The Voice Season 8: Is Sawyer Fredericks Destined To Be Show’s First Break-Out Star?
There is only one of two ways that The Voice can wrap up its eighth season. Either Sawyer Fredericks wins, or people will call shenanigans. It doesn’t matter if you have a completely different favorite. It also doesn’t matter if you “don’t get” the 16-year-old’s appeal and constantly refer to Sawyer as overrated. The objective reality is that Sawyer Fredericks is the most popular Voice contestant this season.
According to GoldDerby, a site that monitors the popularity and elimination-potential of contestants on shows like The Voice, Sawyer Fredericks has an 80 percent chance of coming out on top. His nearest competition according to GoldDebery is Meghan Lindsey — with a 19 percent chance. Neither Joshua Davis nor Koryn Hawthorne managed to get odds greater than 10 percent. Poor Koryn was seen as having an actual zero percent chance of being crowned the winner this week. Ouch!
All of Sawyer Fredericks’ performances ranked from best to best-est #TheVoice @SawyerFrdrx http://t.co/vllBGfi1vN pic.twitter.com/Qch5fpap9g
— Zap2it (@Zap2it) May 12, 2015
As for Sawyer Fredericks, there are some other things in his favor that seem to point him in the direction of the inevitable winner of The Voice. Most obvious is the fact that Sawyer has never found himself at any point in the season being in remote danger of going home. I thought he might be vulnerable to an early exit, but in the end it was another front-runner that possibly left too soon.
As iTunes sales count towards a final winner, Sawyer has had the advantage of having his songs hit the Top 10 in iTunes more than his Voice competition this season. It seems to suggest he’s popular enough to make a good portion of the Voice audience spend money, more-so than other singers on the show. In addition, these votes could help safely cushion his lead over the rest of the Voice competition.
Should Sawyer Fredericks win The Voice, with his popularity so far above the rest of the rest of the competition on The Voice, some feel it might signal that he has true break-out potential. Could Sawyer Fredericks be the first real star produced by the Voice?
I’m skeptical, and not because I doubt Sawyer’s popularity or potential. I just don’t think NBC is genuinely interested in producing a star. It seems the show is about having talented enough singers to keep people tuned to the show. Established stars are goaded on to the show through the promise of exposure to millions of Voice viewers (and potential consumers). The Voice judges and guest judges promote their new work and very little attention is paid to progressing the careers of previous winners. Certainly not at the level of certain winners and participants on shows like American Idol and X-Factor (U.K. and U.S.).
Sawyer Fredericks seems the likely winner by far, but becoming a star based off of winning The Voice doesn’t seem very likely. It will be curious to see how The Voice continues to sell itself to talented singers as it becomes blatantly obvious it’s a poor vehicle for stardom, and yet has ridiculously binding contracts for participants.
Do you think Sawyer Fredericks will win The Voice? If so, do you think the show will propel him to stardom?
[Image Credit: The Voice YouTube]
