NBC’s ‘The Voice’ postmortem: Why were Austin Allsup, Courtney Harrell sent packing?

Last night’s new episode of “The Voice” was in some ways both shocking and expected at the same time. We knew based on iTunes sales alone that Austin Allsup and Courtney Harrell were near the bottom of the board, but at the same time, it was hard to necessarily envision a scenario in which the two parties were sent home on the night together. Blake Shelton is the first coach this season to be down to just one artist, and given his routine popularity, that’s shocking. (Then again, he’s got someone in Sundance Head who could very well win the whole thing.)

So what happened? How did Blake end up losing two of his stars? We’re going to break this postmortem piece down a little bit different since we are talking about two names as opposed to the typical one.

Austin – This one left us a little gobsmacked given that he did what you’d want any artist on the show to do Tuesday night: He took a song that was iconic in one genre, turned it on his head, and made it into something different. Country artists on this show don’t often stray from their genre, and they should be rewarded when they do. Also, his “Missing You” was in our mind one of the top two or three performances on the night. Obviously, voters felt a different way about it, and he didn’t have the name (or even facial) recognition of Sundance, who performed a gospel-oriented song that was firmly in the country voters’ wheelhouse.

Courtney – She’s not the typical artist who Blake tends to work with, so she probably didn’t get the same sort of bump from him that some other country-oriented artists do. In general, she didn’t have a high profile on the show, and while her performances were typically good, she wasn’t getting the placement or the praise to rise to the upper echelon this season. Given that she’d been near the bottom of iTunes before, this elimination was a little more expected. We’d say that maybe she would’ve fared a little better with a different coach, but the difference is so marginal that it probably wouldn’t have mattered. Her last performance, “If I Could Turn Back Time,” was a little too shake in terms of the pitch.

What do you think happened to Austin and Courtney? Share below, and be sure to head over here if you’re interested in checking out the remainder of our coverage on “The Voice” right away. (Photo: NBC.)