NBC’s ‘The Voice’ review: Nicholas David, Cassadee Pope step it up

Sorry, Simon Cowell: “The Voice” is completely putting “The X Factor” to shame. The latter show may have the edge now when it comes to being a complete and utter trainwreck, but the artists on the NBC show were almost universally better than the Fox counterpart this week, and many of them even improved on what they have done in recent weeks.

Before we start things off with the performances, we have to give Christina Milian a little bit of credit. It’s so easily to mock the backstage hosts on these shows, but after watching Khloe Kardashian and Brooke Burke-Charvet, we realize even more that she is actually very competent and has improved vastly on last season.

Sylvia Yacoub – After transforming into a bit of a mess last week, Sylvia returned to her piano roots with a song in “Girl on Fire” that is as current as current can be. Was it a little better before she stood up? Yes, but it was a nice return to form for a contestant who really needed one, especially in the dreaded lead-off spot when fewer people are traditionally watching.

Terry McDermott – It’s hard to say how much we like Terry as a performer, but some of his performances are all starting to sound too much like dated arena rock that doesn’t belong in 2012. “Summer of ’69” was probably his weakest performance we have seen from the man on the show yet, and he could actually be in trouble this time around.

Melanie Martinez – By far, this was Melanie’s coolest performance since it felt less like a lounge act and more like something that we would stop and listen to at the hip coffee shop at the end of the street. (This is a compliment!) Melanie is probably still in trouble Tuesday night, but at least she is doing a good job fighting.

Cody Belew – Where did this come from? Cody just had a bull singing “Crazy in Love,” and even let loose some pretty crazy dance moves the likes of which have never graced the show’s stage. There’s just something slinky and cool about the guy, like there is some secret swagger to him that is slowly starting to crawl out, and we can’t wait to see what he does next. (That’s right, we’re just going to will him to stick around.)

Bryan Keith – Bryan is doing a very smart thing with his song choices this season: rather than just coming out stage and doing generic pop / rock songs, he is instead changing things up and picking such pieces as “Black to Black” and this week’s “New York State of Mind.” He really did not do anything new with the Billy Joel classic, but the emotional impact was more important here, as the song was meant to be a love letter to his hometown.

Amanda Brown – “Stars” by Grace Potter is not a song many people know, and that could hurt Amanda in the end. However, we hope that is not the case given just how lovely this performance was. There’s really no other word to describe it.

Nicholas David – “Lean On Me” is such a simple song melodically, but in the right hands it can be transformed into magic. This was precisely what this performance was. You could feel the Bearded Man’s passion in just about every single note that he sang, and by the time he and the choir behind him were done, Cee Lo Green had tears on his face.

Trevin Hunte – First, congrats to Trevin for actually doing something other than a gigantic ballad. Usher’s “Scream” is not an easy song to do live, and moving around on the stage and interacting with the crowd is going to cause your pitch to vary a little bit. Sadly for Trevin, he was caterwauling around the stage and missing almost as many notes as he hit. This is why we’re torn; it was vocally his worst performance on his show, but it was also the most fun we’ve had watching him.

Cassadee Pope – This was a side of Cassadee that we have not seen before: soft, touching, and not so forced down our throats. We also are thrilled that Blake Shelton also opened up to her and allowed her to perform a song that was about something so close to his heart when it comes to loss.

Dez Duron – Christina’s only man left showed off some vocal chops with a closing cover of “Feeling Good,” and it was a strong way to close out the show since it allowed him to become a little bit more of a crooner than he has been in the past. It was a teensy bit of a Michael Buble soundalike, but it is hard to blame him for that given that he has listened to his cover of the song for years.

Who was your favorite artist this week? We want to hear your thoughts below!