Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Top 12 on The Voice includes: front row, from left: Paxton Ingram, Alisan Porter, Mary Sarah, Shalyah Fearing, Owen Danoff; back row, from left: Bryan Bautista, Nick Hagelin, Laith Al-Saaid, Emily Keener, Daniel Passino, Hannah Huston, Adam Wakefield. (NBC Photo)

If you like suspense in your singing shows, The Voice has had very little to offer recently.

Sawyer Fredericks ran away with the title in Season 8. The show’s ridiculously excessive pimping of cover singer Jordan Smith spoiled any drama in Season 9.

But there are promising signs that Season 10 could be different.

Sure, Alisan Porter has to be considered the early favorite. Yet scan the names below and you’ll find a Top 12 full of artists whose pre-show music or show performances indicate that they could contend for a spot in this season’s finals.

Here’s how I’m ranking them heading into Monday night’s Top 12 show.

One singer will be sent home on Tuesday’s results show. And, yes, the instant save via Twitter is back.

Editor’s Note: Follow the links attached to each singer’s name and you’ll be taken to a bio blog complete with all of that artist’s performances from The Voice.

1. Alisan Porter: She’s topped iTunes in three of the four rounds so far, the lone exception being the knockout round when she was second to Hannah Huston. So, yep, I think we can safely classify her as the front-runner heading into the finals. And let’s forget the child actress bit, folks. Much more recently, she released superb original music.

2. Shalyah Fearing: Her live playoff performance of “Listen” was a tad overrated vocally. Truth be told, it got shouty in spots. But the passion she poured into that performance was not overrated. Remember young Koryn Hawthorne’s improbable run to the finals in Season 8? Well, Shalyah’s catching on to what works on The Voice even quicker.

3. Adam Wakefield: A reader promised me Adam would make the finals on The Voice. I wasn’t so certain. I liked his cover of “Bring it on Home to Me” more than last week’s “Seven Spanish Angels.” probably partly because I’m such a fan of the Willie Nelson version of the latter song. But the next morning, there Adam was, leading the way for Team Blake on iTunes.

4. Laith Al-Saaid: He delivered my absolute favorite live playoff performance (“With a Little Help from My Friends”). A week before, he tried to flex his versatility by covering the pop tune “In Your Eyes.” My advice to Laith: Forget versatility. Many a Voice contestant has been bitten by the versatility bug, only to be bitten back.

5. Mary Sarah: She wasn’t a star on iTunes last week. But she’s adorable as could be, a fireball on stage and she’s the runaway leader on The Voice in terms of her social media following. Coach Blake Shelton and Mary Sarah might be wise to push her song selections forward a couple of decades.

6. Nick Hagelin: To me, the coach comeback is a bit too gimmicky on a show that already has plenty of gimmicks. But it’s made for a guy like Nick, who has a great back-story and great vocal range, but somehow got eliminated in the knockouts. I can easily see the Team Adam cast-off making a run at the finals alongside Alisan, his new teammate.

7. Owen Danoff: In terms of contestants most likely to release post-show music I’ll want to download, I’d rank Owen in the top four. But he needed a coach’s save to make it to the finals. This week’s “Hero” was a fine vocal on Owen’s part; the song choice was a little too sleepy when you know Alisan and Shayla will be wailing away to win over voters.

8. Hannah Huston: Look at that, the pre-school teacher who never performed for a crowd larger than 60 people before The Voice has advanced all the way to the finals. And she did it on fan voting. She also remains the only contestant to best Alisan on iTunes. She did it in the knockout round with her cover of “House of the Rising Sun.”

9. Bryan Bautista: Christina is trying her best to cast Bryan in the role of the Season 10 lady killer. But where he needs to kill it is on iTunes. He’s clearly catching on. “Pillowtalk” cracked the Top 40 on the singles chart; his previous week’s perhaps better cover of “Sorry” failed to make the Top 200. Watch out above.

10. Emily Keener: You know what I wrote about Owen above? Well, I’d say exactly the same about Emily. She faces a bit bigger obstacle. Her pre-show music is magical, but Voice’s viewers haven’t historically embraced female singer-songwriter types. Madi Davis did better than most in Season 9, falling just short of the finals.

11. Daniel Passino: Two weeks ago, this classically trained pop singer was back home, eliminated from The Voice. Along comes a coach’s comeback invite and Daniel winds up with the best performing song on iTunes of anyone from Team Pharrell. That said, he’ll likely need song choices more surprising than the oft-done “When I Was Your Man” to continue advancing.

12. Paxton Ingram: In selecting former dancer Paxton over seemingly more save-worthy team members Wednesday night, Blake said he’s believed in the young man’s talent since Day 1. That’s great. But the goal here is to win The Voice. And you’re not going to do it with a singer who can’t break the Top 350 on the iTunes singles chart.