Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The final four on The Voice — Barrett Baber, Jeffery Austin, Emily Ann Roberts and Jordan Smith. (NBC Photo)

Yep, each of the Top 4 will take the stage three times tonight on The Voice performance finale.

But if you were waiting to hear brand new songs and watch videos of those brand new songs … well, you can stop waiting.

It isn’t going to happen.

At the close of Season 7 and Season 8, each singer in the finale recorded a new single.

Instead, for Season 9, we’ll get Christmas songs. Plus a new cover. Plus the tradition of having each singer perform a duet with his or her coach.

As to what we’ll hear tonight, here’s the rundown.

Jordan Smith:

New cover: He’ll sing “Climb Every Mountain” from “The Sound of Music.” I’ve been very critical of the show’s favoritism toward Jordan, but I have to add this. Jordan was quick to distance himself from that “most important person” to ever be on the show comment by Adam and has remained humble during interviews throughout the process. Kudos to him for that. He said this week’s cover would be nothing like last week’s. Indeed, it’s about as different as possible, except that once again he’s backed by a string section and a choir. Another very, very fine vocal. Not as good a performance as “Somebody to Love,” but that probably wasn’t going to happen regardless. Grade: B+

Duet: He’ll perform “God Only Knows” by the Beach Boys. Adams calls this one of the best songs ever written. Hey, Adam wasn’t joking, they sound good together. Is Jordan’s mic on? Wow, we were nearly to the end of that performance before we got to hear the expected winner of Season 9 sing a line solo. I guess you call that a throw-away performance, at least in terms of showcasing Jordan’s vocal prowess. Grade: B–

Christmas song: He’ll perform “Mary Did You Know.” Well, The Voice saved the best of the Christmas performances for last. And, I have to say, Jordan has performed like he deserves the Season 9 title tonight. He built that performance very well, tossed in all sorts of vocal frills, nailed a couple of impressive glory notes and delivered on of the night’s best vocals. Grade: A–

Emily Ann Roberts

Christmas song: She’ll perform “Blue Christmas.” I suppose it’s wise to get the downer of a Christmas song out of the way first. The throwback country sound on the classic holiday tune isn’t working especially well for me. Emily’s vocal seemed to get stronger as the song went on, but I needed a bit more heartbreak from Emily Ann. Adam calls her the “real deal” as a country performer. Blake compliments Emily Ann for her knack for building the dramatics in a song. Grade: C+

Duet: She’ll perform “Islands in the Stream,” originally a duet by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. Emily Ann says she’s listened to this song “my entire life.” OK, this is a bit strange: Blake and 17-year-old Emily Ann singing a love song together. Emily Ann looks adorable as ever. Thing is, they sound very good together. And Emily Ann is doing much better on this than her first performance of the night. OK, disregarding the lyrics of the song, that was my favorite duet so far tonight. Grade: B+

New cover: She’ll perform Cam’s “Burning House.” Emily Ann gets to close the show for the first time. And she’s tackling a current song for the first time, too. What the heck did they do to Emily Ann’s hair? Talk about big, teased out locks. Getting past all those flowing locks, Emily Ann sounds great on this. Hey, if Blake was responsible for that song choice, great choice. That was an absolutely splendid vocal and she built to a wonderful finish. Pharrell interrupts the proceedings to let Emily Ann know he thinks that was “flawless.” Blake calls it “unbelievable.” It was my favorite of the night. Grade: A

Barrett Baber

Duet: He’ll perform “Rhinestone Cowboy” by Glen Campbell. Barrett says he wants to pay tribute to Glen, but also points out that the lyrics are true to his career as a singer. Blake gets to kick it off, which surprises me a bit. He’s better than any Voice coach at making sure his singers get a chance to shine during these duets. Decent performance. Barrett, however, hit a couple of seriously bum notes early in that performance. If either of the country singers wants to prove they deserve the Voice crown more than Jordan, they are not off to a great start. Grade: B–

New cover: He’ll perform Thomas Rhett’s “Die a Happy Man.” Blake calls this the perfect song because it’s got a touch of soul. A fine performance by Barrett, but I’m a little surprised by some of the song choices tonight. I mean, for Barrett, Emily Ann or Jeffery to topple Jordan, they need a “Somebody to Love” type moment. That wasn’t it, even though it was solid. And if there was going to be a big finish, I must have missed it. Meanwhile, Adam just said his four favorite singers made the finals. Huh? What about Amy and Shelby? Oops! Grade: B

Christmas song: He’ll perform “Silent Night. Barrett delivers a country version of the Christmas favorite and certainly tried to make it his own. It came out a bit overbaked and could have used much more of the soft touch Barrett delivered at the very end of the song. Let’s just say that wasn’t my favorite version of “Silent Night.” Grade: C+

Jeffery Austin:

Christmas song: He’ll sing “O Holy Night.” Great opening by Jeffery, who’s looking especially classy for this performance. Nice powerful vocal from start to finish. He probably could have built the drama a bit better over the course of the performance. Jeffery says the song is one of his grandparents’ favorites. Gwen calls the performance “so beautiful.” It was certainly the second best of round one. Grade: B

New cover: He’ll sing “Stay” by Sugarland. Jeffery says he was “way too scared” to pursue music after high school. A bit of a rough start to that performance by Jeffery, but he made up for it over the course of the song. Does this guy pour his heart and soul into his performances, or what? And he’s showing versatility, taking on songs by Labrinth, Cher and now Sugarland in a three-week span. Oh, and a very nice finish, too. Grade: B+

Duet: He’ll perform “Leather and Lace,” originally recorded by Stevie Nicks with a vocal assist from Don Henley. This is definitely my favorite duet song choice. Gwen is doing a pretty pathetic job of channeling Stevie Nicks. But, hey, she’s wearing a little lace. She’s also overpowering Jeffery on the chorus. In theory, this could have worked. In practice … oh, no. Grade: C.