NBC’s ‘The Voice’ rankings: Josiah Hawley enters the mix; Danielle Bradbery tops

“The Voice” season 4 is turning into an interesting phenomenon. Even at this point last season, it was starting to become at least relatively apparent that we were going to end up seeing Cassadee Pope win the show. However, this time around, it really doesn’t feel like there is any clear-cut favorite. While the show has sold Judith Hill to us heavily, the iTunes sales (usually a pretty good indicator) do not show that she is out in front. Meanwhile, we have artists bouncing back after poor outings, and strong performers getting lost in the shuffle.

Our ultimate translation here is pretty simple: Nobody is really 100% safe this season, and we’re not just saying that to emphasize the old cliches.

10. Kris Thomas (last week: 6) – Even with Vedo gone now, he still runs the risk of getting lost. These shows are all about flash-bang vocals and creating a big story, and he’s more of a low-key guy. Unless Shakira really gets to work on trying to make him stand out, she could be looking at not having a team for most of the later part of this competition.

9. Sasha Allen (5) – We say the same exact thing for Sasha in terms of needing to step it up after a lukewarm take on “Alone.” Her problem is not that she is low-key, instead it’s just that there are a whole heap of powerhouse female singers in the competition, and she has to find a way to stand out if she has any shot at all of this.

8. Holly Tucker (10) – We don’t see all three of Blake Shelton’s country acts in the finale, and one of them is going to fall earlier then the rest. We still feel like Holly’s talented, but her “Broken Wing” did not exactly light up the iTunes charts on the same level as her competitors. This means trouble in a week or two unless she manages to have a breakout hit.

7. Josiah Hawley (12) – To be honest, Josiah was one of those guys that was really easy to write off last week, mostly because we hadn’t seen what he was capable of emotionally. But with “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved,” he proved himself as something more than just a good-looking guy to pull votes from the ladies. He has a talent, and a natural sort of sweetness to his voice.

6. Sarah Simmons (7) – Sarah, Holly, and Amber Carrington will all suffer from a similar problem in that they are all in a similar age group, have huge voices, and audiences eventually run the risk of tuning at least one or two of them out. It may sound weird to say, but it probably helps one of them if the other two go home.

5. Amber Carrington (4) – For more explanation as to why she is ranked here, rather than #3 or #2 (where she probably is in terms of talent), all you have to do is look above.

4. Michelle Chamuel (1) – While we will likely remain Michelle’s biggest champion all season long, her most-recent performance did raise an interesting question: Is she somebody that the voting public is going to get every week? It’s not nice to generalize, but we feel like Midwestern folk are going to vote for someone who sings familiar songs all the time rather than someone who is electronic and a little bit more outside of the box.

3. Judith Hill (3) – It’s hard to put Judith any higher than this, given the sales of her records so far. At the same time, it’s also hard to put Judith any lower than this on the basis of screen time and performance quality. She’s a better performer than Trevin Hunte last year, but she may be similar to him in that many of her votes are not showing up in the iTunes sales.

2. The Swon Brothers (8) – Watch out, America: Blake could be gearing up for another final two. These guys are fresh off a touching tribute to the late George Jones, and with there being so few guys left, it makes them stand out even more. We don’t think they will blow anyone away with their vocal ability, but they have great humor and an emotional connection that will bring people in.

1. Danielle Bradbery (1) – This would probably be a perfect-world scenario for both Blake and for the show. Danielle is the sort of singer who is extremely talented, and also young and raw enough when it comes to her voice that she could really make it in the country-pop world. Therefore, if she wins, she likely has a better shot than any winner ever on this show of making it big. With her iTunes sales staying strong, expect to see a lot more of her.

Who do you have at the top of your “Voice” power rankings? As always, we have a poll for you below! Meanwhile, you can also read some more news pertaining to an Adam Levine viral video over at the link here.

Photo: NBC