Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Talk about an exceptional year for post-Voice music.

In 2016, former contestants from The Voice released more than 80 albums or EPs and more than 125 stand-alone songs or tracks from albums that haven’t been released yet.

Oh, they also released more than 60 official music videos.

I’ve listened to all of that music, watched all of those videos and will be recapping it over the next three days.

I start off today with my picks for the best music videos of 2016 by former contestants from The Voice.

Tomorrow, I’ll introduce you to my favorite post-Voice songs of 2016. And, on Thursday, I’ll post a blog featuring my favorite albums.

Now, for those must-see videos. To check out all the rest, head here.

5. “Summer” by Cassadee Pope: The show’s Season 3 winner frolics around Clearwater Beach with her male co-star in a video that seems even more alluring now that I’m stuck in Pennsylvania’s winter weather. Of course, Cassadee knows something about that, having gotten stuck for hours on the Pa. Turnpike during last January’s blizzard. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Cassadee became the first former Voice contestant nominated for a Grammy last month. She’s nominated in the Best Country Duo/Group Performance category for her “Think of You” duet with Chris Young; that hit number one on the country singles chart in 2016.

4. “Elevator” by Emily Keener: You have to marvel over this young lady’s artistic vision. At age 17, she releases her first music video in mostly black and white with a vintage look. And it looks like it was filmed with a much bigger budget than I imagine it was. The song was the lead single from Emily’s fine “Breakfast” album, which came out in November. It’s her third full-length album. Did I mention she’s just turned 18?

3. “Somebody’s Angel” by Jacquie Lee: For her first single in nearly two years, the Season 5 runner-up chose this song she wrote while coping with the June murder of close friend Christina Grimmie. Jacquie shared her grief with a homeless woman she met. The woman assured Jacquie that Christina is “in a better place … She’s somebody’s angel now.” Jacquie Lee turned those words into a song and the video into a tribute to many of the cultural icons who became somebody’s angel in 2016. She closes with footage of her and Christina singing together. One of Jacquie’s paintings serves as the frame for the video.

2. “Deception” by Christina Grimmie: Speaking of Christina, how bittersweet was it to watch the four-part video series — “The Ballad of Jessica Blue” — released after her death? The videos follow Jessica’s journey toward finding her voice. Considering this fabulous vocal and the marvelous four songs that are featured in those videos, I’d say Christina found hers. Those songs made up her “Side A” EP. Oh, and did you hear? An unreleased Christina song called “Invisitble” will be out next month.

1. “Tag You’re It” / “Milk and Cookies” by Melanie Martinez: Does anyone besides me think it’s about time The Voice celebrated Melanie as the most successful original artist from the show? I mean, her “Cry Baby” album has been on the Billboard 200 for an astounding 71 weeks. This week, it was still number 76. And in 2016, she continued to fulfill her promise to film a music video for every song from “Cry Baby,” releasing five more. Remember, Melanie also directs and comes up with the concepts for her own music videos. This double feature has more than 24 million views on YouTube. The four music videos Melanie released this year have more than 162 million views.

Explicit lyric warning