Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Tonight’s episode of The Voice should end with the coronation of Cassadee Pope.

Not because of what she did Monday night. Not even because she had an unprecedented third single land atop the iTunes chart this morning.

But because she’s been the most consistently superb singer among an excellent cast on The Voice for the past three or four weeks.

Each week, I live blog The Voice, grading each performance after it occurs. This afternoon, I went back and checked those grades.

Last night was the first time since the live shows began that I graded a performance by either Nicholas David or Terry McDermott higher than a performance by Cassadee.

I happened to like Nicholas’ energetic mash-up of “Great Balls of Fire”/”Fire” slightly better than Cassadee’s take on yet another country song (“Cry”), though she certainly delivered a flourish at the end.

But I’m not sure a single performance by Nicholas or Terry came close to what Cassadee accomplished when she sang “Over You” or “Stupid Boy.”

Simply put, she showed she can be a relevant, successful artist. Right now.

If Cassadee does wins tonight, we’ll be watching something relatively rare — a deserving female winning one of these televised singing competitions.

It certainly didn’t happen three years ago, when an obviously deserving Crystal Bowersox lost to Lee DeWyze on American Idol. And it didn’t happen earlier this year, when Juliet Simms lost to Jermaine Paul on this very same Voice.

Before Cassadee hopefully celebrates tonight, The Voice has much to celebrate. The show came into its own in Season 3.

Sure, I could still complain about mentors who refuse to judge critically.

And I think The Voice took on too many contestants (64) this fall. Talk about an embarrassment of riches.

But the decision to air The Voice in the fall turned into a ratings bonanza for NBC, and minor tweaks the show made paid off big dividends.

The battle rounds always struck me as the silliest part of The Voice. This season, the show spiced them up by adding the steal.

In the past, the finals zipped by too quickly. This year, The Voice switched to more of an Idol-like elimination process, giving viewers more time to grow fond of contestants and giving the singers a better launching pad for post-show success.

Last spring, Jermaine Paul performed seven times on his path to The Voice title. This fall, we got to watch Cassadee, Terry and Nicholas perform 12 times.

And we’ll get to hear more from them tonight.

* Terry McDermott is going to sing a Kiss song with Rudy Parrish, Brian Keith, Michaela Paige and Amanda Brown. Honestly, I think Amanda Brown should have been in this finale. They’ll sing “Rock and Roll All Night.” Hey, like this idea of forming small groups for finale performances. Not sure this is in Bryan’s wheelhouse, but everyone else sounds really good.

* Nicholas David sings “Cruisin'” with Smokey Robinson. Well, nice idea, but they sound terrible together. That, folks, did not work. Did Carson just call that the “coolest duet we’ve seen all season?” Hmm.

* The Killers perform “Here With Me.” Cassadee Pope is supposed to be part of this performance, but I’m beginning to wonder where she is. Oh, here she comes, when the song’s nearly over. Oh, well, at least she and The Killers sounded better together than Smokey and Nicholas.

* Now we have The Voice heart-throbs — Diego Val, Cody Belew, Dez Duron, Julio Castillo and MacKenzie Bourg — singing “Stacy’s Mom.” Cute, but that’s not really a good fit for a couple of those singers, including Julio and Diego.

* Hey, Kelly Clarkson shows up, and she’s going to be accompanied by Cassadee and Terry on her new single “Catch My Breath.” Interesting scene on our TVs right now. Kelly gave American Idol a sense of musical legitimacy. The same sort of musical legitimacy Cassadee might be able to give The Voice.

* Cassadee is bringing back three females — Melanie Martinez, De’borah and Liz Davis — to help her sing “It’s Time.” Good picks, Cassadee. De’Borah is another singer who left the show too soon. That was really good, one of my favorite performances of the night.

* Time for Terry’s duet, “Baby I Love Your Way,” with Peter Frampton. Hey, Peter Frampton still sounds very good. Well, that was pretty much a Peter Frampton showcase; Terry didn’t get to do much.

* Now some disco, “Best of My Love,” courtesy of Adriana Louise, Devyn DeLora, Sylvia Yacoub, Loren Allred and Jocelyn Rivera. Fun performance and the gals sound great.

* Hmm, Nicholas is going to sing a Boyz II Men song with Dez, Amanda and Trevin Hunte. They’ll perform “To the End of the Road.”

* Cassadee gets to sing with her idol, Avril Lavigne. If we needed more reasons why Cassadee should win this thing, we’re getting them on this show. Her duet is easily the best. Her group number with eliminated contestants was the best too. That was a fabulous duet of “I’m With You.” Both Cassadee and Avril sounded great.

And, after two hours, we learn who wins The Voice.

Finishing in third place: Nicholas David.

Finishing in second place: Terry McDermott

Winning The Voice: Cassadee Pope

It couldn’t have gone any other way. Three number one singles. Two in a row.

Night after night of proof that she can be a successful artist singing relevant music.

I just hope she returns soon with new music. And that her first video isn’t a Kia commercial.

Regardless, well done, Cassadee Pope.

And Voice voters. A deserving female singer finally got the title she deserved.

Plus, The Voice just got another reason to celebrate.

Because here’s betting Cassadee Pope becomes the show’s first real post-Voice success.