The Voice 8 Final 4 Live Blog and VIDEOS

The four singers will perform a new song, an original song and a duet with their coach. ONLY SOLOS will count as iTunes downloads! Click to check out tonight’s Song Spoilers.

The show opens with a video package of the Final Four talking about their journey, the coaches on their charges. Plus an introduction to the finalists. Blake promises it will be the BEST FINALE we’ve EVER SEEN.

The entire Top 20 are in the audience!

Koryn Hawthorne – Team Pharrell – It’s a Man’s World – Carson sits down with the contestants for a chat. Koryn feels “How Great Thou Art” and “Make it Rain” were turning points. She gives her mom credit for making her strong. She’s just getting to know her dad, who was in and out of jail most of her life. Sounds very Kellie Picklerish. Koryn looks beautiful tonight! She’s also giving the rest of the competition a run for their money. This is fierce. One of her best performances to date.  Her intonation is very good. In control, she obviously wants to win.  TESTIFY GIRL. TELL THEM HELL YES. Koryn’s taking us to church tonight. Honest to God, this is giving me chills. Bravo! Koryn is NOT messing around. Adam says they are all “unbelievably proud” of her. “You did it, sis,” says Blake, “That’s your best performance yet.” Christina hopes she had the best time “embodying that song.” The room is filled with stage smoke! Pharrell asks everyone to stand. He’s amazed at how she controlled the band, the room, “You are born for this,” he says.  – Download from iTunes

http://dai.ly/x2qnc2v

Meghan Linsey – Team Blake – Change My Mind by Meghan Linsey – This is Meghan’s original song. “This is the launch of Meghan Linsey, soul singer,” says Blake. Unfortunately, her most popular performances are country. She wrote this song. It’s about coming out the other side of a hard relationship. During the studio recording session, Blake advises her to dump all of her emotion into the lyric. “In that last chorus you’re like a tiger!” Blake says, impressed. This is actually a really good song. It’s obviously such a personal sentiment for her, her feelings are right on the surface–raw and powerful. It’s a really solid adult contemporary song. I’m still not sure where she’d fit on pop radio. Oh. She actually wrote the song years ago with co-writers. “You looked beautiful up there. You did a great job,” says Christina. Adam is so proud that the contestants can share the contestants music for the very first time. “You guys wrote the hell out of that song,” says Blake.  – Download from iTunes

https://youtu.be/7sbHzioQuC4

Carson is up in the sky box with Robb, Hannah and a few others. Let’s check out some tweets! The Top 20 will perform a group number tomorrow on the finale.

Sawyer Fredericks + Pharrell Williams – Team Pharrell – Summer Breeze by Seals & Croft – It’s hippie dippie time, with Sawyer and Pharrell on a round pedestal surrounded by tambourine playing folks in bean bag chairs.  This is actually…really weird. An odd song choice that neither sounds comfortable singing. Straight up–it’s pretty dreadful. Sawyer is straining for notes. Pharrell is singing in this weird sing/song lower register that isn’t the melody. Lots of off pitch singing. TURN DOWN THE BAND. Thank God these duets don’t count for votes. And if you’re going to sing a song from the 70s, at least pick a tune that isn’t Top 40 trash.  – Download from iTunes

https://youtu.be/3e8W2VcTlFg

Joshua Davis – Team Adam – The Workingman’s Hymn by Joshua Davis – He’s from Detroit. Joshua wrote the song for his kids. He  wants them to know there’s always hope. Adam coaches him on ad libbing. “If you’re afraid to sound like an idiot, you’re not going to come up with good ad libs,” he advises. So that explains it. Heh. A very Bruce Springsteen-esque tune about the middle class not losing hope in the face of hard times. It’s derivative of stuff we’ve heard before, but the melody is good!  Joshua needs to find a label that specializes in hot adult rock or Americana. I’m not sure this is the kind of song that will move the masses to buy. That will likely be “Hallelujah” coming up later in the show. Aw. His baby wearing a big set of noise blocking headphones. Cute. “You’re a great songwriter,” says Blake. “This is you writing a FANTASTIC song,” says Adam, “You need to vote for this dude!”  – Download from iTunes

https://youtu.be/URGZFxOUbEA

Video package featuring Starbucks awarding The Voice fans with 100 dollar gift cards and tickets to the finale.

Sawyer Fredericks – Team Pharrell – Please by Ray LaMontagne (unreleased) – Ray sent a song for him! Sawyer is blown away. He feels it’s very close to his original work. Sawyer sang his own harmonies on his studio recording! Ray crafts such gorgeous songs. It’s perfect for him. Just Sawyer and his guitar, band is laying back and allowing his arresting voice to sit front and center. That was lovely. If his original music approximates that vibe, he’s going to be fantastic. AAA radio here he comes.  When Adam was sixteen, he would have been blown away if a hero (Eddie Vedder)  handed him a song. Pharrell congratulates the band. “I really got to hear somebody’s dream come true,” he says.   – Download from iTunes

