Tonight the remaining 11 hopefuls take the stage again on The Voice as Team Kelly went down a member last week and the other teams are working to stay in tact. The theme this evening is "songs picked by the fans" which almost always seems like a bad idea to me. Taking the choice out of the coaches/contestants' hands could pretty much sabotage any one of these guys and there's nothing they can do about it. Will any of the Top 11 power through with the perfect song match? Let's get to the performances and find out.
Artist: Pryor Baird
Team: Blake
Song: "Night Moves" by Bob Seger
Coaches Say: Kelly's favorite thing about Pryor is how comfortable he is on stage and how well he connects to the audience. Blake felt the softer side of Pryor tonight and he tells Pryor his momentum builds each week.
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Artist: Sharane Calister
Team: Adam
Song: "Hero" by Mariah Carey
Oh dear. This song is way too big for Sharane and it's a damn shame. The kid dedicates this song to her sister and she really does her best here, but the fans didn't do Sharane any favors in choosing this tune. There are parts of the performance that sound lovely...but then there are other parts where Sharane can't quite manage her breath...and then there are parts where her voice gets lost completely...and then some of the notes...well, maybe the fans that chose this song have a hell of a campaign going tonight to get her votes. They owe her that.
Coaches Say: Alicia tells Sharane she is blooming before our eyes and thinks she is really finding her footing now. Adam admits to being afraid about the song but says he's very proud of Sharane for tackling the song in her way.
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Artist: Kaleb Lee
Team: Kelly
Song: "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" by Travis Tritt
Okay, I can get behind this song/artist pairing. Kelly is excited that Kaleb gets to do a "personality song" and she's looking for him to come alive on stage tonight. While Kaleb doesn't necessarily go nuts with this song (in a good way) the way he could have, this is definitely the most personality we've seen from him all season and I'm loving it. Shout out to the band and backup singers though - this performance was seriously a group effort.
Coaches Say: Blake says he wanted to run up on stage and jam with Kaleb during the performance. He thinks the song was perfect for Kaleb's voice. Kelly loves that Kaleb can be sweet and sincere in a ballad but he can also rock out like he did tonight. She tells Kaleb he nailed it.
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Artist: Jackie Foster
Team: Alicia
Song: "Love Reign O'er Me" by The Who
Woohoo! Another good pick! Because Jackie's dad is a huge classic rock fan, Jackie feels like she is going back to her roots with this song. She loves that her fans want to see her sing this kind of song and I love that her fans chose this tune for her. Jackie wails when she needs to, keeps it subtle when it matters most, and she works the stage in a way that doesn't say "holy sh*t, I'm taking on The Who tonight" like many contestants would be. Her attitude is more like "The Who? I've got this. I'm making this my own tonight." I know we're barely at the midway point of the show, but this performance is best of the night so far.
Coaches Say: All four coaches stand and rightfully so! Adam is so happy Jackie made the song her own and tells her the performance was perfect. Alicia does some sound effects before saying, "let the horns blow, let the trumpets blare," and I just love Alicia. She calls the performance sick before making more sound effects.
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Artist: Jackie Verna
Team: Adam
Song: "Strawberry Wine" by Deana Carter
Coaches Say: Blake says the song was perfect for Jackie's voice and thinks the fans are totally in tune with her. See what he did there? Adam believes Jackie is one of the best singers on the show and he calls her performance flawless.
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Artist: Kyla Jade
Team: Blake
Song: "Sweet Baby Sweet Baby (Since You've Been Gone)" by Aretha Franklin
Kyla is for real giving the other contestants a run for their money...or the money they hope to make someday. I tend to wince when someone says they are covering Aretha Franklin, for the obvious reason, but I am loving what Kyla has going on here. That dress! That hair! That attitude! That voice! There aren't many people in this world that can make tackling the Queen of Soul look easy, but lordy Kyla has done it tonight. If Jennifer Hudson was in the house, she would have thrown her entire closet on stage.
Coaches Say: The coaches start standing long before Kyla is done singing and most of them stay standing as the critiques start. Alicia tells Kyla she is phenomenal and says she is inspiring so many people right now. Kelly throws an adorable hissy fit because Kyla is on Blake's team, and our resident cowboy thinks Kyla is dominating this show. He is totally right.
