of the Manchester bombing and their loved ones....and really anyone affected by the tragedy. I think we needed this tune tonight and their duet was moving and beautiful. There were definitely some tears shed on my sofa. Watch it here. 

Results! 

• Jesse finished 4th which I'm sure had Adam fuming. Young Aliyah came in 3rd, leaving Lauren and Chris standing nervously waiting for Carson to stop the dramatic stall and make the damn announcement. In the end Chris Blue was crowned the season 12 winner. The confetti fell, he cried, his family cried, and Alicia hugged Blake so hard that I worried for his safety. I didn't cry or explode with joy but I am certainly happy for this guy. Chris has been the front runner all season and dude never faltered in his performances. At the same time, I do hope Blake takes good care of his contestant and gets Lauren a jump start in the country music scene. I think she's earned it. Congrats to Alicia and Chris though - loved watching her dance with the trophy and watching him humbly try to get through performing his new single. The very long hug he and Lauren shared mid song was heartwarming. 

The Voice will take a hiatus for a few months and return in the fall with some different folks in the coaches' chairs during the 13th season. Miley Cyrus and Jennifer Hudson will rotate in for Alicia and Gwen while the exhausting bromance between Blake and Adam continues. No word yet on whether Alicia will return for season 14 but, as you may have heard, my beloved Kelly Clarkson will be one of the coaches rotating in...meaning I will be insufferable for the first half of 2018. I hope everyone has a fantastic summer and I will see you in September. Til then! 

The Voice Finale Part 1: This Is The Test

It's time! We've reached the Season 12 finale of The Voice and there are four eager contestants ready to win our votes. Gwen is chillin' in her chair tonight as her team was completely eliminated last week, while Adam, Blake and Alicia are hoping their artists will rise above the rest tonight. The final four will perform three times this evening - one original song, one cover song, and one duet with their coach. Who is most likely to win it all? Let's get to the performances and see how these hopefuls stack up against each other. 

Artist: Aliyah Moulden

Team: Blake

Song: Original -- "Never Be Lonely"  

The youngest contestant to make it to any finale is kicking off the show tonight with a brand new song. The high school cafeteria setting is cute, as are the teenagers break dancing, smiling and kinda, sorta singing background vocals. Aliyah is really enjoying herself and sounds really good in portions of the song, but she is struggling with her lower register. The tune is catchy and all but I don't think it was the best song to showcase all of Aliyah's strengths.  

Coaches Say:  Gwen thinks the "funnest thing" has been to watch Aliyah evolve before our eyes. She also likes that Aliyah was her age tonight and didn't come out all done up like an adult. Blake says the song was perfect for Aliyah and compares her performance to something out of Glee. Well, depending on the season, that part of the critique could be true. 

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Artist: Jesse Larson

Team: Adam

Song: "Takin' It to the Streets" by The Doobie Brothers

I mayyyy have been a little bitter last week when Jesse won the Stupid Twitter Save. I may still be bitter. For me the performance starts out okay. Jesse sounds good but man I wish he would work on his enunciation. I will say though that Jesse's guitar solo in this performance caught my attention and held it through the rest of the song. He finished strong with awesome vocals and he should feel pretty darn good going into his next performance. 

Coaches Say: Alicia calls the performance both fresh and dope. She says what he and Adam have been working on together is authentic and genuine. Adam thinks Jesse has never sounded better and says he genuinely believes Jesse should win the whole thing. Of course he does. 

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Artist: Lauren Duski

Team:  Blake

Song: "The Dance" by Garth Brooks

Wow. Blake hits the nail on the head in rehearsals when he tells Lauren she is about to take on "one of the most important and greatest country songs of all time." She thinks this song sums up her journey on The Voice in many ways and that certainly comes through in her performance. I'm a huge, massive, unwavering Garth Brooks fan. I've seen him in concert and cried during this song a couple of times. I set all of that aside the moment I hear Lauren sing "looking back..." What she does here is beautiful, classy, polished and wonderful. I'm not sure what will happen in tomorrow's results show but I really hope I hear this girl on my radio soon. 

Coaches Say: Adam says Lauren has a voice that is very familiar and comforting and that's why people love her so much. It's getting boring how great you are." Uh, Adam? Are these compliments? Because they kind of sound like "Yeah, you're okay but have I mentioned how unique and amazing my contestant is?" Eye roll. Blake is super excited for Lauren. He tells his contestant that she made him feel like he was hearing "The Dance" for the first time tonight. Now THAT'S a compliment. 

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Artist: Chris Blue 

Team: Alicia

Song: Original -- "Money On You" 

Chris' would be single suits him perfectly. This is a dance tune that allows him to show off his moves, sing his face off, and have an absolute blast on stage. I don't have much else to say about the performance. The crowd seemed to be enjoying the song as much as Chris was, and I imagine we'll be seeing a TON of downloads calculated on iTunes tomorrow.

Coaches Say: Alicia tells Chris that there is an electricity when he walks into the room. She says the stage was 1000% his and he is "ready."

