NBC’s ‘The Voice’ review: Ryan Innes, Grace Askew, and Sasha Allen shine

The final week of the blind auditions on “The Voice” arrived Monday night, and this is where the problem lies for the show: while the vast majority of the performers on the show this week were pretty good, we also can’t sit here with a straight face and say that we were blown away by most of them.

Then again, the two-hour episode did contain some of the season’s best performers, including an old-school blues / country singer, a guy who turned to music after his life fell apart, and also a non-country singer bold enough to take on a Dixie Chicks track. Be sure to check out some of our favorites, and share your thoughts with a comment!

Jeff Lewis – Does this guy flip your house after he stops singing? Okay, now that we’ve gotten the obligatory reality-show joke out of the way, we can talk a little bit about the voice. He’s a pretty good vocalist, and he did a rendition of “You Got It Bad” that stood out. Of course, you do have to admit that this pretty much made him a lock to join Usher’s team.

Shawna P. – First of all, this is totally a country name if there ever was one … even though she chose to sing something a little bit more rock. For whatever reason we have a feeling that the coaches have a sort of sixth sense for older contestants, and never turn around for them. We saw that on the British show, and going into this performance we thought that she genuinely wasn’t going to have anyone. Luckily, Shakira turned around, and then Adam. She went with her gut, and ended up picking the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer.

Caroline Glaser – It’s the “Almost Famous” song! Usually, hearing “coffee house singer” isn’t a good thing, but the truth with Caroline is just that she hasn’t had much of a chance yet. She’s obviously green, but with the right coaching, she could advance to the next level. Her choices were Shakira and Blake, and she went with the latter thanks to his move to play the “songwriter” card.

Cameron – Somewhere, this should be written down in a book of terrible “The Voice” decisions: there is no point in dancing if the coaches can’t see you! The guy put so much effort into being a pop star on the stage, he forgot the name of the show and didn’t end up getting a single chair to turn around.

Michael Austin – This was a strange performance in some ways, as this was a country guy who was almost trying too hard to be country … but he didn’t even get to pick Blake Shelton. Instead, he chose the next-best thing in Adam Levine who has spent plenty of time with Blake over the past few years.

Sasha Allen – To be honest, we’d forgotten about the Dixie Chicks’ excellent “Not Ready to Make Nice,” which Blake Shelton was kind enough to turn around for … which means that the country has forgiven the Dixie Chicks, right? Seriously, though, Sasha was an incredible performer, whether it is the voice or having a unique sense of style.

Matt Cermanski – Singing “Teenage Dream” was a strange choice, especially when you are a guy who is not wearing any makeup or skintight jeans. Maybe the coaches telepathically felt this, and decided not to turn their chairs around as a direct result of that.

Mary Miranda – The moment this Cuban-born singer said that she loved Shakira, you know just where she was going. She looks a little like Selena Gomez, and she performed a song from the original Selena. There’s not really any drama at all here, and our major concern is that her Shakira hero worship may be so strong that she struggles to handle everything that she is being told.

Grace Askew -This was probably one of our favorite auditions during this portion in the season. Grace was a little bit blues, a little bit country, but she felt like more than just a singer performing to impress judges; it was in her soul, and she made “These Boots Are Made for Walking” into something that was genuinely cool to see. Ultimately, she did pick with her heart and went with Blake.

Jane Smith – Here is the quirky singer of the bunch! If Zooey Deschanel and Kate Micucci had their DNA combined, Jane would be the result. Sadly, she was the weakest act of the latter part of the show, and just drifted enough off-key for Usher to crinkle his face and for her to not get a chair to turn around.

Ryan Innes – What’s with the “it’s never too late” line? The dude is 31! That’s not late at all! Does Adam Levine win the record for buzzing in after he sang just one word? Maybe, but Usher surprisingly won the war in snatching this guy away from the other other coaches just by being honest with him.

What did you think about this week’s episode, and was there an artist that stood out to you? Be sure to share your thoughts below, and you can check out some music from season 3 champ Cassadee Pope over at the link here.

Photo: NBC