‘The Voice’: Sawyer Fredericks, Koryn Hawthorne, Joshua Davis & Meghan Linsey Debut New Songs

Though Carson Daly refrained from adding in one last twist in the last performance show of The Voice Season 8, an organic twist found its way in there anyway. Somehow, between last week and last night, The Voice became The Writer. The two out of four artists who wrote and performed their own songs for the first time ever were primarily celebrated art for their writing abilities, with a secondary focus on – ya know – their voices. Spinoff potential?

The final four each performed three songs Monday night: an original, a coach duet and a song pretty much thrown in to get the show to the two-hour mark. Koryn “High School Pizza Making Powerhouse” Hawthorne and Sawyer “man-genue” Fredericks went to bat for Team Pharrell, Meghan “Clone of Xtina” Linsey gave it her best for Team Blake Shelton, and Joshua “Wait, seriously he’s still in the competition?” Davis defied all odds to stay in there for Team Adam Levine.

Christina Aguilera chimed in to from time to time, but she mostly sat there bitterly watching what should have been her year be taken over by the men folk.

Here are the last showings from the finalists before the victor is crowned tonight!

Team Pharrell: Koryn Hawthorne

Original: Koryn Hawthorne inspired Pharrell to write her original song, “Bright Fire,” an R&B gospel number that the two are incredibly excited to debut. Koryn sings it with spirit, and Pharrell adorably sings along from his chair.

“This moment would not have happened for you without this man as your coach,” says former coach Christina.

“My heart is beating so fat right now, because we did it. We got to sing this song in front of everybody,” says Pharrell. “It’s just like the lyric says, ‘He is our bright fire.’”

Duet: Koryn and Pharrell sing a funky version of The Beatles’ “Try To See It My Way.” It is, perhaps, the best duet performance the show has ever seen. High energy, fun, both singers equally engaged, and does not take itself too seriously. It truly is a delight.

And to get to two hours…. Angry Koryn is perfection. Sure, it’s lovely when she sings to the lord, but her controlled ferocity singing James Brown’s “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World” is Tina Turner-esuqe.

“All four of us sitting in these chairs, I can promise you, we can put the competition aside to say that we are all so unbelievably proud of you,” says Adam.

“Everybody should stand up for her right now,” says Pharrell, prompting a second standing ovation. “You were born for this, and I’m so happy that you are on my team.”

Team Pharrell: Sawyer Fredericks

Original: Win or lose, Sawyer Fredericks got to live the young musician’s dream singing a song his idol Ray LaMontagne wrote specifically for him. The LaMontagne-penned “Please” is tailored perfectly to Sawyer’s vocals, and he does his idol proud when he performs it (Or at least we can assume as much: LaMontagne does not actually stop by to join The Voice family. Respect.).

“You win. I don’t even care what happens. That’s the coolest thing ever,” Adam says about Sawyer getting a song written for him by Ray LaMontagne.

“This was a moment for me because honestly I got to watch someone’s dream come true,” says Pharrell.

Duet: Sawyer and Pharrell team up to sing Seals And Crofts’ “Summer Breeze.” In terms of Pharrell’s collaboration performances on The Voice, it’s less misogynistic than “Blurred Lines” with Robin Thicke and T.I., less shiny fabric-focused than “Start The Fire” with Gwen Stefani, and less obviously high than “California Roll” with Snoop Dogg. So…win!

And to get to two hours…Sawyer, who Carson calls “The King of iTunes,” performs Neil Young’s “Old Man.” It’s lovely that he ends his **shudder** journey in the same way he started it: with a folk rock song that would have turned all four chairs all over again.

“The purity and the sanctity of what you do – I know you won’t – but don’t lose sight of that,” says Adam.

“Regardless of what happens, you’re living the dream and I’m so happy that I’m anywhere near your dream,” says Pharrell.

Team Blake: Meghan Linsey

Original: Watch out, because someone gets a heavenly dry ice piano for her original performance. That somebody is Meghan Linsey, who is the first contestant ever to perform a song she penned herself. Standing in front of a set piece from Ice Capades Does Frozen, Meghan performs “Change My Mind.” It’s not the best song ever written, unless you are Blake Shelton, in which case: the Grammy goes to…

“I’m really happy Meghan, that you did this, and Joshua did this also,” says Adam, making sure to include his own contestant in there. “I love the song, and I also just love the fact that you did it.”

“I gotta hand it to you, you guys wrote the hell out of that song,” says Blake. “That hook is so strong, so powerful.”

Duet: Blake and Meghan reunite on the stage to sing “Freeway Of Love.” Blake’s microphone seems to be turned down low, yet the song doesn’t suffer even a little bit for Meghan taking the lead.

And to get to two hours…Meghan’s final competition song is Percy Sledge’s “When A Man Loves a Woman.” Meghan has shown tremendous growth since her Blind Audition performance of “Love Hurts,” and it’s a great – albeit done to death – way to go out.

“You’ve just completely re-written your future, and you’re up here now singing the music that you want to sing, and sharing it with people,” says Pharrell.

“I guarantee you, no matter what’s going on, if there’s a performance that could have happened tonight to share the course f events, I’m telling you so far, that was the performance of the night so far.”

Team Adam: Joshua Davis

Original: Joshua Davis misses being the first performer to sing his own original song on The Voice by, like, 20 minutes. The Buzz Aldrin to Meghan Linsey’s Neil Armstrong sings, “The Workingman’s Hymn,” a jam with a Bruce Springsteen lite vibe to it. He looks happy as hell to be singing his own work for a change, and the coaches are just as happy for him.

“You’re a great songwriter, dude,” says Blake. “That song’s freakin’ stuck in my head.”

“It’s an amazing step that we’ve taken on this show to be able to sing your own song,” says Adam. “This is you writing a fantastic song.”

Duet: Joshua and Adam sing Paul Simon’s “Diamonds On The Soles of Her Shoes.” It’s another delightful duet performance that has the ladies screaming. Props to the chorus of middle-aged male back up singers, though, who really steal the show with their unexpected booty shaking.

And to get to two hours…Well, they almost got through an entire season without breaking out “Hallelujah,” but Joshua brings back Leonard Cohen’s oft-covered jam just in time for the finals. What can be said about it that hasn’t been said about every time this song has been covered? It’s well done? He gets lost in it? How emotional?

Listen: it’s fine, but it’s been done.to.death.

“I’m really excited to have had the opportunity to watch you grow throughout this competition,” says Christina. “That was so heart warming, and you were just so right on.”

“I wanted to make sure that this was the time that you were going to have that uncontrollable bubbling over of emotion and passion for what you do,” says Adam.

“I’m so happy that you accessed that for this part of the competition.”

And there it is: the end of the season! Well, almost the end of the season; there’s just one recap hour and two results hours between now and the crowning of the next Voice champion! Filling said two results hours are superstar guest performances by Meghan Trainor, Ed Sheeran, Kelly Clarkson, Sheryl Crow, Luke Bryan and more!

Also on tonight’s show, everyone’s favorite game of “Who dat?” Get ready for a confusing trip down memory lane when the “others” of the Top 20 make their grand return to the Voice stage.

Last call for predictions! Which contestant is most likely to walk away with the title and the record deal, and which contestants will go home with a sponsored car consolation prize?