‘The Voice’: Jordan Smith Wins, Missy Elliott, Justin Bieber, Coldplay & More Perform
You have to give it to The Voice: they put on a great variety show. With the non-stop onslaught of performances in last night’s finale, it was more like the AMAs than a reality competition results show – other than the obligatory cheeseball packages and branded giveaways, of course. Missy Elliott, Justin Bieber, Coldplay, Usher, The Weeknd, Sam Hunt, Tori Kelly, Wynona Judd and Ricky Skaggs all performed, along with the top 24 contestants from the season.
All those killer performances took two hours, until eventually a Season 9 winner was chosen from Emily Ann Roberts, Jordan Smith, Jeffrey Austin and Barrett Baber. These performances are worth peeping, though, before we get to that.
The Top 24 perform Major Lazer and DJ Snake’s “Lean On.” How quickly most of their names get forgotten, but it was a walk down memory lane with Gwen Stefani’s Braiden Sunshine, Korin Bukowski, Viktor Király, Regina Love and Ellie Lawrence; Adam Levine’s Shelby Brown, Amy Vachal, Blaine Mitchell, Keith Semple and Chance Peña; Pharrell Wiliams’, Madi Davis, Darius Scott, Evan McKeel, Celeste Betton, Riley Biederer, and Mark Hood; and Blake Shelton’s Nadjah Nicole, Zach Seabaugh, Morgan Frazier, and Ivonne Acero. Each got their moment to accompany Emily Ann, Jordan, Jeffrey and Barrett, and we can only hope that one of them defies odds and lands a career like Voice alum Melanie Martinez.
From the selection of returners, Barrett Baber brings back his bud Zach Seabaugh to perform Randy Travis’ “Forever And Ever, Amen.” Zach was so close to the finals, but doesn’t seem bitter as he belts out the country tune with Barrett.
Former mentor Chris Martin and the rest of Coldplay continue their publicity tour for album A Head Full Of Dreams by performing “Adventure Of A Lifetime.” Trying to top their performance on The X Factor UK from earlier this week, they pull out all the stops — in this case meaning dancing gorillas and a balloon drop. Guys: balloon drops and confetti cannons are typically reserved for when the winner is announced. Get it together.
Celeste Betton, Darius Scott, Mark Hood, Nadjah Nicole and Regina Love form a “super group” (of non-finalists) to perform “Love Train” by The O’Jays. Every time Regina hits the stage during this finale, it makes you wish she had survived a few more rounds. What a powerhouse.
Emily Ann Roberts performs with “Country Boy” with “her idol,” Ricky Skaggs. Granted, this idol story line only comes up on the finale, but maybe it was a secret idol situation up to this point. Anyway, she holds her own strumming up there, but (wisely) leaves the expert picking to the bluegrass legend.
Jeffrey Austin brings back Madi Davis to perform Amy Winehouse’s “Tears Dry On Their Own.” Madi is on point, and should totally be competing in this finale, or – better yet – recording an album. Girl, you don’t need a Voice trophy to make it in this world!
The world stops and perfection reigns when former advisor Missy Elliott performs “WTF” with Pharrell. There is everything from ’90s metallic jumpsuits to lifelike Missy and Pharrell puppets to children dancing. Listen, it may be totally lip-synced, but it’s also totally entertaining. Just end the show now and e-mail us the winners later.
Oh, okay — we’re carrying on? Might as well get Usher in the mix then. He pairs up with Jordan Smith to sing David Guetta’s “Without You.” It’s hard to follow Missy and Pharrell, but the duo is pitch perfect. In a classic move, Usher checks his watch when Jordan holds out one of his signature long notes.
Not to go too long without a country song, Sam Hunt is up next singing “Break Up In A Small Town.” It’s fine, but honestly the spoken lyrics and laid-back vibe doesn’t stand out after Missy and Usher. Next!
Moving back to the pop zone, Grammy nominee Tori Kelly joins Jeffrey Austin to sing “Hollow.” It’s a solid performance from the rising star — or maybe even rising stars — but feels kind of lost in the medley of a zillion performances.
Annnnd back to country. The legendary Wynona Judd joins Barrett Baber to sing “No One Else On Earth,” because it’ not an episode of The Voice without some ’90s country. Wynona goes overboard with the hair sparkles, because her legend status gives her unlimited glitter privileges, apparently. Star perks!
The Weeknd sings a medley of “The Hills,” “Earned It,” and “I Can’t Feel My Face.” He works the stage and gets the crowd back into it, which, at the 90-minute mark, is quite a feat!
Jordan brings back Korin Bukowski, Evan McKeel, Regina Love, Amy Vachal, and Mark Hood to sing Journey’s “Any Way You Want It.” Sure, Jordan lets the rest have their moments, but it’s all about his soaring vocals in the guilty pleasure belter. He is the finalist, after all.
In her last performance as a contestant, Emily Ann brings back Ivonne Acero, Nadjah Nicole, Riley Biedeierer, Morgan Frazier, and Shelby Brown to sing “Summer Nights” by Rascal Flatts. It’s kind of like if the Spice Girls and LFO had a baby and brought it up in Oklahoma…but in a good way?
They save the Biebs for last! Closing out the pre-results night is Justin Bieber, who sings “Sorry.” He begins with a stripped down version behind the piano, but eventually amps it up to the dancing and flash one comes to expect. Backstage, Usher is either beaming with pride…or already gone, because he doesn’t have to deal with coaching duties this season.
And now the moment we’ve all been waiting for: another Missy Elliott performance! Kidding — though how great would that have been? Instead, they use the last four minutes to deliver the results, which are…
Fourth place: Team Gwen’s Jeffrey Austin. But he would definitely get first place in a Sam Smith sing-off!
Third place: Barrett Baber. The country vote is strong, y’all.
Second Place: Emily Ann Roberts. The young country singer came really close, and looked like she could have pulled an upset but…
First place: Jordan Smith.
This was a foregone conclusion. Moments after he exclaims, “Oh my god — it’s heavy. It’s so heavy!” about the trophy (or perhaps some sort of existential crisis about the weight of new fame, who knows), Jordan busts into a perfect version of “Climb Every Mountain.” Basically, he’d be pitch perfect even in an apocalypse, which the stage started to resemble with confetti cannons, pyrotechnics, Adam holding Jordan’s mom in a long embrace, and Pharrell trying in vain to talk to Jordan mid-song.
And so wraps Season 9 of The Voice, as another winner seizes the world filled with great expectations and errant confetti. Do you think we’ll see anything big come from Jordan Smith? Or any of the others? And how great was Missy Elliott?
