S14.E14: The Live Playoffs, Night 1

[Prin Holmes]

From TV Guide:

Quote

The top twenty-four artists perform live for coaches Adam Levine, Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson, and Blake Shelton, as well as for America's vote.  But this time, a twist has been included.  Viewers will vote in real time, but only the top vote-getter for each team will automatically advance to the top twelve.  The remaining twenty artists will perform a second time over the next two shows.

Discuss the first live episode here.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Prin Holmes

[Prin Holmes]

To remind you all, these are the current team rosters/cheat sheets:

Team Adam

Mia Boostrom

Jackie Verna

Rayshun Lamar

Reid Umstattd

Drew Cole

Sharane Calister

Team Alicia

Johnny Bliss

Terrence Cunningham

Britton Buchanan

Kelsea Johnson

Christiana Danielle

Jackie Foster

Team Kelly

Kaleb Lee

Brynn Cartelli

D.R. King

Alexa Capelli

Tish Haynes Keys

Dylan Hartigan

Team Blake

Kyla Jade

Spensha Baker

Pryor Baird

WILKES

Austin Giorgio

Gary Edwards

This is our top twenty-four.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Prin Holmes

[Prin Holmes]

Tonight's song choices:

Team Adam

Drew: "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson

Jackie V.: "Tim McGraw" by Taylor Swift

Mia: "Baby, I Love You" by Aretha Franklin

Rayshun: "Overjoyed" by Stevie Wonder

Reid: "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2

Sharane: "Never Enough" by Loren Allred

Team Alicia

Britton: "Some Kind of Wonderful" by Grand Funk Railroad

Christiana: "Hey Ya" by Outkast

Jackie F.: "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS

Johnny: "América América" by Nino Bravo

Kelsea: "You Know I'm No Good" by Amy Winehouse

Terrence: "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" by Prince

Team Kelly

Alexa: "It Hurts so Bad" by Susan Tedeschi

Brynn: "Unstoppable" by Sia

D.R.: "Home" by Marc Broussard

Dylan: "Come Pick Me Up" by Ryan Adams

Kaleb: "You Don't Even Know Who I Am" by Patty Loveless

Tish: "Nothing Left for You" by Sam Smith

Team Blake

Austin: "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" by Dean Martin

Gary: "Finesse" by Bruno Mars

Kyla: "How Great Thou Art" by Whitney Houston

Pryor: "I was Wrong" by Chris Stapleton

Spensha: "I Still Believe in You" by Vince Gill

WILKES: "Brother" by NEEDTOBREATHE

Make of these what you will.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Prin Holmes

[SunnyBeBe]

Our local stations are trying to get viewers on board to vote live.

http://www.wral.com/-the-voice-will-feature-live-voting-as-local-nc-contestants-vie-to-advance/17490744/

[Prin Holmes]

Contestants, plural?  I know that Britton is from NC, but who else is?

[SunnyBeBe]

7 minutes ago, Prin Holmes said:

Contestants, plural?  I know that Britton is from NC, but who else is?

Rayshun.  He's from Chapel Hill. It's listed on The Voice bio as his hometown and the local news has been featuring him, just like Britton and previously, Molly.  

[SunnyBeBe]

Unless Rayshun and Britton are terrible, I will vote for them tonight. (Want to support local guys.)

So far, my favorites are Bryne on Kelly's team; Reid on Adams's; Britton and Christina on Alicia's and NO ONE on Blake's. (correction.)

Edited April 16, 2018 by SunnyBeBe

[PhD-Purgatory15]

So, the 20 left over after tonight will all perform tomorrow (and then the last 16 on Wednesday)?

Or the remaining 20 will be divided and go 10 tomorrow and 10 on Wednesday?

This is a strange way to go about things...

Edited April 16, 2018 by PhD-Purgatory15

[Prin Holmes]

1 hour ago, SunnyBeBe said:

So far, my favorites are Brynn on Kelly's team; Reid on Adams's; Britton and Christiana on Alicia's and NO ONE on Adams.  

But you just said you do have a favorite on Adam's team.

