Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Carter Rubin reacts to winning The Voice as Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton look on. (NBC Photo)

Carter Rubin, the 15-year-old from Long Island, N.Y., won The Voice Tuesday night.

In the process, Carter became the youngest male singer to win the show.

And he became the first Team Gwen Stefani member to triumph. Gwen was coaching her fifth Voice season this fall.

The closing moments of Tuesday’s show found Carter and Jim Ranger of Team Blake standing on stage with host Carson Daly.

On a show that’s become more about the coaches than the contestants, it was a producers’ dream as Carson announced “It’s Blake versus Gwen” while the coaches cackled in the background.

Carter wound up winning in spite of a subpar pair of performances Monday night, when Jim had closed the show with a rousing cover of “With a Little Help From My Friends.”

Ian Flanigan of Team Blake, the singer with the most distinctively pleasing voice among the finalists, finished third.

DeSz of Team Kelly, clearly the best vocalist among the finalists, finished fourth.

John Holiday of Team Legend finished fifth on the third season of The Voice Lite, as the show again cut multiple live shows from its old format and rushed from a Top 17 to a winner in the course of just three live shows.

And, in true Voice fashion, the show found time in a two-hour finale for performances by superstars with little connection to the show like Jason Derulo, Lauren Daigle and Pink.

But Carson announced Carter the winner just before the credits rolled, leaving little time for anyone to celebrate Carter’s victory and no time for a performance from the new Voice champ.

Carter did have a chance to duet with coach Gwen earlier in the show. They sang “You Make It Feel Like Christmas.”

Carter was dressed quite sharply for that performance. Gwen looked like a Christmas tree from the waist down and sported a green bikini top, because, hey, what else would a 51-year-old woman wear when singing with a just-turned 15-year-old.

Oh, my.

But this is The Voice in 2020, not the fine singing show many of us remember from just a couple of years back.

Here are more photos from Carter’s winning night.

See also …
Song by song grades from Monday … and who should have won

Carter Rubin and Gwen Stefani perform a duet during The Voice finale Tuesday night. (NBC Photo)

Carter Rubin reacts to winning The Voice while runner-up Jim Ranger looks on. (NBC Photo)

Carter Rubin with coach Gwen Stefani after Tuesday’s show. (NBC Photo)