Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The final four on The Voice take the stage Monday night with a spot in the Season 3 finals on the line.

All of the singers will likely take the stage twice for solo numbers.

We’re also being promised a pair of group numbers featuring Christmas songs — “Christmas, Baby, Please Come Home” featuring Michael Buble and “White Christmas” featuring Blake Shelton.

But the business of the moment is ranking the final four. So here goes:

1. Cassadee Pope (2): The former Hey Monday front woman entered the competition hoping to prove she could make it as a solo artist. Four straight performances landing in the top 10 on iTunes just might have done that. She’s a ready-for-prime-time performer with a knack for conveying the emotion of whatever she’s singing. She’s also the potential breakout star The Voice needs following a season in which the show — like Cassadee — has hit all the right notes. I’d love to see her tackle another ballad Monday night.

2. Nicholas David (5): If anyone’s likely to take a risk that produces the big “wow” moment Monday night, my guess is that it will be Nicholas. Especially since he’ll be teamed with Cee Lo Green. Nicholas’ vocals on soul classics have been flawless. And he might not be the king of showmanship, but you couldn’t help but smile when he got so into “Lean On Me” a couple weeks back that he couldn’t keep his right leg from bopping up and down while playing piano. Changing up “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” was a risk last week; fans responded by making it number five on iTunes.

3. Trevin Hunte (4): There’s no doubting the 18-year-old’s vocals. And what I liked about last week’s “I’m Telling You I’m Not Leaving” is that he didn’t wait until the last few seconds to unleash his massive talent. The downside: He’s the least versatile of the remaining contestants, the least experienced and the least ready to embark on a post-Voice career. Cee Lo’s strategy will be interesting to watch. Does he keep Trevin in his comfort zone with the big ballads we’ve seen him sing over and over, or does he risk changing it up despite lukewarm response to Trevin’s first two upbeat performances?

4. Terry McDermott (6): I’ve made no secret of the fact that I think this spot should have gone to Amanda Brown or Melanie Martinez, but it’s tough to root against the Scottish rocker. And, hey, classic rock fans are loving what he’s doing. His stripped down version of “I Want to Know What Love Is” landed at number two on iTunes last week, the best of any Voice performance from Top 6 night. If he performs twice tonight, he should strive to surprise us twice rather than following up a song like that with a straight cover of a classic rock song like “Stay with Me.” I’m sure Blake could find a country song or two that Terry could rock out to.

Check back Monday night at 8 p.m. for a live blog featuring song by song grades of all the performances.