‘The Voice’ UK final review: Matt Henry, Leah McFall, Mike Ward face off for votes

After weeks of waiting, the final of “The Voice” UK is here! The way this final is going to work is that there will be multiple rounds where the public has a chance to vote. The first will revolve around the finalists performing a song that is new, and one with their coach; from there, they will later reprise an old performance from earlier this season.

There were some great performances within the first part of this show for sure, including some we didn’t necessarily see coming. Based on what we saw here, this really is a two-person race, but not necessarily featuring the two contestants that we were expecting.

Round one – contestants’ choice

Mike Ward, “Suspicious Minds” – Not the best song choice for Mike. Elvis Presley has a great country sound, but the arrangement and Mike’s own vocal was not country enough. He would have been better at this stage to do something that is more firmly-rooted in his desired genre. There are times for changes, but you have to stick at least to a certain extent to your strength in the final.

Andrea Begley, “My Immortal” – Okay, let’s open us this can of worms, shall we? Do you think that Andrea dropped the vocal “these wounds won’t seem to heal” from this song, and the band bailed her out; or, was it just a mid-verse cut to the song? It’s possible that it is the latter, but it sounded strange for the song. We liked her vocal, but once again the arrangement left something to be desired as the song ended before its emotional climax.

Matt Henry, “Babylon” – This is proof that you don’t have to do a song that is an international hit to really give a great performance. We loved this, absolutely loved it. We had almost written Matt off as a contender before the show, and now he’s got a genuine shot to win this. What we appreciated the most was that he performed this almost like he was at his own concert.

Leah McFall, “I Will Always Love You” – We don’t really like hearing this song so often since there is such a deep-seeded emotional attachment to it, and this was a pretty amazing take on the song. There was just enough different about it to make it something more than just karaoke to a popular Whitney Houston track, and we appreciate that.

Round two – Duets

Mike and Tom, “Green Green Grass of Home” – We actually loved the little montage of seeing Tom explore his past, and the sort of legendary guy he really is. It was a lovely performance for sure, and while it did not necessarily blow our mind, it was miles better than what we saw from him the first time.

Andrea and The Script, “Hall of Fame” – It was cool to see Danny bring his full band to the show, but it was almost a little weird to have Andrea do a song that he usually does with will.i.am … and then have Andrea do his part, and he do Will’s while the rapper was sitting in the audience. Andrea did hit a few cool notes, so the ending made up for a wonky beginning.

Matt and Jessie, “Never Too Much” – Jessie’s the first coach who didn’t just come out and perform one of her own songs with her artist, instead trying to go to Matt’s strength. We didn’t like Luther Vandross here as much as the “Babylon” performance, partially because it was a tad dated and may not get the young crowd out voting.

Leah McFall, “Bang Bang” – A weird, fun, and completely different way to close this part of the show. What a way to end things off! We just hope that Leah goes into this sort of genre-melding sound when it comes to the future of her career, since we have literally never heard anything quite like it.

What do you think about this round of “The Voice” UK final? If you want to find out where we ranked the contestants leading up to the end of this round, all you have to do is visit the story over at the link here.

Photo: BBC One