NBC’s ‘The Voice’ wild card: Taylor John Williams, DaNica Shirey, Damien, Luke Wade battle

You may have thought’s new episode of “The Voice” was intense from every angle, and there may be a particularly big reason why: It is wild card season for the first time!

The nine contestants who were eliminated after the first results were announced tonight got a chance to return to the stage with one more performance. Of these artists, only one of them is going to get a rare opportunity to actually go back on stage next week for a chance to win the entire competition.

We’re going to be updating this particular article as the show goes on.

Reagan James, “Put Your Records On” – You get a big chance to return to the competition, and this is what you sing? Not sure that we can really get behind this.

Jessie Pitts, “Zombie” – This song is our jam. Not vocally perfect, but we still found it rather enjoyable.

Ryan Sill, “Marry Me” – Well, this was definitely pandering towards the young audience, now isn’t it? Of course, the judges praised this throughout.

Anita Antoinette, “Waiting on the World to Change” – Outside of Jessie, does anyone so far really want to make it to the next round? We’re not sure. Boring song choices.

Taylor John Williams, “Wicked Game” – Easily the best of the five that have performed, but we have not gotten a sense still that anyone is really bringing something new or shocking to the table. Who is going to fight for it?

Damien, “Grenade” – Weird arrangement on this one. One of the best parts of the song was cut, and Damien slowed this down to a snail’s pace.

Sugar Joans, “Back to Black” – It’s kind of funny that someone eliminated weeks ago was the best of the entire night so far. So soulful, so passionate, and so good.

Luke Wade, “Have a Little Faith” – Much better than the past few times we saw him, but right now, we’d give the edge to Sugar.

DaNica Shirey, “Without You” – A slightly-dated choice. Still, it was easy to read the tea leaves here that producers knew that she was going to kill this. Excellent. Sugar is our personal pick to return, but we’d be fine with DaNica, as well.

What do you think about these performances, and who do you want to see advance to the finale? Share with a comment, and head over here to get some other updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)