NBC’s ‘The Voice’ review: Did Kristen Merlin, Christina Grimmie, Josh Kaufman rule top 12?

For the first time all season long, “The Voice” is live! This means that the editors cannot save any of the contestants. There are nerves, coaches being not nearly as entertaining without their soundbytes, and Carson Daley descending into full-on HostBot mode.

We won’t waste too much time in the intro before getting into our critiques of all the performers, but we will remind you now that we’re ranking them in order from worst to first rather than the order of their performance.

12. Dani Moz, “Just Give Me a Reason” (Team Shakira) – Given that we really enjoyed Dani’s performance of “The Edge of Glory,” we really wanted to hope that this was going to be through-the-roof amazing to listen to. Instead, it was all of the place when it comes to pitch. She missed notes, and the arrangement gave her nothing to do but travel down the path of many other singers before her.

11. Audra McLaughlin, “Angel of the Morning” (Team Blake) – Okay, so Audra started her segment with a little humble-brag about getting a tweet, and had to follow that with a good-enough performance to justify her hype. There were some definite sharp moments in here, but despite the boring song choice by Blake, we could at least feel that Audra was trying to push herself into a vulnerable place. It’s the female CJ Harris, as far as we’re concerned right now.

10. Jake Worthington, “Anymore” (Team Blake) – Wait, why is Jake wanting to keep country alive? Is it thriving right now? The motivation is weird, and the performance was all over the place when it comes to notes being hit. What it did right was access Jake’s vulnerable side, but the performance felt like drippy country of the worst kind. It was close to a parody at times.

9. Delvin Choice, “Unchained Melody” (Team Adam) – Wait, why did Adam give Delvin this choice? This guy is such a cool, hip singer that was stuck with a song that feels old, dated, and not altogether interesting to listen to. Delvin’s voice also saved scratchy and not altogether ready for the song.

8. T.J. Wilkins, “Waiting on the World to Change” (Team Usher) – Going into this episode, we were probably a little too hard on T.J. He’s not a bad performer, and he seems to be a very nice guy; it’s just that save for a slight change to the instrumental on this song, there was almost nothing that was original about it. It was great for what it was, but that’s it.

7. Kat Perkins, “Magic Man” (Team Adam) – It’s weird to remind ourselves during a show like this that fashion does play an element, but it does. Whoever her stylist was for this performance needs to seriously reconsider what it is like to dress like a rock star. That was a distraction from what was otherwise a pretty strong vocal, even if the “singing next to guitarists” bit was a little forced.

6. Bria Kelly, “Rolling in the Deep” (Team Usher) – For those of you who have complained constantly about Bria performing at the end of almost every show, she actually kicked off this one with a song that has become reality TV overkill. We get that some people get “goat voice” from her, but we actually really dig her tone and liked her take on the song. Plus, there was nary a missed note in the entire cover.

5. Sisaundra Lewis, “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” (Team Blake) – There were many great moments throughout this Elton John cover, and Sisaundra can probably sing better than anyone else in this whole season. So who do we blame for the performance not being at the top? Blake, for having her do this song in the first place.

4. Tess Boyer, “I’ll Be There For You” (Team Shakira) – Shakira had herself a pretty good night tonight, and Tess surprised as one of them. She has been stolen twice, and she had a lot to prove here. Did she prove it? We think so.

3. Kristen Merlin, “Stay” (Team Shakira) – We really feel for Kristen, but we’re not ranking her so high just on the basis of her microphone going out at all. She was amazing before that malfunction happened, and we’re genuinely angry at producers for ruining the moment.

2. Josh Kaufman, “Stay With Me” (Team Usher) – We thought that this was the Rod Stewart song, but it’s actually the Sam Smith cover that is super-current. A very moving performance from the best male vocalist on the season, and Usher’s given him some great advice on the duds.

1. Christina Grimmie, “Dark Horse” (Team Adam) – We thought that this performance would dominate, and we were right! This had almost everything that we can hope for, whether it be big notes, stage presence, or a modern take on a very modern song. Christina already has a ton of advantages, and the fact that she’s an awesome performer is only one more.

What did you think about this episode, and who was your favorite? Share your thoughts below, and head over here to see where we ranked the contestants before the show. You can also sign up to get further news worth singing about via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: NBC