NBC’s ‘The Voice’ review: Sawyer Fredericks, Meghan Linsey, Brooke Adee help start off live playoffs

Finally, “The Voice.” has entered the live rounds of the competition! You have been waiting to see the show get to this stage, and it finally has with a string of performances from Team Blake Shelton and Team Pharrell Williams as they compete to make it into the all-important top 12 of the competition. This part of the season is integral to actually let America know the truest sense of your personality. Without it, there could be a conception that you are just a great creation by the editors.

We’re going to divide up our performances reviews tonight by team, mostly because that makes things a little easier to follow along.

Team Blake

Sarah Potenza, “Freebird” – She can totally sing, but this was a little too dated at times. It’s going to be hard for her leading off the show tonight with this.

Hannah Kirby, “I Feel the Earth Move” – She probably has zero chance of advancing, but there is still something endearing about the bizarre, free way in which she performs.

Corey Kent White, “Make You Feel My Love” – This was smart. It was a song choice and a performance that will probably appeal both to country fans and to mainstream ones, which is a nice way to score a ton of votes.

Brooke Adee, “Love You Like I Do” – Brooke can definitely sing, but what is original about her? When you have some other big personalities on this team and also someone with an established following, she needs to work on bringing more.

Meghan Linsey, “Love Runs Out” – Meghan can truly sing, and she, Corey, and probably Hannah would be our picks to advance tonight. While we understand the whole “fairness” argument, our response to it is simple: If you don’t like people with careers on the show, go watch “American Idol.”

Team Pharrell

Caitlin Caporale, “Best Thing I Never Had” – There’s no doubting the ability of Caitlin to complete dominate any song that she chooses vocally. She’s a beast. The problem that continued into this episode was a true lack of a point of view.

Lowell Oakley, “Jealous” – Decent performance, but we hate the choice to force Lowell into doing a song that Chris Jamison rocked at the same place last season.

Mia Z, “Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone” – Killer rendition of the song. Very original, very bluesy, and a nice slice of proof that Pharrell can deliver good arrangements to songs rather than just blunders.

Koryn Hawthorne, “How Great Thou Art” – An emotional take on a very religious song. This was a surprising song choice in some ways because religion can be kind of polarizing … but Craig Wayne Boyd did win last season, so there’s that.

Sawyer Fredericks, “Trouble” – Sawyer’s an interesting kid. We’re not going to say that every note in here with a winner, but he has so much earnestness and quite power in his voice that he’s a mesmerizing person to listen to. A nice way to end the show.

Who was your favorite tonight? Vote in the poll below, and head over here to see some of our “Voice” pre-show rankings! Also, sign up today to get some other updates worth singing about via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)