The Voice Season 25 Knockout Rounds concluded Monday, which meant that by the end of the evening, we knew the 20 contestants, five per team, who'll be moving on to the Playoffs. Starting next week, America will finally get to determine the contestants' fates. But this week, even though the contestants got to choose their own songs, the ultimate decision-making power still lay in the red-button-pushing hands of their coaches: Reba McEntire, John Legend, Chance the Rapper, and Dan + Shay.
Well, if the coaches' fawning praise was actually sincere this week, then Season 25 is a season of potential superstars. Team Dan + Shay's Karen Waldrup was described as a country-pop Celine Dion. Team Chance's Rletto was called a female Rihanna and a "legend." And in the night's final performance, songbird Zoe Levert was even told by Shay Mooney, "You remind me so much of Taylor Swift. You are unapologetically yourself, just like she is."
The T.Swift comparison didn't come out of nowhere. Zoe, a dyed-in-the-cardigan-wool "diehard Swiftie," auditioned earlier this season with "Better Man (Taylor's Version)," and it was her viral "Cardigan" cover that reportedly caught the attention of Voice recruiters in the first place, earning her an invitation her to try out for the show. That being said, we all know The Voice doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to actually launching Swift-level careers.
However, let's suspend our disbelief for a moment, just for fun, and assume that the show has the next Taylor (or the next RiRi, or next Celine) on its hands. Maybe the 25th season will be the charm. Here's what happened Monday:
TEAM CHANCE: Kamalei Kawa'a vs. Maddi Jane
I don't know if I have ever witnessed such a mismatched Knockout in The Voice history. In one corner, we had Maddi, a wannabe rapper with inconsistent vocals but huge, bouncing-off-the-walls energy and, as Chance put it, "that charisma you immediately recognize as star power when you see it." And in the other corner was Kamalei, bringing what guest Mega-Mentor Keith Urban called "spiritual, calming energy." The two practically seemed like they hailed from different planets.
First up was Maddi, declaring, "I wanna bring the party!" and doing Dua Lipa's "New Rules." On paper, the pop banger seemed like the perfect fit for her sassy, rappy style. But Maddi admitted that her rapping needed work, so Chance advised her to lean more into her singing (this is a singing competition, after all). The result was a bit amateurish. Maddi performed the hell of the song, but she was too smiley and giggly, like a fun bestie on a tipsy karaoke night. This performance needed more stankfaced attitude. And while Maddi has consistently been one of Season 25's more unique contestants, she weirdly lost herself here. Maybe it was because her styling which made her look way too much like Dua Lipa circa 2017, but that only added to the copycat effect.
Meanwhile, Kamalei didn't have Maddi's big, big energy, but he made John Legend's "All of Me" — a risk, considering that it's a song by Chance's "arch nemesis"- his own, as he dedicated the wedding ballad to his devoted wife. "To hear a John song not sound like John is huge feat," Chance marveled, and even John, who is usually tough on singers who cover his material, was impressed.
I was shocked when Chance chose Maddi, the singer who's probably less likely to win America's heart and votes. But the "through-and-through entertainer" won Chance's heart, and might be a better long-term fit for his team vision. Luckily for Kamalei, both John and Reba tried to steal him, and of course, this Knockout ended with what John called "the most poetic outcome."
WINNER: Maddi Jane/ STOLEN: Kamalei Kawa'a moves to Team Legend
TEAM LEGEND: Gene Taylor vs. Mafe
"I don't see too many people of color doing rock. That's a genre that's kind of slept-on-right now. So, here I am!" Gene said of his decision to cover Aerosmith's "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing." Keith called it a "bold choice," but I think Gene have gone even bolder, if he'd really wanted to seem like a rock star and just not someone who plays one on TV. There are much edgier rock songs, even in Aerosmith's own catalog, than this Diane Warren-penned Armageddon ballad, and with Gene's naturally theatrical tendencies, it was hard for the cruise ship singer to heed John's advice to "dirty it up." His performance was squeaky-clean.
Mafe picked Ariana Grande's "Almost Is Never Enough," which suited her sultry R&B/pop style well. Her vocal wasn't as technically perfect and polished as Gene's, but that wasn't a bad thing, and she did do an impressive job navigating the difficult lower verses and controlling her vibrato. "Almost Is Never Enough" was more than enough to get Mafe to the Playoffs.
WINNER: Mafe
TEAM DAN + SHAY: Ducote Talmadge vs. Karen Waldrup
This was another mismatched pairing — not in terms of genre or style, because they were both country artists, but in terms of experience level. Karen, an emotional storyteller who plaintively crooned Trisha Yearwood's "Georgia Rain," is a 35-year-old working musician who tours many months out of the year and has won multiple Nashville awards. Meanwhile, young firefighter Ducote probably couldn't relate much to the opening line of his song, Luke Combs's "She Got the Best of Me" — "Seventeen, you don't think that much about life" — because, well, he was 17 just three years ago.