1 hour ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

So, the 20 left over after tonight will all perform tomorrow (and then the last 16 on Wednesday)?

Or the remaining 20 will be divided and go 10 tomorrow and 10 on Wednesday?

This is a strange way to go about things...

The second one.  According to a recent release, Team Blake and Team Alicia will each have their remaining five artists perform on Tuesday.  Team Adam and Team Kelly will each have their remaining five artists perform on Wednesday.

But yeah, I don't like this format.  NBC really shouldn't have tried to fix a format that wasn't broken.  I miss the old one.  But I blame them first for trying to force This is Us on the audience, and now Rise.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Prin Holmes

[SunnyBeBe]

Overjoyed, sounds like an awesome choice for Rayshun.  I'm looking forward to that. 

Some Kind Of Wonderful for Britton....oh my....odd choice.  I'm worried.

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For for Reid.  I hope it doesn't swallow him up.  lol

Unstoppable for Brynn, awesome choice.  This should be great. 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Danger, danger....Kyla is dropping a super pander-y Christian/Gospel song for Team Blake. Be forewarned.

WILKES doing NEEDTOBREATHE is very on brand and a victory for fans of Capitalized Letters everywhere. I think he could absolutely crush that song too.

Excited to hear from Brynn, D.R. (that is such an awesome Marc Broussard song), and Kelsea. It will be interesting to see how Christianne's "Hey Ya" translates....along with Jackie F trying to live up to INXS (I shudder in fear tho)...

Edited April 16, 2018 by PhD-Purgatory15

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Welcome to The Voice: Warp Speed Edition.

[Diana Berry]

Have to hand it to Carson for keeping things together.  He's seemed out of breath all night.

[Prin Holmes]

Current team rosters/cheat sheets:

Team Adam

Sharane Calister  (saved by America's vote)

(Still Waiting)

Mia Boostrom

Jackie Verna

Rayshun LaMarr

Reid Umstattd

Drew Cole

Team Alicia

Britton Buchanan  (saved by America's vote)

(Still Waiting)

Johnny Bliss

Terrence Cunningham

Kelsea Johnson

Christiana Danielle

Jackie Foster

Team Kelly

Brynn Cartelli (saved by America's vote)

(Still Waiting)

Kaleb Lee

D.R. King

Alexa Capelli

Tish Haynes Keys

Dylan Hartigan

Team Blake

Kyla Jade  (saved by America's vote)

(Still Waiting)

Spensha Baker

Pryor Baird

WILKES

Austin Giorgio

Gary Edwards

These are the first four of our top twelve.  Remaining results to follow on Wednesday.

[Quickbeam]

That was the worst “How Great Thou Art” I’ve ever heard. I had to leave the room. 

[Dots And Stripes]

Kind of low stakes tonight. No eliminations. I think it's a slight improvement over last season when there was no voting this round. It's also interesting that TPTB and the coaches got to collect some data tonight. I could see the coaches using some of those numbers in their decisions. 

I thought Kyla started strong but her voice became strained. Prior was my favorite from Team Blake. The RT's for him and Kyla were very close. Wilkes and Spensha also did well in the twitter vote.

I had thought Kelly had a stronger team going into tonight. I no longer think that. I was also hoping anyone but the 15 year old would advance. She ran away with her team's twitter vote too.

I very much disliked what Christiana did to Hey Ya. I am over artists making songs slow and pretending its art. I was bored. I had no recollection of Britton before tonight. At times I liked his performance, at times I thought it was cheesy.  He also ran away with his team's RT's. I'm a little surprised Team Alicia's numbers weren't higher across the board. 

Team Adam has some belters. No way Adam lets Reid go home. He just seems like the type of male artist Adam goes for.

Edited April 17, 2018 by Dots And Stripes

[incandescent]

3 hours ago, Prin Holmes said:

But yeah, I don't like this format.  NBC really shouldn't have tried to fix a format that wasn't broken.  I miss the old one.  But I blame them first for trying to force This is Us on the audience, and now Rise.

