The Voice season 5 came to a close with a spectacular two-night event, with some outrageous celebrity performances, and one very happy winner.
The Winner
After two hours of spectacular guest performances, celebrity duets, and performances from our favorites in the top 10, America’s votes were finally revealed, and host Carson Daly revealed the winner of season 5 of The Voice: Tessanne Chin. Will Champlin came in third place, and Jacquie Lee was runner up. After her victory moment, Tessanne sang her new song, “Tumbling Down,” by Ryan Tedder. And while it is a nice song, it’s certainly no situationally-appropriate “A Moment Like This.”
Contestant Performances
The top 3 finalists were joined by their fellow top 20 contestants to perform Outasight’s “Tonight Is The Night.” It was great to see some old familiar faces, some of whom we may or may not have forgotten about. Everyone sounded good, but it was just an awful lot of people onstage at once, now that we’ve grown accustomed to small group performances.
Ray Boudreaux, Preston Pohl, Matthew Schuler, Nic Hawk, and Josh Logan came together to perform Bruno Mars’ hit “Treasure.” They are all soulful performers, and their voices blended well together. All dressed in suits and standing on lighted staircases, they looked like they could be a new The Voice boyband.
Top 20 ladies Tamara Chauniece, Stephanie Anne Johnson, Shelbie Z, Kat Robichaud, Amber Nicole, and Grey took on Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You,” in what was one of the best performances of the night. Whether it was because they were really excited to sing together, or to be singing that song, all the girls were incredibly excited and energetic. They sounded great, and looked snazzy, dressed to suit The Voice’s red and black color scheme.
Celebrity Duets
Tessanne was brought to tears by the announcement of what celebrity she would get to sing with tonight: her idol Celine Dion. The five-time Grammy winner took the stage with Tessanne to sing “Love Can Move Mountains.” Both divas looked beautiful, Tessanne in black and Celine in white, and both had a great time with the performance. Unlike some other guest performers, Celine did not try to steal the number, she let Tessanne have her time to shine.
Jacquie Lee joined Paramore to perform their new song “Ain’t It Fun,” and Jacquie and Paramore’s Hayley Williams certainly made quite the dynamic duo. It’s a really fun song, and was a great way to remind the audience of how radio-friendly Jacquie’s voice is.
Will Champlin took the stage with Aloe Blacc to perform the latter’s hit with Aviici, “Wake Me Up.” It was a great performance, but without Aviici, it seemed like the number dragged a little bit. It was nice to finally be able to put a face with Aloe Blacc’s vocals, but it was sort of a letdown for Will’s big celebrity duet.
‘Bring Back’ Performances
Jacquie brought back some of her best Voice pals for her “bring back” performance: Matthew Schuler, Caroline Pennell, Cole Vosbury, and James Wolpert. The song they chose to sing was Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which is a huge spectacle of a song. It was great to hear them all take it on, but it seemed like they could have used a little bit more rehearsal time. There were some missed entrances, iffy harmonies, and panicked glances at one another. But overall, it was an awesome performance, and it was worth it if for nothing else than to hear Cole singing those high “Galileo’s.”
Will brought back Jonny Gray, Cole Vosbury, Caroline Pennell, and Austin Jenckes to perform Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel.” It was a great group of passionate and unique indie performers, and not only did they sound great together, but the song suited them perfectly.
Tessanne invited her friends James Wolpert, Preston Pohl, Olivia Henken, and Grey to sing Sam and Dave’s “Hold On.” Talk about a fun song to get the crowd moving: all five performers tore the house down with this performance, and the audience loved it.
Special Guest Performances
One Republic’s Ryan Tedder has been a regular presence on The Voice this season, as Team Adam’s mentor, and it was good to have him back for the finale, performing “I Lived” with his band. It’s a good song, with an inspiring message. This is the awesome songwriting that has created hits for One Republic, not to mention plenty of other artists, but it’s also Tedder that wrote Tessanne’s victory song, “Tumbling Down.”
Celine Dion and Ne-Yo may seem like an unexpected pairing, but when they took the stage together to perform their new song “Incredible,” it was like it was meant to be. They both have spectacular voices, so it makes sense that they sound great together. Celine is also looking great for 45, wearing an itty bitty dress that looks like something Christina would wear.
Lady Gaga finally took the stage to perform “Do What U Want,” but it wasn’t R. Kelly she was singing with, it was our girl Christina! In a surprise duet, the two pop superstars thrilled the crowd with their up-close-and-personal performance. They both certainly set a great example for all the up-and-coming female performers in the top 20, not only of outrageous talent, but also of being gracious entertainers, and appreciating one another’s talent.
‘The Voice’ Confessional
The final Voice Confessional of the season dealt with what it would mean to the contestants to win it all. Their answers were pretty much what you would expect: that it would mean everything to them, to make their families and coaches proud, and to share their passion for music with the world, this journey has been amazing, etc. But it was very sweet to hear them talk about how much it would mean to them.
The Voice will return for season 6 on Monday, February 24 and Tuesday, February 25 at 8 p.m. on NBC, with Shakira and Usher taking their giant red chairs alongside Adam and Blake, reuniting season 4’s coaching team.