The Voice: Blake Shelton gains edge going into season 19 finale as Ian Flanigan makes final five

Blake Shelton scored a major advantage going into the season 19 finale of The Voice as two of his singers won slots into the finals on Tuesday during the live results show.

After 30-year-old artist Ian Flanigan earned the show’s Instant Save vote with his rendition of Travis Tritt’s Anymore, Blake had two contestants in the finale’s Top Five.

‘I really feel strongly that America loves you and they’re gonna pull you out of this and you’re gonna be in the finale,’ Blake, 44, told Ian, a working musician from Saugerties, New York, after hearing him perform and waiting for the results.

‘This is a once-in-a-lifetime voice,’ Blake said of Ian, who travels the country with his girlfriend helping other up-and-coming artists gain exposure and launch their careers. ‘You’re never gonna hear a voice like this again unless it’s at an Ian concert.’

Blake’s words must have had an impact as Ian sailed through to become the fifth singer heading to The Voice finale next week.

Viewers earlier voted through Blake’s only other artist, the folksy Jim Ranger, 38, from Bakersfield, California, who performed Harry Nilsson’s Without You on Monday.

Jim described that show as ‘magical’ and ‘one of the most amazing nights of my life.’

Just four singers were saved by America’s vote after their performances on the Top Nine show, with the remaining five singers competing for the finale’s Instant Save spot.

The first artist to make it through was Team Kelly’s Desz, 30, a four-chair turn from Houston who’d done a sexy cover of En Vogue’s Don’t Let Go (Love).

Team Legend’s save was John Holiday, the 35-year-old music teacher from Rosenberg, Texas, who’d dedicated his cover of Coldplay’s Fix You to his grandmother Big Mama.

Both Kelly Clarkson, 38, and John Legend, 41, also sang their own songs during the one-hour results episode.

Kelly crooned her new classic Under The Mistletoe with country artist Brett Eldredge, 34, while John performed his single, Wild, from his Grammy nominated record Bigger Love.

Team Gwen then learned that America voted through Carter Rubin, 15, from Shoreham, New York, who won fans with a soaring version of the Muppets’ Rainbow Connection.

Carter dedicated it to his brother Jack, who has autism, and eloquently answered show host Carson Daly’s question about what Jack had taught him.

‘I think my brother Jack and a lot of people on the autism spectrum see things a little differently than many of us and I don’t think that’s a bad thing,’ Carter opined. ‘It’s a quite beautiful thing, and if we all took a second and tried to see the world through their eyes, we’d all be kinder, more patient and more accepting.’

For the wildcard slot that Ian won, Team Legend’s Bailey Rae, 18, from Roberta, Oklahoma, covered Hank Willams’ Your Cheatin’ Heart, while Tamara Jade, 30, from Bowie, Maryland, did a rendition of Feelin’ Good, which Nina Simone made famous.

Team Gwen’s Ben Allen, 42, from Estero, Florida, sang a version of Matt Stell’s Prayed For You, and Team Kelly’s Cami Clune, 20, from Buffalo, New York, nearly made it through with her take on Billie Eilish’s When The Party’s Over.

During a break, Carson, 47, asked Blake about his many collaborations with his mother, Dorothy Shelton.

The duo wrote a song together that became a book and a Hallmark Channel movie now airing its second sequel, called Time For Us To Come Home For Christmas.

‘She’s driven me crazy over years to write songs with her,’ Blake said of his mom. ‘Who would have ever guessed all these things came out of it? So it paid off.’

The Voice will return next week on NBC with a live two-part finale on Monday and Tuesday.