And the cuts begin. The Voice season eight is deep into the live playoffs, and after a decent night of performances from the top 12 on Monday night, tonight (April 14), it was time to start trimming off the fat.
Nick Jonas returned to The Voice for like the eighth time in the last 12 months to perform his latest single "Chains." It was good, but really Nick, there's more than one TV show to perform and appear on...
From there, the results began. By their very nature, these aren't that fun to watch, so the show cut it up with team performances from Blake Shelton and Christina Aguilera, and they were so bizarre and lovely. I could watch Blake Shelton perform and forget the lyrics to "In the Midnight Hour" all day.
But, at the end of the day... it was business time, with two singers destined to go home. Who was it? What team is now two instead of three? What are ya waiting for? Find out below with our team-by-team rundown:
Team Christina:
I was all about watching Team Christina take on some diva-licious song together, so imagine my surprise when they stripped it down with the Eagles' "Hotel California." Of course, XTina's voice overpowered all of her contestants - that's just the natural way of things. But their voices blended into this classic rock track way better than it should have.
Team Christina had three of the strongest performances of Monday night, with Kimberly Nichole, Rob Taylor and India Carney all confidently owning the stage. It then, logically, came as no surprise when Kimberly took home the first save of the night, thanks to her second week of delivering the best vocal with her take on "House of the Rising Sun." Team Christina even managed its strong hold when India was the first singer of round two of the saves to be retained on the show. Her version of "Take Me to Church" didn't quite stand up to Matt McAndrew's from last season of The Voice, but she was more than worthy.
Team Christina went by unscathed tonight... After sitting at the edge of my seat, Rob got the second-to-last save of the night. His performance was strong and unique, and it's nice that was rewarded.
Team Pharrell:
Unlike last year, Pharrell is starting off with a strong batch of three in the top 12, with Sawyer Fredericks being one of the biggest highlights of the show. His performance of "Imagine" felt a little bit contrived, but it was emotionally connectable and enough to rightfully secure him Team P's first spot in the top 10.
Team Pharrell's second save of the night went to Koryn Hawthorne, who fell very much in the middle of the pack for me, so whatever to this choice, to be honest. I think she has a unique tone, so I hope she can break out more in the future to make this feel really worth it.
Mia Z was shockingly up for elimination, and I can't help but feel like it was due to a terrible Rolling Stones song choice. She took on another antiquated song for her save, and her voice sounded great, even if every single one of her words ran together in a mess of garbles. Girl, you're worse at enunciating than Ariana Grande... And ain't nobody buying that.
Team Blake:
So, who from Team Blake totally forgot to sing their part during their quartet version of "In The Midnight Hour?" That was one of the most hilariously awkward moments on TV I've seen in a minute, but the ol' pro Blake Shelton tackled it with pure professionalism.
Meghan Linsey made some major waves across the Internet all day on Tuesday, with her verson of Little Big Town's "Girl Crush" getting its own headline coverage from country blogs across the country to even Rolling Stone. So, of course, with press like that, she was a logical and obvious choice for the top 10.
Team Blake continued to make strides, with Hannah Kirby getting a surprising save from the American audience. She was Blake's wildcard pick and delivered a so-so rendition of "Edge of Seventeen" was a little dated... but I think her gusto really saved her, and I'm glad to see Hannah around for another round of The Voice; I just hope she modernizes herself to really secure confidence that she can make it.
Like Team Christina, Team Blake went by untouched tonight. Corey Kent White is one of my least favorites on this show - I just don't feel the genuine country element from him. But, this show loves its country music stars, and I think he floated by on that.
Team Adam:
Team Adam still feels like the weakest batch to me, but I think America did right by picking Joshua Davis as the first of his three to make it into the top 10. His performance of Simon & Garfunkel's "America" on Monday night was soft and perfectly balanced, proving that the power of quiet music never leaves.
Team Adam felt like it was up for slaughter tonight, with two of his artists in the bottom three. The first performance of his team went to Brian Johnson, who took on the classic love ballad "Amazed." This was a smart song choice and way better than "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You," which felt so boring. This was actually genuine and touching, and the emotion was beautifully connected. It could have been enough to save him...
Deanna Johnson was the final performer to sing for the Twitter save, and she gave a really drippy performance of Bruno Mars' "It Will Rain." It helped to move her away from the weird Christian chokehold and it was beautiful. I think her personality kind of did her in because she comes across as timid, and that's not an engaging thing to watch. But, she connected tonight and sounded better than ever, clinching the instant Twitter save for herself. Now she just has to prove it was worth it...
