The Voice season 9 is halfway through its knockout rounds, with shockingly amazing guest mentor Rihanna, and the contestants keep pushing themselves to new highs. On Tuesday night (Oct. 27), we got three more battles courtesy of Team Gwen Stefani, Team Adam Levine and Team Pharrell, and unlike Monday night's episode, the second installment of the knockout didn't quite include so many shocking eliminations.
And we got another save! More contestants for everybody! How did it all play out? Ch-check it out...
Korin Bukowski, "All I Want": Korin Bukowski has proven herself as a strong singer and storyteller throughout her short time on The Voice. For her take on this Kodaline track, she didn't quite demonstrate the range of her blind audition or the vulnerability of her "Samson" performance in the battles. But, she delivered her emotions and reached a pretty falsetto at the end of the track and showed that she doesn't need to do all that much to break out.
Summer Schappell, "Little White Church": If Korin is a singer who lets her voice speak (or sing) for itself, then Summer Schappell is a total "firecracker," as the coaches dubbed her. Her performance of Little Big Town's "Little White Church" was the hammiest thing that we've seen thus far on the show. She literally mimed the lyrics as much as she could. Her vocals were loud and proud and strong, but at times the performance got the best of her and she fell flat.
Who technically won this knockout? Do you go with the big performer or do you go for the simple vocalist? Korin has more raw talent and materials to work with, and that's why Gwen moved her on.
Who should have won this knockout? Nothing can beat simple, pure talent, and that's what Korin brings to the table. Does she need to overcome a bit of stage freight? Sure. But she's with Gwen. She'll get her time to work on performance. Her coach made the right space.
Dustin Christensen, "Free": Dustin Christensen is one of two of Adam Levine's steals this season, so he felt a good bit of pressure to deliver on this knockout, and he chose our second Zac Brown Band song of the show to do it with. His performance highlighted his simple voice, with just the right mix of rasp and twain. His quieter moments resonated better than the loud ones, where he felt like he was just mildly off pitch. This was nice, though.
Keith Semple, "I Want to Know What Love Is": Oh, so Keith Semple is our season 9 cheeseball. After tackling "Baba O'Reilly" last week, now he brings us this Foreigner track. As goofy as this song choice inherently is (and the answer is VERY VERY goofy), it worked well for Keith, who was able to show his passionate and storyteller side, his loud and proud follow-throughs and big falsetto. This song was filled with dynamics and was executed well.
Who technically won this knockout? Keith Semple's performance was more dramatic, and that's just suited well for The Voice. This is also Team Adam, and he'll know how to work with a cheesy rocker (which he is) better than a country guy (which he is not).
Who should have won this knockout? Personally, I prefer Dustin as a singer and performer but Keith just showed off more, so this was a fair pick at the end of the day.
Darius Scott, "On Broadway": Oh, look. Someone on Team Pharrell sang an old song. Though this pick was Darius Scott's choice, that doesn't make it any less annoying from my point of review. Luckily enough, Darius gave this song a sort of funky rework and he also performed this track like he was singing for his life. He went for all sorts of crazy runs and somehow managed to make this song dynamic and emotional. It was a total package scenario.
Morgan Frazier, "Even If It Breaks Your Heart": Morgan Frazier has had a rough road on The Voice. She was cast-off by Blake Shelton last week, only to be saved by Pharrell at the last minute. She channeled all that struggle and energy into her performance of this Eli Young Band track. At first, she let the hugeness of it all get to her, and her nerves broke out just as much as her vocals. But, as the song built and went on, she got more confident and became a really solid performer.
Who technically won this knockout? Did you REALLY think that Pharrell could resist a unique singer putting an R&B twist on a classic song? Please. You know Darius had this in the bag.
Who should have won this knockout? This really just boiled down to a matter of preference. Darius was more seasoned, so he rightfully won, but Morgan had a really strong showing, too, and more passion in her pinky toe than most people have in their body. She was saved by her former coach Blake Shelton, so she will live for another round on The Voice.
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