The Voice Semi-Finals: Take Me As I Am

We've reached the Top 8 semi-finals on this season of The Voice and the stakes are high tonight as only four of the remaining contestants will make it to the finale.  Each coach still has a horse in the race and each coach is hoping at least one of their contestants will have their chance at the trophy next week. Will any of the front runners falter? Let's get to the performances and find out.

Artist: Christian Cuevas 

Team: Alicia

Song: "To Worship You I Live (Away)" by Israel & New Breed

Christian is coming off a pretty fantastic Top 10 performance and he's kicking off the night with this Israel & New Breed tune that I've never heard in my life. You can tell Alicia is a little worried in the rehearsal package when he says how he wants to bring the awesomeness of last week's performance into this song that "not a lot of people may know." It's a little risky to then sing a portion of the song not a lot of people know in Spanish. In the words of Randy Jackson, this performance is just alright for me. I love Christian's commitment to the song but I'm thinking he should have chosen a different one.

Coaches Say: Adam says there is no one else in the competition who allows themselves to wear their emotions on their sleeves. Blake agrees with Adam, saying Christian has an ability to make an audience feel what he is feeling. Alicia is proud of her contestant because he is a human being who wants to spread light to everyone he passes. Thanks Alicia...now I feel bad for not liking this more. 

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Artist: Ali Caldwell

Team: Miley

Song: "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton

Well here it is. I've been waiting for the Whitney, Mariah or Celine song and we have it in the semi-finals. I'm glad Ali has covered a variety of other artists and styles up until this point so we know she is not just a woman with a big voice, but she is really going to have to nail this song at such a critical point in the competition. She TOTALLY does and I seriously love her. I have chills and goosies and perhaps a few tears when this performance is over and I already wish this would have been the closing song tonight.

Coaches Say: Alicia loved everything about the performance and says that the restraint Ali showed tonight is the sign of a true artist. Alicia also notes that Ali blended both worlds (Dolly and Whitney) beautifully and I couldn't agree more. Miley is just so excited. She tells Ali that she sang as beautiful as she looks and calls the performance perfect. 

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Artist: Brendan Fletcher

Team: Adam

Song: "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan

Brendan follows up last weeks amazing rendition of "True Colors" with...a not so great cover of "Angel." I'm pretty sure he messed up the lyrics in the first verse and he never really got back on track. What was supposed to be another performance of Brendan showing off his soft side ended up being a few minutes he probably wishes he could do all over again.

Coaches Say: Blake starts off his critique with "it's been fun" and that's never a good thing. He compliments Brendan on his progress though and tells him he did a good job. Adam makes a plea for America to vote for him because he's different and keeps his message pure to who he is....Adam makes no mention of the performance whatsoever. 

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Artist: Wé McDonald
Team: Alicia
Song: "Scars To Your Beautiful" by Alessia Cara

Wé and Alicia have such a great relationship and I think I look forward to Wé's rehearsal packages the most each week. It's always risky to take a song that's a hit on the radio right now and try to do your own thing with it. Wé doesn't really switch up "Scars To Your Beautiful" too much, but I do think she continues to prove herself as a young artist with a message to to spread. Also, shout out to those drummers behind Wé. They were awesome.

Coaches Say: Alicia and Miley both stand and Alicia is flipping out. Love it. Miley is excited too and feels like the way Wé (see how that works?) performed tonight shows what a Wé concert would be like. She loved the performance and would happily go to a Wé concert and wear a Wé t-shirt. Alicia says Wé is her own artist and she knows how she wants to make people feel. Alicia reminds everyone at home that they are witnessing the growth of a star on this show and says people need to vote for her. I absolutely agree with her. This kid deserves to be in the finale.
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Artist: Aaron Gibson

Team: Miley

Song: "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)" by Brian Adams

I can't. I appreciate what Miley is going for here but Aaron's execution of this song is just the opposite. I just can't. Next.

Coaches Say: Carson only asks for Miley's thoughts (the other coaches are probably so relieved) and Miley tells Aaron she believed everything he was singing. She rambles a bit then asks everyone to vote for Aaron. In her mind once again I bet she's thinking "thank goodness for Ali."

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Artist: Josh Gallagher

Team: Adam

Song: "Danny's Song" by Loggins & Messina

Josh sits in one spot on the stage for this entire performance which seems to help him keep his breathing under control. I swear sometimes I don't know what's at the end of his sentences at all. Tonight is different though. Vocally this is Josh's best performance on The Voice. In terms of entertainment though...I started to feel sleepy about half way through the song.

