NBC’s ‘The Voice’ review: Ryan Quinn, Nate Butler, Kristen Marie, more audition
The second week of Blind Auditions is upon us on “The Voice,” and for us one of the biggest challenges for the episode is merely going to be seeing if the show can figure out a way to establish some tension as to who certain contestants will pick, and if they can identify a singer equally worthy of being a favorite in the way that Alisan Porter is. When you look at the history of the show, we’ve seen three people in Cassadee Pope, Sawyer Fredericks, and Jordan Smith be frontrunners from when they first performed. It felt at times like this was also happening with Christina Grimmie, though she did not win.
As always, we’re reviewing the show live, so be sure to refresh this page soon for more updates!
Hannah Huston, “Unaware” – We think America will really like her. She’s humble, has a great job for TV as a preschool teacher, and she has a really nice voice with some untapped potential. Her being one of the realer people when it comes to having raw energy makes her a nice candidate to go far. Team Pharrell.
Brian Nhira, “Happy” – Another interesting character. Brian came to the country from Zimbabwe, and now lives in Blake Shelton’s home state of Oklahoma. If you forgot that he was performing a Pharrell song, maybe you thought that would be useful for the sake of an argument. However, in making a choice between the two, Brian went predictable. We’re not sure his voice is incredible, but he’s likable and has a ton of energy. Team Pharrell.
Brittany Kennell, “Strong Enough” – Let’s not overanalyze this: She’s a country singer-songwriter who lives in Nashville. Who do you think that she’s going to pick? She’s very talented, and of course she understands that the country coach is the right pick for her. Is there a part of us that wants to see Blake spurned for laughs? Sure, but it makes sense for these singers to think in terms of who could actually help their career first and foremost. Team Blake.
Natalie Yacovazzi, “Mr. Know It All” – Natalie returned to the show after auditioning in the fall and got one person to turn around in Adam! Hilariously, Christina Aguilera tried at the last second and it didn’t work out for her. Team Adam.
Malik Heard, “Chains” – We previewed him before the episode, and as we said, he’s got a great Matthew Schuler sort of vibe to him. We think he could be super-versatile, and he’s got a coach now who can help him pick out some of the right songs so that he can proper succeed. Team Christina.
Peyton Parker, “Dreams” – Well, Peyton lives in Nashville. Team Blake. Okay, we’re really not going to end it there, but this feels a lot like she had her mind made up the moment that he turned around. We love that she didn’t do a typical country song, but what we did not love were the way the other coaches approached her. We would have made more of an argument to her about what we would do to help her versus just attacking Blake.
Kristen Marie, “Mad World” – Sure, every “Mad World” cover ever on a singing show will be compared to Adam Lambert’s, but this was very solid in its own right. She’s got a super-nice high register, and her picking Christina here showed really that coach selection is more about genre than geographic location, as she hails from Blake’s home state of Oklahoma. Team Christina.
Nate Butler, “The Player” – Really nice performance. The falsetto was a little shaky, but hats off to the coaches for trying to be open and critical to him. There’s a lot going on here, but we like his swagger and his style; America will probably dig him. Team Adam.
Ryan Quinn, “Can’t Find My Way Home” – The final audition, and a pretty beautiful performance as far as we’re concerned. Ryan did a heck of a lot with his vocals here, and it was a soaring, fantastic take on the song. He said that he wanted to pick Pharrell, and anything someone says that before the audition, they rarely do. Team Adam.
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