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Artist: Jesse Larson

Team: Adam

Song: Original Song --"Woman" 

This tune was written by Chris Stapleton and Jesse is thrilled to be able to have his original song be by an artist he loves so much. My Stupid Twitter Save bitterness still lingers, but this is my favorite Jesse performance of the season. This is a perfect pairing of song and singer and Jesse's two solo performances this evening have been competitive for sure. 

Coaches Say: Adam is the only one to speak and I just can't. Next. 

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Artist: Aliyah Moulden

Team: Blake

Song: "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)" by Stevie Wonder

Welp, Blake does this young lady no favors here. I'm not sure why Blake thought this song choice would knock it out of the park - it's the opposite of all of the positive feedback she's been getting for finally being a teenager on this show. There are also raspy, growly things happening in her lower register in this song, and there's just a lot of repetitive choruses that don't really allow her to do anything new with the tune. However, that smile at the end warms my heart and I hope Aliyah is super proud of herself.  At 15 I was just trying and epically failing at learning the Tootsee Roll dance. 

Coaches Say: Blake thinks the balloons falling at the end of the performance was a sign that the confetti will rain down on Aliyah tomorrow night. 

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Artist: Lauren Duski

Team: Blake

Song: Original -- "Deja Vu"

WOW again. Lauren penned this tune herself and as you would imagine, it tugs at your heartstrings. She has been stellar in telling other people's stories all season, but watching her tell a story she wrote is just wonderful. Her vocals are gorgeous, her emotions are all out there for everyone to see, and this is the best of the night for me. Downloading now. 

Coaches Say: Blake doesn't even sit down for his critique. He congratulates Lauren in writing her first number 1 song. For her sake I certainly hope so. 

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Artist: Chris Blue 

Team: Alicia

Song: "Rhythm Nation" by Janet...Ms. Jackson if you're nasty

It's no surprise that Chris gets the pimp slot tonight. He's been touted as the one to beat for many weeks now. But THIS performance is unreal. Don't believe me, just watch (had to).

Coaches Say: Everyone stands but Adam and Alicia might be losing her mind right here on live TV. We're about out of time but says quickly that Chris came out tonight and showed America that he is everything. She wants everyone to be able to say "We started Chris Blue's career TONIGHT!" Woo! Chills. 

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As for the duets, Chris and Alicia took on Prince's "Diamonds and Pearls" which was ballsy a tall order. I wasn't loving Chris' lower register in this performance but Alicia and the choruses made me happy. Also ballsy taking on Prince tonight were Jesse and Adam, singing "Let's Go Crazy" and making me yearn for the next song. Seriously guys. Chris and Alicia could mostly get away with "Diamonds & Pearls," but this is one of the untouchable Prince tunes. Moving on. Aliyah and Blake went with "Dancing in the Streets" for some reason which was really odd...but they sure looked like they were having a great time. Blake and Lauren may have had the best duet of the night with their rendition of "There's a Tear In My Beer." Great song choice for them and they played off each other well. 

And with that, the contestants have done all they can do. There's no Stupid Twitter Save tomorrow. No 'singing for your life.' Each of the final four has to try to get some sleep tonight and hope they did all that they could do to trigger that confetti rain. Is Chris going to win easily? Did Lauren do enough to edge ahead of him tonight? Is there a hope in hell for the other two? Honestly, I'd be good with either Chris or Lauren winning this season, but I would really enjoy seeing Alicia walk away with a victory. Tomorrow night is the two hour results show with duets, bring backs, guest stars, and filler o'plenty. What surprises does The Voice still have in store in season 12? We'll find out during part two of the finale. Til then!

The Voice Semi-Finals Elimination: Til The Love Runs Out

Welp, two out of four ain't bad I guess. Tonight the final four were revealed during the semi-finals slaughter and four contestants were sent packing just shy of making the finale. I can't say I'm happy with how everything went down but here's what happened... 

Results! Carson announced the Top 3 and Chris, Lauren and...Aliyah (?) made their way to safety. The bottom 2 were then cut with no chance at that Damn Stupid Twitter Save and Vanessa and TSoul (!) were sent packing. This left me grumbling and Brennley, Hunter, and Jesse at the mercy of social media. 

Brennley sang for a spot in the finale first, choosing "Warrior" as her "save me" song. She had a bit of a rough start but bounced back quickly and really finished strong. Love her. Hunter was up next, singing "Love Runs Out," and though he enunciated only 70% of the time, in my mind his performance had still edged out Brennley's. Jesse rounded out the Damn Stupid Twitter Save performances with "Tennessee Whiskey" and it was just okay for me. He enunciated even less then Hunter and his performance last night was stronger. I sat and waited for Hunter to stroll to safety and my adorable little Brennley to go home...but to my unbelievable surprise....Jesse was the one to make it to the final four and I threw my hands in the air and turned off the TV. 

Sigh. Next week is the two part season finale, and Chris, Lauren, Aliyah and Jesse will fight for the title and the opportunity to maybe have a kinda sorta career in the music industry. Blake heads into the finale with two artists, Alicia and Adam with one each, and poor Gwen saw her team completely eliminated tonight. I mean really!?!? No Hunter OR Brennley? Meh. We'll see what happens next week when these four take the stage again....and when I'll be rooting for Chris, keeping my hopes up for Lauren, and losing my mind if either of the other two win. Til then!