Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Voice Season 12 Top 4 includes Aliyah Moulden, Chris Blue, Lauren Duski and Jesse Larson. (NBC Photo)

No Brennley Brown in the Season 12 finale of The Voice?

Nope, though at one point one of the season’s youngest contestants looked like she might be the singer to beat.

No Hunter Plake in the Season 12 finale?

Nope, though at one point he led everyone on The Voice on iTunes for three straight rounds.

Instead we have a four-singer finale in which Lauren Duski and Chris Blue are the favorites with Aliyah Moulden and Jesse Larson playing the underdog roles.

They’ll sing for our votes in a two-hour performance finale Monday night. We’ll get the results during a two-hour season finale Tuesday with a special start time of 9 p.m.

Here’s how I’m ranking The Voice final four.

1. Lauren Duski (Team Blake): You want the winner of The Voice to be peaking at the right time, and Lauren is coming off her best performance yet, that superb chart-topping cover of “Ghost in This House.” That marked the third straight Top 10 performance on iTunes for Lauren, giving her more iTunes bonuses than any other finalist. Brennley’s elimination might be an added boost, because there will be no splitting of The Voice country vote. And Lauren gets another bonus in my book for her plan to sing a self-penned original Monday night. If she wins and if she doesn’t mind singing songs written by others (because the label will want it that way), she has a chance to make the type of splash with a post-show album that has eluded most Voice winners.

2. Chris Blue (Team Alicia): He’s blessed with the most powerful and versatile voice among the finalists and he’s coming off a double-bonus week on iTunes. Not bad for the last singer to earn a spot on Season 12 (at least according to The Voice’s official record.) But he hasn’t finished above Lauren on the charts since the blind auditions. And he has two bad habits that have muted my enjoyment of his performances. First, he over-embellishes everything he sings. Second, he won’t stand still and let that magnificent voice do the talking. His “24K Magic” performance (Top 10 night)
was more about dancing than singing. But the real tragedy was Top 11 night, when he had the pimp spot and should have blown us away with an emotional rendition of “When a Man Loves a Woman.” Instead, he danced all over the stage.

3. Jesse Larson (Team Adam): He’s not the first one-chair turn to make the finals; there were at least two before him (Jeffery Austin and Nicholas David). But if he wins, he would become the first one-chair turn to take The Voice title. Jesse will need a major upset to do that; he’s the only finalist yet to earn an iTunes bonus. He’s been coming on strong, finishing in the Top 20 on the charts three straight weeks. Again, I think he and Adam should dial up a fun, up-tempo performance. He was at his best covering “Human” two weeks ago. And a cover along those lines would help Jesse stand out since I’m guessing Lauren, Chris and Aliyah will try to pull heartstrings with their final solos. Oh, and don’t forget, he apparently won last week’s instant save by a pretty wide margin.

4. Aliyah Moulden (Team Blake): She’s a lovely young lady loaded with potential who has arrived on The Voice stage a couple of years too early. And, sorry, but I watched it again and that “I Can Only Imagine” performance from last week was a just okay vocal enhanced by pimp spot placement and top-rate production. Truth be told, Aliyah is occupying a spot in the finals that should have gone to Vanessa Ferguson, Stephanie Rice, Hunter or Brennley. Given her potential, I can picture a bright future for Aliyah in the world of entertainment. I can’t envision a Voice victory.