NBC’s ‘The Voice’ review: Michelle Chamuel, Caroline Glaser shine in first live show

For the first live show on “The Voice” tonight, we had a battle basically between Team Adam Levine and Team Usher for singing-show domination. What were we left with? Some great, original performances, and then the coaches / producers recycling material that we’ve heard time and time again. We also basically heard about 30 minutes of actual singing in a two-hour episode, which is a real reminder that NBC should just make this into half an hour and then give a comedy a ratings edge. Oh well.

By the end of this show, it was at least apparent on this end who are the big-time contenders, and who could end up going home Wednesday night.

Team Adam

Amber Carrington, “Stay” – There was a reason why Adam picked her over Midas Whale in the knockout rounds: He had a huge amount of faith in her. Having a country singer take on a Rihanna song was a bold move, but also, as it turns out, a very smart one. She has a stellar voice, and really a great sense of how to transform songs into her own creation without even making it look difficult.

Sarah Simmons, “Angel” – Considering that Adam already gave this song to Javier Colon, shouldn’t he be tired of it at this point? You’d think so. Instead, we had another chance to hear a solid cover of a song we never really want to hear on TV again. It’s not fair to judge a singer based on a song that you’ve heard too much of, but we’re not the only people doing it.

Caroline Glaser, “The A-Team” – As you may know already from our official show rankings from the weekend, we didn’t give Caroline much of a chance on a team stuffed with powerhouses. However, she really did a pretty phenomenal job with one of our favorite songs as of late in Ed Sheeran’s “The A-Team.” On an unrelated note, how many Ed Sheeran fans really get what this song is about?

Judith Hill, “Feeling Good” – In a surprise to no one, Judith closed the night. However, we’re not quite positive that she was really all that fantastic outside of hitting some crazy notes. There were occasional pitchy moments, and it felt that there were too many attempts to make it into a “moment” that some heart of the song lost.

Team Usher

Josiah Hawley, “Starlight” – The truth of the matter here is that Josiah was probably picked for a little something extra to go along with his voice: He’s a good-looking man, and Usher has to know that people are going to vote for that. It was a cool song choice, but the real problem with doing Muse is that absolutely no one in the world can really replicate this voice and do it well.

Cathia, “I Have Nothing” – What in the world is Usher thinking with these song choices? More on that later. This is the most over-performed song in reality TV history, and while Cathia did a pretty good job with it, how can we get excited about something that has been covered by so many singers in the past?

Vedo, “Against All Odds” – Seriously. Usher followed up “I Have Nothing” with “Against All Odds.” Not only is this song singing-show overkill, but most of the people who have done it have done it pretty horribly. Vedo at least held his own with the lyrics, and even at times gave it a little bit of emotion. We just don’t really dig the disconnect between the heartfelt performance and the goofy hand-gestures once it was over.

Michelle Chamuel – What a knockout performance that Michelle ended up having this week. She did something in “True Colors” that showed off a completely different side of her, and it worked almost to perfection. More than anything else on the night, we genuinely felt every bit of this.

Who was your favorite on Monday night’s performance show on “The Voice”? Be sure to share your thoughts below! Also, you can head over to this link to see where we’d stacked some of the people on Usher’s team.

Photo: NBC