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Caroline Pennell was first up last
night. CeeLo mentioned that “Caroline has stolen the hearts of
America,” but he still wanted to try and bring a more energetic and up-tempo
version of her to the stage, choosing “Wake Me Up” to do this.
It was an interesting performance, but
I feel that certain elements didn’t match well with others. Hair
and wardrobe gave her a more ‘grown-up’ look. The stage props
were classy and elegant, matching her look, but the background images
being flashed across screens behind her were in a style that one
would probably find painted in kindergarden classrooms. These images
were very distracting and conflicted too much with everything else.
Vocally, Caroline did nicely with the
song CeeLo picked. He tried to push her out of her comfort zone, but it didn't fully work... maybe he's pushing too far too fast? Her
voice is so unique and soft, and there were times where the hidden power in her voice did sneak out,
and she sounded great. Unfortunately, there were more times where that power should have come out... and it tried... but didn’t quite get
there.
Her voice is pure and simple, but
Caroline needs to work on bringing that power we caught a glimpse of
last night out more often if she wants to win this. She has the
personality. She has the connection. She just needs to believe in
herself a little more... Hopefully CeeLo can help her bring out what’s really inside her.
Josh Logan was up next and sang “Man
in the Mirror.” Josh was saved last week by Christina, and I still
question that decision. Josh started off slow and seemed a bit flat,
but built up nicely before hitting the chorus. He holds his pitch
really well, but falls short when trying to build the connection
between himself, the song, and the audience. While he finished the
song strongly and confidently, he came across as being stiff and
distant for most of the song. I will admit, although, his performance
last night was much better than last week’s... although I don’t
think it was enough to save him this week.
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Team Adam’s James Wolpert took the
stage with “Mr. Brightside.” James is very consistent with his
performances, and last night was no exception. From the first note,
his vocals were strong and very well controlled, and regardless of
where he is in the register, his pitch is almost perfect. He takes
the stage and just floods it with his personality and energy. You
can’t help but become completely involved with him and the song.
Last night, we saw James the rock-star, and like anything else, he
took it on and made it work. It really was a great performance.
Austin Jenckes, who has often been
labeled as a “passionate rocker” was given “It’s a Great Day
to be Alive” as his song to perform. Blake Shelton wanted to make
the show’s country music fan base become excited for Austin. Kind
of ironic, don’t you think? Get rid of all the declared country
artists, then try and form a connection between the country fans and
someone who’s not really country... that may just backfire on Blake
and Austin.
Austin took the song and added an incredible and workable country vibe into what is Austin Jenckes. He
had great tone and pitch and has this ability to put so much of
himself into the song that one can actually feel him through the
lyrics... It's never mattered what song or what genre. He hit each one of his notes perfectly, and blew us away with his final big note. His
control is nothing short of amazing.
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The youngest artist this year took the
stage next with “Love is Blindness.” Coach Christina wanted
Jacquie to add a little bit of “darkness” to her vocals...
and that she did. Starting in the middle of the stage, with a camera
doing a 360°
spin around her, Jacquie flirted with the camera, as her dark and
rough vocals worked up to an explosion of power at the chorus. She
took the song and made it fun and personal, while showing her
exceptional (and almost inhuman) range, power, and control. Her
vocals go so far beyond her years that it’s almost impossible to
remember that she is only sixteen years old. After the power in the chorus,
she instantly dropped back down into the dark and low. The emotion shown was
incredible. Jacquie became the song and earned a standing ovation
from her coach. One of the best performances of the night!
Following
that powerful performance was Ray Boudreaux. Blake wanted to see a
softer and more soulful side of Ray and gave him “All of Me” to
sing. The song choice worried Ray, as it was going to force him to
open up and become more exposed.
It was a
simple performance that was meant to expose his softer side.
He sang a little lower than he has in the past and sounded pretty
good. While he was technically okay (he did miss one note near the
end), however, I didn’t feel he made the connection Blake was
looking for. Ray sang mostly into the microphone or the
stage and made very little contact with the audience. Oddly, Blake
said it was great and worked well, but Christina disagreed (the first coach to actually critique the negative) and said it wasn’t
that great of a performance. Whether you blame the song choice or
just a lack of confidence, I think last night could be the end of the
road for Ray.
