Outrage as The Voice Season 17 Finale Crowns Its Most Predictable Winner

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For the 17th time, “The Voice” crowned a winner, and for just about the 17th time, America was outraged by its own results.

And while social media lit up with shock and disgust that “The Voice” followed its same tired formula by crowning the most predictable winner each season, it’s more a testament to the show’s viewers than the show itself.

In fact, those viewers predicted exactly how things would play out as fans were treated to the first finale in years where each coach had one contestant still in the running. Team Blake Shelton was represented by Ricky Duran, with Team Kelly Clarkson repping Jake Hoot, Team John Legend backing Katie Kadan all the way and Team Gwen Stefani presenting Rose Short.

Obviously, musical tastes vary dramatically from person to person, but fans were pretty consistent in heaping praise on the contestants who quickly found themselves out of the running and taking up the bottom two positions on this show. And with that, we’ve stalled long enough and if you don’t want to know who won “The Voice,” why are you still reading?

That still-shot in the video gives away the crux of the problem, and that is the fact that neither Katie nor Rose are standing up there when most people seem to agree that they have the stronger and better voices in the competition.

In fact, Rose Short soared throughout this competition, gaining in confidence, stage presence and grace with each passing week. Meanwhile, Katie was a veritable force of nature, with a powerhouse voice, presence and style like we’ve never seen before on a show like this. So what happened?

Well, many might argue that Rose — who had to sing to save herself in last week’s semi-finals — fell victim to the fact that no woman of color has ever won “The Voice,” despite some incredible contenders over the years. Did we emphasize it enough. EVER!

How is that even possible with 17 winners across half as many years? Surely we’re not supposed to believe that no woman of color has ever been worthy to wear the “Voice” crown. Hell, we know this to be true, because there was one right on our TV screens week after week this season.

As for Katie, perhaps she stood just outside the norm enough that people couldn’t quite rally behind her. It was appropriate that she was paired with Adam Lambert, one of the strongest voices ever to come out of the “American Idol” franchise who came in second in Season 8. Hell, Jennifer Hudson came in seventh in her season!

Obviously, voice isn’t what it’s all about when it comes to shows like this, but this one is called “The Voice,” so people tend to get upset when yet another country artist rises to the top and vocal powerhouses fall just short. In this case, that’s exactly what happened as Jake Hoot surpassed Ricky Duran after both men booted the women from the competition.

Perhaps ironically, Jake was a one-chair turn for the show, and that chair wasn’t Blake’s. Instead, Kelly rode Jake’s talent to her third win and the 700th country singer to win “The Voice.” And perhaps that’s just what this show is.

Blake Shelton has always been one of the show’s biggest draws, and of all the finalists to perform on that stage, the ones who’ve performed country music have actually had the most success in finding any sort of mainstream career after the exposure of the show.

As we said, these results are more a statement of the audience than the show itself. Perhaps they’re just a reflection of the demographics that are watching the show. Last night’s performance episode was watched by just over 9 million people, which isn’t all that much in the grand scheme of things.

When numbers dwindle like that — “Idol” was scoring over 30 million at its peak — it becomes much easier to skew one way or another depending on which regions of the country are actually tuning in. We saw it in “Idol” when it was proven that the South and Midwest were tuning in far more than the coasts or urban areas. Perhaps that’s true of “The Voice” these days.

One thing is for sure, though. While there is outrage online that more people aren’t voting for the Rose Shorts and Katie Kadans of the world — which is a travesty — you have to wonder how many of those outraged voices actually voted themselves … and tuned into the show.

If the show is trending in areas dominated by country music fans, but going largely ignored in more diverse communities and regions, then they picked their winner and it makes sense. “The Voice” has been skewing more and more country with every passing season. So without seeing the demographics of viewership, it’s hard to say that this is necessarily a travesty of justice, rather than just a foregone conclusion each season.

You wouldn’t expect The Killers or Jennifer Hudson to take home a CMA Award, so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised when Rose and Kate come up short on “The Voice.”

At the same time, this can’t be great for the show, if they don’t want to become “The Country Voice.” After all, eventually women of color are simply going to stop applying to be on the show if it’s becoming painfully clear they have no shot of winning no matter their talent. There are other avenues to find fame, and even other shows.

For now, though, the outrage remains as the ardent fans of both Rose and Kate feel robbed for having invested an entire season in supporting their favorites only to have to watch another country singer take home the title. Feel free to vent right along with them below:

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