‘The Voice’: OneRepublic And Hannah Huston Perform, While Miley Is Out Of Contestants

Caila Ball-Dionne | December 7, 2016 8:00 am

More than just an opportunity to plug Hairspray Live, Tuesday (December 6) night’s results episode of The Voice had a lot to accomplish. It had to bring back a past contestant to prove that they can have careers after the finale (albeit mostly on The Voice stage). It had to give coaches Miley Cyrus, Alicia Keys, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton the opportunities to tell their remaining team members that the results don’t really matter anyway. It had to eliminate four of the aforementioned remaining contestants.

Above all else, though, it had to honor The Voice’s apparent lifetime deal with Ryan Tedder. Seriously: OneRepublic seems to show up on The Voice live shows even more than the cast of Chicago Fire/PD/Whatever. Tonight, Tedder and the boys sing “Let’s Hurt Tonight,” presumably directed toward the four eliminated contestants to be.

Once that business is over with, Team Pharrell’s Season 10 finalist Hannah Huston (okay, which one of you said ‘Hannah Who-ston?’ That’s just mean!) makes her contractually obligated highly anticipated homecoming. Her performance of new single “I Alone Loved You” has kind of a modern Fleetwood Mac vibe going for it…ish. She’s not the second coming of Stevie Nicks or anything, but it’s good to see the former nursery school teacher has not reverted back to her career of helping children.

Blake Shelton has been laying low with Voice performances thus far this season, but the country singer breaks his stage silence with a performance of “A Guy With A Girl.” Picture Gwen Stefani at home singing along, and it’s a Christmas miracle.

The Results:

The fun can’t last forever, right? As Carson Daly is wont to do, the fearless timekeeper squeezes in a few results in between performances. Going into the finale with the bragging rights of highest number of semi-finals votes are…

Team Adam: Billy Gillman Team Blake: Sundance Head Team Alicia: Wé McDonald

Okay, no mind-blowing dark horses in the mix here, but a vote without any surprises is a welcome change in 2016.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, two contestants with the lowest number of votes get booted without the courtesy of an Instant Save attempt. It’s unclear if Guinness measures such things, but eliminating these two guys must have broken a record for most rasp eliminated in one foul swoop:

Team Miley: Aaron Gibson Team Adam: Brendan Fletcher

Instant Save:

Still fighting for their lives are Christian Cuevas, Ali Caldwell and Josh Gallagher.

Team Alicia’s Christian Cuevas sings Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” Truer words have never been spoken. It’s fine, but really mellow for Instant Save appeal.

“There’s never an impure moment that never comes out of his body,” says Alicia. “Your voice is incredible, you are incredible.”

“You’ve gotta bring it like you’ve never brought anything before,” Miley tells Ali Caldwell before she takes the stage to sing Rihanna’s “Sledgehammer.” Ali “brings it” in some moments, but struggles with her head voice in others.

“This is a wall right now and you just pushed through it like I knew you would,” says Miley.

Josh Gallagher has nerves of steel when he takes on Lee Brice’s “I Drive Your Truck.” Between his solid performance on Monday night, and this strong showing, he’s really starting to shine. Not Voice champion levels of shine, but ending the show on a high note nonetheless.

“There are a lot of powerhouses out there, but this guy keeps on getting better and better,” says Adam. “I truly believe that after this week, next week’s going to be the best one you’ve had this entire season.”

Let’s see if Adam’s right next week: By a pretty healthy margin (over 15 percent before the graphic is pulled in an attempt at suspense), Josh Gallagher is voted through to the finale.

Time to kick back and chill, Miley: with no contestants left, your coaching responsibilities are over until Season 13! Like the viewers at home, you can just enjoy the final contestant and special guest performances in next week’s two-part season finale.