The Voice 2 Finale Performance of Chris Mann's "You Raise Me Up" (Josh Groban)
Chris Mann is an opera singer, and he is the first in this genre to even be on The Voice. But that is not all. He has also made it all the way to The Voice 2 finale, which takes place on Monday, May 7, 2012. The Tuesday episode is the last night and will have the announcement of the season winner.
Mann has a tough battle ahead of him in the finale. He does seem very popular when it comes to the free public voting methods (phone, text, and Internet). But his iTunes sales have failed to reach the same level as the other three finale participants. Mann was ranking at about #50 to #60 in the Top 8, Jermaine Paul was just a little ahead of him, and Tony Lucca was around #30 to #35. However, Tony was up around #20 for the Top 16.
Juliet Simms has been even more successful on the iTunes charts than the other two Mann adversaries. She was as high as #4 in the Top 8 semifinals and appears to be the favorite heading into the finale performance night.
Chris has sung opera and other genres. And while is "Ave Maria" was the highest charting song choice for him this season, I still think he will need to take a risk to win. If he comes out with a great rock song choice and shows amazing versatility, Chris might give enough of a surprise performance to put his votes over the top. But if he goes with opera again, I'd expect him to finish in 3rd or 4th place.
Chris decided to go with the obvious choice of Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up." It was very pretty for sure. But this selection is not going to surprise anyone, and his "Ave Maria" trailed in the iTunes rankings last week. I don't know if this is enough to pull out a win. But if it based strictly on vocal control, he could win.