Fitting finale of The Voice Season 11

MANILA, Philippines – The finale of The Voice Season 11 was a toss-up again between the talents of veteran coaches Adam Levine and Blake Shelton. In fact, Adam even had two talents in the final four contestants. But Blake proved to be the stronger coach again when his talent, Sundance Head, romped off with the much-coveted trophy.

Sundance bested coach Adam’s Billy Gilman, a Grammy-nominated former child performer who finished as runner-up and Josh Gallagher, who ended in fourth place. Josh was an original talent of Blake, but was stolen by Adam in the Knockout Rounds. Also, coach Alicia Keys’ last woman standing, We McDonald, came in third.

In Season 7, it will be remembered that Blake and Adam also battled head to head with their talents in the final four. In fact, Adam had three talents, while Blake only had one. But Blake still came out as winner, with country artist Craig Wayne Boyd as champion.

To date, Blake has a total of five champions, including Season 2 winner Jermaine Paul, Season 3 with Cassadee Pope and Season 4 with Danielle Bradberry. That makes him as the coach with the most wins and undoubtedly the most successful coach in The Voice US history.

Meanwhile, Adam has three champions, including the first winner with Javier Colon (Season 1), followed by Tessane Chin (Season 5) and Jordan Smith (Season 9).

Sundance rendered an emotionally earnest performance of his winning original song, Darlin’ Don’t Go, as an encore after he was announced champion of Season 11. Easily identified by his long beard, Sundance competed in the sixth season of the now-defunct American Idol nine years ago, but was eliminated in the Top 16 week.

The Voice 11 finale had guest superstars led by Sting, Bruno Mars, Stevie Wonder, Ariana Grande and even those who performed with the finalists, including John Legend (with We), Kiss (with Sundance), Kelly Clarkson (with Billy) and country music artist Cam (with Josh).

After the Live Play-Offs, where each judge trimmed down his team and selected only three contestants to compete in the Elimination Rounds, the competition just got tougher. Two contestants in each team were the Public’s Choice, while one was the Coach’s Choice.

Adam chose Brendan Fletcher, with Josh and Billy as the Public’s Choice. Miley Cyrus picked Darby Walker, with Aaron Gibson and Ali Caldwell. Alicia favored Sa’Rayah, with We and Christian Cuevas. Blake singled out Courtney Harrell, joined by Austin Allsup and Sundance.

Season 11 coaches (from left) Adam Levine, Miley Cyrus, Alicia Keys and Blake Shelton

The female judges turned out to be the weaker teams in the early part of the Eliminations. Alicia was the first to lose her talent, with the exit of Sa’Rayah. Second to leave the competition was Darby from Team Miley. That week, two talents from Team Miley were in the bottom two, the other being Aaron.

For three weeks, Aaron landed in the Bottom Two but consistently enjoyed the “Instant Save” from the public via Twitter. Ultimately, however, he was also eliminated on Week 5 of the Live Shows.

That week, three other artists left the competition ­— Ali Caldwell, Christian Cuevas and Brendan Fletcher ­— and lost all hopes for Miley to win Season 11. Team Miley was the only judge who didn’t have an artist in the finals.

During the Elimination Rounds, Season 9 winner Jordan Smith from Team Adam, guested and performed his newest single, O Holy Night, from his latest studio album, ‘Tis the Season. Adam presented Jordan with a huge plaque to certify the seven million sales of his album.

It was a fitting finale of The Voice US Season 11, which debuted last August on Star World. Carson Daly hosted.