Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Could this be the least predictable finale on The Voice yet?

Perhaps, thanks to last week, when perceived front-runner Christina Grimmie needed an instant save to survive.

The Top 3 will take the stage three times each tonight on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

Will Jake Worthington’s country charm take the day?

Will Josh Kaufman continue his string of impressive performances and iTunes hits?

Or will Christina’s massive fan base rally around the young lady from New Jersey after last week’s scare and sweep her to victory?

You can be sure of this, the finalists are active on Twitter, urging their supporters to action.

In what could be a bit of bad news for her competitors, Christina had #GrimmieForTheWin trending on Twitter today.

“Where is my Grimmie Army at?” she tweeted. “PREPARE YURSELF TO DEFEND! Vote le Grimmie…last night to do it!!”

As for songs, I’ll provide this much of a spoiler. You know how the fans were supposed to help pick this week’s song?

Well, they’ve decided Christina should sing “Wrecking Ball” again, Josh should sing “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours,” and Jake should reprise Keith Whitley’s “Don’t Close Your Eyes.”

Each finalist will take the stage three times tonight. One of the performances will be a duet with the finalist’s coach.

See also:
Today’s iTunes results
Christina Grimmie photo gallery from The Voice finale
Jake Worthington photo gallery from The Voice finale
Josh Kaufman photo gallery from The Voice finale

The fans’ choices

1. Christina Grimmie: As I noted, she’ll be singing “Wrecking Ball,” and she’s dedicating it to her fans. Far prefer her singing this to Miley Cyrus. And her opening is impeccable. Dang. There’s a 20-year-old on stage who wants The Voice Season 6 crown very, very badly. That was pitch perfect. She showed tons of control. And that ending was nothing short of fabulous. Shakira says she knocked the song out of the park in the blinds and did the same this time. Adam says he thinks she did the song better this time around. I will guarantee Miss Miley could never, ever master the ending like that. Grade: A

2. Jake Worthington: He’ll be singing the fan-selected “Don’t Close Your Eyes,” by Keith Whitley. Look at that, they’ve got Jake, wearing his cowboy hat as always, surrounded by young girls waving their hands back and forth as though he’s some sort of ladies’ man. This isn’t the most challenging song from a vocal standpoint, but Jake is delivering it very well. And really not showing a case of the nerves that I thought might catch up with him tonight. And he’s mumbled lyrics in some past performances. That isn’t happening tonight. A little sleepy, but an otherwise strong performance with a nice touch at the end. Shakira says his voice was “just perfect” on that song. Blake spends his critique times talking about Jake’s tribute to good ole country music. Grade: B

3. Josh Kaufman: Christina and Jake repeated their audition songs; Josh will be doing the battle round song when he lost to Delvin Choice and was stolen by Usher — “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours.” This song is certainly in Josh’s wheelhouse. And he’s got a full horn section and a group of background singers around to help him. And he’s also tossing in lots of little embellishments to make the song his own. You know what I wrote about Christina’s wanting the title. Well, we just saw Josh fighting and scrapping for it, too. And these singers are giving a lesson in how to end a song. Really, really great. Shakira compliments him on the charisma in his voice. And Josh admits he stole a vocal gem from Delvin from the battle round for that version. Grade: A

The duets

1. Josh Kaufman and Usher: They will sing “Every Breath You Take.” Usher opens. Hmm, he sure dressed up for the occasion. Josh follows, showing off that great falsetto of his. Judging from that shirt, I think he might have been dipping into Jake’s wardrobe. Funny, two of the nine songs performed tonight were recently done on American Idol. Solid performance. Josh actually started just a tad weak, and the guys stumbled at one point where they weren’t exactly in unison. I actually preferred the version of that song by Alex Preston earlier this season on Idol. Grade: B+

2. Christina Grimmie and Adam Levine: They are going to sing “Somebody That I Used to Know.” Well, for the first two-thirds of that, it seemed like Christina was singing backup to Adam. Wish he would have let her shine a bit more. In fact, until the last minute, when she nailed a couple of big notes dead on, that was as subdued a performance as we’ve gotten from Christina this year. Wish they would have picked something with a bit more pizzazz. Grade: B+

3. Jake Worthington and Blake Shelton: They’re going upbeat after two boring numbers from Jake, singing “A Country Boy Can Survive,” by Hank Williams Jr. Love Blake’s voice. Always have, and I’m not a huge fan of country music. But Jake is falling seriously flat on some of his lines.  I think it’s pretty clear that it should be a two-singer showdown, with Jake the odd man out. Great guy. Just not quite on their level yet. Grade: B–

The new songs

Jake Worthington

1. Jake Worthington: The lad from Texas scored a hit last week with Bryan Adam’s “Heaven.” This week, he’s going to tackle another pop hit, “Right Here Waiting,” by Richard Marx. Hmm, this will be interesting. Jake starts out off key. And this, folks, is not going to go nearly as well as “Heaven.” I’m sure Jake’s fans will download it, but as his new solo for tonight’s Top 3 finale, this is not going to be Season 6 title worthy. Jake’s trying to pour his heart into the performance, you can tell that. It’s just not a good match of singer and song and vocal ability. Worst of all, it’s boring. Blake, ever the supporter, is on his feet clapping enthusiastically. Usher calls it “spotless.” Blake says he’s a “sincere, honest” narrator of what he sings. Perhaps. It was still boring. Grade: C

Christina Grimmie

2. Christina Grimmie: I don’t know what to think of this song choice — Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” They can’t possibly not know that Jena Irene just sang the crap out of this on Idol a couple of weeks ago, can they? Or is it download genius, because Idol didn’t make the song available on iTunes? Christina explains the song choice, saying she knew from the beginning that she wanted to sing this if she made it to the finale. And she says the end of the song needs to be epic. And she starts a cappella. Those first two verses were absolutely superlative. She went a tad sharp when the music swelled. But that ending was nothing short of stupendous. Shakira calls it “flawless” and says she was “in complete awe.” Adam predicts Christina will win the show. Perhaps. But Josh gets the last turn on stage. Grade: A

Josh Kaufman

3. Josh Kaufman: He’ll be singing “Set Fire To the Rain,” by Adele. He says he likes the choice for the finals, because it’s big, it’s epic and it’s a song he can do a lot with vocally. Usher is convincing him to pour emotion into the song. Josh starts this very strong. He seemed to be straining on the first run-through of the chorus, though. And he’s following through on Usher’s advice by pouring lots of emotion into the performance. Unfortunately, his voice keeps straying off pitch slightly on the chorus. Not loving this match of singer and song. But it sure has nothing to do with the passion Josh is showing. Or that ending, with him on his knees singing his heart out. Valiant, valiant effort, but that just wasn’t quite the right song for that spot in the competition. Though the crowd is going absolutely crazy. Grade: B+

Well, as you can tell from the grades, I’d give The Voice Season 6 crown to Christina Grimmie by a narrow edge.

But the only way voters can really go wrong Tuesday night is by crowning someone other than Christina or Josh.