To be fair, This Is Us regularly gets better ratings than The Voice, so they kinda succeeded that first time. But I agree this format is dumb.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Really, two of the runaway young favorites advanced (Brynn and Britton), the best (or close to) of Adam's bunch of also ran's advanced, and Kyla took advantage of being the only person out of the 24 to sing a Christian hymn to advance. So really I don't think this throws too many monkeywrenches into the Top 12.

On Blake's team it's now a three way race for two spots (WILKES, Pryor & Spensha). My guess is WILKES is the odd guy out (he needs to be voted in by the fans).

On Adam it's still pretty muddled. I wouldn't say anyone is totally out of it...although it does seem like a real long shot for either Drew or Jackie V to get the fan votes to advance.

On Team Kelly it feels like D.R. and Kaleb should be the other two that advance.

Alicia seems to have another three way battle for two spots (Terrance, Kelsea & Christianne). Maybe Christianne is the one who really needs the fan vote. I won't completely rule out Jackie F. either. I thought she was going to be woefully out of her depth on Never Tear Us Apart.....and she really wasn't. She gave a pretty awesome performance in all honesty.

[JeanneH]

4 hours ago, Prin Holmes said:

According to a recent release, Team Blake and Team Alicia will each have their remaining five artists perform on Tuesday.  Team Adam and Team Kelly will each have their remaining five artists perform on Wednesday.

About the 5 people for 2 spots on each team thing - Anyone know if these picks are pure fan vote too, or do the coaches have some say in who moves on?

[Prin Holmes]

Thoughts on tonight's performances:

Alexa: This was a mess.  She started out very well, but she very clearly lost control as a song went along.  Your voice broke at least twice throughout the song, and she went off key more than once.  Definitely not worthy of getting voted through.

Kaleb: If Kelly wants any chance of winning with a country artist, this is her guy.  It was strong, solid, and just plain beautiful.  He might have gone off key at one point, but thankfully, not badly so.  He recovered immediately.  Nice job, sir.

Tish: This was damn near flawless.  I'm going to be honest and say that this is the best she's done since she started her journey.  She demonstrated her usual power and control without resorting to belting or screaming too much.  Excellent work, Tish.

Brynn: A Sia song is always a risk, but I think it paid off.  Brynn was amazing.  It was just as flawless as Tish's performance, if not more so.  I was mesmerised the entire time.  Well done, Brynn.

Dylan: Oh, no, Mr. Hartigan.  This was not good.  It wasn't bad.  Just wasn't good, either.  Like Alexa, it actually started very well.  But it got away from him as it went along.  Definitely going to have to perform again.

D.R.: The band drowned him out at numerous times, but on the whole, a good job.  He did a decent job on a song no one would ever have expected him to do.  Better than Alexa and Dylan, for sure.  Perhaps Kaleb, as well.

Drew: Michael Jackson is difficult to take on.  Drew did a decent job, but for his specific lane, I hated this song choice for him.  Still, I think he'll do decently in the tweets.

Mia: Okay.  Mia does so well for performance to Performance, I wonder what the hell Alicia, Kelly, and Blake were all thinking by passing on her during the blinds.  This was gorgeous.  Aretha is another hard one to take on, but she did it fabulously.

Jackie V.: I didn't like when Kelsea May did this song for her Knockout in season eight.  I only liked it slightly more here.  She stayed more solid than Kelsie, at least, but there was nothing really mind-blowing about it.

Rayshun: This was just bad.  I mean . . . bad.  Started out well enough, but he went off key so many times. Especially heading into the final twenty to thirty seconds of it.

Sharane: This was the best one on the team, and it wasn't even close for me.  I got chills just from listening to her.  Absolutely strong job the entire way through, and a good contender to get the public vote.

Reid: Another fine job.  I thought he showed the right blend of power, control, and dynamics the entire way through.  He chose the absolute right song for his voice.  Also, one of the few who didn't have to fight the band, so that's a bonus.

Austin: I thought he did a fair job on this song, but I wouldn't get any hopes up of seeing him advance.  Crooners just never seem to be able to do it.  He had the smoothness of other crooners like Lowell Oakley and Riley Elmore, but not the overall strength of them.  Actually, that's not true.  I do think he's stronger than Riley.  Just not stronger than Lowell.

