Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Adam Levine applauds a performance on The Voice Monday night. And, with three singers in the finals, he had plenty to applaud.

Last night, the show made a key format change — the addition of original songs — that made the performance finale much better.

Now I have another request. Just a tiny change.

Please announce the winner with a few minutes left in the show.

In recent seasons, the winner has been announced at the very end. The confetti falls. The credits roll. There’s no time for a real celebration.

And I always feel viewers are being cheated. Especially after watching two hours of performances leading up to that moment.

Tonight, let us see the winner — whoever that might be — savoring the moment. Let them sing a victory song. Give the winner’s fans a chance to celebrate the triumph, too.

Now, if you missed any of the coverage leading up to this moment, here are some links:

Song by song grades from last night

Videos of the new Voice singles from the Top 4

Where everyone landed on iTunes when voting ended

Predictions on what will (or should) happen tonight

Now, some trivia to mull while we await the grand announcement.

1. If Matt McAndrew or Chris Jamison wins tonight, the victor will become the youngest guy ever to prevail on the show. All of the previous winners have been past 30, including Josh Kaufman (38 when he auditioned), Jermaine Paul (33) and Javier Colon (also 33). Matt was 23 at the time of his blind audition; Chris was 20.

2. Craig Wayne Boyd would be the first twice-stolen contestant to win the show. He was stolen by Gwen Stefani after losing a battle round match to James David Carter; then stolen back by Blake Shelton after losing his knockout round to Anita Antoinette. Will Champlin, who finished third in Season 5, is the only other twice-stolen singer to make the finals.

3. Chris Jamison is also trying to become the first recipient of the instant save to win the show. He, of course, needed that save to advance from the Top 8 to the Top 5. The Voice introduced the instant save in Season 3.

4. An awful lot of stock is put into turning four chairs in the blind audition. The Voice has now had 24 finalists in seven seasons; eight turned two chairs of less during the blinds. Jermaine Paul turned just two chairs in Season 2, yet won. Nicholas David turned just one in Season 3, but made the finals. Craig Wayne Boyd turned just two this season.

5. Regardless of what happens this evening, every single winner will have started their Voice journey on Team Blake or Team Adam. Usher won with Josh Kaufman in Season 6, but Josh started on Team Adam before being stolen following a battle round loss to Delvin Choice.

And the music begins …

Right off the bat, there’s a Danice Shirey sighting as the Top 20 take on Pompeii. The opening left something to be desired, but it was a fun, upbeat way to start the night. Grade: C

Craig Wayne Boyd takes on “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” with DaNica Shirey, Sugar Joans and Taylor Brashears. He says DaNica became his shoulder when he was down during the run on the show and praises her vocal “perfection.” Craig is tearing up this song, and the three ladies make for sassy foils. That was superb.

Next up is Hozier with his hit “Take Me to Church,” which Matt covered so successfully earlier this season.

Chris is singing “Dedication to My Ex” with the help of Luke Wade, Ricky Manning, Ryan Sill and Taylor Phelan. This has the earmarks of another fun performance. Yep, a fun performance for sure. And good to see Taylor and Luke again. For a while, they looked like Season 7 front-runners.

Next: Matt McAndrew will sing with Fallout Boys on “Centuries.” Dang, listen to Matt hold that note. Fallout Boy singer Patrick Stump helped advise Team Adam earlier this season. And he’s willing to share the spotlight with Matt on this song from the band’s new album.

Time for some girl group action, featuring DaNica, Sugar, Bryana Salaz, Jean Kelley and Mia Pfirrman performing “Bang, Bang.” Hey, very fun performance. Sad to see Jean leave the competition as early as she did. She turned in some dynamite performances.

Time for some guest star power as Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars take the stage. Another fun performance, though I’m finding myself distracted by the hair rollers all over Bruno’s head.

Well, no slow stuff tonight. Craig Wayne Boyd takes the stage with Lynyrd Skynyrd for “Sweet Home Alabama.” Again, Craig Wayne sounds on the mark. Suggestion: Let him sing the entire song.

Meghan Trainor, who was advertised as an adviser at one point this year, now shows up on The Voice to sing her new single, “Lips Are Movin’.” Not bad for a followup to “All About that Bass,” huh?

Jennifer Hudson hits the stage to sing her Grammy-nominated “It’s Your World.” Not sure this is the best song to showcase Damien’s voice. Then again, this is all about Jennifer. OK, now they enter a duel of glory notes, which was pretty crazy, so perhaps I stand corrected.

And now we slow things down as Ed Sheeran performs “Thinking Out Loud.” Certainly, a nice way to slow things down. That should do it for the guest performers … how about we shift the attention back to the finalists.

Yep, Matt is going to perform with Taylor Phelan, Taylor John Williams, Sugar Joans and Mia Pfirrman. They’ll perform Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way.” This could be superb. Yep, absolutely one of my favorite performances of the night. Dang, Sugar should have made it farther on Season 7, too.

Damien now gets to do his bring-back performance. He’s bringing back Anita Antoinette, DaNica Shirey and Elujah Rene. He says DaNica “kills it every time she gets on stage.” They’ll sing “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” There was a minor vocal flub in there, but a solid performance. And DaNica certainly got to show off her powerful vocals.

Chris Jamison gets his star match now, singing with Jessie J. Wow, Jessie is brilliant. The song is called “Masterpiece.” Chris gets to show off his falsetto at the end of the song, and sounded very good on that portion of the song. Dang, that was a masterpiece of singing from Jessie J.

Now the coaches team up to perform “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

And it’s almost time to find out who won Season 7 … hey, nice job #TheVoice. An entertaining night of music.

In fourth place: Damien Lawson. Figures, though he deserved better based on last night.

In third place: Chris Jamison. Whew, I really thought he might win.

In second place: Matt McAndrew

The winner of Season 7: Craig Wayne Boyd.

Never underestimate the country fan base.

Congratulations to Craig Wayne Boyd.

Well deserved. He had the best night last night. And a couple of his and Blake’s recent song choices — “The Old Rugged Cross” and “In Pictures” — were genius.