On The Voice: The Battle Rounds Begin
Everyone changed clothes finally! The Battle Rounds started Monday night on The Voice and already things are moving along at a steady pace. We had six great battles tonight and only lost three contestants, so that speaks well for the pairings, I think. If I’m being honest, I’m not sure that the coaches actually decide on these pairings. How many times do they say, I wish I didn’t have these two against each other. Then why did you put them together? Anyway, I’ll be brief in my recap. Tomorrow I’ll be hearing from the kids that moved on so if you have any burning questions when you read this, let me know!
Round 1 – #TeamAlicia
Winner: Christian Cuevas
Steal: Jason Warrior to Team Adam
Christian and Jason were an off pairing to me only because Christian is a powerful balladeer and Jason is more like an R&B Theater kid. Alicia gave them Adele’s Hello which I didn’t think did either of them a lot of favors. I actually like Jason in this one because when he hit the chorus, he belted it out! Christian was soulful and smooth, but I liked Jason’s umph. In the end, they both stay which made me happy.
Round 2 – #TeamAdam
Winner: Riley Elmore
Eliminated: Natasha Bure (Daughter of Candace Cameron Bure and niece to Kirk Cameron)
This seemed like an unfair pairing from the start because I think Riley has such a memorable voice and let’s face it, moms and grandmas love the crooners, but Natasha held her own. I didn’t think she was stellar in her audition, good but not great, so I was surprised to see her blossom tonight on their duet to Cry Me a River by Michael Buble. The song was pretty much handpicked for Riley, and in the end, he stays, and Natasha goes back to her Fuller House family.
Round 3 – #TeamMiley
Winner: Ali Caldwell
Steal: Courtnie Ramirez to #TeamAlicia
This was the first head-scratcher of the night for me. Ali is already on my Live List and Courtnie isn’t one I thought Miley was ready to deal away this early. I know, twists and steals and more twists, but still. They sang Hit or Miss by Odetta, which I don’t know, but they killed it. They both have strong, powerful voices, and as Miley hoped, it was one of the best battles so far. Well, she wanted it to be the best of all time. I’m not ready to go there, but it was pretty great.
Round 4 – #TeamBlake
Winner: Sundance Head
Eliminated: Dan Shafer
This seemed like another unfair match-up with Sundance Head being an early favorite and reality singing competition veteran and all, but Dan did alright. Blake gave them Feel Like Makin’ Love by Bad Company and his mentor, Bette Midler (I just had to say Bette and Bad Company in the same sentence) was impressed with Dan. He was a little stiff, and his stage movement kind of came off like he had marks to hit but it wasn’t awful. In the end, Blake said watching Sundance sing “blows the brains out of my head into the toilet and the toilet flushes itself.” So obviously, Blake chose Sundance. Dan went home. I never want to hear Blake talk like that again.
Round 5 – #TeamAdam
Winner: Billy Gilman
Eliminated: Andrew DeMuro
It would seem like Billy had the upper hand here with his career experience, but I honestly liked Andrew better. There is something about Billy that rubs me the wrong way, and I think it has something to do with his extremely polished, almost fake boy band vibe. I think I’d like him more if he was more chill with himself but I feel a sense of trying to hard. His voice is still amazing, but I liked the soul and the realness in Andrew’s tone. Their duet to Man in the Mirror was good but not mind-blowing. Adam chose to stick with Billy, which could backfire because I’m not sure this whole give an old Celebrity another chance thing will work twice. Bye bye, cute boy Andrew.
Round 6 – #TeamAlicia
Winner: We McDonald (I can’t make that mark over her name)
Steal: Lauren Diaz to #TeamMiley
When Alicia paired these two together, I thought she was cray cray. Along with Ali, I’ve got We (pronounced Way) going to the Live rounds and maybe even top 5. Lauren seemed to generate a lot of buzz, so I was slightly confused by this whole situation. Alicia paired them together because she liked the soul in their voices, but I can’t imagine why she wouldn’t match We with one of montage contestants that we know nothing about. Anyway, not the game I guess. This was the best battle of the night; they were soulful and natural on stage, and Alicia picked We. Miley immediately jumped in to save Lauren (and so did Blake). After some back and forth, Lauren chose #TeamMiley for the Knockout rounds.
Tuesday night we have an hour long show before the new time for This is Us at 9:00 p.m. I’ll be live tweeting on the West coast if you want to hear these ramblings in real time. See you then.