Pryor: I'm actually kind of stumped as to how he gets so much love.  He has good power and decent control, but he has no sense of dynamics at all.  He always starts with the volume at ten, and then turns up the dial even higher than that!  Nonetheless, Chris Stapleton typically does well, so no wonder he got so many tweets.

Kyla: A God song?  Is there any doubt whom Blake wants to see get through?  In any case, Kyla showed great range in her performance and kept amazing control of her voice.  Even her belting wasn't too much.  Of course, she then played the card that got Aliyah Moulden  (undeservedly) to season twelve's finale: crying near the end of her performance.  Good performance.

Gary: I thought it started out boring, but he definitely picked it up in the second half.  Still, it wasn't that great.  Decent, but nothing special.  Don't see him getting the votes.

Spensha: She did the best job technically, but I just realized my problem with her tonight.  Spensha is kind of boring.  I try not to say that about my fellow blacks, but unfortunately, she find some way to be so good, yet at the same time, leave me wanting so much more for her.  I still think she's more convincing as a black female country artist than Keisha Renee from last season, but that's only mild praise.

WILKES: Another God song?  Come on, Blake.  But he did an overall good job after a rough start.  He had to fight with the band, though.  Still, solid.

Johnny: I greatly appreciate that he and Alicia continue to take advantage of him having the Latin pop lane open.  And not surprisingly, he does an amazing job singing in Spanish.  Loved his voice, loved the performance, loved his dynamics, loved his control, loved everything.  But I have to ask anyone who's watched longer than I have.  Is this the first time someone has done a Spanish song in the Lives?

Kelsea: Wow!  Aside from a tiny part that was off-key, this was pretty much perfect.  I was worried about her choice of an Amy Winehouse song, but she did a damn good job on it!  Amy Winehouse is no joke, and she did her justice!  Certainly worthy of the public vote, if she gets it.

Terrence: I thought he gave yet another good performance and again showed why he has such an incredible voice.  But he really needs to start performing without the piano, lest he wants to look like a one-trick pony who can't do anything else.  For another thing, as solid as his falsetto is, he shouldn't rely on it so much.

Jackie F.: Oh, my God.  This was incredibly awesome.  She was fantastic from start to finish.  Kelly and Adam both really goofed by dumping her.  Amazing vocals, breathtaking power, commendable control, and an overall powerful performance. Excellent job, Ms. Foster.

Christiana: Not the way I would have interpreted "Hey Ya," but an all right job.  I might have liked to have her do something more up-tempo, though.  All that said, her vocals were strong and solid, as usual.  But looking at the tweets, I don't think she's got this vote.

Britton: Great way to end the night.  Sure, it was cheesy in some parts, but overall,  he never let it affect his vocals or his performance, and kudos to for that.  What's also interesting about him is that he has incredible stage presence, even when he doesn't move much.  I think you'll be the teen heartthrob for this season, because the women and girls go crazy over him before he even opens his mouth.

Overall, I was halfway surprised by the results, and halfway not.  Team Alicia and Team Kelly we're no surprise to me. Britton and Brynn have been incredibly popular since the beginning of the season, so I was fairly sure they would make it through.  However, I thought Terrence could possibly challenge Britton, and Kaleb could challenge Brynn.  But Team Adam and Team Blake were huge surprises.  I have thought that either Drew or read would be the odds on favorite for Adam and was absolutely stunned when Carson announced that Sharane had gotten through.  And I was more than ready to learn that either Pryor, Spensha, or WILKES had won the vote for Blake and was floored to learn that Kyla had.

So a good first live episode of only for the shocking results from the two mens' teams.  Hoping that Team Alicia and Team Blake perform well tomorrow, and that Team Kelly does the same on Wednesday.  Save for Mia and Reid, I don't care that much for Team Adam.

Edited April 18, 2018 by Prin Holmes

[Prin Holmes]

2 hours ago, JeanneH said:

About the 5 people for 2 spots on each team thing - Anyone know if these picks are pure fan vote too, or do the coaches have some say in who moves on?

