JORDAN SMITH
Are you freaking kidding me? Oh no, that's not because of Jordan's actual performance but because he was actually put first of the night. Let me just say this off the bat, as I think I've been saying for the past few weeks since I started doing The Voice reviews. I have absolutely nothing against Jordan. I think his voice is absolutely spectacular. What I don't love is the way that The Voice has been marketing him and clearly showing him leaps and bounds of favoritism. If I was a contestant on this season, I would probably be more than a little salty. Sure he's always been a clear front runner but Adam is just so over the top with all of this. I think what Adam said about him being the most "important" person to ever grace the stage is arguably true. He doesn't look like your typical pop star, whereas many of the guys in pop today are big because they're super attractive and girls are so obsessed with them. There aren't many that can get away with just pure raw talent and that is what Jordan possesses. Pure. Raw. Talent. My prediction is that when he goes on to win The Voice, he's not going to be heard from again, except for on future seasons of the show. I just don't see him as a very marketable artist. He has a very old school style but in his case, I think it's a little boring. I think he would do absolutely just fine in the gospel charts or something but realistically I just can't see him really making a dent on the "music world." Like always when I dish out negative predictions, I hope he proves me wrong. Jordan has one of the best voices I've ever heard, and one of the nicest and most honest personalities but if The Voice is about creating a "star" (which it has failed to do for 9 seasons), I don't know if Jordan will really help change that. That's what really grinds my gears because The Voice did way too much showing favoritism towards him. His first performance was obviously pitch perfect. His vocal control is absolutely out of this world. The way he's able to belt his notes with such a sublimity to it, while allowing just enough air to come through for him to be able to sustain it is out of this world. I'm not sure what rubbed me wrong about that last note, but it was something. Maybe he was trying to hit a note that just wasn't there but it didn't matter because it was such a strong performance and a great intro to the show. It was hilarious to see Gwen and Blake (the two coaches competing with Adam) awkwardly sit back down when Pharrell was still standing like "YESSSSS BOOOOO YESSSSSS." They just looked so salty and I loved it (9/10) The duet I came into with cold feet because I literally just learned what this song was when Louisa Johnson did it on X Factor UK this season and she slowed it down so it was a very powerful ballad so to hear it in it's original form was something I had to get adjusted to. Also Adam Levine with Jordan Smith just seemed like a weird song collaboration because they had such different styles so I was really curious as to how they were going to handle it. The two of them actually sounded really well together, it was shocking how their voices mixed fantastically together (8/10)! I didn't expect Jordan to sing "All I Want For Christmas is You," but I was pretty shocked when none of the contestants sang it. I know none of them are really into that type of style, but they found a way for at least one performance of that song per season on X Factor USA, even when it didn't suit the performers (looking at Alex & Sierra). Um, so, I basically expecting him to sing it flawlessly. Carson didn't have to consistently say "powerful performance," it's Jordan, we kind of guess. I expected a little more out of it but sometimes less is more. Like I said, the vocal control on him is absolutely astounding. He's able to sing softly but still make it sound very strong and powerful, not to mention when he actually started belting towards the end. Overall, that's what I'm talking about when it comes to a final performance of the season (9/10). Um, he's Jordan, do I have to explain (Overall night: 9/10)?
EMILY ANNE ROBERTS
So I really didn't like Emily at first. Okay, maybe it's a little harsh to say that I didn't like her but I paid almost no attention to her because I thought "Oh, she's totally not making it to the Top 12." Then she made it to the Top 12. Then I thought, okay, well there's no way she's sticking around too long, but here she is in the finale. Two weeks ago I realized that she was actually sort of a front runner so I started paying more attention to her (and Jeffery Austin, but that's a different story because I actually liked Jeffery Austin and was "ignoring" him on accident) and that was the first week I think she really begun to peak. The performance was stripped back and her vocals were less shrill and nasally than I thought they were when she entered the Top 24 and last week she absolutely pushed it over the top. Her vocals were not only great but she had so much personality when she was performing it was hard to not start grooving with her. It was either that or maybe just because I like the song 9 to 5 so much so we finally had something to connect on. But really, over these past few weeks I've turned into a big fan of hers and I wouldn't be mad come tomorrow night (unless she comes in dead last). Her first performance was her Christmas song and I loved the way she was dressed because she sort of looked like a part of the stage the way she was shinning along with the snowflakes that were hung up across the arena. She sounded very good, but unfortunately, that's where the good news runs short for this performance because the performance was actually really boring. She was just standing there the whole time looking bored and the nice little vocal moments she had (particularly during the middle when her voice was playing with the violin) were out-shined by the fact that she looked really, really bored (6/10). Aside from the fact that it was a little weird having Emily Anne Roberts and Blake Shelton singing a lovey duet together, they sounded pretty good. Emily just looked like she was trying to plead to the camera the whole time "Like, it's just a song, guys. I don't really love him like he's old that's gross" she just looked like she was really trying to look extremely comfortable. Interestingly, Emily vocals held up better than Blake's because he the way he sings I just feel like he never breaths when he sings. Their harmonies were a little iffy at first but as they hit the chorus a few more times, they really started to get together vocally and Emily looked more comfortable when she was in the crowd and not just alone on the stage with him, haha. I'm not saying she was actually uncomfortable, I just thought it would be really funny if she was (7.5/10). I don't know if I'd consider this performance a "moment" for her, but she sounded fairly good and her face didn't really look bored as much as it looked like her boredom was actually just being consumed in the song. She did pretty good (8/10). Emily went from nobody to one of my favorites in like a week and she may have 
