‘The Voice’ UK finale review: Sally Barker, Jamie Johnson, Jermain Jackman state case
We’re just about to the moment of truth for “The Voice” UK finalists, and this will be the last article where we review any of her performances before the results are ultimately read out to the British public.
There are some reprisals of popular songs coming in the episode, but we’re not too interested in rehashing past performances. Instead, the focus of this article is going to be more on the new numbers that we hear from the finalists, and trying to make a judgment as to who is really the most deserving of that grand prize and the title of champ.
Round One – Individual Performances
4. Jermain Jackson, “Wrecking Ball” – We appreciate will.i.am’s intention to get Jermain out there taking some risks, but to us, there were actually some parts of this performance that just felt weird to listen to. The low notes are impressive, but they felt out of place, and there were a couple of times where he felt off with the backing choir. It was a full-on wreck, but it was like the wrecking ball missed the wall that it was trying to destroy by just an inch or two.
3. Jamie Johnson, “Missing You” – A very good performance from Jamie as he tried to get himself to the top of the leaderboard. There actually wasn’t anything wrong with it technically, but the issue that he runs into is mostly just that he’s not old enough yet to really get some of the emotional connection he really needs. The best part of this to us? The canned “is Jamie that boy or girl?” commentary afterwards. Think before you speak, people!
2. Sally Barker, “Both Sides Now” – A brilliant song choice from Sally, and another reminder that the ladies are totally killing it on “The Voice” UK this season. Sally’s not the singer with the biggest voice, but hearing her sing is like getting tucked into bed with a book that you love to read. You just have such an emotional reaction to almost every note that she sings. It’s brilliant that way.
1. Christina Marie, “Fix You” – We’ll never admit that “Fix You” is a song that feels refreshing to hear on a singing show. It’s been overdone to the point where the remains of it are dust on the street. The one probably that we’ve always had for it is that this Coldplay hit is incredible, but it’s about the crescendo. It’s hard to get the full emotional power of the song when it’s cut down to just two or so minutes. With this being said, Christina did the best she possibly could, and this may be the best edition of “Fix You” we’ve ever heard on a singing show. Well done! There’s a reason why we said going into this that Christina and Sally were the favorites.
Round Two – The Duets
4. Jermain Jackman, “Pure Imagination” – This was … weird. We appreciate the thoguht that Will put into it, but it just felt at the end of the day far too cheesy to ever be taken that seriously. At least Jermain got to go to Buckingham Palace in the pre-taped segment.
3. Christina and the Kaiser Chiefs, “Coming Home” – Ricky felt more natural than he has performing in the hodgepodge of coaches. This was nice, but we don’t think we’re going to get anything that excellent from these.
2. Jamie Johnson and Kylie Minogue, “There Must Be An Angel” – First of all, Kylie managed to do something just as impressive as Will in the pre-tape by getting Justin Timberlake of all people. We never in a million years thought he would appear on this show! This performance itself was maybe a little cheesy, but it was really fun! They seemed to enjoy being on stage together, and the harmonies were solid.
1. Sally Barker and Tom Jones, “Walking in Memphis” – A song that we feel personally connected to, and this is one of those songs that actually feels appropriate for older artists to sing given all the history in the lyrics. Also, Tom putting his money where his mouth is! He confirmed here that he’ll perform a duet with Sally on her album.
Who was your favorite during this part of the finale? Let us know below, and we’ll update this article with a link to the results once they are made clear. You can also sign up now to get further updates worth singing about via our CarterMatt Newsletter.
Photo: BBC