One more spot will be decided by the fans, while the other will be decided by the coach.

[Magic]

I'm just not a fan of these set ups that benefit some people more than others, like the first people singing on the teams get longer for fans to vote than the people going last on a team.

Or the fan voting system that favors the east time zone over every other zone.  

Great way to be inclusive.  And agree, if they're going to make changes, they should be for the better.  

[TaraS1]

Kyla and Britton are my favorites this season (which with my reality show track records probably means they're doomed), so I'm glad they were both safe.  How Great Thou Art is my favorite hymn, I really wish Kyla had done more of it in full voice.

[SunnyBeBe]

I was already a fan of Britton and Brynn, but, have changed my opinion of some others.  I liked Sharane better than Reid and I didn't enjoy Rayshun at all.  What was going on? I thought more than a couple were way off key. Nerves? I wasn't impressed with Reid.  I liked Christiana, but, didn't like her song choice at all. I hope she doesn't try something like that again. 

  Still, NOW, my favorites are Britton, Brynn, Sharane and Christiana.  

I wanted to like How Great Thou Art, but, it fell short.  And it didn't have to.  I don't get it. 

[GeorgiaRai]

Anyone willing to give an opinion on Wilkes last night?  I'm a huge NEEDTOBREATHE fan so it's hard to know how the song sounded to people unfamiliar with the original.  I was hoping he'd do well - his wife used to cut my hair (though I can't say we're friends because the last time I talked to her was when she was pregnant.  Their daughter is now 7, I think - maybe 8)?

Edited April 17, 2018 by GeorgiaRai

[peachmangosteen]

I liked Wilkes last night. I always like him though.

I got so lucky last season with all my faves making it very far, so I figured this season would be rough for me and it looks like it will. I think Brynn and Britton will probably end up being the only ones I like that make Top 12. 

[SunnyBeBe]

22 minutes ago, GeorgiaRai said:

Anyone willing to give an opinion on Wilkes last night?  I'm a huge NEEDTOBREATHE fan so it's hard to know how the song sounded to people unfamiliar with the original.  I was hoping he'd do well - his wife used to cut my hair (though I can't say we're friends because the last time I talked to her was when she was pregnant.  Their daughter is now 7, I think - maybe 8)?

I listened again and thought it was okay.  I liked the song.  I think he was nervous.  He is very experienced, right?   I read a bio that says his wife runs a hair salon.  He seems like a great guy. Blake seems to be very pleased with him and his team.  I don't have any favorites on Blake's team so far.  And Pryor is my least favorite. 

[Palomar]

Hate this new format.  Everything is so rushed, including the voting period.  It is almost over by the time the 5th and 6th singers perform.  It even does a disservice to the 4 who advanced who won't be seen/heard for another week and have less exposure.

[mamadrama]

I was, for the most part, completely underwhelmed tonight. Even the people I usually like felt kind of "meh" to me. My husband blamed it on the band. 

Drew: "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson- His voice sounded good but, overall, I just felt like it was very karaoke. 

Jackie V.: "Tim McGraw" by Taylor Swift- Oh Lord. I'm a HUGE country music fan but there are other songs that would have showcased her voice better. Hell, there are other Taylor Swift songs that would have done it. This is a nice, sweet, if kind of boring coming-of-age songs. Adding a bunch of vocal acrobatics to it do not necessarily make it more interesting. 

Mia: "Baby, I Love You" by Aretha Franklin- Again, her voice sounded good and she did a decent job on the song but I was just bored throughout it. 

Rayshun: "Overjoyed" by Stevie Wonder- Yikes. 

Reid: "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2- This is another one that sounded a little karaoke to me. This is a BIG song with some great moments. You REALLY need to be able to sell some of the big lines in this song ("I believe in the kingdom come", for one) but some of them just got lost. When this first started out, my husband said, "I feel like I'm watching a U2 cover band."

Sharane: "Never Enough" by Loren Allred- For some reason I didn't even remember this performance. I had to look it up to remind myself. It was good. That's all I have to say about that. 

