Everything "The Voice"

Last night was the #VoiceFinale and what a star-studded line-up it was! From Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson lighting up the stage singing (and dancing in sync to) "Uptown Funk" to The Voice girls absolutely KILLING "Bang Bang" to Matt McAndrew performing with Fall Out Boy, Craig Wayne Boyd performing with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Damien performing with Jennifer Hudson, and Chris Jamison performing with Jessie J, it was definitely a night to remember! And after all these rounds of Blind Auditions, Battles, Knockouts, and Lives, we finally have a winner...

#TeamBlake's Craig Wayne Boyd!

Congratulations to the country rocker for being crowned #TheVoice last night!

But how did he do it despite the fact that Matt McAndrew's original single still holds the #1 spot? Let's investigate.

There are a lot of things that go into voting and a wide variety of people who actually vote. I was looking earlier this week and Matt and Chris were both leading in interaction on Twitter BY FAR. It would look like a blow out from the amount of retweets and favorites for the two #TeamAdam singers but taking one look at The Voice's Facebook page, Craig Wayne Boyd was clearly winning over that crowd (which generally skews older and is more likely to vote). This all goes without mentioning that he was the only member of #TeamBlake left, so all Blake Shelton fans and all country fans were calling/downloading/logging on to vote solely for Craig. (Singing "The Old Rugged Cross," and his words about why he chose the hymn after, didn't hurt either!) He has been a performer since the beginning, always looking like he was having a blast on stage, and his consistency and solid vocals won him this competition. In Adam's case, while he had a very strong team and an especially great showing in the Finale, his fan base was split between three incredible vocalists. I have to imagine that the voting was one of the closest in The Voice history!

Did Craig deserve the win? In my opinion, he didn't NOT deserve to win, I just think that Matt deserved it more. And I think Chris should've slipped into second place over Craig for his performances this week, honestly. Craig will be a great addition to country radio, and a great performer at Stagecoach, but Matt is a dynamic vocalist and I could imagine his songs being popular on Top 40 radio stations. His pure vocal ability and unique approach to songs will take him far, win or lose. Was "Over the Rainbow" his downfall? Maybe...but he has a place in today's music scene and I am hoping that he has a chance to check that box sooner rather than later.

In the real world, a #1 single is a win.

Not only are all of these singers performing, but each contestant will be doing a song with one of them as well! Here are the pairings for tonight.

Matt McAndrew and Fall Out Boy- "Centuries"

Chris Jamison and Jessie J

Craig Wayne Boyd and Lynyrd Skynyrd

Damien and Jennifer Hudson

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This is the moment I've been waiting for: Matt McAndrew in the finale. Matt especially benefitted from the original song because he has such a singer-songwriter vibe and can really sing anything, so this gave the audience an opportunity to hear what an album of his would sound like. And according to the iTunes charts (and his #1 position), America liked what it heard.

"Wasted Love"- I'll start by commenting on the photo. Classic Matt falling to his knees at the climax of the song! Okay now that that's out of the way, this performance was amazing. Seriously unreal. Incredible. I don't know what else to say about it but he is really a talent that you don't come across often (or ever). The choir behind him only made this more epic but if he had an album of songs like this, I'd be first in line to buy it. After jumping from Beach Boys to Hozier to Damien Rice to Ed Sheeran to U2, it's refreshing to know that he has potential as an actual artist too and not just covering songs. Matt is the one to beat and this song/performance only proved that to me again! A+

"Lost Stars"- So before I said that Chris and Adam's duet was my favorite but this is a VERY close second. At first I wasn't paying super close attention to who was singing and thought that Adam just took this song as an opportunity to show off his newest hit, but then I realized that Matt was right there beside him and keeping pace with Adam singing HIS OWN SONG. Not to mention his mixed voice was perfection in the chorus: he sang "I thought I heard you call my name" and I simultaneously died. A

After becoming the first ever #VoiceWildcard last week, Damien was back to try to win this thing. While Damien is a strong vocalist, I think this was proof that the Wildcard Round can't happen this late in the game. Damien would've had to have a game-changing performance for him to even be in the running but did that happen? My thoughts below.

"A Song For You"- I don't like when artists do songs that other artists have done (better) on the show before. The whole time Damien was singing, all I could think about was when Delvin Choice KILLED this song last season and when Jesse Campbell sang it (also better than Damien) in Season 2. It was by no means a bad performance, but it wasn't a great one either. B

"Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me"- Another great duet with Adam Levine, but why would you ever expect anything else from the coach with 3 of the 4 finalists? These two did this classic song justice, mostly because of the epic ending. Other than that, it was just a good performance. B+

Before I get into it, it's worth noting that if Chris Jamison wins this thing, he'll be the first singer in The Voice's history to win after being in the Bottom 3/4 (and being saved by the Twitter Instant Save). And he's got a shot at it for sure! With all three of last night's performances, he reminded us why he made it all the way to the #VoiceFinale. Let's take a look at his performances (two of which ended up in the iTunes Top 10).

"Lost Without U"- I love that these two finally had a chance to sing together! They are very similar in their vocal style and Chris proved he has the chops to be on stage next to a powerhouse like Adam Levine. I had never heard this song before last night but their harmonies were on point and this was, without a doubt, my favorite duet of the night. A+

"Velvet"- Again with the "making Chris Jamison super sexual" thing. This one went a little overboard for me. Ever since he sang "Sexual Healing," this has been his niche but I guess he nails it so it works out. The staging for his original song was a little awkward, with all the mirrors and him ending facing away from the audience, but overall a good performance. His voice sounded awesome on this song and it felt like something you would see on the VMAs to me. A-

First of all, I just want to say that adding the original songs was a great move on The Voice's part. We finally get an idea of and a feel for what these singers will do after the show! To kick off the #VoiceFinale Recap, Craig Wayne Boyd had another night of strong performances, representing the only chance of #TeamAdam losing this competition and proving that he is a country star in the making! 

"My Baby's Got a Smile On Her Face"- This is a song I could definitely imagine playing on today's country radio. Would I listen to it? Ehh, but I can see why country fans love Craig! The only problem with this song was that it is great to introduce his voice into an original tune, but it wasn't a Voice Finale-worthy song to me. He's proven himself time and time again and this seemed to be more of the same (which is a good thing in this case, but nothing outstanding to me). B+

"Boots On"- No one has more fun on stage than Craig and Blake joined in on what seemed liked a blast! This song gave them both an opportunity to just jam up there and it was super entertaining to watch. The vocals were nothing especially amazing but the performance value was high with this one. A-