'The Voice' Season 9 Finalists' Top 3 Performances In The 2015 Competition So Far
After this week’s stunning semifinal eliminations on NBC’s “The Voice,” the top four finalists were revealed ahead of Monday’s all-new, last performances of Season 9. With just one week left to vote for your favorite artist to win the entire competition, many may need a bit of a refresher of the performers best work on the show thus far.
With Team Pharrell completely out of the competition, it’s down to Team Adam Levine’s Jordan Smith, Team Gwen Stefani’s Jeffery Austin and Team Blake Shelton’s Emily Ann Roberts and Barrett Baber to be crowned the official winner for the 2015 season. It’s been a long journey to the final stage beginning with the initial Blind Auditions that, for some, solidified them in the audiences’ heart as the clear choice to take the entire competition this year. To help everyone get to know the remaining finalists before voting, below is a rundown of each artists’ top three performances.
Jordan Smith
Smith immediately got America’s attention with his show-stopping cover of Sia’s “Chandelier.” Thanks to the new format of Season 9, even viewers were kept from seeing Smith until all four judges chairs turned around. Although his eventual coach, Levine, took an extra beat than the others, their partnership has propelled the singer all the way to the end of the show.
“Set Fire To The Rain” by Adele
Smith captured lightening in a bottle once again during his knockout round performance where he took on the Adele hit in order to establish his dominance over his fellow contestants. Ironically, the contestant made it to the final rounds thanks to the Adele song, and People reports that he later topped her on the iTunes charts.
If his Sia cover went viral, his Queen cover went insane. He not only topped the iTunes charts, host Carson Daly revealed he received more votes to move forward in the competition than any “Voice” contestant to date.
Emily Ann Roberts
Roberts showed exactly what she was about with her early Blind Audition by covering the song “I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Womack. Levine turned first but when Shelton also turned his chair, the country singer felt like it was a no-brainer and went with the country-leaning coach, and it’s proved to be a smart decision ever since.
“In The Garden,” a gospel hymn
Roberts took on the emotional song after mostly doing covers of upbeat music in the competition. It was a bold move on behalf of her coach to show that she’s capable of a more stripped down performance, thanks to her impressive voice. The live playoff performance solidified her as a top contender to win it all.
For what was potentially her last song on “The Voice” stage, her semifinal performance was dedicated to her musical hero Dolly Parton. It was both upbeat and emotional and allowed Roberts to showcase exactly the kind of artist she wants to be with the acclaim that a “Voice” win would bring.
Barrett Baber
Baber was one of the rare performers to get all four chairs to turn before the chorus of his Blind Audition song “Angel Eyes” by the Jeff Healey Band. The song demonstrated his ability to be a versatile country artist, prompting his future coach to mention that, whether it’s country/rock, country/pop or country/soul, Baber can do it all. Since then, the artist has proved that fact time and again.
While every artist that makes it to the "Voice" top 11 is talented and unique in some way, Baber blended in with the rest of the Season 9 country singers until he took on the classic Tanya Tucker hit and proved that there’s a lot more to his talent than a nice voice with a country twang. The song was both fun and soulful and helped him prove that he deserved to stand above the rest in Season 9.
While most artists played it safe during the semifinal performances, Baber took a big risk and stepped away from the safety of full country for a more rock ballad-style song in “Ghost.” Fortunately, he once again proved that he may be the most versatile artist remaining in the competition. It certainly resonated with America’s voters as he was sent forward to the finals.
Jeffery Austin
Austin shocked the world by taking to “The Voice” stage to perform for the first time in six years (since high school). Although he only got coach Stefani’s chair to turn, both Levine and Shelton admitted that not turning their chairs for him was a mistake. Since then, the artist has put in the work and made sure that every performance is on par, if not better, than his cover of Sam Smith’s “Lay Me Down.”
Like many artists on “The Voice” one of the most difficult tasks is proving that they’re more than just a solid karaoke act. To do this, artists like Austin often pick songs like the Robyn hit about jealousy to prove that they can connect emotionally to their music. Austin did this during his top 11 performance, which quickly helped him stand out from the pack.
It was a grim-looking moment for Austin, who had to compete for a chance to perform in the finale during the final Instant Save round of Season 9. While his direct competition, Zach Seabaugh and Madi Davis, already singing like they were going home, Austin proved that he was willing to fight for every stretch of ground on “The Voice” stage. In the end, America voted to send him through by a very wide margin.
"The Voice" airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. EST on NBC.
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