Blake Shelton with his advancing artists, Bodie, Bryce Leatherwood and Brayden Lape. (NBC Photo)
The finale is set for The Voice Season 22.
And the show officially has a Blake Shelton problem.
The five singers advancing include Morgan Myles of Team Camila, Omar Cardona of Team Legend and all three remaining members of Team Blake — Bodie, Bryce Leatherwood and Brayden Lape.
That meant the elimination of Parijita and Kim Cruse of Team Legend and Justin Aaron, the last remaining member of Team Gwen.
Omar advanced only after winning the instant save showdown at the end of the show.
That means three of the top four vote-getters after Monday’s semifinal show were Bodie, Bryce and Brayden.
Now look, even if he wasn’t at his best Monday, Bodie belongs in the finale thanks to a season full of fine performance.
And while I wouldn’t put Bryce on the same level vocally with the three eliminated singers, the fact that he advanced wasn’t a surprise.
Voice fans have always supported male country artists. And if Bryce hasn’t been spectacular in the voting rounds, he has been solid.
The problem with the finale lineup is that there’s a Grand Canyon sized gap between the abilities of the eliminated singers and Brayden.
Does Brayden have potential? Oh, yeah.
Is he a likeable teen? Oh, yeah.
But he’s also extremely green compared to the ousted trio. And that inexperience showed, both vocally and in terms of stage presence.
Yet after Brayden delivered a decidedly lackluster performance Monday night, fans voted him through.
Over Justin Aaron and Kim Cruse, both of whom turned in outstanding semifinal performances.
Over Parijita, a fellow teen, who proved time and again she’s more ready for prime time than Brayden.
I’m sure lots of Voice fans voted for Brayden himself; he appears to have lots of hometown support.
But I also know fans voted for Team Blake, supporting Blake’s artists regardless of how they performed or anyone else performed Monday night.
And I suspect as The Voice sheds viewers — Monday’s viewership was down about 7 percent from a year ago — the Team Blake voting block has become more dominant.
That’s the price The Voice pays for being such a coach-centric show.
The Voice is as much about the coaches as the contestants. Just check out the percentage of Instagram posts the show devotes to its celebrity coaches.
Sometimes when I check it between shows, I wonder if The Voice even remembers that it has contestants worth promoting.
Results shows like Tuesday’s even feature a scoreboard tracking how many artists each coach has advanced.
I mean, come on producers, that encourages your fans to vote for the coaches and not the artists.
So Blake’s the winner, again.
And the situation is likely to repeat itself again in Season 23, his last on the show.
I know one thing: Anyone who auditions for Season 23 and entices a chair turn from Blake will be foolish if they don’t join his team.
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