VOICE OVER: America Crowns The Voice Champion 2012

By: Dec. 19, 2012
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Y'all, it's the end of the road tonight for the contestants on NBC's The Voice. Tonight, the winner of season 3 was decided. So, look out, there are spoilers ahead! The artists from Teams CeeLo Green and Blake Shelton were joined by not only famous artists like Kelly Clarkson, but also contestants who were eliminated earlier this season. Also, coaches Adam Levine and Christina Aguilera joined the other two coaches on the stage performing at the end of the night. It was a great night of performances and high emotions as the singers had some fun for one last time on The Voice stage, getting themselves mentally prepared for the outcome.

Get a quick reminder about who is left in the show and what they have sung throughout the show here!

The remaining contestants as of the beginning of tonight were Blake's Cassadee Pope and Terry McDermott and CeeLo Green's Nicholas David. CeeLo called Nicholas unique and original, saying it was, "Fun getting to share the stage with Nicholas. What more could I ask for?" Of his own team, Blake said, "Terry deserves to win because he's one of the greatest singers I've ever heard. Every time he gets on stage, something epic happens," and, "Cassadee is an incredible vocalist. I've never heard her sing as good as she did last night." Last night, each contestant got to sing alone as well as with their individual coach. Missed it? Check out the videos here! Yet again, they were all in the top downloads on iTunes, and performances from this whole season were in the top 200 downloads on iTunes.

So performances tonight started with Rhianna singing her latest hit, "Diamonds."

The coaches of course got emotional about the season ending. Adam said, "It's bittersweet. It was amazing last night. Nick kind of didn't care about it and said 'I want to have fun,' so that was my favorite part."

As usual, CeeLo's costume was quite a sight. This one looked like he'd stolen shoulder pads from a high school football player and added some spikes to it to give himself a porcupine look. Anyway, he told Carson that Nicholas, "Has been so well received; I think that his performances last night could have put him into an even stronger position to win. He's an exceptional person, and he can win the show as much as anybody."

In her typical sweet, noncommittal way, Christina said, "You can't pick a favorite moment. I'll never forget Nicholas's crazy stomps and kicks from last night. Cassadee has constantly improved. She makes me smile. Terry's tippy-toes when he sings and seeing the personal moments with his son were heart-warming to me."

One very special thing that happened throughout the night was the each of the finalists got to bring back some of their buddies from earlier in the season. So the first finalist to do this was Terry. He sang "Rock 'n' Roll All Night" with Rudy Parris, Amanda Brown, Bryan Keith, and Michaela Paige. The proud coach Blake was visibly singing along during the performance.

Then came a true legend, Smokey Robinson. He sang his classic, "Cruisin'" with Nicholas and overshadowed The Voice contestant with his high distinctive notes. Even at age 72 with a zillion face lifts, Smokey has definitely still got it.

The coaches also got their share of love, or rather roasting throughout the evening.

The first to be roasted was Adam. The other coaches talked about Adam's extreme musical talent, and Blake said, "He plays guitar, piano, probably harmonica. He would be that guy playing 17 instruments in a parade." Christina said, "He's like that guy in Mary Poppins with a banjo in one hand, a drum in the other." I think you mean Bert, Christina. (You know, one of the main characters in the movie, played by Dick Van Dyke. Though he may be the guy with the most-berated cockney British accent of all time, he remains a brilliant comedian.)

The next performance of the night was The Killers who sang, "Here With Me" with Cassadee Pope, though she really only got about twenty seconds of singing time. But even with that, she killed it. See what I did there?

More returners, Cody Belew, Diego Val, MacKenzie Bourg, and of course Dez Duron, took the stage to bring back the boy band idea with "Stacy's Mom." The whole performance was a tad creepy, but of course that is the nature of the song. Dez looked like Danny from Grease, and I thought that any moment, they would break into "Greased Lighting." This performance definitely reminded the audience why letting some of these guys go was a bad idea. Especially Dez.

