Though our current predictions suggest otherwise, John Legend heads in to this week’s “The Voice” finale with a decent chance of claiming his second trophy as a coach. To do so he and his last standing artist, John Holiday, will need to overcome their current 100/1 odds in our derby. Below we run down Holiday’s performances and consider how he could best Carter Rubin, the frontrunner from Team Gwen Stefani, as well as Team Kelly Clarkson‘s Desz and both artists from Team Blake Shelton, Jim Ranger and Ian Flanigan, to win in a shocking upset.
Shocking the coaches is exactly how Holiday began the season. On the premiere episode it took three words (“Look at me…”) for Legend to turn his chair for the opera singer, and in doing so blocked he Kelly who was doubly shocked to learn she’d been blocked but also that it was in fact a male vocalist she had turned for. Holiday’s range on Ella Fitzgerald‘s “Misty” fooled the coaches into thinking he was a female singer, making him one of the most surprising artists of the season.
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The premiere episode, is already sort of a lucky one for Legend. When he won in season 16 it was with Maelyn Jarmon who also sang in the season premiere. In fact, Holiday is Legend’s third artist in just four seasons to debut in night one of the Blind Auditions. Team Legend also went from episode 1 to finale night in season 17 with Katie Kadan.
Holiday continued his journey this season with a Battle Round performance that left Legend saying, “There’s just no one to compare you to.” In that round he defeated Julia Cooper on a cover of Stevie Wonder‘s “Summer Soft.” He then returned to a bygone era for his Knockout Round song choice of Eric Carmen‘s 1975 ballad “All by Myself” and then went further into music history for his Live Playoffs performance of “Fly Me to the Moon,” the Frank Sinatra cover from 1964.
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Up to this point, Holiday’s four song choices had proven to be a successful way of communicating his rich vocal talent to the audience. The easy decision for Legend and Holiday to make for the Semi-finals would have been to sing another oldie, but they instead took a risk with Coldplay‘s “Fix You.” In choosing the song, Legend believed that it’d be a new way for Holiday to showcase his abilities while also delivering something more contemporary. The performance was once again the public vote for Team Legend, showing that the audience wasn’t tied to old classics as Holiday’s sole identity as an entertainer.
“The Voice” two-night finale will take place on December 14 and December 15 on NBC. What kind of song do you think John Holiday will sing and do you think he can pull off the upset? If you’re not predicting Holiday, who do you think will win?
Be sure to make your predictions to influence our reality TV racetrack odds. You can keep changing your predictions until just before the live results episode airs on NBC. You’ll compete to win a $100 gift card each week and a spot on our Season 19 leaderboard. See our contest rules and sound off with other fans in our reality TV forum. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
