NBC’s ‘The Voice’ review: Toia Jones, Matt McAndrew, and Taylor Brashears shine
The second round of “The Voice” battle rounds brought all sorts of performers to the table, and then packaged them in a bloated series of segments that really wanted us to just get to the good stuff in the live rounds.
Despite our cynicism, let’s press ahead with some of the Battles, their results, and whether or not there were any steals on the evening.
Damien Lawson vs. Kelli Douglas, “Knock on Wood” (Adam Levine) – These two were good in the blind auditions, but to be 100% honest, we didn’t feel like either one of them is so memorable that we are going to be talking about them at the end of the season. This came down to confidence. Damien was more comfortable, and at this point, that was enough. Adam picks Damien.
Jessie Pitts vs. Ryan Sill, “Need Your Love” (Gwen Stefani) – One of the surprises of the night, and in a good way. We were totally Team Jessie before this one, but Ryan surprised us with her originality on this song. She didn’t sound just like a carbon copy of the original in here. Gwen picks Ryan.
Blessing Offor vs. Katriz Trinidad, “Do I Do” (Pharrell Williams) – We wrote about this battle earlier, and said that Blessing probably is the better singer now, but Katriz is the one with the more potential down the road. Unsurprisingly, this battle mirrored that, and the right thing happened when both advanced. Pharrell picks Katriz, but Adam steals Blessing.
Ethan Butler vs. Matt McAndrew, “Yellow” (Adam) – Matt was a highlight from the Blind Auditions, and this is a very hard song to sing since it exposes your range. There wasn’t a whole lot of drama in here. Matt has the potential of someone who will go extremely deep in the competition, and we figure that he not be challenged in the knockouts, either. Adam picks Matt.
Bree Fondacaro vs. Taylor Brashears, “You’re No Good” (Blake) – We want to say this was a case of Blake obviously picking the country artist in Taylor because that’s often what he does, but the reality here is that Taylor was better by a mile. She has some potential to be a darkhorse later on down the road. Blake picks Taylor.
DaNica Shirey vs. Toia Jones, “Halo” (Pharrell) – We do feel like Beyonce songs on singing competitions are complete overkill, especially one that has been done as many times on TV shows as this one has. We preferred Toia, but we knew that she would be stolen even though she lost. There was a funny exchange with stealing at the end here. and she ended up on Team Adam. Pharrell picks DaNica, and Adam steals Toia.
What did you think about this episode, and who was your favorite performer on the night? Share with a comment, and head over here to get some further news worth singing about via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo via NBC.)