Team Alicia

Britton: "Some Kind of Wonderful" by Grand Funk Railroad- Maybe a little cheesy and karaoke at points but, overall, I am surprised at how much I enjoyed watching it. It was fun. One of the few performances my son didn't want me to ff through. 

Christiana: "Hey Ya" by Outkast- A few weeks ago my husband introduced me to THIS guy who did "Hey Ya" acoustic. He blew it out of the water. I couldn't get that performance out of my mind while watching this one. 

 

Jackie F.: "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS- I barely remembered her going in to this tonight but I loved this performance! Good energy and fun vocals, even when she lost it a few times. 

Johnny: "América América" by Nino Bravo- I like Johnny. I like the fact that he sang in Spanish. I kept hearing Simon Cowell saying "cruise ship crooner", though. 

Kelsea: "You Know I'm No Good" by Amy Winehouse- I have no complaints about this one. 

Terrence: "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" by Prince- This is a completely personal preference, but I just don't "get" Terrance. There have been some artists who've been acquired tastes for me. He may be one of those. I'm not really into that falsetto thing, or the Steely Dan sound, and Terrance is kind of the same way for me. I can appreciate his control and his range, but it's just not something that sets well on my ears. 

Team Kelly

Alexa: "It Hurts so Bad" by Susan Tedeschi- Eh, it was okay. She didn't have as much control of the song as she needed, but I still enjoyed it. 

Brynn: "Unstoppable" by Sia- Normally I'd be rolling my eyes and cringing at all the "shouting" that she does when she reaches those big notes but, in a night that I mostly found "meh", I reset my bar. REALLY enjoyed this one. Girlfriend can sing. 

D.R.: "Home" by Marc Broussard- Another one that I liked. I'd vote him through (though I didn't because we don't have cell phones in my house-I know, it's weird). 

Dylan: "Come Pick Me Up" by Ryan Adams- Oh. OH. No, no, no. 

Kaleb: "You Don't Even Know Who I Am" by Patty Loveless-Patty is my girl and this song one of my favorites. (I did my own cover of it.) Loved this one. 

Tish: "Nothing Left for You" by Sam Smith- Wow. Okay, that was pretty great. 

Team Blake

Austin: "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" by Dean Martin- See above comment about the cruise ship. 

Gary: "Finesse" by Bruno Mars- Okay. It was okay. No complaints. 

Kyla: "How Great Thou Art" by Whitney Houston- Oh honey. If you're going to do this song then you have got to commit! You have one big chance to make an impact and, IMO, she missed it. I actually thought she got lost. If there's ever a song in which you should be allowed to just go for it, it's this one. She picked it up another line later but, for me, it was too late. 

Pryor: "I was Wrong" by Chris Stapleton- I love this dude's voice. Every time I hear him, I am drunk in a honky tonk. (Not really.) However, I agree about the dynamics. If he'd start out at a 4 or 5 and then gradually work his way up to the 11 that he seems to enjoy, it would be MUCH more impressive. As is, it just wears me out halfway through the song. 

Spensha: "I Still Believe in You" by Vince Gill- Aw, Vince! Nice to seem him represented. This is not a favorite song of mine, however, and I couldn't get past that as I listened to her. It was pretty, she did well, but I was bored in the same way that the song has always bored me. He has a very good catalog. This is not one I'd choose. 

WILKES: "Brother" by NEEDTOBREATHE- He rocked it out for me. He seemed nervous, but I dug it. That is all. 

 

I really feel like song choice was a big problem for many of them. Some of the ones they chose (Jackie, I'm looking at YOU) were just...odd. 

[sweetcookieface]

Sheesh, Alicia's team is stacked! All the other teams have some fairly obvious fodder, but the only one I kind of see on Team Alicia is... Jackie? (Not that she's bad - she's just not as memorable as the others). If I had to pick three more to join Britton, it would be Kelsea, Christiana and a toss-up between Terrance and Johnny. Kelsea wasn't even on my radar until this performance, but I thought she nailed it and I realized I how much I love her voice. I didn't love Christiana's version of "Hey Ya," but she still has my residual love for "Hotline Bling" - I think she's another one with a unique voice and the ability to wow with creative arrangements. I loved Terrance's audition, but all his performances kind of sound alike for me, so I could see it getting old. And I also enjoy Johnny, but not sure how memorable he'd be if he didn't sing in Spanish.

