The first live results show of The Voice season 6 saw two contestants sent home after America’s Instant Save.
It was a tense night on The Voice, as we found out who would be moving on to the top 10, and who wouldn’t. The bottom three contestants sang for their lives, and coach Shakira took the stage to perform her new single “Empire.”
The Performances
Team Adam
Coach Adam was joined onstage by his Team Adam contestants Delvin Choice, Kat Perkins, and Christina Grimmie to perform Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer.” They all looked sharp, dressed in black and white, but the performance was not quite as smooth. The performers started off tentative, but the ending was a bit of a train wreck, with everyone competing for attention.
Team Blake
Team Blake contestants Sisaundra Lewis, Audra McLaughlin, and Jake Worthington joined their coach onstage to perform Travis Tritt’s “Put Some Drive in Your Country.” All the contestants seemed to really enjoy themselves, and aside from some awkward punch-dancing from Audra, they all looked and sounded great.
Shakira
Coach Shakira took to the stage to show the contestants how it’s done. She performed her new single “Empire” off of her self-titled album. Like a Target commercial come to life before our very eyes, Shakira looked hot, and not just because she was surrounded by fire. Although she still needs to explain just how “the stars make love to the universe.”
The Bottom Three
The safe contestants were revealed throughout the night, much to their coaches’ excitement. But in the end, it was T.J. Wilkins, Dani Moz, and Tess Boyer in the bottom three. Usher had one contestant, T.J., in the bottom three, but poor Shakira, who always seems about ready to cry when her contestants are in danger, had two, Dani and Tess.
Each contestant sang for his or her life, to varying degrees of success.
T.J. Wilkins
T.J. chose Edwin McCain’s “I’ll Be” for his performance, and while his voice is unquestionably beautiful, he just seemed a little bit dead-eyed and emotionless in this performance. Plus, I’m not sure any reality competition performance of “I’ll Be” will ever match up to Ejay Day’s in season 1 of Idol.
Dani Moz
Dani took on Adele’s “Turning Tables” in her sing-for-her-life performance, and while her voice was certainly up to the challenge, the whole performance just came across a little too theatrical. Coming from a musical theatre background, Dani often has a difficult time differentiating between acting and expressing in her performances, which comes across as a little disingenuous at times.
Tess Boyer
Tess performed Kelly Clarkson’s “Dark Side” for her life, but it seems her nerves and emotions may have gotten to her, because it was by no means her best performance. It was pitchy all the way through, and didn’t really do any justice to her talent. However, she had looked about ready to throw up for the entire episode, so this wasn’t too much of a surprise.
The Results
The start of the live shows marks the return of The Voice Save, last season’s twist where the viewers are given five minutes at the end of the episode to try and save their favorite of the bottom three by tweeting the contestant’s name with the hashtag #VoiceSave. What was different this season was that we were able to watch the results on the bottom of the screen throughout the commercial break. While this is an interesting perk, it does certainly lessen the suspense of Carson’s eventual announcement when you can see how the voting is going.
So it was not much of a shock, after watching her dominate the polls for the entire five minutes of voting, to hear Carson reveal that Tess Boyer was the first season 6 recipient of The Voice Save. Well, it was a shock to Tess and Shakira, who both pretty much lost their minds with excitement. However, this meant the end for T.J. Wilkins and Dani Moz.
Tess Boyer has certainly proven herself to be the Comeback Kid of season six. She’s lost countless battles and been traded between teams, and even received some of the fewest votes this week for her first live performance. But there’s no stopping Tess, and she just may fight her way all the way to the finish line.
The Voice top 10 will perform next Monday at 8 p.m., with the results show on Tuesday at 8 p.m. on NBC.