‘The Sing-Off’ season 4, episode 4 review: Did Element, VoicePlay, or Vocal Rush go home?

After having to sit through a very disappointing first part of “The Voice’s” season 5 finale, we were personally looking for our own hero in the form of “The Sing-Off.” Luckily, the show strapped on a cape, rescued us from our despair, and delivered four extremely entertaining performances. Nobody was bad tonight per se, and only one group actually regressed versus the week before.

Then, there is that Ultimate Sing-Off twist that is still fun, and different than how most other shows do these sort of things. Let’s start, as always, with giving our own rankings for the groups.

4. VoicePlay, “Don’t Speak” – This was a decent performance, but it felt a little too shouty and we would’ve preferred something that delivered more of the funk and the rock in the song. No Doubt is a very hard group to nail mostly because they are such a unique band to begin with, but it really felt like something significant was lacking from this.

3. Element, “Keep Me Hangin’ On” – The best performance from this group by a mile in this competition. For the first time, we totally bought into the vocal prowess of the Element ladies from the highest register to the lower one. They didn’t feel like they desperately needed a bass, and instead just relied on both each other and some killer notes.

2. Vocal Rush, “Holding Out for a Hero” – While we’re still very annoyed about the people holding random signs in the audience (mostly because we sincerely doubt their authenticity), this was a performance worthy of a sign or two. These people are still so young, and don’t show it in their performance quality or their behavior. Like with Element, this was the best they have done all season long.

1. Home Free, “Ring of Fire” – This was great. The range on their lead singer is incredible, and we are pretty sure that he can hit notes that no rational human being should be able to hit in a million years. But he also had a great vocal group all around him as a whole, which gave this entire performance that wonderful sort of “complete” feel.

The Ultimate Sing-Off – Obviously, our opinions were way off since we had a battle here between Vocal Rush and Element. The song? “Survivor,” which was a pretty entertaining battle. Both groups did pretty well, but we more enjoyed the taunting and choreography that went along with. Vocal Rush did better with the pitch, but Element was better with the tempo.

Eliminated – Element. It was somewhat of a bummer to see the only all-female group out before the top 6, but it was probably the right move in that Vocal Rush has more potential if they can start to reign in a little of their exuberance and turn it into great singing all of the time. Episode grade: A-.

Do you think that the right group went home? Share some of your thoughts below, and click here to read some more scoop and episode reviews for “The Sing-Off.”

Photo: NBC