Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Voice, inadvertently, sent all sorts of wrong messages with its season finale Tuesday night.

Here’s a look at the lessons we learned, what The Voice should have learned and what aspiring singers considering a singing show need to know.

Suspense? What suspense? Once upon a time, The Voice awarded bonus points to all contestants cracking the Top 10 on iTunes. Then streaming became more popular than downloading. And The Voice adjusted by awarding a bonus only to the top-streaming artist.

The problem: That makes the outcome pretty darn obvious when the bonuses carry over to the finale vote total and the same singer wins the bonus week after week after week. Season 17’s outcome was so obvious, there should have been an investigation if Jake Hoot didn’t have confetti falling on his head at the end of Tuesday’s show. Surely, there’s a less predictable way of handling this.

That abrupt ending: This has been a pet peeve of mine for a long time with The Voice, where it’s clearly more important to give contestants and coaches one last chance to praise one another than to give fans watching at home even as much as a minute or two to savor their favorite’s victory.

Just watch the video of Tuesday’s victory announcement. Jake Hoot is announced as the winner at the 33-second mark. At the 44-second mark — that’s right, just 11 seconds later — the credits start to roll. There’s no time for a comment from the new champ. There’s certainly no time for a victory song. Another singing show — the one over on ABC — knows how to end a season finale. Carson and company: Please, please, watch and learn.

That dubious entertainment lineup: Including Jennifer Hudson’s version of “Memory,” Tuesday’s finale featured five performances that didn’t involve a member of the Season 17 cast. That included performances by Luke Combs and Dua Lipa, who have no connection to the show. That included performances by the Black Eyed Peas and Lady Antebellum, both of which have at least had a member serve as a Voice adviser.

Missing in action: Does The Voice even know that Season 8 finalist Koryn Hawthorne is nominated for a Grammy? Does The Voice even know that its most successful alumni (Melanie Martinez) released an album and a self-directed film this fall? Does The Voice know that past champs Alisan Porter, Sundance Head, Craig Wayne Boyd, Josh Kaufman and Chris Blue released major projects this year? What else do they have a common? The wonderful record deal they got for winning The Voice wound up being worth squat.

That The Voice would rather promote new music from a former adviser than a former contestant says something. That The Voice would rather promote new music from someone with no connection to the show than a former contestant screams volumes.

There, but no fanfare: The Voice did a great job of promoting the “guest stars” participating in the finale. It issued a 17-paragraph press release, devoted almost exclusively to those guest stars. It fed Billboard an exclusive on the stars participating in duets with the Top 4.

The Voice also invited back every member of the Top 12, plus Gracee Shriver and Alex Guthrie. But did the show tell anyone they’d be performing? Oh, the singers promoted their return on social media, but did the show? Oh, well, Gracee, Alex, etc., might as well get used to it. When they release original music, they can’t count on The Voice for as much as a single tweet to let fans know about that either.

What, no cars? Everyone who has watched The Voice for any length of time knows the Top 4 usually wind up with brand new automobiles. But, apparently, that’s dependent on the show having a car-maker as a major sponsor.

Which means no major car sponsor, no vehicles for the Top 4. Are you kidding me? So The Voice can afford to pay coaches millions of dollars per season. But they can’t afford four brand new cars for the contestants who help draw viewers to their show? Unbelievable.

Which show is this? So, let’s see. We had former Idol champ Kelly Clarkson in a coach’s chair. We had former Idol runner-up Adam Lambert singing a duet with Katie Kadan. We had former Idol standout Jennifer Hudson singing “Memory” from Cats. Okay, I know Jennifer was a Voice coach, but Idol is the show that launched her.

Meanwhile, we had a grand total of one Voice alumni — the immediate past winner Maelyn Jarmon, performing Tuesday night. Hmm. That’s three Idol alum compared to one Voice alum on The voice season finale. Does anyone else see the irony?

Well, aspiring artists, you know what? American Idol hosts a singing show every year, too. And has a better track record for supporting former artists. And for making a season finale all about the season supposedly being celebrated. They might even let you sing your own songs. Heck, they might even invite you back to sing one after your season ends.