NBC’s ‘The Voice’ review: Shelby Brown, Chance Pena, Jordan Smith perform for Adam Levine

“The Voice” has arrived with the Live Playoffs for 2015, and for Adam Levine we feel like he is entering this stage well aware of whatever pressure is on him and his team to succeed. He’s had a lot of experience doing well at this show, and to go along with that, he’s got a potential frontrunner in Jordan Smith on the docket for tonight.

Take a look below for our live impressions of all of his team members. We’ll be back at the end with a poll. For those wondering, Chance Pena is the coach comeback a.k.a. wildcard artist for this team.

Blaine Mitchell, “Never Tear Us Apart” – Did Blaine rock out? We’d say so. This was a competent performance, but the show did him ultimately zero favors here by forcing him to go at the very start of the show. It’s really hard to succeed with so many artists following you up. He may have to hope for Adam’s pick rather than America.

Keith Semple, “To Be With You” – Was this the perfect song? It was strong, and for the most part we felt that Keith held his own and had a little bit of fun for it. We mostly just feel bad for both him and Blaine, given that both of them were stuck so early and were two of the most rock-focused artists this season.

Shelby Brown, “You’re No Good” – Did Shelby stand out enough given the country flood coming tomorrow? Probably. This was really strong. She lost her breath a spot or two in here, but it was country enough to please those fans while not limiting herself solely to that crowd.

Amy Vachal, “The Way You Look Tonight” – Did Amy rise to the top of contenders? Probably not. We’d say more that this performance kept her firmly in the middle. We like the attempt at doing more of a standard that everyone knows, but the notes were a little wobbly and if you are going to try out something like this, you really have to be perfect with it.

Chance Pena, “Barton Hollow” – Was he worth this second chance? We’d say so, mostly because he feels more prepared for this competition than the other youngster in the competition. His voice is not entirely there just yet, but we feel like he’s on the cusp of something. If nothing else, it was nice for him to have this moment.

Jordan Smith, “Halo” – Is the song choice risky enough? We don’t doubt Jordan’s insane vocal ability, especially after hearing this. He killed it! So why are we not as high on him as maybe we are Jeffrey Austin or even Shelby on the night? We feel like it was just a tad predictable, and we want to see him more out of what we know as so comfortable.

The last thing we’ll say here is that Chance and Jordan performed after anyone on Team Gwen. Yep, doesn’t that make it just that much harder for a female coach to win, when her artists aren’t given the “featured” treatment as much?

Want to get some other updates pertaining to “The Voice,” including contestant rankings and a review of Team Gwen? Then head over to this link, and sign up right now to get a review of everything we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)