Tonight the remaining ten contestants take the stage once more, as we are now nearing the inexplicable eight person "semi-finals." Miley and Alicia hope to hold what's left of their teams together this week while Blake and Adam have yet to suffer any casualties. Can Ali, Aaron, Wé and Christian outperform the trio of artists that remain in both Team Adam and Team Blake? Let's get to the performances and find out.
Artist: Billy Gilman
Coach: Adam
Song: "Anyway" by Martina McBride
Billy returns to his country music roots tonight and kicks off the show with with an amazing rendition of "Anyway." He looks emotional right from the start and based on the story he told in his rehearsal package, I can understand why. Seems he got his first opportunity at stardom when Martina heard one of his demos of one of her songs. Tonight it comes full circle and he has so much to be proud of. I'm a little sniffly myself when the song ends.
Coaches Say: Standing ovation! Blake thinks Billy is great at country music and compliments his range and ability to connect with the lyrics. Miley says Billy makes her nervous as a coach and could definitely be the winner this season. Adam says what we just heard was incredibly special and he's blown away by his contestant.
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Artist: Courtney Harrell
Coach: Blake
Song: "If I Could Turn Back Time" by Cher
Uh... I don't really know what to say about this. Courtney loves 80s music so much and wants so badly to do this song justice. She gets an 'A' for effort, but I don't have any kind of decent grade for her vocals. There are more bad notes than good ones and the performance just seems to go on forEVER.
Coaches Say: Alicia says Courtney has such grace and beauty and calls her voice relentless. That's one word for it. Blake feels like a new Courtney just stepped into the Top 10 and he loved her stage presence tonight.
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Artist: Josh Gallagher
Coach: Adam
Song: "Real Good Man" by Tim McGraw
Josh starts off the performance with his guitar and a mic stand at the top of a reallllllly high staircase which he then slowly walks down...while singing....but not playing the guitar...which is fine because the band is way louder than Josh is anyway. If I didn't know this song already I would wonder what the hell he's singing about. Not my fave.
Coaches Say: Alicia says the performance was fantastic and thinks Josh was really in his element. Adam is so happy for Josh because tonight Josh became a country star. Did he really? That's some Blake talk right there.
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Artist: Aaron Gibson
Coach: Miley
Song: "Rocket Man" by Elton John
Aaron tries to put his own spin on this song, and unlike "Hurt" where I was worried he might burn the whole building down, he goes all Dave Matthews for "Rocket Man." I wish I could say I like his rendition but he doesn't enunciate and this is another situation where if I didn't know and love this song already, I would only be hearing "it's gonna be a long, long time" and "I'm a rocket man." Almost everything else is swallowed up by the jam session going on around him.
Coaches Say: Adam says regardless of how far Aaron goes in the competition, he's establishing himself on the show. "You took what you had and made the best of it." Uh oh. None of that sounds good. I translate that to: "That wasn't a good song for you and you're going home tomorrow." Miley is a big fan of Aaron and says all he needs is his guitar and his voice because he just wants to be an artist. "Everyone respects you for being yourself." Translation: "Thank God I have Ali on my team because you're going home tomorrow."
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Artist: Christian Cuevas
Coach: Alicia
Song: "Million Reasons" by Lady Gaga
You know, as much as I like Christian, I always assumed his time on the show would be short lived once we got to the Top 12. That being said....he KILLED it tonight. Alicia had been working with him on his "head voice" and using restraint at the right times and man did all of that coaching pay off. Christian has a near emotional breakdown at the end of the song and I fell completely in love with him. This is his best performance yet and he's thisclose to beating out Billy for the best performance of the night...so far anyway.
Coaches Say: The camera doesn't let me see if anyone else stands up besides Alicia but I certainly hope she was joined by her fellow coaches. This guy deserved it. Blake loves Christian and says he just gave a very timely performance based on where we are in the competition. He adds that he thinks Christian had a "moment" tonight. Christian TOTALLY had a moment tonight. Alicia feels like an artist was born on stage just now because he took everyone on such an emotional journey. He most certainly did. I'm so happy for him.
