NBC’s ‘The Voice’ preview: iTunes sales close for Will Champlin, Cole Vosbury, James Wolpert
For the first time for at least the past few weeks on “The Voice,” tonight’s penultimate episode could actually be very interesting in determining who ends up making it to the season finale next week. Not only that, but this could also be the first finale since the show moved to its new format in season 3 that Blake Shelton does not have a singer in the final round.
As for the reason why, you could ultimately just cite Blake’s “for better, for worse” strategy of suggesting songs for his teams that are mostly safe and appealing to a certain demographic. Most of the season Cole Vosbury being just out of the top ten would make him a lock for the next show. But on a night when every artist performed only one song, and when Tessanne Chin is getting that 5x multiplier for sure after hitting #1, it looks like he could be in trouble.
Tessanne and Jacquie Lee (sitting in the bottom half of the top ten in sales) are locks to make it to the last stage of the competition. The mystery now is going to come down to whether or not they are joined by Cole, Will Champlin, or James Wolpert. There were only a few spots on iTunes between the three, and it is really going to be up to just what sort of position Will finished in. He was around the top 10 for most of the morning, and if he gets the multiplier, that may be enough to push him over the top. Still, it wouldn’t shock us if Cole / Blake’s phone voting block helps to push him back into the top three.
All of this ultimately serves as further proof that there really is not favorite for this season. Early on, it looked like Matthew Schuler was the guy to beat in the live shows, and then it seemed to lean more towards Cole based on his consistency. A good three weeks ago, we felt like Tessanne was lacking that connection to her music to go along with that great voice; but since then she has delivered time and time again, and now has to be considered the front-runner.
You can read our full take on the performances Monday night at the link here, and we’ll have our review of the results show soon enough.
Photo: NBC