Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Voice Season 26 Top 5 of Sofronio Vasquez, Shye, Danny Joseph, Sydney Sterlace and Jeremy Beloate. (NBC Photo)

Each member of The Voice Top 5 will take the stage twice tonight as they vie for the Season title.

Danny Joseph of Team Reba, Jeremy Beloate of Team Snoop, Sydney Sterlace of Team Gwen and Sofronio Vasquez and Shye of Team Michael are the Season 26 finalists.

Each will perform an up-tempo song and a ballad during tonight’s two-hour live show.

I’ll be posting song by song grades for the performances after the show ends.

Fans can vote for their favorite via The Voice website and The Voice app. The limit is one vote per valid email address.

Voting will be open until 7 a.m. eastern time on Tuesday. On Tuesday, The Voice will air an 8 p.m. recap show at 8 p.m. followed by the two-hour season finale at 9 p.m.

ROUND ONE

Danny Joseph, 37, Dallas, Texas (Team Reba), “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” by Luke Combs: I had a hunch that with Reba as coach and not a country singer in sight in this year’s finals, Danny might tackle a country song. That said, this is much more rock than country. You can count on Danny to deliver 100 percent every time he takes the stage. That was a rousing way to open the night. Grade: B

Jeremy Beloate, 26, Memphis, Tenn. (Team Snoop), “What the World Needs Now” by Jackie DeShannon: Well, Jeremy certainly impressed with his range and made the song his own. I barely recognized the song at the opening. But in doing that, the key is doing a version viewers would want to hear again. Count me out on that count. Too many vocal frills, too many glory notes and not enough emotion. That said, the performance got a warm reception from The Voice audience. Grade: B–

Shye, 17, Bethlehem, Pa. (Team Michael), “(What if God Was) One of Us” by Joan Osbourn: Shye’s better in the singer-songwriter vein than at belting. She’s got the most unique voice of the Top 5, and it didn’t shine in that performance. There had to be an up-tempo song that would have worked better for this talented young lady. It wasn’t a bad performance. It just didn’t scream, “I should be the winner.” Grade: C+

Sydney Sterlace, 16, Buffalo, N.Y. (Team Gwen), “I Love You, I’m Sorry” by Gracie Abrams: Yikes. This was a little pitchy and robbed Sydney of the momentum she built with an excellent performance in the semifinals. She’s only 16, so maybe nerves played a factor. But she needed two superb performances tonight for a shot at the title and that wasn’t one. The best part was the rapid fire bridge near the middle of the song that she navigated quite well. Grade: C

Sofronio Vasquez, 31, Utica, N.Y. (Team Michael), “Unstoppable” by Sia: Sofronio has successfully flipped several songs made popular by female singers this season. And he’s going to try it again tonight. I’d called that a success. A major success. And based on the first round of performances, Sofronio might be “unstoppable” tonight. That was easily that best combination of vocal and performance we’ve heard so far. Superb build to a big ending too. Grade: A

Jeremy Beloate, 26, Memphis, Tenn. (Team Snoop), “Dancing on My Own” by Calum Scott: You know the emotion I said was missing in Jeremy’s first performance. It made it’s way into this one. The presentation was still a tad too theatrical for my taste. But Jeremy delivered an excellent vocal and passion to spare. And, thank you, The Voice, for not gumming up that performance with silly staging or distracting background singers. Grade: B+

Danny Joseph, 37, Dallas, Texas (Team Reba), “Back to Black” by Amy Winehouse: Hold it, wasn’t Adam Bohanan Reba’s “dirty soul” singer. Danny did a really nice job of dirtying up this song and making it his own. And I usually frown at guitar solos during a performance on a show called The Voice, but Danny’s solo here was integral to making the performance work, not just frosting on the cake. This might have been Danny’s best performance on the show. Extremely well done. This time around, I can’t say the same for the staging. Greek-looking statues behind a singer wearing a fringed jacket. Huh? Thankfully, I’m not grading the staging. Grade: A–

Sofronio Vasquez, 31, Utica, N.Y. (Team Michael), “A Million Dreams” from The Greatest Showman: Well, they couldn’t have Sofronio singing last three weeks in a row, right? Anyway, this started out rather slow, but Sofronio’s vocals blossomed once the song reached the chorus. After that, he delivered some nice glory notes and an emotional ending. I wasn’t crazy about the song choice. And for all the pyrotechnics in the background, I didn’t think the performance was among Sofronio’s best. Grade: B

Sydney Sterlace, 16, Buffalo, N.Y. (Team Gwen), “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol: Okay, we have dancers on a bed with Sydney. We have guitarists standing on beds. We have Sydney straining to be heard over those guitarists. This isn’t working. We get tiny snippets of Sydney’s lovely tone, and she does have a lovely tone and a bright future as an artist. But it this is how the rehearsal of the song went, Gwen should have pulled the plug and pushed her young artist in a different direction. Grade: C–

Shye, 17, Bethlehem, Pa. (Team Michael), “Falling” by Harry Styles: Interesting. Team Michael’s teenage singer gets to close the show. Okay, three lines in, I think I’m beginning to understand why. Shye sounded fabulous on those opening lines. If her first song didn’t do a great job of showcasing Shye’s unique sound, this song choice sure did. Her voice swelled when it needed to, conveyed emotion throughout, right through to a tender ending. I think Shye’s a bit of a long shot to win the show. But that was one of the best performances tonight and a great choice for a show-closer. Grade: A