The singing is done, the voting is over and now the only thing left to do on The Voice season 4 is crown a winner. Well, after a two-hour final results show starting at 9pm packed with more filler than Cher’s face (which I assume is 70 percent spackle at this point).
Recap: Watch the Final 3 Performances>>
For the finale, iTunes downloads for this week alone aren’t as important since The Voice takes the cumulative total throughout the season. Still, it’s worth noting that as of 10am ET on Tuesday morning, all three finalists had two songs in the Top 10 on iTunes.
Who will be the winner? Let’s look at the three finalists and break down their chances for victory.
Why Danielle Bradbery Will Win
Danielle has probably been the frontrunner since Blake Shelton first saw her. A sweet, pretty 16-year-old Texas girl with a solid voice who loves country music? It’s like a recipe for success. While I’m sure Blake as alienated some people with his excessive praise (are we really supposed to believe this girl is one of the best vocalists on Earth?), others probably drank the Kool-Aid.
Blake seemed to have two strategies with Danielle this season. First, he decided that if he just said she’s the most important singer in the competition over and over again, all of his fans would just believe him. It doesn’t matter if it’s true, what matters is that Blake Shelton said it, therefore people will believe it because they trust him.
The second strategy was to pick the perfect songs so that Danielle could sell more songs on iTunes than anyone else (which she did). He mostly chose country songs that were old enough so young viewers weren’t familiar with them and would therefore download them, but also new enough so that middle-aged fans would remember them fondly. It’s the same reason that I Love the ’80s and ’90s specials did so well on VH1.
Viewers have repeatedly been told Danielle is the best, she’s sold more songs on iTunes and she got to sing in three out of the final four performances of the night. That’s a lot of momentum for the win.
Why The Swon Brothers Will Win
They won’t.
Why Michelle Chamuel Will Win
Michelle is the wild card and has been from day one. She’s odd and nowhere near as conventional as Danielle Bradbery. But she’s delivered some of the best performances of the season and has grown not just as an artist and performer, but as a person. She has become a more confident woman, strutting around the stage with polish and purpose as opposed to randomly bending down all the time.
Without a doubt, Michelle has received the loudest applause from the studio audience on The Voice for the past few weeks. She’s clearly a fan favorite. People like her and root for it. She’s Rudy. She’s The Mighty Ducks. Or maybe she’s the Oakland Athletics from Moneyball.
The best hope Michelle has is that her two opponents are from the same team and appeal to the same people. If Danielle and The Swon Brothers can split the country vote, and if there’s a groundswell of anti-Blake sentiment, Michelle could get votes simply because some viewers don’t like Blake Shelton’s all-country strategy. I assume there are some people out there who are voting against Blake as much as they’re voting for Michelle.
My Final Prediction
As much as I want Michelle Chamuel to win, I predict Danielle Bradbery will be the winner of The Voice season 4. Blake Shelton is just too powerful and she’s sold too many songs on iTunes (as of 10am ET on Tuesday she had five songs in the Top 75).
I don’t personally believe Danielle is one of the most important artists ever, nor do I think she has one of the best voices on Earth. But I also believe that there are enough people in this country who will believe that anything Blake Shelton says must be true.
So let me amend my earlier statement. I don’t think Danielle will win. I think Blake Shelton will win The Voice season 4. It was his strategy, his choices and his non-stop assertions of Danielle’s greatness that made her success. All Danielle did was show up and play the part, but it was Blake who wrote the script and pulled the strings.
What do you think? Is Danielle Bradbery destined to win? Can Michelle pull off the upset? Is a third win in a row for Team Blake bad for The Voice?
Find out Tuesday at 9pm on NBC for The Voice season 4 finale.
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(Image courtesy of NBC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
