Seminfinals Results Hugely Problematic — Or Is It Just Coincidence?

As we talked about last night, the new “Voice” finale format is both intriguing and frustrating, and especially after seeing the semifinals performances of the Top 9.

While we have no problem with a Top 5 sliding into the finale, we take huge issue with each coach being guaranteed at least one contestant in the running for the final crown. Those guarantees should expire before the big finale because of exactly what happened.

Based on our own highly subject and yet incredibly accurate rankings of those nine performances, we had six contestants out-performing Nick’s entire team. By our reckoning, none of his people should have made the finals at all.

As it stands though, Thunderstorm Artis (who came in 7th in our rankings) was his best performer and gets a guaranteed slot. We also predicted. We also predicted Todd Tilghman for Blake, Megan Danielle for Kelly and CammWess for John and — we did pretty good.

Fair warning, since I’m safe at home, I’m probably going to be a little harsher than my colleagues Blake Shelton, John Legend, Nick Jonas and Kelly Clarkson.

Just for giggles, I’m going to rank the instant-save performances from worst to first to see who should have won. Then we can see how close America was to getting it right, i.e. agreeing with me.

It turns out we underestimated the appeal of Kelly’s Micah Iverson, or we forgot that guys tend to do better these days in singing competitions than women. Either way, the lone woman we predicted earning a guaranteed slot instead had to sing for her life.

We were right about CamWess, Todd Tilghman and Thunderstorm Artis representing their coaches, but we had Micah Iverson in a very strong sixth position. Honestly, the finalists were mostly pretty strong Tuesday night, so there wasn’t as much of a gap between anyone we positioned 2 through 6 as it might seem.

That left Megan Danielle to battle it out with Joanna Serenko, Toneisha Harris, Allegra Miles and Zan Fiskum and yes, you read that right. There were five women and four men in the “Voice” Top 9 this season. The four men advanced automatically and the five women got to take part int he show’s first five-way Instant Save.

Does it mean anything outside of the men just coincidentally being stronger candidates this season? Is it a statement on the voting demographics? Is it the same kind of passive and subtle sexism that has plagued women in music for decades? We’ll never know, but it is worth noting how this played out.

We were surprised at how strong the women came out for this instant-save battle. With their lives on the line, the divide between them was far narrower than it was during their semifinal performances. That said, though, we did see one stand-out we think is most deserving of advancing. The question is if you saw it, too.

Just for giggles, I’m going to rank the instant-save performances from worst to first to see who should have won. Then we can see how close America was to getting it right, i.e. agreeing with me.

Fair warning, since I’m safe at home, I’m probably going to be a little harsher than my colleagues Blake Shelton, John Legend, Nick Jonas and Kelly Clarkson. I like to think of it as more real.

(“Unaware,” Allen Stone – 19, St. Louis, MO) A dramatic improvement over her semifinals performance, Joanna still seemed to miss the real connection to the message of the track, and thus wasn’t able to present quite the right vibe to us. That said, she gave a powerful vocal performance throughout, even as she stripped the heart and intent from the song. What we were left with was a strong vocal from a young woman who has yet to find her voice. But can you win if that’s where you are in your development?

(“In My Blood,” Shawn Mendes – 17, St. John, USVI) Allegra put her own stamp on one of the most emotionally surprising songs of recent years. While it wasn’t working all the way through, she hit a few moments where that emotion resonated through the screen and hit us and it came as just as much of a surprise. We have to credit the track for a lot of that, as Allegra seemed emotionally underneath it much of the time, but she did manage to rise up to it by the end. Really, it just felt like someone still maturing as a vocalist who is so almost there, but wasn’t quite up to the truth of this song.

(“Simple Man,” Lynyrd Skynyrd – 18, Douglasville, GA) Megan went big in an attempt to not go home, but that natural gravel in her voice was a perfect fit for this southern rock classic. The problem is that the performance itself was sleepy for a very, very long time as the song builds. It’s a staple of this era of rock anthems, but it may have been too long for voters. She brought it when she hit those big notes, but we’ve heard her sound better. There was an unexpected disconnect through much of it, but she definitely stuck the landing.

(“Lovin’ You,” Minnie Riperton – 44, Roswell, GA) So here’s the problem. Toneisha is a world-class singer and this was yet another incredible vocal on her journey through this show. She makes this look effortless. But we think this was so incredibly the wrong song for her, even as it showed off her range and on-key falsetto. The song doesn’t connect with younger viewers in any sort of real way, and even Toneisha didn’t feel particularly connected with its message. Instead, this was just a vocal showcase, and a rather sleepy one at that. A great singer, she didn’t show the artist inside on this one, which we think dooms her shots at advancing.

(“Always Remember Us This Way,” Lady Gaga – 23, Seattle, WA) Look, Zan has such a cool and unique quality to her voice. She may not be the biggest and strongest vocalist among these women (that’s Toneisha), but she has a signature sound that is very pleasant on the ear. Even better, she knows how to interpret a song through her indie/singer-songwriter vibe. That said, there were a few moments where it felt like she held back from giving us that moment, and we were left a little wanting because of it.

Clearly, our hearts went with Zan on this one. We just felt that she delivered a complete artistic package in her performance more than any of the other four women. Which isn’t to say they weren’t all strong, because they were much better collectively than even we expected.

We think Toneisha simply picked the wrong song, while Allegra went the opposite route. Her song choice was great, but it almost overwhelmed her. Megan has a great signature sound and a unique lane she’s in, but she’s just not fully in it yet, while Joanna hasn’t quite figure out who she is.

So did you see it the way we did?

You sure didn’t, and we couldn’t be more thrilled.

While we gave Zan the edge based on this instant-save performance, Toneisha Harris was our fourth overall pick during the semifinals rounds. She is one of the strongest vocalists of the season, and now she gets to stand up against the four boys and show them how it’s done.

Zan was our fifth choice, and the only one who looked as stunned as Toneisha with the results. Did she think she had it in the bag, or did she just think Toneisha didn’t? In a perfect world, they’d both be in there already, and maybe Megan as well.

Apparently, all these females were too threatening to the voters so Toneisha gets to break up the boys club as she takes on Todd Tilghman, Micah Iverson, CammWess and Thunderstorm Artis for the title.

It all goes down on next week’s two-part season finale of “The Voice,” Monday at 8 p.m. ET and Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.