There were cheers, tears, and some show-stopping performances in The Voice season 7 semifinals tonight.
The contestants performed twice this week: a song chosen by their coach, and a song of the contestant’s choice, dedicated to their hometown. It was twice as nice, and resulted in some of the best performances we’ve seen all season.
‘Lonely Tonight’
Blake kicked off the show performing his new song “Lonely Tonight” with Ashley Monroe. It’s always great to see Blake perform, but it always seems strange when it’s a serious or romantic song. He’s such a jokester as a coach, and he’s had his share of novelty songs, that it just doesn’t seem possible for him to be serious. Even he seems a little uncomfortable during these performances, making a troubled face, and setting a terrible example of awkward body language for his contestants. It was an enjoyable performance all the same, and a good song.
Coach’s Choice
Damien
Adam chose Michael Jackson’s emotional “She’s Out of My Life” for his Oh-my-God-we-get-it-already-emotional contestant, Damien. But aside from his tendency to over-dramatize his performances, and Adam’s weekly encouragement of this, Damien is incredibly talented. He has a beautiful voice and great instincts, and this was yet another great performance from him.
Craig Wayne Boyd
Blake chose Merle Haggard’s “Working Man Blues” for his last remaining contestant, Craig Wayne Boyd. He was very excited about the choice, because while many people know the song, he felt Craig’s performance would be unlike any rendition of that song they’d heard before. Craig certainly does bring a rock element to his country performances, and he brought a lot of rock and a lot of soul to this performance. He has a great voice, and he is such a great performer, he’ll no doubt go on to have a great country career.
Taylor John Williams
Team Gwen’s Taylor John Williams was next to take the stage, performing The Swell Season’s “Falling Slowly.” You may know it better as “That song from Once,” but regardless how you you know it, there’s no denying it’s a beautiful song. Gwen said it’s one of Taylor’s favorites, and you could tell by the amount of passion he put into his performance. It was a beautiful performance, but he was pushing it a little bit with the falsetto. Also, his hair was inexplicably styled into “The Rachel,” and it was not cute. Bring back the hat.
Matt McAndrew
Adam chose Ed Sheeran’s brand-spankin’-new cover of Foy Vance’s “Make it Rain,” which was recently featured on Sons of Anarchy. It can be a risky choice for a coach to choose a new and not-very-well-known song, but in this case, it didn’t matter, because Matt sang the CRAP out of it. You would’ve thought it was a Matt McAndrew original, and people might end up downloading his version instead of Ed Sheeran’s. (But please download Ed Sheeran’s too because he is awesome.)
Chris Jamison
What a wacky coincidence that Team Adam contestant Chris Jamison performed “Sugar,” which just so happens to be Maroon 5’s next single. Adam claimed it was Chris’s idea, but I am doubtful. Regardless of who chose it, it’s a great song, and Chris totally nailed it. He has the voice, the falsetto, the look, and the dreaminess, he just might be the next Adam Levine. Is Adam training his own replacement? Is this Adam’s way of telling us he’s retiring to enjoy married life?
Hometown Visits and Dedications
Damien
This week, Damien went home to visit his hometown in Louisiana, and on the way, was greeted by all his friends at LAX, and surprise surprise, Damien wept. Then he surprised the choir at his high school, and got the key to his hometown, where we learned Damien actually has a last name: Lawson.
Damien performed Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Wanna Wait,” better known as the Dawson’s Creek theme song. It was…weird. It was a weird performance, a weird arrangement, a big pile of weird. Of course he sounded good, but this had none of the soul Damien’s performances normally have, and it was a very weird song choice to show your “fun” side.
Matt McAndrew
Matt McAndrew surprised his mom at work back home in Philadelphia, and it was pretty adorable. After greeting a crowd of human and canine supporters, doing a news interview, all while being cheered on by his adorably-bespectacled family, Matt performed a hometown show for his hometown fans.
Matt chose U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” for his semifinal performance, which is obviously a huge song. While Matt may not have the best voice, technically, of the top 5, he has the best idea of who he wants to be as an artist, and he slayed yet another performance. This has been a huge week for Matt, and with absolutely perfect timing.
Craig Wayne Boyd
Craig Wayne Boyd went home to Nashville to hang out with his family and hold his adorable little Mini-Me son. He put on a performance for his hometown fans at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, a venue he’s played many times before. This time, he was joined onstage by country artist Randy Houser, who took time out of his busy tour schedule to come support his old pal Craig.
Craig took us to church for his second performance, performing “The Old Rugged Cross.” It was certainly a different performance from what we’re used to seeing from him, but it was a great opportunity for him to show a different side, and once again demonstrate what an awesome voice he has. It was a powerful performance, from a very powerful performer.
Taylor John Williams
Taylor went home to Portland, OR, and visited the adorable dog café where he used to work. After that fun welcome, Taylor did his first radio interview, where he found out he’d get to open for American Authors, Andy Grammer, and Christina Perri that night. He seemed flabbergasted, and delighted by the whole experience.
Taylor John performed Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space,” I repeat, Taylor John Williams performed a Taylor Swift song. This is not a drill. Taylor John has proven he’s not afraid to take a chance, as he’s proven time after time on the show, and this was just yet another version of that. While it was lacking the manic, mascara-running mastery of T. Swift’s original, TJW’s performance had that haunting feel that he brings to all his performances, and he really made it his own.
Chris Jamison
Chris returned to his hometown of Pittsburgh, where his entire family surprised him at his parents’ house, wearing Team Chris shirts. Chris was so overwhelmed by their support, he started crying, and then his sisters started crying, and then we all started crying, and it was a mess. At his hometown performance, he finally realized how much the ladies love him, and it reaffirmed his desire to be a performer. He even got to play with his old band!
And in a continued effort to make every woman in America fall in love with him, Chris chose Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man” for his final performance. It’s a beautiful song, and one that Chris delivered perfectly. That scream? The falsetto? Absolutely perfect. It was like Chris was all alone in a room, singing for no one but himself, and it was incredible. Definitely his best performance of the season.
Stay tuned for The Voice top 8 results airing Tuesday at 8 p.m. on NBC.