Blake was in the hot seat next, as Carson asked whether he should be dubbed "Flirt of the Decade" rather than Entertainer of the Year. The coaches recalled many times that he got affectionate with different people on The Voice. Adam recalled, "He's not bashful about telling someone they're attractive: men, women... Ceelo," and Christina set the record straight, saying that Blake reserves the majority of his love for himself.

Next, they showed a sneak peek of the next The Voice season, featuring Blake, Adam, Usher, and Shakira, season four's judges. In this fun commercial, the four were in a car on their way to the Voice auditions, rocking out to, "Total Eclipse of the Heart."

When asked what they would do if they were to win this season, Terry said, "I could signal the Scottish invasion force that stage one is complete, but that's a secret." Nicholas would "Throw a big pizza party with the family," and Cassadee demonstrated the crazy faces she would likely make if she won, and seriously said, "I'm competing against the two most genuine heartfelt artists; I'd be happy to lose to one of them." Coach Ceelo promised to do a cartwheel across the stage if his team won.

American Idol's first and most successful winner, Kelly Clarkson, performed "Catch My Breath" with Terry and Cassadee. This group was great to see, because it gave the audience a taste of what Terry and Cassadee could be like if they were to win.

Cassadee brought back her friends Melanie Martinez, De'Borah, and Liz Davis to sing "It's Time" with her. The point of these performances seems to be both a chance for the Voice contestants to have fun performing together again and to give the previously eliminated singers another moment in the spotlight, theoretically reminding the audience why these performers were awesome. I think it worked in this case.

Terry got to sing with another legend, Peter Frampton, performing "Baby I Love Your Way," and it was clear that Terry was completely enjoying himself.

Christina, the birthday girl, was the next coach to be roasted. Although, this was very loving, with most of the coaches harping on how much she laughs and what a goof-ball she is in general. They also got a chance to say how much they would miss her next season.

More season returners, Sylvia Yacoub, Adrianna Louise, Devyn Loera, Joselyn Rivera, and Loren Allred went back to the '70s with "Best of My Love." If their goal was to remind me why they were eliminated, it worked. Next to the performances that happened earlier in the night, they just looked like amateurs.

"Saint CeeLo Green" rode onto the stage on a sleigh delivering gifts for the finalists. Though they were not delivered in stockings, the performers did not complain, because the gifts were brand new cars. Kudos to Kia for getting such a great advertising plug on live television.

The next singing star to perform on this stage tonight was Bruno Mars who sang his beautiful song, "When I Was Your Man."

The last to perform with his previous The Voice teammates was Nicholas David. Trevin Hunte, Dez Duron, and Amanda Brown joined him to sing "End of the Road." Following that, Cassadee was joined by one of her idols, Avril Lavigne, to sing her song, "Cold Night." The latter was a great pairing, because Cassadee has always seemed similar to Avril.

The judges loved on CeeLo last, commenting on his unique personality and style. "He's like Buddah meets Isaac Hayes," Adam said. Blake comented on what big words CeeLo always uses, saying, "Sometimes I have to go home and Google the words he uses!"

The four coaches performed a fairwell song, and it wouldn't be The Voice if they didn't close with a cheesy song choice. You guessed it, they sat on stools and sang Green Day's, "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)," with Adam playing guitar. And blue balloons fell down on the stage after it. They went all out. I guess it's good that they embraced the cheesiness.

The moment of truth finally came at the end of all of these performances. Each contestant was ready for the answer, realizing that win or lose, this has been an incredible experience all along. Adam told them, "As far as I'm concerned, winning is just a technicality." Before revealing the winner, they got it down to only two: Cassadee and Terry. Blake must have breathed a sigh of relief, because regardless, he had already won. But the singers of course cared. Finally, Carson proclaimed Cassadee Pope "The Voice" for 2012! Besides her profuse thanks, she was just about speechless.

That marks the end of another season of The Voice! Until next year...

Visit www.nbc.com/the-voice/artists/ to view the full list of Season 3 contestants, plus their stories, videos, and more. You can download your favorites from this season's performances at www.iTunes.com/thevoice, or watch them on The Voice's YouTube channel: www.Youtube.com/NBCthevoice. Keep up with The Voice through the week and during the show on Twitter: @NBCTheVoice, #TheVoice.



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