Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Season 8 finale on The Voice pits experience versus youth, and it looks like youth might win out.

Sawyer Fredericks, just 15 when he auditioned and now 16, is the heavy favorite heading into tonight’s Top 4 showdown.

But let’s not forget that his Team Pharrell colleague, Koryn Hawthorne, is just 17 and probably forged the most impressive path to these finals, needing three saves along the way.

They’ll be going up against Team Blake’s Meghan Linsey, who came to the show looking for a second shot in the music business after making it big with the country duo Steel Magnolia. And against Team Adam’s Joshua Davis, who has been making music full time for 15 years back home in Michigan.

Once you get beyond the contestants, there’s this: Pharrell Williams is on the brink of becoming just the second coach not named Adam or Blake to have a singer win The Voice.

Blake has turned the trick four times, Adam twice and Usher once.

Follow those links above and you’ll find videos of all of each artist’s Voice performances to date.

One of the highlights tonight: Each of the final four will perform a new single.

1. Koryn Hawthorne, Team Pharrell: Koryn will tackle the oft-done “It’s a Man’s World.” Koryn is in fine voice. Here’s a sample of why she outlasted Kimberly Nichole and India Carney, the Team Christina powerhouses who looked more like favorites when Season 8 started. I was skeptical of the song choice when it started, because it’s been done so often. But Koryn managed to start that at a 10 on the intensity scale and take it higher by the time the song ended. Blake calls it her best performance yet. Pharrell has the crowd give her a standing ovation. Grade: A–

2. Meghan Linsey, Team Blake: She’s debuting her new song, “Change My Mind,” a song she wrote, which Blake says is a first for The Voice. Blake’s right: The chorus has a nice hook. Love the fact that they let Meghan record a song she wrote rather than handing her a piece of crap, as American Idol is prone to do. As a result, she just delivered a very strong, emotional performance. Meghan says it’s a song she wrote years ago with a pair of friends. Adam says he loved the song. Blake compliments her on the song’s message. Grade: B

3. Sawyer Fredericks and Pharrell Williams: They’ll perform “Summer Breeze.” Like the fact that Pharrell allows Sawyer to go with a song that’s a much better fit for the contestant than the coach. And that he allowed Sawyer to take the spotlight for the bulk of the number. And for the new wrinkles he added to it. All that said, there were a few bumps along the breeze. Grade: C+

4. Joshua Davis, Team Adam: Joshua is singing a song he wrote called “The Working Man’s Hymn,” having come from Michigan where he says there’s a lot of economic disparity. Adam likes that he’s doing something other than a love song. Joshua is battling a too-loud band to be heard as this opens, and that’s a situation that doesn’t change a lot over the course of the number. The great thing is that the new song has a really catchy chorus, one I found myself bobbing my head to by the third or fourth time he ran through the chorus. Blake calls him a great songwriter and says the song is stuck in his head. Adam calls it a “fantastic song.” Grade: B+

5. Sawyer Fredericks, Team Pharrell: He’ll perform a song written by his idol, Ray Lamontagne. It’s a love song called “Please” and Sawyer says it’s close to the type of music he writes. Will this be the first Sawyer song to hit number one on iTunes? That’s about the only thing he hasn’t done on this show, peaking at number two three times. That’s probably my least favorite of the three originals so far from a song standpoint. But Sawyer delivered a nice vocal and a really, really nice ending. Adam marvels over the fact that Ray Lamontagne would provide a song for Sawyer to perform. Yep, that is pretty special for Sawyer. Grade: B

6. Koryn Hawthorne and Pharrell Williams: They’ll perform “We Can Work It Out.” Wow, they’ve rearranged the song; I barely recognized it when it opened. Gotta say, I’m not a fan of the new arrangement. And Pharrell and Koryn don’t really sound that great together. Koryn’s trying her best to make the vocal something special, but I’m not sure this song works well with that treatment. That needed a little more working out. Grade: C

7. Joshua Davis, Team Adam: Hmm, another singing-show favorite, “Hallelujah.” Joshua is turning in a solid vocal of a fan favorite. Problem is, I’ve heard this song done so often on these shows, the performance would have to be absolutely magical for me to remember it tomorrow. And that fell short of magical. It was, however, a crowd pleaser based on the reaction. Christina likes the versatility Joshua has shown. Adam calls the performance very special. Grade: B–

8. Meghan Linsey and Blake Shelton: They’ll perform “Freeway of Love.” Meghan shows up on stage singing full throttle. Good idea, considering the volume of the backing band. Blake lets Meghan carry the first part of the song. He should have let her sing the whole time considering the way he sounded when his part came. I sorta wish they’d ditch these duets for the finale. None of them are amounting to game-changers. Grade: C+

9. Joshua Davis and Adam Levine: The song — “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes.” Okay, this isn’t going to win the competition for Joshua or Adam, but it’s my favorite of the duets tonight. A nice song choice that fits both singers well and turns into a fun jam on stage with a squadron of background singers. Not a show-stopper, but entertaining. Grade: B

10. Koryn Hawthorne, Team Pharrell: Pharrell has been working on a song called “Bright Fire” and he’s having Koryn do it as her first single. During recording sessions, he’s encouraging her to imagine singing it in church. Koryn handled the rapid-fire lyrics in the early part of the song very well. In the past, there have been times I’ve had trouble understanding what she’s singing. From a competition standpoint, she would have been better off with a song that brought out more emotion. Here’s betting Sawyer’s original does best on iTunes. Adam likes her joyful performance. Grade: B–

11. Meghan Linsey, Team Blake: Meghan will tackle “When a Man Loves a Woman.” Meghan picks a familiar tune, too, and sounds great on it from the word go. Wow, she started off with a powerful vocal and it got more powerful as the song progressed. If this is really a battle for second place, Meghan deserves runner-up status. No one has been more impressive vocally over the course of the show. Adam loves the “seventh gear” she has in her vocals. Blake calls that the performance of the night so far. Not sure it will be enough, but it was very, very good. Grade: A–

12. Sawyer Fredericks, Team Pharrell: He’ll perform “Old Man” by Neil Young. Oh, my, he sounds great as this opens. Watch out above on iTunes. This, folks, is the performance of the night. It helps that it’s a song that hasn’t been done to death on these shows. The crowd couldn’t even wait for him to finish, but fortunately quieted again in time to hear Sawyer sing a couple of fantastic final lines. Adam advises him not to lose sight of the “purity” in what he does. Christina calls Sawyer “a gem.” Grade: A.