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Artist: Austin Allsup
Coach: Blake
Song: "Missing You" by John Waite
Blake thinks America needs a softer side of Austin, so instead of letting Austin play the guitar and lead the band, he's now putting Austin on a stool in what seems to be a carousel of lights...or something. He struggles in the first verse of the song, but once he gets through the first chorus and starts walking around a little bit, things do get better. I'm not sold on the song choice but Austin's performance is still better than a few of his predecessors tonight.
Coaches Say: Miley got teary eyed during the performance because Austin believed what he was singing. Blake congratulates Austin on taking a classic song and making it his own.
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Artist: Wé McDonald
Coach: Alicia
Song: "God Bless the Child" by Billie Holiday
Team Alicia is having a great night tonight. Not only did Christian just have a break though performance, Wé serves up this Billy Holiday song like she's been performing it for 20 years (which is impossible given how freaking young she is). During the rehearsal package Wé says she wants to channel some of Alicia's swag, and she doesn't quite do that (it's a little forced at times), but I feel like this kid could do just about anything else. Apparently she's studied opera? Wé throws that in there too and I'm wondering when Alicia's just going to toss the kitchen sink on stage.
Coaches Say: For whatever reason Carson only asks Alicia to speak and she is SO excited. She stands and yells "there's nobody like you!" Alicia then says there are no boundaries for Wé because she bursts America's hearts every time she sings.
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Artist: Brendan Fletcher
Coach: Adam
Song: "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper
Brendan wants an earthy vibe for his rendition of "True Colors" and though I'm not sure what that means at all, I am sure that I love his performance. This song has the potential to be snoozy and we've certainly heard it covered countless times on more than one occasion on these singing shows. And like Christian, I didn't think Brendan would have much of a shelf life on this show, but Brendan busted out this performance at just the right time.
Coaches Say: Miley and Adam stand for Brendan and Miley has tears in her eyes. She says his version of "True Colors" is going to be her new favorite song on repeat. Adam says Brendan is the first artist this season to take a song and artistically create a version that is so special and different, people are going to want to listen to it. I wholeheartedly disagree with Adam. Dude always thinks that his contestants are the most innovative and that's just not true. Brendan mostly likely gave the best performance of his career tonight, but let's not minimize some of the other awesome "different" performances we've had this season. Now I'm annoyed.
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Artist: Sundance Head
Coach: Blake
Song: "Me and Jesus" by Tom T. Hall
I'll admit that I have never heard this song before but I'm digging the bluegrass thing Sundance has going tonight. He starts the song out at a steady pace but then he puts the song on overdrive and it's unreal. And that banjo player? Holy cow! I love this guy. Please, please watch the video below at the 2:20 mark and tell me you're not grinning from ear to ear by the end. I'm not sure what Ali has in store in the pimp spot, but she's going to have a hell of a time topping this performance!
Coaches Say: Everyone stands and everyone is smiling and clapping and "woo"ing. Alicia says Sundance has her heart and she feels right at home every time he sings. Blake tells Sundance that we've never experienced anything like that on the show and I totally agree. I wonder how pissed Adam is right now.
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Artist: Ali Caldwell
Coach: Miley
Song: "Without You" by Harry Nilsson
I'm shamelessly going to post Kelly Clarkson's version of this song from American Idol, and then I'm going to move on to say how much I enjoy Ali's rendition. This is another song that has been covered SO much and I was a little leery when I first saw the title pop up in Ali's rehearsal package. Ali's performance, however, is powerful, emotional, and dramatic to say the least. The train of her dress goes on for days and the windy/foggy effects behind it make this a show closing performance for sure.
Coaches Say: Everyone stands again! We're running out of time so we go right to Miley who says she is so proud to be Ali's coach. She says she feels like she won when Ali chose her during the blind auditions. Awww.
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Tomorrow we will say goodbye to two contestants and the last eight artists remaining will square off in the semi-finals next week. Yes, that semi-finals that has eight people in it before the Tuesday slaughter that will take that number down to four. Because that makes sense. Because it's way better to have blinds, battles, and playoffs for 2 months before hacking through the Top 12 in four weeks. End rant.
Because Courtney can't turn back time and redo her performance...or sabotage the microphone...or break the cameras...I have a feeling she is in great danger tomorrow. Who will join her though? Will Aaron find himself in the bottom again? Did Josh's lackluster Tim McGraw cover seal his fate? Could Austin's carousel of lights performance be too much of a departure for his fans? We'll find out during the elimination hour. Til then!
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