NBC’s ‘The Voice’ review: Amanda Brown, Michaela Paige rock first live show

For the first time all season long, Monday night’s “The Voice” was live, and the performers entered the competition with what should have been a major chip on their shoulder. “The X Factor” has already made it to this stage, and their performances were arguably better than anything NBC has done this year.

Like a prize fighter, these singers thankfully came back with a punch of their own. There were a number of surprises throughout, and actually the most predictable element of the show was Cee Lo Green dressing up as Hippie Liberace. Here’s how the voting goes this week: America does vote (contrary to our own past belief), but they only can save two artists. The coaches then choose between the other three that remain, and only one advances. Tonight is all about Team Adam Levine and Blake Shelton, and Wednesday night’s show will be all about Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo.

Team Adam Levine

Joselyn Rivera – Who saw this coming? Joselyn was the sort of singer leading into this round that was more or less a write-off. She didn’t have a ton of airtime, and there are so many other great pop singers on this season. Then, she gave quite possibly the best rendition ever of Demi Lovato’s “Give Your Heart a Break.” Can we call this a breakthrough? Let’s hope so, since it clearly was.

Melanie Martinez – There is a difference between being creative, and doing the same sort of thing week after week. All her of her performances feel like you are sitting in the back room of a swing lounge circa 1928, and she almost slurs her vocals at you rather than sings them. It was cool with “Toxic,” but it gets a little less cool every time she puts a song into this mold.

Bryan Keith – Does Bryan wear the same outfit every show? It’s hard to blast him for this given that Phillip Phillips won “American Idol” wearing gray shirts just about every week. Bryan is almost too middle-of-the-road for his own good. He’s a great singer with a gravely voice, but this is not ten years ago: “Iris” just isn’t that interesting of a song choice these days that will get the young fans voting.

Loren Allred – This is why you should not make a decision in the Knockout Rounds based solely on one performance. This was a bit of a mess. It was campy, straight out of 1985, and her voice was weak for the first half of it. Maybe part of the problem here is that we know she is here over the stellar Nicole Nelson, who was the most shocking elimination in the earlier rounds of the season.

Amanda Brown – This was a major risk for Amanda: singing the incredibly tough “Dream On” from Aerosmith. Nonetheless, she delivered by completely rocking it out. The moment she hit some of the notes at the end, it was pretty clear that this was over, and she had won the night with just a few simple notes.

Team Blake

Terry McDermott – Nobody should really sing “Don’t Stop Believin'” life unless you are either in the band Journey or on “Glee.” These are the only two renditions that work. Terry had some seriously out-of-tune notes in the upper register, and there just wasn’t enough energy in the song … and this is from a self-admitted Terry superfan. This is just one of those songs that does not fare well when shortened, since so much of its appeal comes in the buildup and the drama.

Liz Davis – “Country as mud” is how Blake describes Liz, and it’s easy to agree after this “Independence Day” performance that screamed “I am a professional country artist.” There was not necessarily anything about it that broke barriers, but it was an appropriate song choice given Liz’s history of doing uptempo songs. As a matter of fact, it may be the best country performance we’ve ever seen on a live show for “The Voice.” (Sorry, RaeLynn.)

Cassadee Pope – The only real issue with this performance of Avril Lavigne’s “My Happy Ending” was that it was exactly the record you thought that she would sing. Does she need to work on being a little easier to relate to? Sure, but she worked the stage better than anyone all night long, and also hit some tough notes on a song that it so easy to screw up.

Michaela Paige – Where was this Michaela earlier this season? This was like watching a fireworks show that is still enjoyable even when you closed your eyes. There was sass, enough energy to make for the strobe lights giving the audience seizures, and nary a missed note in the whole song. Her best performance on the show by a mile.

Julio Cesar Castillo – You come on this show saying that you do not want to be just a mariachi singer … and then you perform a mariachi song in a leather jacket. We have a suspicion this is not the sort of music Universal wants to market to the winner of this show. With that being said, this was actually the best vocal of the night.

Who was your favorite artist from the show, and how long will it take the image of Cee Lo’s outfit to erase from your mind?