Closing out this season of The Voice with a moving performance from Riley Green.
The hit NBC singing competition show concluded its 28th season on air with Neil Horn winning another season. While it was a big season for Horn, as he’s won every season he’s coached, making him undefeated, it was an even bigger night for his pupil, who took home first place.
Aiden Ross, a 20-year-old from College Station, Texas, said he was at a “loss for words” that he was taking home the win, and that this is just the beginning for him as an artist and a musician. It will be exciting to see what comes from the Texas A&M student in the future, and based on his performances throughout the season, the future looks bright.
Another standout performance from the evening was from one of the guest performers: Mr. Riley Green. It’s very common for a big name to come and perform at the live finales of singing shows like this, and this is the second year Riley Green has appeared on The Voice stage. Last year, he and Ella Langley performed a stunning acoustic performance of their hit duet “Don’t Mind If I Do.”
This year, Riley Green returned to the stage as a solo act, performing his moving track “Jesus Saves.” The tune was first released as part of his Way Out Here EP in April of 2024, and was later included on the tracklist for his third studio album Don’t Mind If I Do. It quickly became a fan favorite and is easily one of the best songs Riley has ever recorded or released.
The solo written by Riley tells the story of an Army veteran who has lived a complex, and at times, pretty sad life that’s led to him being homeless and “covered in dirt like the world had beat him down.” The message is that you never know what someone is going through and how they ended up in certain situations, and Riley told us before that it made him “wanna cry” when he wrote it:
“I mean, I wrote the song from something that I saw, you know. I thought it was a good message, you never know what somebody’s been through and I’m kind of quick judge, especially people in certain situations.
I know that it made me wanna cry when I wrote and played it back to myself. And I think that’s something I’m always drawn to, is songs that make you feel some kind of emotion.”
Riley Green brought the lyrics to life on The Voice stage with a stunning acoustic performance. With just him and his guitar sitting on a stage lit with the soft glow of individual lights, it creates an immersive listening experience, really making every word sit with the listener.
No matter how many times I hear this tune, it always evokes an emotional response in me, and this acoustic performance is no different. Riley Green gave a master class on songwriting with “Jesus Saves.”
Check it out:
