NBC’s ‘The Voice’ premiere review: Bria Kelly, Dawn & Hawkes, Jake Worthington shine early

This is “The Voice“! If you screamed that first line, then you know that you have watched this show just as much as we have. It’s funny at times, annoying at others, and even inspiring. We just wish that there were more standouts throughout these two hours, and that the coaches did not anoint so many people as ‘the one’. The four-chair turn was executed so many times that it hardly felt special by the end.

The way that we are going to break down this review is the same thing that we have done reviews for “The Voice” UK this season: We’re going to go team by team, and arrange the contestants in order of who they were paired with (if anyone at all).

Team Adam Levine

Christina Grimmie, “Wrecking Ball” – The first audition of the season, and that is typically a sign that you are going to stick around for a long while. Christina did a very predictable thing, and chose Adam. She’s someone he would be smart to keep since she already has a voting block out there. She’s toured with Demi Lovato and other artists already.

Dawn & Hawkes, “I’ve Just Seen a Face” – We really enjoyed this, and then Adam came out and said that this was his favorite performance that he has ever witnessed on the show. A little much, Sir Levine? Still, they were very good, and worthy of a spot on his team.

Team Blake Shelton

Jake Worthington, “Don’t Close Your Eyes” – A very soft, sweet performance from a guy who seemed to legitimately learn from what happened to him on the show last time. He came back prepared, and genuinely wowed us here with something that was touching, and simplistic. Of course, he was country … so he picked Blake.

Team Shakira

Kristen Merlin, “Something More” – The biggest highlight of this to us was Shakira’s pitch over Adam, claiming that she has more Twitter followers and can actually make a big difference for her. This somehow worked, in addition to Blake (a country singer who every country singer wants) standing up for her.

Jeremy Briggs, “Bad Company” – The surprise choice of the night. Jeremy could’ve went with someone in Blake who was a little more similar to his style (even if he is more rock than country); but, he went with Shakira!

Team Usher

Biff Gore, “A Change Is Gonna Come” – The guy’s a good singer, but really worth four chairs? We don’t know about that. This was a nice little stroke to Usher’s ego to win a battle of this magnitude.

T.J. Wilkins, “Bennie and the Jets” – Haley Reinhart owns this song when it comes to reality TV. Therefore, T.J. really did not do much to impress us here with the song beyond singing it fairly well. We need to hear him do something a little bit edgier to get a full sense as to what he can do.

Bria Kelly, “Steamroller Blues” – The final singer on the night, Bria is a contestant that we teased in advance as a former “America’s Got Talent” singer who has improved a ton since we last saw her. She also made a great choice in Usher that was very different, and will encourage her to do some different things with her personality and her style.

No teams

Tanner Leonard, “Stay” – He’s been singing “ever since he was a little kid.” Still, he is a little kid! This guy is going to have his voice change a lot in the years ahead, and that is going to make this show interesting for him. He just wasn’t ready for this stage yet.

Leo Gallo, “Blurred Lines” – A guy who tried to do way too much with a song that is not too appetizing at this point. Too many dance moves, too many issues going all over the place when it comes to pitch. In the end, these are the sort of things that doomed him from getting a turn.

Karina Mia, “Beneath Your Beautiful” – This was a nice little editing job by the show to convince us that Karina was going to be a huge star through the whole episode, only to get no turns.

Overall, still an entertaining two hours of TV, even if we have seen better episodes. Grade: B+.

Who was your favorite from tonight’s premiere episode of “The Voice”? Share your thoughts below, and head over to the link here if you want to get some more talk on the show’s future via the coaches.

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Photo: NBC