Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Voice finalists — Adam Wakefield, Hannah Huston, Laith Al-Saadi and Alisan Porter (NBC Photo)

This week, Adam Wakefield and Alisan Porter were duet partners on The Voice.

Come Monday night, they’ll duke it out for the Season 10 Voice title in what promises to be the show’s most suspenseful finale since Season 7.

There was very little drama in Season 8, when teen sensation Sawyer Fredericks sang and strummed his way to the title. There was no suspense in Season 9, when The Voice proclaimed Jordan Smith the deserving winner early on, then did everything possible to make that prophecy reality.

But Alisan and Adam enter Monday’s final performance show about as evenly matched as two contestants can be.

Both have cracked the iTunes Top 10 on three occasions, earning bonus points for doing so. Since the live shows began, Adam has had the best performing song on iTunes three times; Alisan accomplished that twice.

All those downloads and all those bonus points are back in play for the finale, when The Voice uses cumulative vote totals to determine the winner.

That’s why the other two finalists, Laith Al-Saadi and Hannah Huston will enter Monday’s show as underdogs.

That said, the pre-school teacher from Nebraska and the blues guitarist from Michigan have been surprising viewers throughout what’s been a highly unpredictable season on The Voice.

Here are the final Season 10 rankings; the number in parenthesis is where the contestant was ranked last week. Follow the links, and you’ll find all the performances for each of the finalists.

1. Alisan Porter (1): She’s the only contestant left who enticed all four coaches to turn around for her blind audition cover of “Blue Bayou” and she’s delivered some magical vocal moments since; “Cry Baby” was probably my favorite. She and Christina love big, belty songs, but would be wise to remember that Alisan’s best received performances have been her ballads, “Desperado,” “Let Him Fly” and “Stone Cold.” Song choices are going to be oh, so critical come Monday night. But the show is still called The Voice, and Alisan is Season 10’s most impressive singer.

2. Adam Wakefield (2): He’s not flashy. He hasn’t undergone a Craig Wayne Boyd type of Voice makeover. He won’t dazzle you with stage presence because he spends most of his time seated behind his piano. What Adam has done during Season 10 is provide a solid and soulful country vocal each time he takes the stage, and last week’s cover of “I’m Sorry” was his most powerful yet. With his iTunes track record — he’s topped everyone the last two weeks — and Blake Shelton by his side, Adam should actually be the favorite heading into Monday’s show.

3. Laith Al-Saadi (3): Had Laith performed his save-me song (“All Along the Watchtower”) on Monday instead of doing an Adele cover, he probably wouldn’t have needed the instant save to make the finals. Speaking of Adele and Laith’s desire to show his versatility, this is the week for him to take a major risk because I’m thinking he and Adam Levine need to come up with a magical performance along the lines of Jordan Smith’s “Somebody to Love” to upset both Adam Wakefield and Alisan Porter.

4. Hannah Huston (6): The pre-school teacher from Nebraska served notice she’d be a force to reckon with when she held her own against the vocally talented Maya Smith in the battle round, then served up a rousing version of “House of the Rising Sun” in the knockouts. But math is simply working against her now. The Voice will use cumulative vote totals to determine the Season 10 winner, which means past bonus points are in play. And Hannah hit the iTunes Top 10 just once, compared to two times for Laith and three times each for Adam and Alisan.