Early on in The Voice Season 25, I'd declared Chance the Rapper the coach to beat. I literally wrote that no one stood a chance against Chance. Whoops. That article didn't age well — because after Tuesday's live results show, when the top nine were suddenly and brutally cut down to the top five, Team Chance's last two contestants, Serenity Arce and Maddi Jane, were eliminated. This means that Chance will be the only coach sitting out next week, with no singers representing him in the finals.
Perhaps that’s why NBC gave Chance his own performance slot Tuesday, knowing this would the last we’d see of him before he exits The Voice to make way for Season 26 coaches Snoop Dogg and the returning Gwen Stefani this fall.
After Chance opened Tuesday’s episode with the ironically titled "Together," the top four vote-getters, regardless of team affiliation, automatically advanced to the finale. And among those four, unsurprisingly, were the show's two mainstream country singers, Team Dan + Shay's Karen Waldrup and Team Reba's Josh Sanders. More surprising — pleasantly so — was the fact that America voted through the two flamboyant (and potentially polarizing) showman of the season, Team Legend's throwback entertainer Nathan Chester and Team Reba's glamorous gospel powerhouse Asher HaVon. Nicely done, America!
So, that left five remaining contestants — Serenity, Maddi, Team Dan + Shay's Tae Lewis and Madison Curbelo, and Team Legend rocker Bryan Olesen — all competing to fill one last spot in the finals. Seventeen-year-old Serenity sang for the Instant Save first, doing Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You," and the ballad felt way too low for her. She struggled to get comfortable and never quite got there, and she just seemed so forlorn and defeated. This wasn't a fight-song performance. Chance assured her, "You should be so proud of yourself. ... I just hope you take in this moment and recognize that this should be your path" — which sounded like he also assumed that her time was up. "I hope this isn't the last time that I get to see you or work with you," a resigned Serenity told Chance through tears.
Tae went next, doing Hunter Hayes's "Wanted," and I figured that he had the surest shot of being saved. This was a perfect pick for his country/pop style, and he knows how to fight for his rightful spot (he won last week's Instant Save sing-off). But everyone seemed to doubt that he could win the Save a second time. "No matter what happens, you left it all out on the stage," host Carson Daly sympathetically told him, while Tae's coach Dan Smyers congratulated him on "an amazing run" and Shay Mooney pep-talked him with: "Keep going. It doesn't matter... beyond this show, Nashville is supporting you. And way beyond this show, we're going to be supporting you." That too sounded like a fond farewell, although Tae solemnly admitted, "I hope this is not the end."
Bryan chose so wisely with Coldplay's triumphant and effervescent "Viva La Vida," which fit his voice well and played into his quirky theatricality. "If this is my last time onstage, I need everyone singing this with me! Give me this moment!" he urged the audience, delivering what truly felt like a victory-lap performance. John Legend called it a "grand slam" and "the biggest moment of Bryan's arena concert," and John was the first coach of the night who seemed to have some hope, exclaiming: "America, we cannot send this man home yet!"
Madison's "Man in the Mirror" didn't match Bryan's energy, but she sang the poignant Michael Jackson ballad flawlessly, always a true class act. An also-hopeful Dan said she "stepped up in such a big way" and yelled, "Everyone is rooting for you! We need you to move on to the finale!"
Maddi, who landed in the bottom five after doing a feisty, sassy, dance-y pop performance Monday, switched gears for her save-me song, proving she can handle a massive ballad as she belted a falsetto-laden version of Lady Gaga's "I'll Never Love Again." Maddi was probably the most versatile contestant of Season 25, but maybe that was ultimately this shapeshifter's undoing: Viewers just couldn't figure her out. Both Maddi and Chance were already exchanging their goodbyes before Carson even read the results, with Maddi sweetly telling Chance, "It was a pleasure to meet you," and Chance replying, "It's been awesome being able to coach you. ... I think you know that you'll be successful in everything that you do."
I would've given the final spot in the top five to Maddi, or maybe Tae, but it wasn't shocking that viewers voted through a classic rocker like Bryan instead. And I couldn't be too upset about this outcome, because Bryan earned his place tonight. But frankly, I've been upset ever since Season 9, when The Voice implemented these ridiculous semifinals mass eliminations in a mad dash to get to the finale (and, presumably, to work around the superstar coaches' packed schedules). I wish producers would just go back to cutting one or two contestants a week, so that the show wouldn't hemorrhage so much amazing talent at once. And I know many longtime, diehard Voice viewers agree with me.
But, it is what it is. Sigh. So, tune in next week, when Bryan, Karen, Josh, Nathan, and Asher compete in the Season 25 finals, and Chance just kicks back and watches from the sidelines with us.
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