The blind auditions for season seven of The Voice have wrapped up, with all four coaches - Pharrell Williams, Gwen Stefani, Blake Shelton and Adam Levine - all settled with their teams of 12. Before the knockout rounds begin next week, where performers will go head-to-head for a chance to stay in the competition, it's important to look back and see where they all stand.
As could be expected with his superstar name recognition these days, Pharrell far and away comes into the knockout rounds with the most solid team, full of pop, R&B and soul singers with tons of personality, zest and (most importantly) raw talent. Levine brings perhaps the weakest team, losing favor with the more impressive singers due to his long-term residency on the show and sole two trophies.
Before we move onto round two of The Voice, let's take a deeper analysis of each coach and team, analyzing their weakest spots and strongest performers.
Team Adam: As could be expected, Team Adam is the true mixed bag of The Voice season seven, with the Maroon 5 frontman coaching everyone from a little Levine lookalike (Joe Kirk) to an Asian female powerhouse (Clara Hong) to a total John Mayer wannabe (Chris Jamison). Despite winning far and away the most four-chair battles than any of the other coaches, the best word to describe Levine's team is total and complete mediocrity. Chalk it up to two wins versus Blake Shelton's three or the shiny newness of Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams, but Levine's team is far and away the most forgettable of the bunch.
Best Contestant: Kelli Douglas. Kelli Douglas, a young substitute teacher may have been a bundle of nerves at the beginning of her audition, but she quickly fell into her groove. A blend of soulful, smoky, sweet R&B and pop, Douglas has a unique, tender voice that allows her to standout on The Voice season seven while still feeling like a versatile, commercially viable performer.
Worst Contestant: Matt McAndrew. Though Matt McAndrew was a total ball of adorableness during his audition of Christina Perri's "A Thousand Years," with Harry Potter glasses and a moppy hairdo, his performance was anything but. Artistic liberty with a song is one thing, but a totally flat performance is something else. When you add in McAndrew's cracking voice and strained higher register, it's safe to say he probably won't be long for this show.
Team Gwen: Let's hear it for the laaaaaadies! Though she oftentimes talks about how surrounded she is by men, the sole female coach on this season of The Voice fittingly staked her team with women, with eight chicks and four dudes repping Team Gwen T-shirts. Her female-heavy team is one of the more inconsistent ones, with five singers rated bad in previous reviews and five rated among the best. Gwen's performers tend to lean toward alternative pop, a fitting narrative for the queen of, well, alternative music and disturbingly catchy dance pop.
Best Contestant: Anita Antoinette. It was a properly difficult decision to rank Anita Antoinette against Taylor John Williams, but Stefani's female heavy team should fittingly be led by a powerhouse female. Antoinette is a returning contestant to The Voice, back after getting rejected by all four coaches in season three, but she's here stronger than ever with a blend of pop and reggae that is so infectious and fun. She's the epitome of a strong woman, with a rich alto and a funky patois. In a world where MAGIC! can have a No. 1 song for weeks, Antoinette could be very welcome in the pop world.
Worst Contestant: Bryana Salaz. Ariana Grande has one of the most effortlessly powerful ranges in pop music today, so if you're going to tackle her "Problem," you should at least be able to hold a note all the way. Bryana Salaz's audition was filled with breathing problems, pitchy high notes and weird melody choices. Sure, we understand that she can belt out a note, but you need more than volume to make it on a show like this.
Team Blake: The most winning coach of The Voice, it seems like Blake Shelton is a bit of an underdog this season, what with Pharrell and Gwen Stefani nabbing up all the best contestants with their shiny, new enthusiasm. But, this country crooner quietly built up one of this show's most solid teams, backed heavily by some standout old school country musicians (Craig Wayne Boyd, Reagan James). Blake also expanded his collection, bringing in some pure pop artists, including the Bieber-licious Justin Johnes, who is sure to get all the youth votes from The Voice audience (assuming there is one). Despite his foray into different genres, however, country remains Blake's strong suit, as it should.
Best Contestant: James David Carter. Blake Shelton claimed that James David Carter had the best country audition he'd seen in seven years on The Voice, and even though he had to work hard to draw him onto his team against the other three coaches, it was hard not to believe him. Carter's rendition of "Nobody Knows" was so full of vulnerability, that his rich tones just oozed of love and loss. This could be a real star in the making, thanks to that deep, full voice.
Worst Contestant: Allison Bray. The worst thing about Allison Bray's performance of Kacey Musgraves' "Merry Go Round" was that she just could not find the beat or tempo of the song, racing just ever-so-slightly ahead of the music. As if that wasn't distracting enough, there was a notable fuzz in her voice, like she just couldn't cut through a ton of phlegm in her throat. On a team that has some wonderfully solid country artists, Bray just can't hold her own.
Team Pharrell: It probably shouldn't be a huge surprise that the mega-producer/singer/songwriter Pharrell Williams has the best team of the four coaches on this season of The Voice, with only one contestant falling in the dreaded "bad" category and an astonishing seven landing among the best of this year. Like Adam Levine, Pharrell exercised his own musical flexibility to get soul singers (Maiya Sykes), jazz greats (Katriz Trinidad) and some stunning pop (Elyjuh Rene). If on any other team, most of those on Team Pharrell would be a standout, so there's some hot competition here. And with Pharrell's recent hit track record, working with everyone from Justin Timberlake to Daft Punk to Miley Cyrus, it's easy to see why the hottest talent would pick his team.
Best Contestant: Taylor Phelan. It was truly hard to choose just one best singer from Team Pharrell, with each of the above mentioned singers shining above most others, but there's something particularly special about Taylor Phelan, who stunned people with his take on The Neighborhood's "Sweater Weather." Though The Voice is mostly about raw singing talent, which Phelan showed with an impressive range, he was also quite the performer, working the stage like nerves just don't even exist.
Worst Contestant: Ricky Manning. The main tone in Ricky Manning's voice is just pure nerves, and despite a few impressive growls, he really failed to reflect anything interesting during his audition of "Love Me Again." He couldn't really hold a note, and his overall lack of power was pretty troublesome. He'll be fast to go on this powerhouse team.