Coaches Say: Adam tells Josh he nailed the performance and calls it the best of the night. I have to then fast forward through the rest of his critique.
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Artist: Sundance Head

Team: Blake

Song: "Love Can Build a Bridge" by The Judds

Oh how I love The Judds. For real. And this is one of their best songs. Wynonna even calls Sundance to wish him luck. She tells him "just be you, and I can't wait to watch you just go out there and let it rip." Awww. Sundance takes this Judds hit from 1990 and brings it right into present day awesomeness. He went into the night so worried about doing "Love Can Build a Bridge" justice and he had no reason to worry at all. The way he delivers "when we stand together, it's our finest hour" alone is grounds for Adam to shut the hell up about Josh.

Coaches Say: Blake has trouble coming up with any words for his contestant. He says Sundance has so much passion when he sings and says the performance could not have been better. 

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Artist: Billy Gilman

Team: Adam

Song: "I Surrender" by Celine Dion

Of course I need to start this critique by posting Kelly Clarkson's version of the song from American Idol. Have to. Billy gets the pimp slot tonight and he realllllly stretches his voice for this song. While I think Billy has come a long way in terms of connecting to songs and not just singing them, tonight is not one of the nights where I feel him emoting. I would have preferred Ali close the show, but I realize she can't get that chance every week.

Coaches Say: Standing ovation from everyone. Adam eggs on the audience to just keep cheering and then thankfully my Tivo cuts off. 

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We did have some duets to sit through enjoy as well tonight. Wé and Aaron took on "FourFive Seconds" which was pleasant enough I guess. Aaron actually looked more comfortable and sounded better with a partner. Maybe he needs to think about becoming a duo with someone. Additionally, Sundance and Josh collaborated on "Feelin' Alright" and the performance was entertaining as hell. These two guys seem to love competing against one another but then there's a lot of bro love there too. The third paring was Billy and Christian as they performed a fairly unsteady version of "Unsteady," and Brendan and Ali rounded out the duets with a badass rendition of "It's Only Love." I don't think Brendan has a hope of making it to the finale, but I do think he redeemed his earlier performance with this song. Glad he'll be exiting on a high note at least.

As for where these guys stand, for me Billy, Ali and Wé deserve spots in the finale. As for the that fourth spot, I'd go with Sundance...though I wouldn't be upset if Christian ends up making the final four. The first scenario allows all of the coaches to compete in the finale as well and I'd really like that, especially since we have two brand new coaches this season. Will my predictions be correct? Will there be an upset? Will freaking Aaron somehow steal one of the spots from my favorites?!?! We shall find out during the elimination hour tomorrow. Til then!

The Voice Top 10 Eliminations: If I Could Turn Back Time

Tonight's double elimination brought the competition down to eight artists as one coach lost two team members in one night. I can't say that I'm super upset with the results, but I do think there are some folks still squeaking by who should have gone home before one of tonight's casualties. Who were the unfortunate contestants to be sent packing? Here's what went down.  

Miley Cyrus seriously has the coolest godmother ever. The wonderful, amazing, hilarious Dolly Parton joined us this evening and she first took the stage with Jennifer Nettles and the Top 10 to sing "Circle of Love." Jennifer and Dolly are here promoting their movie Christmas of Many Colors and I for real can't wait to watch it. Last year's Coat of Many Colors tugged at my heartstrings for sure and I loved it. Dolly returned later with Miley and Pentatonix and they performed an awesome rendition of "Jolene." GREAT song. Great collaboration. 

Results! The first person to make it through to the semi-finals was Brendan and he was joined by Sundance, Christian and Ali soon thereafter. Billy was sent to safety next along with Wé and Josh. This placed Aaron, Austin and Courtney in the bottom 3 singing for the Stupid Twitter Save. Austin went with "Tennessee Whiskey" as his "save me" song and he was awesome. Courtney chose "Bless the Broken Road" and while her voice was still a little up and down, her emotions were all in and I wanted to give her a hug when the song was over. Aaron closed out the performances with "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" and it seemed like he had a hard time with his breathing during the song. The performance itself was also kinda boring. Let's just save Austin, mmmkay?

In the end, Aaron was saved AGAIN and the mind reels. So Blake lost two of his contestants tonight and Sundance is his last man standing. Team Adam remains in tact with all three artists and Miley and Alicia were able to hold on to the two they had left going into tonight. Will next week's intense semi-finals elimination wipe out any team altogether? More than one team? Can Aaron really get a spot in the finale? And can I please get the phone number for for the guy who designs Dolly's costumes? I bet he has some stories to tell. That aside though, it will be interesting to see which of these eight contestants will prevail next week. With Christian and Brendan emerging as contenders last night, the presumed front runners (Ali, Billy, Sundance and Wé) should be put on notice. We'll see what happens when the semi-finals slaughter arrives on Monday. Til then!

The Voice Top 10: You Can Pour Your Soul Out Singing

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!