Idol Chatter & Voice Views

It’s my guess that The Voice would prefer a Chris Blue victory this week.

Think about it. If Lauren Duski wins, she’ll be the fifth country singer to win the show in 12 seasons.

And that would give Blake Shelton his sixth coaching victory in 12 seasons.

That might be a little more country and a little more Blake dominance than The Voice would prefer.

On the other hand, an R&B singer hasn’t won the show since Season 2.

And a Chris Blue victory would send Alicia Keys off as just the second female to coach a singer to victory.

Watch for Voice manipulations — performance order, elaborate staging, over-the-top reactions — to make that happen.

As The Voice reminded us again last week with the duet trickery, they are master manipulators.

The final four sing for our votes Monday at 8 p.m. on The Voice. Follow along here. I’ll be grading the performances as they occur.

Tuesday’s two-hour Season 12 finale begins at 9 p.m.

Some other random thoughts.

1. Season 12 makes me wonder all over again: If you’re auditioning for The Voice and Blake Shelton spins his chair, why would you even think about going with another coach? He entered this season’s Top 12 with what I considered the third strongest team. Yet he was the only coach to get all of his singers to the Top 8 semifinals show and he’s the only coach with two singers in the finale. What’s more, barring a major stumble on the part of Lauren Duski, by Wednesday he will have coached the winner or runner-up in 11 of The Voice’s 12 seasons.

2. Hunter Plake might not have won The Voice, but his fans should rejoice. That’s right: Rejoice. Remember, Hunter’s been working on original music with his brother; they perform as PLAKE. In fact, they were ready to release an EP until they decided to see what happened with Hunter’s stint on the show. Well, here’s what would have happened had he won: Hunter would have signed with Republic Records. They would have balked at his vision of his artistry. They would have wanted him to release something more commercial. One long and frustrating year later, the label deal would have vanished. And we’d finally get an independent release from PLAKE. Hunter’s earlier-than-expected elimination allows him to avoid that frustration and get music in the hands of a legion of eagerly awaiting fans much faster.

3. Adam Levine has as much trouble with the truth as a certain president whose last name rhymes with rump. As a coach for all 12 seasons of The Voice, he should very well know that Jesse Larson IS NOT the first one-chair turn to make The finals on The Voice. Nicholas David was the first back in Season 3. Jeffery Austin did it in Season 9. And, technically, Chris Blue did it earlier in the very Tuesday night show when Adam made the misguided comment, if only because everyone’s team was supposedly full but Alicia Keys’ when he auditioned. And Adam made it sound as though Jesse was a guitarist who just took us singing when he auditioned for The Voice. In truth, he was part of a group called MPLS that featured four singers and a rapper. Head to YouTube, search for MPLS and you can watch YouTube videos of Jesse singing lead on cover songs. None of which is meant to diminish Jesse’s excellent run on The Voice, which does mark his first time in the spotlight as a solo performer.

4. Four-chair turns have won seven of the 11 seasons of The Voice, but it won’t happen in Season 12. That’s because — for just the second time ever — there isn’t a four-chair turn in the finale. As noted above, Jesse and Chris are one-chair turns. Lauren Duski turned three chairs (Alicia being the lone holdout); Aliyah Moulden also turned three (Adam being the lone holdout). The only other season without a four-chair turn in the finale? Season 3, when winner Danielle Bradbery, runner-up Michelle Chamuel and the third-place duo The Swon Brothers all turned three chairs during the blind auditions.

5. Miley Cyrus will be singing her new single “Malibu” on Tuesday night’s Voice finale. And motormouth Miley will be back as a coach for Season 13. Speaking of Miley running her mouth, did you read where she now regrets swinging around naked in her “Wrecking Ball” video? Reading her profanity-laced interview with Billboard, I had to laugh. If she apologized for twerking all over Robin Thicke at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, I must have missed it. Nor do I recall reading her say she regrets acting like a slut from the beginning to the end of her stint as host of the same award show in 2015. In truth, Miley didn’t do too badly on Season 11 of The Voice. I just hopes she shuts up long enough to let the other coaches talk this fall.

See also
Ranking the Top 4 on The Voice
Star duets planned for Tuesday’s Season 12 finale
Season 12: Another failing grade for The Voice