The Four Season 2 Finale Recap: Did The Right Artist Win?
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This is it: The Four Season 2 finale!
After a fun opening number and some advice from the judges, finalists James Graham, Leah Jenea, Whitney Reign, and Sharaya J were ready to hit the stage for the final night of competition!
Round 1
Each of the Final Four performed a song, and the winner (chosen by the audience) was allowed to select their opponent for the next round.
Whitney kicked off the competition with “Lady Marmalade”. It was one of her weaker vocal showings, but she did display a lot of star power and it was fun to watch. Leah Jenea followed with “True Colors”. It was on the quieter side but still made for another captivating performance from Leah. Sharaya J rapped over “Juicy” and it was another great number from her and a great showcase of her determination to taste victory. James was last with “Rock With You” and this one fell flat with the judges, who said he just couldn’t live up to Michael Jackson’s iconic original version of the song.
After all the performances, the audience voted and the winner of Round 1 was…Sharaya! She chose to challenge Whitney, leaving Leah and James to battle it out in a rematch of their duel two weeks prior.
Round 2
This stage of the finale saw Final Four paired off to battle each other for a spot in the top 2.
The first battle was between Sharaya and Whitney, with the latter starting things off with “A Million Reasons”. While this was a much better performance vocally, the passion and special Whitney flare wasn’t as evident as usual. Sharaya did a rap over “Cops Shot The Kid” and was also briefly off her game, but managed to pull it back together in the end to become the judges’ choice as the winner of the battle.
Up next was Leah vs. James. Leah sang “Golden” and we got to see a different side of her with her upbeat choice of a number. James countered with Adele’s “Hello” and showed a lot of range in his abilities. The judges were torn between the two, but ultimately chose James to advance to the final duel.
Round 3
It all came down to this: a head-to-head battle between James and Sharaya – two members of the Original Four. (But not before a performance from Season 1 winner Evvie of her brand new single!)
Sharaya was up first with “Say Less”, a song she wrote that really showed who she is and what she’s about as an artist. James selected Coldplay’s “Fix You” as his final number of the season, and it was a great choice since it was a slow song that built into something to show off his pipes.
The judges praised both artists for their journeys over the course of the season, and Sharaya announced her recovery from breast cancer! Once again, the panel was torn, but in the end the winner of The Four Season 2 was…James Graham!
While I know James was a fan favorite, I was personally a little more mixed on him. Some performances I would really dig, and others fell a little bit flat for me. While I enjoyed his performance in the last battle slightly more than Sharaya’s, I took note that the judges were making their decisions tonight taking the entire season into account, and based on that I would have chosen Sharaya to win. She was probably the most consistent throughout the show, with even her lesser performances not dipping too far down in quality from her better ones. I also found her to be more fresh unique as an artist that James (and I could say the same about Leah as well).
Congratulations to James on the win, and here’s hoping we also see several of this summer’s contestants picked up by industry professionals. We certainly saw a lot of talent this season, and I’d hate to seeit go to waste!