https://youtu.be/seVWgzcrdUs

Koryn Hawthorne + Pharrell Williams – We Can Work it Out by The Beatles – Pharrell is still stinking up the joint. What is wrong with him tonight? This is such a weird song choice for them. Koryn is handling it as best she can, but the song is out of her wheelhouse. She’s singing rings around Pharrell. He needs to exit and allow her to sing the rest. She takes his arm, they wander into the audience and back again. What’s with the weird strolling? Her yellow dress is on point, though.  –  Download from iTunes

https://youtu.be/1T4QuTtQEvw

Joshua Davis – Team Adam – Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen – Carson reminds Joshua that he picked Blake instead of Adam in the blinds. OOPS. “Fields of Gold” is checked as a moment. Adam wants ANOTHER moment for Joshua. Lacking an imagination, apparently, he goes to the go-to moment song, Hallelujah. SIGH. Adam advises him to not hold back. Joshua sings a gentle version. It’s beautiful. I’ve heard better, but it is lovely. Josh has a way of changing up the melodies of cover songs ever so subtly.  On the second verse, he really lets go in a way that he usually does not. He ends the song in a whisper. Yeah, that should do well on the charts. Christina has seen so much versatility from him. She calls the performance “heartwarming.”  Adam is so happy that he went for it. – Download from iTunes

http://dai.ly/x2qnc5t

Meghan Linsey + Blake Shelton– Team Blake – Freeway of Love by Aretha Franklin –  This is also a really weird song choice. These coaches duets. What the hell? An Aretha Franklin pop song from the 80s. Alrighty then.  Blake is completely out of element. Like Pharrell, he needs to leave the stage and let Meghan do her thing. She’s handling her part ably.  – Download from iTunes

https://youtu.be/hbnkhFgM4v4

Joshua Davis + Adam Levine – Team Adam – Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes by Paul Simon – And once again, the student outsings the coach. Josh’s voice has more character than Adam’s smooth, rather bland falsetto. He also needs to leave the stage and let his charge take over. Here come the background singers, here to add a little African flavor. Ha ha. Josh & Adam = Simon & Garfunkel. Only, Art’s pure soprano can’t be matched.   –  Download from iTunes

https://youtu.be/kBbHD-ltPm0

Koryn Hawthorne – Team Pharrell – Bright Fire by Pharrell Williams – So, Pharrell wrote this song. He says he wrote it, and couldn’t figure out how to finish it. She inspired him. Pharrell advises Koryn to pretend she’s at church as she records. This isn’t a great song, but Koryn is singing the hell out of it. There isn’t much of a melody here, and literally no hook. Geez, Pharrell dumping his leftovers on Koryn. She’ll be at the bottom of iTunes again. But it’s not like she had a snowball’s chance in hell of winning. Adam is all PHARRELL GAVE YOU A SONG MAN. Christina is so happy! She feels this moment wouldn’t have happened without Pharrell. She still seems a little butthurt, to be honest. “He is our bright fire! This girl is special,” Pharrell declares.  – Download from iTunes

https://youtu.be/oq51dPvqh3w

Meghan Linsey – Team Blake – When a Man Loves a Woman by Percy Sledge – Remember? Blake didn’t turn around for her initially. I can’t believe he didn’t recognize her voice. Amazing Grace was a big turning point. Aw. She’s in a happy relationship now. WHOA there’s some oversinging going on in rehearsal. Lots of calls to Meghan’s transformation to a soul singer. But not really, because all of her big songs were either gospel or country. Everybody is going for big moments tonight, picking tried and true barn burners. It’s a little boring, to be honest. She’s singing this as well as you’d expect, but it would be nice to have a few surprises.  The last chorus — SUPER SCREAMY. Dial it back, girl. Pharrell says Meghan has completely re-written her future. Adam talks about her “7th gear” as if it’s a good thing. Blake thinks that performance could change the course of events. Dream on, Blake. –  Download from iTunes

http://dai.ly/x2qnc7r

Sawyer Fredericks – Team Pharrell – Old Man by Neil Young – Carson calls him the “King of iTunes.” SO DID I.  Sawyer had a ton of firsts during The Voice experience. Pharrell assures him he’ll be singing for the rest of his life. Wow. This cover sounds fantastic already in rehearsal. Sawyer explains the lyrics, like a much older person would. There’s a backdrop of…hanging acoustic guitars? OK. “24 there’s so much more.” He’s eight years away from that age. I liked this better in rehearsal. A stripped back version would have been better, and I’m not loving the way he changes up the melody. I’m very very attached to the Neil Young version, though. The best line was the last, sung acappella. Adam tells him to never lose sight of his purity and his sanctity. Christina confesses that she was shocked when he chose Pharrell, but thinks it was the best choice. “You’re living the dream, I’m so happy I’m anywhere near your dream.” –  Download from iTunes

http://dai.ly/x2qnc9k

Phone Numbers:

Koryn Hawthorne – 1-855-864-2301 Text Sprint 1 to 8642
Meghan Linsey – 1-855-864-2302 Text Sprint 2 to 8642
Joshua Davis – 1-855-864-2303 Text Sprint 3 to 8642
Sawyer Fredericks – 1-855-864-2304 Text Sprint 4 to 8642