BARRETT BABER
Let's all be honest, I don't think any of us really expected for Barrett to be in the finale. Like, he's cool and all but he's really just the same thing every week (if I'm going to be honest). He gives a really physical performance with pretty good vocals that get him by but I don't think he's really had a "winning" performance so far. I think Jeffery & Emily had their peak moments last week, Jordan has never hopped off of the peak of his "Voice" mountain but Barrett's really just been churning out "oh yeah, pretty good" performances every week. I've said this a million times but I just think it needs to be said once more with feeling. Welcome to The Voice, Tate Stevens! Tate Stevens was this dude on the second season of The X Factor USA who we all really thought won over the old women who watched the show (which was hilarious because Simon Cowell was trying so hard to have a youth-filled audience) or like the Christian club or whatever so he made it through to the finals and ended up beating several fan favorites. That's what I think Barrett is to this season. Not very memorable, but for some reason he's doing really well in the competition. Now when I'm talking about everybody's peak, I'm talking about the moment they proved they could win the competition. I think Barrett had his best performance of the season last week, just because he tried out something different and he didn't fall flat out on his face like he could have. It was his best performance, but I still don't think it was in the league of everyone else this season. Barrett's first performance of the night was the couch duet. So, I've been pretty vocal about how I'm not really a country fan (which is funny, considering I'm watching The Voice -- which is literally The Country). So, leave it to Barrett to have the song called "Rhinestone Cowboy," of course, nothing tops "I'll Drive Your Truck." So obviously this was a perfect combination for the two. Their voices complimented each other almost flawlessly and they were both in their genre element so for what it's worth it was a very good performance (7.5/10) -- I literally loafed the grade because I was so unattached from this performance I don't know if they did good or not. Yo, are we going to talk about how amazing his second song's production was? The set looked absolutely amazing! It really set the mood for the song he was signing. His vocals were a lot better than I expected so I was presently surprised when I was pretty into what he was doing. I never thought about it before but he gives me a very distinct Gavin DeGraw feel. The way he mixes his soulful voice with pop/country is really reminiscent of DeGraw (8/10). During his country song I just thought it was so funny that he was doing his weird faces and physical movements again. Overall, I liked this performance pretty much, the only thing I wasn't into was the audience not being able to choose a direction of which way they wanted to sway their little candles. I was really impressed with those falsetto notes he hit for the first time this season, lol, put his daughter to sleep though (7/10). Barrett had a really solid night, I don't know if a solid night is what you want in the finals but it's better than absolutely tanking (Overall night: 7/10).
So, I thought iTunes was the literal reflection of how the voting works on this show now. Apparently not because if so, Jeffery would have made it through by a landslide this week because he either peaked at either number two or number three on the charts last week. For all intense purposes, I thought he did a bang up job. Was it the same thing he does every week? Of course. Did it matter? No. He just has this fresh way of approaching all of his performances even though they all consist of him either standing at a microphone or standing close to a microphone and generally just staying in one area of the stage. I think he's coming in fourth place, honestly. I love him to pieces and would love for him to either win, or come in second because the producers are throwing all of the money onto Jordan, but there are two possibilities for him moving forward. Either he comes in fourth, or, like, not...(which I would really be excited about because I think he's awesome). His first performance was his holiday song and shockingly, it was another ballad. But I don't know if it's the scenery he constantly switches around or it's actually something with him but there's just something about Jeffery Austin that I think is really refreshing every time. I think the beginning, his vocals were really rough. And for a performer like Jeffery, who's appeal relies almost exclusively on his vocals, that was a really "Ehhhh" thing. I don't know if the time signature was just really weird or if he was off beat from the piano but that, mixed in with the fact that a few of his opening notes were really flat, made for a sort of awkward opening to the song. All was well again as he hit his stride and started belting. Maybe it was the nerves at first because the middle and towards the end was pretty solid. Unfortunately, I think this was his weakest performance to date (6.5/10). I really thought he was going to be singing Stay by Rihanna and I was so excited at first but then I heard the guitar and also Gwen said they were doing a flip on a country song so I really don't know why I'm writing all of this. The curtain-y things in the back were really cool to look at as he poured into the song. Man, Jeffery is the best at invoking some type of emotional reaction out of me. His voice alone is so raw and passionate he doesn't even need to be seen on stage, it just seemed like a privilege for us to watch him work on a stage. This wasn't my favorite performance of his but he really stepped it up from the first performance (8/10). The only truly negative thing I can say about this performance is the feeling I had when I saw that Jeffery was back already. It wouldn't take a genius to guess they were pimping out Jordan AGAIN. Dude, The Voice, can you at least be subtle about your favoritism? But luckily for my sanity, right after the performance Carson announced Emily was performing last so it was all cool. I don't think I would have been satisfied with this performance closing out an, otherwise, pretty solid season. I thought Jeffery and Gwen's duet was a little vocally exhausting to hear. I'm not that big a fan of Gwen's voice but when their voices came together, it was Gwen's voice AND it sounded like Jeffery was screaming, I'm not sure if the key was too high for him but he didn't sound that comfortable. Overall it was a decent performance, which was a let down because he's been doing so well in the competition so far (7.5/10). Jeffery sort of let me down tonight, I expected him to come back swinging but he came back with his gears shifted into normal (Overall night: 7/10)
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