The Live Playoffs night 2:
Team Cee Lo and Team Christina
Amber Nicole
Cee Lo selected season 3 winner Cassidy Pope’s “Wasting All These Tears” for Amber’s live playoffs performance, to prove she can do anything, even country. It was an emotional, dynamic performance, and pitch-perfect for all but the one big dicey note that unfortunately stuck out like a sore thumb. That one note aside, though, the coaches felt she showed a new side of herself, and rose to the challenge that Cee Lo had set for her.
Jonny Gray
Jonny Gray took on the 90’s classic “Bitter Sweet Symphony” by one-hit-wonders The Verve, because Cee Lo felt it perfectly represented his Americana, grunge attitude, and also because Jonny does best when he’s singing a song with a message. It was another strong performance from Jonny, though the one criticism was that the first half of his performance was too accurate, and too close to the original, before he made it his own and brought out a more explosive performance at the end.
Tamara Chauniece
Tamara Chauniece demonstrated her girl power finest with the Gloria Gaynor classic “I Will Survive”, which Cee Lo chose for her because she is such a “strong-willed young lady.” Tamara strutted her stuff across the stage, effortlessly carrying the weight of that huge song, all while making it her own and keeping the audience excited. Adam said it was her “best performance, at the best time,” while Blake thanked her for looking so good.
Kat Robichaud
Powerhouse Kat Robichaud slowed it down this week with Mary Lambert’s emotional “She Keeps Me Warm” (You know it as the chorus to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s “Same Love”). It didn’t have the same spastic pizazz we’ve come to expect from Kat’s performances, but it showed off her rich alto beautifully, even though it would have been nice for her to have added a little bit of her Kat crazy. But she made up for it at the end of the performance, when she confused everyone by serenading and hugging a random person in the crowd, and then reprimanding Adam Levine about it.
Caroline Pennell
Sweet Caroline Pennell sang The White Stripes’ “We Are Going To Be Friends,” a song that Coach Cee Lo has had in mind for her since the blind auditions, since it’s “the sweetest song anyone could sing.” It was a perfect choice for the sweet, delicate-voiced Caroline, showing of the beautiful tone in her voice, but she was also able to change it up and make it her own. And she still mesmerizes Blake, to the point where “I could literally be getting an amputation, and if she was singing, all I’d be thinking about is cotton candy.”
Josh Logan
Team Christina’s Josh Logan had the difficult task of performing Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” in front of the man himself: coach Cee Lo. He played the guitar and showed off his bald head for the first time this season, and seemed perfectly comfortable taking on Cee Lo’s hit. He certainly had the vocal chops to pull it off, but the coach’s one complaint was that he added too many runs and vocal acrobatics, that it actually overwhelmed the performance. Even Christina danced around this same criticism, and we know Christina loves a good run or twelve.
Olivia Henken
Christina set out to prove that country girl Olivia Henken can handle more than just country, and therefore gave her Katy Perry’s “Roar”. She certainly has the vocal chops to pull it off, and was able to bridge the gap between pop and country. However, it came off a bit pageanty, and her voice was lacking any of the personality and edge found in Katy’s. The coaches felt she is a strong country artist in the competition, and the country coach himself, Blake Shelton, doesn’t like another talented country artist floating around, who is not on Team Blake.
Stephanie Anne Johnson
Christina chose Ray Charles “Georgia on my Mind” for Stephanie Anne Johnson, because with her unique tonality and interesting inflection, she would be able to make the classic song her own. It’s impossible to not love any version of this song, and Stephanie’s take was no different. It wasn’t as quirky as last week’s performance, but she still managed to inject her own flavor and style into the song, as well as demonstrating that behind all that character lies a beautifully powerful voice.
Matthew Schuler
Matthew Schuler came in like a Wrecking Ball, performing the Miley Cyrus song of the same name, because Coach Christina felt that is exactly the way he has approached this competition. She wanted to give him the opportunity to show America what he can do with a pop song, and boy, did he ever. Not only was his voice great, as always, but he showed beautiful emotion throughout the song, as well as flawlessly exhibiting a range of dynamics to draw the audience in. The other coaches were mock-disgusted with Matthew, because he is so talented, and didn’t pick any of them as his coach. Blake turned to his team in the audience to let them know, “This is the guy.”
Jacquie Lee
Coach Christina has formed a special bond with the youngest contestant in the competition, Jacquie Lee. She sees a lot of her young self in Jacquie, including her incredible pipes. She chose the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins classic “I Put a Spell on You” to show off those pipes, though the tiny Jacquie likely exceeded even Christina’s wildest expectations. There’s almost nothing to say about Jacquie’s performance, other than that it was probably the best in The Voice’s history. Needless to say, Christina was awfully proud of her protégée. It’s truly a performance that has to be seen to believed:
What’s Next?
Next week, the top 12 contestants will compete outside of just their teams for the first time this season. America will vote after Monday night’s performances, and on Tuesday, we will find out which contestant will be going home. Plus, Sara Bareilles will take The Voice stage to perform her new hit, “Brave.”
As the coaches have hinted at, next week they are going to have to start getting mean. Because while they have showered praise on each other’s contestants each week, it was only because they weren’t really competing yet. But now that their own contestants will be competing with these other talented musicians, it’s likely the coaches will be a lot more critical of everyone’s performances.
The Voice top 12 will perform next Monday at 8 p.m., with the results revealed Tuesday at 9 p.m. after The Biggest Loser.
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