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Jonny
Gray followed with “Another Day in Paradise.” Following Kat’s
performance, this was much more subdued. Jonny did well in holding his pitch, but there is a weird kind of ‘vibration’ in his vocals
that distract from the song. There were also a couple of
moments during the song where the background vocals were too sharp
and made it seem as though Jonny had missed his notes. Though not his
fault, it definitely made you take notice. Overall, he may have
focused too much on the technical aspect of the song and not enough
on making the all-important connection needed to win over the
audience.
Adam
gave his “Grammy winning voice” Tessanne Chin “My Kind of Love”
to show her power and range. Tessanne has such amazing depth to
her vocals that you just fall into her. To enhance and showcase that
depth, during the first verse, a reverb effect was added to a few of
her lines. Normally, something like that takes away from the singers
vocal ability, but with Tessanne, it amplified it. She combined total power with complete control and added it all to the emotion and
passion she so easily emotes. Adam raved on and on about her
performance... and rightfully so.
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Christina’s
male power vocalist Matthew Schuler had next honors. Christina wanted
to bring him back to his roots this week and chose “Hallelujah”
for him to perform. The second he started to sing, everyone just
froze... as though time had stopped. He would delicately build up to some
amazing power notes before coming down to a very soft and emotionally
filled chorus. His voice paralyzed everyone, and was the most beautiful performance of the night. There really are not many words to describe what he accomplished last night... it was just breathtaking. This performance alone probably solidified him a spot in the Top 3.
Cole
Vosbury performed “Adorn” and showed an R&B side of himself.
Working off the advice of Blake, Cole did the song without his
guitar, and it was probably the best advice Blake could have given
him. The guitar would not have fit with the song, and we were more
able to focus on Cole and his voice. He adapted perfectly to the R&B
feel and had just the right amount of ‘grit’ in his voice to make
everything work. Without the guitar, his personality came out, and he
became very emotionally connected to the song and with the audience.
This was probably one of Cole’s best performances so far in the
show... it even earned him a standing ovation from the coaches. It
really is impressive that Cole only turned one chair during the
Blinds but has grown to what he is now.
Closing
out the show was Will Champlin singing “Demons.” Will actually
surprised me last night. He started the song on the mini-round stage
in the middle of the audience. It was a soft start, and he slowly and
deliberately built up to the chorus. He had great control and his
pitch was pretty much right on. The control he had when he hit his power note was
impressive and solid. His performance was filled with passion and
feeling and was much better than last week. I know I said last week
that Will would be going home after this week, but this sole performance
may have just saved him from that fate.
On a
whole, the show was very energetic. The band did a great job. The
lighting crew added a powerful element, and the coaches contributed to much of the entertainment value. All the artists did a fantastic job. When you
get down to the Top 12, it is hard to pick winners, as they are all very talented and unique in their own way. But... I would have to say the
top two performances from last night were Jacquie’s and
Matthew’s. Both very different, but both equally amazing. On the
other side of the coin, however, I’d say the bottom three of the night
were Josh Logan, Jonny Gray, and Ray Boudreaux. I think the Instant Save
will probably be used on Ray... ending the journey for Josh and Jonny.
What do
you think?
Watch The Voice every Monday and Tuesday on NBC! Check your local listings for times.
Go to nbc.com/the-voice for all the great info on the judges and artists.
Who caught your ear? Who’s your favorite? What do you think? Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments below.
I agree with you that Ray Boudreaux was not one of the better performances of the night, but his song is doing well on iTunes and he has a decent-sized social media following, so I don't think he will be in danger. If you check the buzz he is receiving on Twitter, it's a lot of marriage proposals from female fans -- hilarious but these are serious voters, for sure. I think it will be Austin Jenckes in the bottom three with Jonny and Josh, with Jonny getting the Twitter save and Josh going home.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughtful recaps, I enjoy reading them every week. :)