‘The Voice’ UK review: Jessica Steele, Nathan Amzi, Christina Marie, Anna McLuckie, and battles
“The Voice” UK returned to the air on Saturday, and it did so with a part of the competition that we admittedly loathe: The Battle Rounds. There is very little to us that comes across as interesting here, since it is mostly just watching ridiculously drawn-out packages of contestants unnaturally singing with each other. There has to be a better way for people to move forward; heck, we’d be fine if they just had two Knockout Rounds instead.
While we tend to go in order of team when we review the blind audition episodes of this show, we’re going to simply go chronologically here, mostly because it could otherwise end up being far too confusing.
Jermain Jackman vs. Sarah Eden-Winn, “I Knew You Were Waiting For Me” (Team will.i.am) – The moment that Jermain hit some of those low notes in this one, we were ready to give this to him and forget the rest of this boring battle. Sarah seemed off pitch, and less interactive with a crowd. Also, boo to Will on the boring song choice.
Will’s explanation for keeping Jermain was still pretty crazy, though: That it was almost destiny based on the way that they met. It feels like Sarah never even had a chance. Also, Will’s prophecy of Sarah being stolen didn’t come true.
Lee Glasson vs. Jimmy Weston, “When You Were Young” (Team Kylie Minogue) – Jake Shears was the guest adviser for Kylie, though you would think that the contestants didn’t fully get that after watching this package. They were more involved in personality conflicts.
This performance was really pretty terrible all the way around for us, and it was a messy interpretation of one of our favorite songs. Therefore, it was hard to really care much one way or another who advanced. Lee was victorious, which means that Lee and his guitar / leather jacket combo are gong away.
Sally Barker vs. Talia Smith, “Dear Darling” (Team Tom Jones) – What in the world is going on with Team Tom at the moment? You’ve got a 54-year old woman who doesn’t even know who Olly Murs is competing against a country singer. To make matters even weirder, Tom’s mentor in Tinie Tempah couldn’t be more different than him. This feels like someone threw a bunch of musical stuff in a cauldron and hoped to see what happened next.
We understand the interest in Talia as a young singer in a genre not that popular in Britain compared to America, but there is something just stunning and rich about Sally’s voice. You can hear the experience in the way she performs from start to finish. Sally was victorious, and deservedly so. At this point in the competition, there were still no steals.
Tina & Tavelah vs. Beth McCarthy, “Roar” (Team Ricky Wilson) – Oh boy, another reality TV version of “Roar.” These battles are typically made worse when you have a duo throw in there, since it makes it very hard for the solo artist to stand out.
The reason that we feel like Beth advanced is not really because of anything to do with her bizarre style, but rather that she is pretty creative and someone who could probably do well in the industry. The twins actually did a good job with the vocal, but did not roar loudly enough to get a chair to turn around.
Leo Ihenacho vs, Steven Alexander, “Thunder in My Heart” (Team Kylie) – This was the surprise battle of the show at the point that it aired, mostly because we had no expectations for it at all going into it. Leo seemed to be unprepared and a bit of a mess throughout rehearsals, and then came out and found a way to kill it later. Steven, meanwhile, did a solid job himself.
This was the time we felt like the steal would finally be used … and it was! Sir Tom now has another person on his team, and the only thing better than the steal itself was the frenzied reaction of everyone to it.
Bizzi Dixon vs. Kenny Thompson, “Hey Jude” (Team Tom) – You can file this one away in the “book of things that make little sense.” Will said that this was the best battle in “three seasons,” but still nobody stole poor Kenny and his confidence problems. He did a nice job, but Bizzi just owned this from start to finish. There were great vocals, and also an extremely great stage presence. Bizzi may actually be a threat to win this whole thing in the end.
Callum Crowley vs. Tom Barnwell, “PYT” (Team will.i.am) – Will’s history working with Michael Jackson late in life has been documented, so it’s a pretty big deal that he gave this song to anyone. Also, we’re a little mad that Will decided to give these two this song.
Both of these guys were pretty great, but to us there was little question that Callum won this. He’s one of the best singers that this entire competition has, and one of the most creative. Him winning? Let’s just Will made the right choice, though it was sad that Tom went home.
Jai McConnell vs. Nomakhosi, “Tainted Love” (Team Kylie) – A great choice in song, but what we felt was like one of the most lopsided battles of the nice. Jai is just on another level; she’s one of the show’s best singers, and just has a voice that you can hear in a split second and know that it belongs to her.
We don’t know if we would’ve stolen Nomakhosi, but she was at least solid on the song. Therefore, we can’t really be too upset about this at all.
Emily Adams vs. Kelsey-Beth Crossley, “Fighter” (Team Ricky) – Way to give these two an enormous song to perform! Christina Aguilera’s hit is one of the most challenging tracks out there to do, and we knew almost immediately that these two were going to have a tough time with it.
Honestly, we really couldn’t differentiate one from the other in this performance. We’d slightly lean towards Emily, but it really was close since they both ripped through this performance with ease. She easily won, and Kelsey-Beth destroyed whatever chance she had with that whole “it’s not my song” complaint. Ugh.
Mairead Conlon vs. Celestine, “It’s My Party” (Team Tom) – The best way to describe this performance? Fun. It was just a pleasant one to watch from start to finish, even though we definitely feel for Mairead now. She tried pretty darn hard to get to this point, only to be turned away this point.
Jessica Steele vs. Anna McLuckie, “Good Riddance” (Team Will) – This is probably the right way to have a competition in the battle rounds, and proof that you don’t have to just shout at each other. This was a lovely, subtle battle, and one of the best of the entire night.
So to see both artists move on to the next round is something worth smiling about. Will picked Anna, and then Ricky stole Jessica … which led to the biggest hug in the history of man.
Christina Marie vs. Nathan Amzi (Team Ricky) – One of the best battles in the history of the show. Simply phenomenal. This is a heck of a great song, and the biggest issue that was probably in here for Kylie is that she was the only coach without a steal. If she took the deserving Nathan, everyone else was going to be screwed the rest of the way. We’re super-sad for him now, even if we are happy for Christina.
In the end, a good episode despite the format … but also exhausting. Two hours and ten minutes is a long time to watch singers perform without commercials. Grade: B-.
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Photo: BBC