The Voice Finale

Tonight we find out who wins this season’s The Voice. The four finalists last night sang three times—a duet with their coaches, a song either written by them or for them, and a song of their choosing. The order in which each sang their three was a little unfair in that there was no order. The each should have begun with the duet, then the song by or four them, and then the song they each chose. Instead, Billy Gilman began the show with his biggie—“My Way, written by Paul Anka for Frank Sinatra—and Gilman’s version was at least as good as Sinatra’s, maybe even better. But it was a disadvantage for him to sing it at the top of the show, leaving almost two hours for the voting audience to forget how great it was. I was delighted to see that three of the finalists went way back for the songs they chose, back to the good stuff half a century ago: Gilman’s “My Way,” Sundance Head’s old Etta James standard “At last,” and Wé McDonald’s “Don’t Rain of My Parade” from Funny Girl. Head’s version of “At Last” was excellent, but McDonald’s “Don’t Rain on My Parade” was almost as good as Barbra’s. I say “almost” because nobody, nobody can sing anything as well as Barbra sings it. How could this 17-year-old have presumed to take on the Funny Girl show-stopper? I have no idea. But she did it, in a flame-red pantsuit, and looked and sounded like no 17-year-old I’ve ever known. If the voters do as they should, Gilman will win, McDonald second, Head third, and Josh Gallagher a very distant fourth. If the results are any different than that order, then the voters got it wrong. Gilman’s voice is always crystal-clear, powerful, and with absolutely perfect pitch. Wé McDonald is simply surprising in her delivery and range. In her duet with Alicia Keyes, “Ave Maria,” she went up an octave into an operatic soprano. Surprise, surprise. I can see her future—she’ll lose about thirty pounds, become even more beautiful, and be a star on Broadway. Sundance Head will become Country’s next big star (but please, Sundance, remove that godawful beard); Gilman will become a pop star male equivalent of Taylor Swift; and Josh Gallagher will make it halfway on the Country scene.