And let the battles begin! Tonight (Oct. 13), the oftentimes controversial battle rounds of The Voice season seven kicked off... Twelve singers entered the ring but only six would leave. How very dramatic!
The show started off and ended strongly, with bookend performances from Pharrell Williams' strong as steel team. In battles where powerhouses like Maiya Sykes and Griffin were sent home (give or take a steal), the holes in, say, Adam Levine and Gwen Stefani's teams became ever more pleasant.
And then there's country bumpkin/sweetheart Blake Shelton, just sipping on some sort of Starbucks concoction and basking in the glory of his own niche team.
As always, let's reexamine tonight's performances, looking at the best and worst battles and winners:
The Good:
Elyjuh Rene v. Maiya Sykes, "If I Ain't Got You": Though it felt a little cheesy for Elyjuh Rene and Maiya Sykes to battle it out to a song by their advisor Alicia Keys, "If I Ain't Got You" actually worked stunningly well for these two soul singers. If there's one thing The Voice does better than its competition, it's editing the best performances of the night at the top of the show. Simply put... no other battle stacked up to Rene v. Sykes, despite what Blake Shelton may say. Rene's smooth, easy and breezy R&B was in stark contrast to Sykes' more diva-licious soul, but they blended together as well as any sort of pumpkin spice latte. In what felt like the most difficult decision of the night from a viewer's standpoint, Pharrell ended up choosing Rene over Sykes, and shockingly, nobody picked up the 38-year-old Sykes for their own team, a true loss for this season.
Griffin v. Luke Wade, "Maybe I'm Amazed": Both Griffin and Luke Wade are insanely talented alt-pop singers, so choosing this classic soulful rock song was a weird choice for their more modern sounds. Though they both struggled to connect with the song initially in rehearsals, both pulled it out strongly for the actual battle. Wade went into full powerhouse mode, adding intensity, passion and a perfectly timed rasp into his performance. He stunned it, and it was pretty underwhelming to hear Griffin after all that, even though he brought equal amounts of passion - he was just missing the certain je ne sais quoi that makes Wade a star, despite that crazy falsetto. In the end, Wade's more consistent performance made him a lock on the strong Team Pharrell, but Griffin was quickly stolen by Blake Shelton.
Amanda Lee Peters v. Taylor John Williams, "Jolene": It's hard to take on the classic Dolly Parton track "Jolene," though everyone from Miley Cyrus to The White Stripes have incorporated the country standard into their discography. So now, it's time for the alt-poppers of Team Gwen, Amanda Lee Peters and Taylor John Williams to tackle it. Eep! Williams and Peters were some of the strongest singers on Team Gwen, so it was tough to see them battle, even though it sounded oh-so-good. Peters' slight twang made "Jolene" a more natural fit for here, but Williams really took the song and made it his own. In the end, Peters performance and warbling voice sounded a little too much like Cyrus. You can't let an original dude like Williams go, and despite the actual stronger showing from Peters, it seems like Gwen Stefani made the right choice in keeping Williams around.
The Bad:
Chris Jamison v. Jonathan Wyndham, "Young Girls": Chalk this one up to a bad song choice, because Bruno Mars is not really in the wheelhouse for either Chris Jamison or Jonathan Wyndham... yet here they were singing the lead track from Unorthodox Jukebox. Neither really had the general range to really strain and reach for the notes in the chorus, which made this song such a win for Mars. Despite Wyndham's endless charms, it's pretty clear that Jamison is both much more comfortable on stage and much more raw talented. In the end, despite Jamison's winning performance and remaining spot on Team Adam, this song was kind of a bust. It just went on too long and felt really disconnected. Oh well.
Jean Kelley v. Sugar Joans, "Survivor": NBC was clearly really excited about this battle, picking it to use for like every The Voice season seven promo... but to me, it felt very one note... and that note went to Sugar Joans. Her rasp, her raw sexualized energy and even her general R&B slant and range all lent her to kill this song, while Jean Kelley was stuck playing Michelle Williams to Joans' Beyoncé. They also tended to oversing a touch, which is something that was prevalent in both their auditions and... yeah. This was no Destiny's Child. Joans kept her spot on Team Gwen, and Kelley was eventually stolen by Pharrell, after a battle between the "Happy" singer and Adam Levine.
The So-So:
James David Carter v. Craig Wayne Boyd, "Wave on Wave": Despite being very buddy-buddy with each other on stage, James David Carter and Craig Wayne Boyd actually lacked any sort of musical cohesion. Carter's rocker country style just did not mesh with Boyd's bigger, sensitive brand of country. Both individually nailed this Pat Green classic, but unlike the night's opening "If I Ain't Got You" performance, they didn't ever come together as one duo. As established earlier, Boyd was far and away the best performer on Team Blake, so he rightly won this battle...but Carter isn't going anywhere. Gwen Stefani, desperate for a country singer on her team, stole him right up.
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