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Artist: Christiana Danielle
Team: Alicia
Song: "Umbrella" by Rihanna
Alicia had to get permission to use this song from her buddy, Jay-Z, and maybe this would have been a better night for Christiana if he had said "no." I can see why the fans would give Christiana a Rihanna song, but of all the Rihanna songs they picked the one that made me think my radio was broken the first time I heard it. Christiana's performance starts off very shaky and she seems to know it. Not sure if it's a timing issue with the piano or if she needed to be in a key higher pretty much the whole time. She has a fairly strong finish but not strong enough to for me to get past what happened during the rest of the song.
Coaches Say: We go right to Alicia who says Christiana is incredibly loveable. Alicia tells America to buy this version of "Umbrella" because you can play it in your car, your crib, or while you're taking a bath.
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Artist: Brynn Cartelli
Team: Kelly
Song: "You and I" by Lady Gaga
Really? We really gave the 15 year old a song about sitting in a bar, making love on a couch, and kissing a man with a whiskey taste? This is the best we could do for this kid? Color me confused...and a little angry. Brynn's voice soars when she gets to the "youuuuuu and iiiiii" parts of the song but otherwise this was not one of her best. Here's hoping she gets a pass on this one because Team Kelly aside (my bias is showing?), Brynn deserves to be in the finale.
Coaches Say: Carson has the nerve to say this was a perfect song for Brynn before going to Kelly for comments. KC says Brynn is confident and comfortable in her skin and she calls her young contestant "captivating."
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Artist: Rayshun LaMarr
Team: Adam
Song: "Try a Little Tenderness" by Otis Redding
Rayshun doesn't seem too phased about his time in the bottom 2 last week. If anything, dude has even more energy if you can believe it. Like, he took what I thought was Rayshun on overdrive and put a cement block on the accelerator. As always, I'm entertained throughout Rayshun's performance - I think he's trying to take us to a lot of places tonight, but he definitely succeeds in taking us to church. This performance is fun and full of joy, and really, Rayshun's voice is so crazy good I almost think he is from another planet at times. I hope he doesn't find himself back in the bottom 2 tomorrow. I think he has earned a spot in the Top 10.
Coaches Say: Well of course everyone is on their feet. How could they stay in their seats with what just happened on stage? We go right to Adam who points out that Rayshun was in the bottom 2 last week, but then adds that tonight Rayshun is number 1. He then says something about this being the first time on the show where all four coaches were standing before the song was over, and there's no way that's a true thing. Zero chance.
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Artist: Britton Buchanan
Team: Alicia
Song: "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran
Well I will totally admit to letting out a loud "awwwww" when we learned that Britton and Livia Faith are a couple now. Young love at the blind auditions. Britton dedicates this song to Livia and she is in the audience tonight...probably smart that he skipped over the "to carry love, to carry children of our own" lyrics. Britton seems a bit nervous and loses his breath quite a bit throughout the song (one could argue Livia takes his breath away?). Maybe the song wasn't "perfect" for him (can't help myself) but the performance is heartfelt and I think the kid will be just fine making it through to next week.
Coaches Say: Alicia says there are no bells and whistles to Britton's performance and thinks he has power in his "quietness."
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Artist: Spensha Baker
Team: Blake
Song: "Better Man" by Little Big Town
Spensha closes out the night with a performance that is not a pimp slot, bring down the house performance at all. The choruses are strong and Spensha is really invested in the song, but for me there are some pitch problems and closing the show with Britton followed by this performance is just super anti-climatic. But at the risk of pulling a Paula Abdul I will say that Spensha looked gorgeous tonight.
Coaches Say: Kelly thinks Spensha's voice is big and beautiful and says Spensha brings soul to country music. Blake tells Spensha she is important to country music and she's doing what she's meant to do.
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Maybe I'm all alone in my feelings, but I don't think this was an overall great night on The Voice. I hope the show runners look into giving "audience assignment" week the boot, right after they do away with the Stupid Twitter Save and stop the semi-finals slaughter. I honestly couldn't predict tomorrow's elimination because the performances were so uneven. Will Rayshun stay out of the bottom 2? Will Brynn get a pass because of the song she was given? Will Sharane sail through despite her "Hero" troubles? Will Christiana's fans pull through for her after the song they stuck her with? We'll find out during the elimination hour. Til then!
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