NBC’s ‘The Voice’ finale review: Jordan Smith, Jeffery Austin, Barrett Baber, Emily Ann Roberts compete

The final four contestants on “The Voice” are hitting the stage tonight with one primary goal: Trying to determine who is the right person to take home the title this season. Is anyone going to have a real shot at overtaking longtime favorite Jordan Smith? This is something that we’re going to have to figure out over the course of the two hours.

As always with these sort of reviews, we’re going to be bringing you some more updates and scoop as to what is coming up as the show goes on!

Jordan Smith, “Climb Every Mountain” – Jordan’s not used to starting this show, and this was far from his best performance. There was some weak notes in his high register tonight, even if he did have some of the same vocal power (plus the choir) that we’ve come to expect from him. He’s going to have plenty of opportunities to show more of his strength as the night goes on.

Emily Ann Roberts, “Blue Christmas” – We were really excited about this going in, but unfortunately Emily failed to mostly capture what we would say is the spirit of the song for the most part. The tone was off, and she never quite brought herself to the place where she brought Elvis’ notes to life.

Barrett Baber and Blake Shelton, “Rhinestone Cowboy” – this was a nice tribute to Glen Campbell, but other than being solid, there wasn’t anything in here that was particularly memorable. As we thought going in, this is a hard song to add any sort of “spin” to.

Jeffery Austin, “O Holy Night” – Maybe we shouldn’t have forced everyone to do three songs, or we should have left Christmas carols? We’re not sure, but these first wave of performances have not been great. Jeffery felt flat for much of this, and nobody as of yet has performed like they are out to win.

Jordan Smith and Adam Levine, “God Only Knows” – Good harmonies at the beginning, but messy towards the end and there were very few solos throughout. More than anything, there was something just off with the arrangement of this from start to finish.

Barrett Baber, “Die a Happy Man” – Sure, it’s hard to really compare this to anything else on the night, since everything to date has been disappointing. Even if there were more standout vocals, though, we still think this would be among the best. Great performance here by Barrett of a song that was just creative enough, and feels perfectly in his vein.

Emily Ann Roberts and Blake Shelton, “Islands in the Stream” – Not a bad performance, but for whatever reason it contains the trend of creepy Blake Shelton duets that we’ve had off and on for a few different seasons on the show. That was a little jarring. To elaborate, we’re speaking here in terms of the lyrics of the song! Great vocals, but not our taste.

Jeffery Austin, “Stay” – Now we’re heating up! Despite the creepy factor of Emily’s the last three performances have all been much better, and this was no exception. Heartfelt and beautiful, this was the Jeffery who has moved us the majority of this season.

Barrett Baber, “Silent Night” – We once again give Barrett the same stamp of approval we did for his “Ghost” cover. Even though we did not love the vocal, we appreciate the fact that he is a country singer who is at least trying to do things a little bit different. This was not the same carbon-copy carol we’ve heard so many times.

Jeffery Austin and Gwen Stefani, “Leather and Lace” – Jeffery probably wishes that “Stay” was his final song of the night. He and Gwen may have a good working relationship, but there wasn’t really any chemistry on stage for the two of them, or in terms of some of their vocal harmonies.

Jordan Smith, “Mary Did You Know” – A very pretty rendition of the holiday hit, and easily Jordan’s best of the night. Yet, at the same time, does anyone else feel that he may have had the weakest overall night? He may have to rely on his fans to carry the day, since he’s at least vulnerable.

Emily Ann Roberts, “Burning House” – Really good performance at about the best time possible. Just by virtue of singing two out of her three performances really well, she may actually have delivered the best night overall. Blake even acknowledged more or less that Jordan is pegged to win at the end of this, but an upset is at least possible in theory.

Who did you like the most tonight on “The Voice”? Vote below, and click here to see where we ranked everyone going in! Also, head over here to get some other TV news on everything we cover, sent right to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)