The Voice: Season 9: Top 4: Finals

Missed most of the show tonight due to an unexpected trip out of town so I'm having to review through Rickey's page. Thank goodness he posts videos over there, otherwise I would have had to resorted to analyzing based on the 30 second snippit on ITunes.

Each kiddo had 2 solos and a duet with their judge. I am just going to bundle their performances together because it'll be easier on me in the long run.

This time around will have 3 sets of numbers, because we'll be checking out at noon and I won't have time to grab the actual final numbers right at 12pm. I plan on grabbing the third set of numbers around 3:30pm to see if there's much difference. The first set of numbers were grabbed at 11:30 and they're in parentheses.

Jordan Smith:
 
Climb Every Mountain
comment: Yet another of near perfection. I'm telling you, the race is for second place.
ITunes chart placement by midnight on show night: 3
ITunes chart placement by noon (close of voting): (3) 3
change: none

duet with Adam: God Only Knows
comment: Nice performance. Did it showcase Jordan's vocals? Not really. However, by this point he doesn't really need to. He could go on stage, cough , leave and still have the highest sales. The only way he wouldn't get into the Top 200 is if he got on stage, barfed, sharted and flipped everyone off. This actually came across much like a generic buddy song you'd find on a Disney or Dreamworks movie. Replace Sully and Mike and you'd get pretty much the same result.
ITunes chart placement by midnight on show night: 5
ITunes chart placement by noon (close of voting):  (5) 5
change: none

Mary Did You Know
comment: Oh for cryin out loud... just crown him already!  I'll be buying this one later, when the votes DON'T count because honestly, this one doesn't need my help ^_~
ITunes chart placement by midnight on show night: 1
ITunes chart placement by noon (close of voting): (1) 1
change: none
* Chandelier returned to 63rd. (47) 45
** Great is Thy Faithfulness returned to 45th. (33) 34
*** Hallelujah returned to 17th (this one has been in the Top 200 since it was released) (17) 17
**** Halo returned to 57th. (44) 42
***** Set Fire to the Rain came back to 65th. (51) 52
****** Somebody to Love returned to 10th. (10) 9
******* Who You Are returned to 110th. (79) 78
NOTE: Of the Top 10 at 12:30am, 4 are his. Both solos from this week, the duet and last week's performance. 

Emily Ann Roberts:
Blue Christmas
comment: This was okay. Nice, but kind of generic. We listened to the show once we got home and hubby teared up. Then again, many of the sad holiday songs do that to him these days.
ITunes chart placement by midnight on show night: 14
ITunes chart placement by noon (close of voting): (13) 15
change: +/- 1 depending on when that slip happened. Willing to bet it was after noon though.

duet with Blake: Islands in the Stream
comment: This was a sweet moment between the two of them. Going to check the ITunes version to see if it's worth the $1.29.  The first song was a bit better, but the duets don't count towards the votes anyhow. Won't be surprised if this one shows up on his tour with her as the duet partner.  This was the ONLY duet I bought of the bunch.
ITunes chart placement by midnight on show night: 6
ITunes chart placement by noon (close of voting): (6) 6
change: none

Burning House:
comment: Now this was the way to leave a final impression. If any of the other 3 have a shot of dethroning Jordan, it'll be her. Both of her solo performances were pretty much flawless tonight. This one was the better of the two and definitely the way for her to end her night.
ITunes chart placement by midnight on show night: 2
ITunes chart placement by noon (close of voting): (2) 2
change: none
* Cowboy Take Me Away reentered at 144. (90) 93
** I Hope You Dance reentered at 115. (81) 81
*** In the Garden came in at 158. (106) 105
**** She's Got You came back at 105. (75) 76
***** Why Not Me came back at 116. (84) 82
****** 9 to 5 came back at 74. (61) 61
******* Blame it on Your Heart (167) 172
NOTE: Considering the number of return songs this week, she might actually be a real contender for the win.

Barrett Baber:
duet with Blake: Rhinestone Cowboy
comment: Yet another old time, throw back song for Barrett. Dude's got 3 albums out right now. Nice songs, but weren't enough for my to buy. This is just more of the same. At this point of the game, we need to hear if the contestant can pull off something a bit more current.
ITunes chart placement by midnight on show night: 22
ITunes chart placement by noon (close of voting): (18) 19
change:  ^ 3 or 4 depending on where the slip was.

