The battle rounds of The Voice season 9 continued on Tuesday night (Oct. 13), and a shortened one-hour broadcast only resulted in three performances broadcasted in full, so the producers decided to go for some juicy ones, and they certainly delivered.
Adam Levine, Pharrell and Blake Shelton's teams all got some time in the spotlight, and once again, singers on Team Gwen Stefani got the short end of the stick with a montage. Womp womp. Is it because her team is relatively weak? I wonder... Because to keep up with the big boys of The Voice and their teams, you need to have some massive talent, and I'm not sure if Gwen can do it. Her personality on the show is irritating at best and her redundant pitches are impersonal at worst. Blake and Adam have been on The Voice since the beginning of time, however, and Pharrell is riding high off a win.
AKA, Gwen, get your stuff into gear.
But, how did the three performances pan out on Battle Rounds, part two?
Keith Semple vs. Manny Cabo, "Baba O'Reilly": The Voice sure knows how to edit these battles so the biggest ones go first to draw viewers in, and this rock 'n' roll performance was a big one. Both Keith Semple and Manny Cabo have big ranges and a sort of classically rooted rock voice. And while they both had big chair turning moments, there's no reason to keep them both on the same team. When it came to this performance, Manny and Keith were fairly evenly matched, and it seemed to just boil down to a manner of preference, and Adam decided to go for Irishman Keith to represent rock, presumably because their falsettos compliment each other.
Who technically won the battle? Adam kept around Keith, in a semi-shocking twist after Manny's big ol' high note and his four-chair turn at the start.
Who should have won the battle? This one was a hard one, because when it comes to rock, both of these singers could hold that space in the competition well. However, Manny sounds sort of like a lot of rock singers out there, and Keith has a unique tone that justifies Adam's decision.
Chris Crump vs. Krista Hughes, "When I Get Where I'm Going": Blake Shelton's first battle of the night went to this duo, a soft pop singer and the country girl with the classically strong voice and a four-chair turn under her belt. This Brad Paisley/Dolly Parton song was a good choice and worked naturally into what Chris and Krista are capable of. When it came to the battle itself, which had a newly re-written part for Krista, Chris had far more control, showing that he spent some time working on his vocals. And it worked to his advantage, his range and command of the song helped to break him out as a possible star of this show.
Who technically won the battle? Chris' dynamics and control helped push him into a pop spot on Team Blake.
Who should have won the battle? Blake made the right choice. Krista has some raw talent but she needs polishing. Chris is already there.
Ivonne Acero vs. Siahna Im, "You Keep Me Hangin' On": Both Siahna and Ivonne are high school girls with youthful voices and potentially huge ranges, so this pairing (and a Supremes classic) make for a logical pairing. These girls were pretty evenly matched, when it comes to vocals, and when it comes to personality they're both sparkling diamonds. What this battle really boiled down to was a sense of confidence, and at just 15 years old, that's something that Siahna clearly has. So, when it came to the performance, she took over.
Who technically won the battle? Pharrell went with the confidence factor and chose to keep Siahna around, and as Blake said, she's the worse she'll ever be now, so the sky is the limit for her.
Who should have won the battle? Pharrell made the right choice with Siahna, but Ivonne was still a hot commodity. Thanks to her adorable personality and a je ne sais quoi factor, both Gwen and Blake attempted to steal her. I don't quite get the big deal, especially when we saw big battles from the premiere episode that resulted in no saves (Celeste Betton), but this is where we are.
