Final four

Joshua Davis advances to the final round on “The Voice”

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Last week on “The Voice,” it felt like the contestants on the singing competition reality show were pulling out all of the stops. On Monday’s show, with the finals looming and just one con testant going home before then, the remaining five competitors seemed to be playing it safe.

Perhaps they were afraid to take a big risk this close to the end, or maybe they were trying to save their best for the finale. Regardless, this week’s performances were a full plate of lackluster performances.

Local favorite and Michigan native son Joshua Davis turned in two solid if not spectacular performances. The singer kicked off Monday’s show with an intimate arrangement of “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” a tune made famous by Bonnie Raitt. Since his near elimination three weeks ago, Davis has been on a campaign to reclaim the style that impressed the judges — and the voters — in the early weeks of the show.

“That was so reminiscent of the very first time I heard you,” said celebrity judge Blake Shelton. “I’m glad to see you get back to that.”

“It was super lovely,” added Christina Aguilera. “I truly loved it.”

“Our challenge throughout this whole thing has been highlighting what you do best,” said celebrity coach Adam Levine. “Not trying to compete with the very big dramatic, giant vocalists that are in this competition. Rather than that, to go our own way. This did exactly that.”

For his second performance of the evening, Davis went straight to his wheelhouse and pulled out a Southern gospel-tinged rendition of Bob Dylan’s “When I Paint My Masterpiece.”

“That was even better than I thought it would be,” said Levine. “It felt so good. We’re doing the right stuff.”

Levine’s instincts were correct, and Davis advanced to next week’s final round.

Singers India Carney and Koryn Hawthorne landed in the bottom two places, leading to a sing-off between the two artists. Voters cast their votes using Twitter hashtags, and narrowly selected Hawthorne to advance to the finals.

While the show never reveals the actual vote totals, iTunes chart rankings for the contestants’ singles, which factor into the vote count, are a pretty good indication of each artist’s support.

Using that metric, 16-year-old folk-rock phenom Sawyer Fredericks looks like an early favorite to win. The young singer has landed a single in the top 10 five weeks in a row, and his two singles from this week’s show hit the number two and three spots, respectively.

Davis will have his work cut out for him if he wants to return to the Great Lakes state as “The Voice” champion.

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