Die A Happy Man:
comment: Holy shit. A MODERN song??? *faints* I didn't think this was even possible. Kidding aside, this was a decent performance. Not as good as the original, mind you, but a decent enough try. This was the only one of his I bought this week.
ITunes chart placement by midnight on show night: 11
ITunes chart placement by noon (close of voting): (7) 8
change: ^ 3 or 4 spots depending on where he was at noon

Silent Night:
comment: This is actually the first one I caught on tv. We'd just gotten in and I was washing up in the vanity area when I heard this one come on. My first thought was "Gee, Blake sounds good tonight. They must have the judges singing Christmas carols" Then I saw exactly WHO was singing. Definitely should have been calling this one Blake 2.0 this year. Does that make Emily Ann the Miranda 2.0? *smirk* This was meh at best.
ITunes chart placement by midnight on show night: 27
ITunes chart placement by noon (close of voting): (20) 21
change: ^ 6 or 7 spots
* I'd Just Love to Lay You Down came back onto the Top 200 at 122. (105) 102

Jeffery Austin:

O Holy Night
comment: I should have loved this. It's my utmost favorite song of this time of year. However, Jeffery was off during the first part of it and I couldn't get through the rest of the song I was so disgusted with him. At this point, I'd rather hear Adele's Hello for the bazillionth time. (Seriously, I'm so sick of that song and Idol season is coming up... *ugh*)
ITunes chart placement by midnight on show night: 29
ITunes chart placement by noon (close of voting): (21) 20
change: ^ 8 or 9

Stay
comment: Not sure what's going on with him tonight. He doesn't seem to be going at 100% at all. Starting off flat and having to fight to get back into key. I expected better out of him.
ITunes chart placement by midnight on show night: 12
ITunes chart placement by noon (close of voting): (9) 10
change: ^2 or 3

duet with Gwen: Leather and Lace:
comment: Seriously, I don't know why they chose a duet for his last impression since the duets don't count toward the final tallies. Wasn't overly fond of this vocal. His was actually better than hers ^_~. Glad to see that she CAN dress normally when she chooses. I was beginning to wonder if that was possible.
ITunes chart placement by midnight on show night: 19
ITunes chart placement by noon (close of voting): (15) 16
change: ^3 or 4
* Believe returned to 64th. (55) 56
** Jealous returned to 143rd. (104) 104

NOTE: Jeffery's ITunes recordings were much better than the live performance and I bought both.


Analysis:
As of the evening part of this entry. I'd have to rank them at
Jordan

Emily
Jeffery/ Barrett. Fairly certain Jeffery just edges out Barrett by the barest margins performance wise.

Afternoon thoughts: Hubby just said that he's thinking Jordan with Barrett in second. I can't say how many times this guy manages to be accurate. If he's right, I may have to throw a pillow at him.

I guess it all depends on how the alternate voting methods went. Jeffery is a very long shot, to be honest. I don't see him doing better than 3rd. Would have been a more interesting fight if Amy had been in there. 

The Voice: Supplemental: Additional recordings

I mentioned in the last analysis posting that a couple of the gals had recordings out already so I figured I'd drop a quick post with anything I could find on the Top 24.

Darius Scott: Only the one song, and it's nothing more than an instrumental. The song is called Yeah, Way!

Evan McKeel: He's got one cd out called Teal.  Not a bad little album. Definitely one I wouldn't mind eventually getting in the digital format.

Madi Davis:  She's actually got 2 EPs out already. Madi Anne Davis came out in 2014, and What I Know arrived in March this year.

Riley Biederer: She's had a bunch of singles come out. In fact, she had a Christmas single called Loving Me (White Christmas) drop just last week. The Voice must not be as restrictive on their contestants as Idol is (or was). The rest of her songs are worth giving at least a listen.

Morgan Frazier: Has a country album called The Best (release in October this year) and a self titled EP that she dropped in 2013. Nice music, but she's got a Carrie Underwood sound to her and I can see where she'd get lost in the blue-eyed blonde female sea of country artists out there. She's got potential though.

Barrett Baber: He dropped an EP called Falling Again in May this year. He's also got 2 albums out. Colt Square Sessions dropped in 2012 and Battlefield Us was released in 2013.

Braiden Sunshine: He's been in 3 different bands, but the only album that I could find out there is called Middle Ground by Madison Red & Braiden Sunshine.

Viktor Kiraly: He's had several albums and singles out. His work can be found by clicking this link.

Blaine Mitchell: Has an EP out called I'll Be There Soon.

Keith Semple: He's got one EP called Slow Down the World which dropped in 2011.

Amy Vachal:  She's got 2 EPs out. The first one dropped in 2011 and is called Appleseed (the link is an ITunes link, there wasn't an Amazon link for this EP). The second one dropped in 2014 and is called Crinkle Bloom.

Jordan Smith: I see a couple cds and an EP hooked to his name in ITunes, but I can't be 100% certain that they're his because it doesn't really sound much like him. Could be that I've been listening to snippits of other tunes for too long today.  There is 2011's cd called Psychedelic Love, 2012's Live Like No One's Watchin' (where he's not a lead on the album but a featured artist), and the EP I'm not going to link simply because I'm 98% certain it's not him. Especially considering that when you look up on his Wiki page (not that there's much on it) it has him affiliated with Christian pop music. Even if he wasn't, I just don't see him doing explicit music...

The other 12 of the Top 24 have nothing out there that I'm aware of, unless you go hunting for performances on YouTube.  Which I'm not up for right now.