[Kaiju Ballet]

Is it bad that "Hey Ya" is one of my favorite songs, and it wasn't until I came here that I realized it was Christiana's song?

I blame the "warp speed" (TM) @PhD-Purgatory15 of the format. I know I complain about the filler they pad the shows with, but this blink-and-you'll-miss-it almost-montage was ridiculous.

[viajero]

This episode was just a bit too hectic, which may explain why so many contestants under-performed.  Among all that mess, my favorites were Jackie F, Kelsea, Sharane, and Mia (in roughly that order).  Of these, Sharane was the biggest surprise for me and well deserved winning the vote on Team Adam.  I might have rated her as my favorite of the night, had not Jurnee performed an equally impressive if not even better cover of that song last week on AI. 

I also enjoyed Britton, Wilkes, Pryor, and Tish, though not to the same extent as the four I mentioned above. 

Kyla and Brynn are also extremely talented, but did not match their previous performances.  I've heard better versions of the hymn that Kyla performed, while Brynn may have been a bit too ambitious as that Sia song got away from her towards the end.  Having said that, I don't mind that they both got through given that they are on the weakest teams.

Everyone else ranged from meh to just plain bad.

[sharifa70]

Most of the performances for me were underwhelming and I ended up fast-forwarding several. A few comments from my house:

On Drew: “If you have both a man-bun and socks, you’re off my list.” (If it’s one or the other, the performer just drops to the bottom.)

On Reid: “Bono isn’t necessarily one of those ‘don’t do Celine or Whitney’ singers, but if your voice is a little thin, don’t do his beltier songs - that just highlighted Reid’s weaknesses.” Personally, I thought if he had to do U2, “All I Want is You” might have worked better.

On Terrance: “He’s in a class all by himself.” “Dad, he’s not wearing socks either.” [dad pauses] “But he stayed at the piano. He’s fine.” My comment during his performance: “He could TOTALLY do Prince songs.” [visits the forum, finds out that WAS a Prince song] “Oh.”

On Austin: “Dude. I love these old classics, but stop trying to imitate the singers. It’s just weird and annoying.” -Fast forward

On Kyla: “I love certain straight-up gospel songs (like that one). I think choosing a straight-up gospel song is a cynical, pandering route and it has made me cynical about the performances.”

On Brynn: “The maturity of her voice makes other young singers just sound like kids.”

The rest kind of flowed together for me. I liked Christiana and Jackie F (who was a nice surprise), but no one else really stood out except Spensha, whose dress was beautiful and it’s a good thing I’m on the west coast because I probably would have thrown my votes at her just because I am easily distracted by shiny objects.

[Prin Holmes]

2 hours ago, sharifa70 said:

The rest kind of flowed together for me. I liked Christiana and Jackie F (who was a nice surprise), but no one else really stood out except Spensha, whose dress was beautiful and it’s a good thing I’m on the west coast because I probably would have thrown my votes at her just because I am easily distracted by shiny objects.

You can actually vote through Twitter while watching the show.  Even though you can't actually see what's going on, you can just check Twitter from five to six this evening.  That way, you can easily vote for whomever you want from Adam's and/or Kelly's teams.  I am in MST and will be doing that from six to seven tonight.  It gives away the results before I get to see them, but at least I get a chance to make my votes count.

[MaryPatShelby]

I've skipped the last couple seasons, so not familiar with this format (I just started watching this ep on the DVR, obviously not voting lol). So....we don't get to see the coaching sessions?  That seems to fly in the face of the whole idea that this is a team, and the coach is, well, the coach, at least from the viewer's standpoint.

On the plus side though, I'm extremely glad that we don't get coaches comments after each and every performance.  That got old and redundant, and could not possibly have been helpful to the performer.

[peachmangosteen]

They'll go back to showing the coaching sessions/having all or most of the judges comment after every performance now that they've reached the Top 12.