NBC’s ‘The Voice’ review: Cheers for Ryan Innes, Midas Whale in battle rounds
The battle rounds on “The Voice” are such a strange, frustrating part of the show. These four nights could have been condensed easily into two, and we would not have been forced to thus deal with the product placement, the long montages, and the countless regurgitation of advice from the judges.
With that being said, at least we had some pretty fantastic battles Monday night, and also some genuine surprises. Remember Amanda Brown from last year? The beauty in what she managed to do was that she took the preconceived notions of her from the blind audition, and then made jaws hit the floor. We did this twice over the course of this episode.
The battles
Vedo vs. Jessica Childress (Team Usher) – What better way to start off with one of our battles? It’s felt for a little while like Vedo is Usher’s golden child, and to an extent we certainly understand it. He’s similar to him in look and style, though you could also argue that Jessica had the advantage in song choice given that she performed a different Bruno Mars song in her blind audition. We would have actually given this to Jessica since she brings something a little different to the table. Did Usher agree? Nope. Vedo was chosen, and Jessica was not stolen.
Luke Edgemon vs. Monique Abbadie (Team Shakira) – Just like with the previous performance, we admittedly went into this thinking that “okay, we’re going to see Monique move forward.” Heck, she loves Shakira so much that she auditioned to one of her songs! The song choice here in Lady Gaga’s “You and I” was at least something that they could each do something a little bit different with.
Let’s best honest: Luke blew our minds, which is especially great since we did not even really remember him going into this performance. This is where things got a little interesting. Shakira kept Monique in a “strategic” move, feeling that Luke would be saved by someone else. She was right, and Blake Shelton snatched up him.
Jacqui Sandell vs. Savannah Berry (Blake Shelton) – Is “the singing ballerina” the worst introduction that Carson Daly has ever given anyone? We’re betting “yes” to that one. Jacqui was put into a country battle against someone in Savannah who is basically the real-life equivalent of walking pecan pie. She’s southern, works the stage well, and just seemed super-happy to be there. She may be the happiest person we’ve ever seen in TV history, and she stayed while the ballerina exited stage left.
C. Perkins vs. Kris Thomas (Shakira) – If we are being 100% honest, we have to say that we don’t remember C. Perkins at all. Kris had that great falsetto, and screen time alone suggested that he would be the one to end up going through to next week. There was another Bruno Mars song here in “It Will Rain,” and about two seconds in our suspicions about Kris were right. He was just so much more solid, and had power in his higher register. He easily won, but C. Perkins has new life with Usher.
Midas Whale vs. Patrick Dodd (Adam Levine) – Our favorite battle of the night. We knew that we were going to see big things from Midas Whale, but who knew that Patrick was going to rock out just as much as he did? We love that Patrick’s son in the audience looked almost identical to him, and we really wished that someone would have stolen him. The unfortunate thing is that some of the other coaches had their steals used up, and Midas Whale had to advance. They are not only talented, but they have the confidence that will make people want to vote for them.
Orlando Dixon vs. Ryan Innes (Usher) – We closed the night with a pair of strong singers who each advanced to the next round (which was given away earlier on in the show. The only question was who was going to win, and whose team would the other artist end up with? Ryan took it home, and Orlando is now on Adam’s team.
Who was your favorite on “The Voice” this week, and do you think that any of these people has a chance at winning the whole thing? If you want to watch some videos from the show this season, be sure to click here!
Photo: NBC