I have to say, though, that Ducote did hold his own. John loved his "cool rasp," Reba loved his voice's "sexy" texture, and Chance thought this was Ducote's best performance yet. But Ducote was still no threat to a pro like Karen, whom both John and Dan compared to the titanic-voiced Celine. "You have one of the most incredible voices. A lot of people need an engineer in the studio, twisting knobs, just to make a voice push and pull like that," Dan told Karen.
WINNER: Karen Waldrup
TEAM REBA: Justin & Jeremy Garcia vs. Zeya Rae
The Garcias picked Calum Scott's "You Are the Reason" not only to showcase their blood harmonies, but because the ballad's lyrics "embodied their brotherly bond." Zeya was daunted by this two-against-one showdown, but with a powerful fight song like Bishop Briggs's "River," she still had a good shot. Her biggest challenge, according to Keith, would not be letting her voice get too tired from oversinging.
The brothers' performance was pleasant, their harmonies gentle and soothing, and according to Reba they were "cut as a button." But they didn't exactly electrify the stage (Chance called them "technically talented" but wanted "more energy"), so they left it wide open for Zeya to prevail. But Zeya did not seize that opportunity. A song like "River" requires nasty attitude and unwavering commitment, and I did not at all agree with Dan Myers's claim that Zeya's "intensity matched the song." It did not. The production overwhelmed her. Like Gene, she just wasn't a convincing rock star.
So, Justin and Jeremy sort of won this won by default, or because of "the uniqueness of their act." But I think these poor, sweet kids will get clobbered in the Playoffs. At least they've got each other.
WINNER: Justin & Jeremy Garcia
TEAM CHANCE: Alyssa Crosby vs. Rletto
Alyssa has underwhelmed me all season, and I was shocked when Chance stole her during the Battle Rounds. But Chance usually knows what he's doing, so I shouldn't have doubted him. Alyssa did the Alessia Cara version of Elton John's "I Guess that's Why They Cal It the Blues" — please note, Alessia and Elton are not easy singers to emulate — and she "crushed it," according to Dan, who also said she gave one of the best performances of the Knockouts. Reba, Alyssa's proud former coach, told her she'd "grown by leaps and bounds."
But Rletto was still the unsurprising star of the show here. Alyssa is a great singer, but Rletto has the potential to be a great artist. Shay even called Rletto a "legend." Doing what Dan called a "so dope," creatively switched-up, slowed-down arrangement of the Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber's "Stay" (which was Chance's brilliant idea, of course), Rletto delivered what Shay also called "a masterclass on what it is to perform." And John told Rletto, "You feel like tastemaker, like Rihanna — like, she can really sing, but everyone also thinks she's cooler than them." After all that high praise, it was clear that Rletto was going to, well, stay with a fellow tastemaker and risk-taker like coach Chance.
WINNER: Rletto
TEAM LEGEND: Jackie Romeo vs. Zoe Levert
John's two youngest contestants have "both shown a lot of growth" this season, so it was all going to come down to who'd grown the most and who had the potential to keep on growing. And I continued to be impressed by Jackie. Just a couple of weeks ago during the Battles, she didn't even know who Stevie Nicks was, but still managed to beat classic rock obsessive Olivia Rubini in a sing-off of "Edge of Seventeen." And now, here she was again, taking on the above-mentioned supercool Rihanna, covering "Love on the Brain" and making it work. Heeding John and Keith's instructions to "put more stank on her personality" and sing like she was in a "sweaty blues club," Jackie was able to do what Gene Taylor could not: She dirtied it up. Chance told her, "You absolutely sang the mess out of that song."
I'd expected Zoe, who apparently was raised on the Chicks' music whenever she wasn't listening to Taylor, to be right in her sweet spot covering "Cowboy, Take Me Away." But her performance never quite took off. It was missing that certain Chicks vibrance. Keith noticed that she didn't seem "confident in the angelic places" of the song, and John warned her, "Falsetto is the first thing to break you in a live performance," so it seemed like Zoe was overcautiously holding back, afraid that she'd hit a bum note. As the result, everything fell a bit flat.
But the coaches loved Zoe, calling this her "butterfly moment," so maybe her performance packed more of a punch in the room. John actually picked Zoe, maybe because he thought she'll appeal to voting Swifties. But Jackie appealed to Reba, so she was stolen. With less than two minutes left in the episode and Reba still having not used her Steal, this outcome was hardly a surprise, but it was still nice to witness. Jackie deserved the chance to stay in the game and continue to grow in the Playoffs. See you then!
WINNER: Zoe Levert / STOLEN: Jackie Romeo moves to Team Reba
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