‘The Voice’ UK review: Did Ragsy, Karl Michael, and Alys Williams advance?
Are you ready for a gigantic-sized dose of “The Voice” UK? We hope that you were, since Saturday’s episode felt like a marathon. Two hours and ten minutes is a long time to watch a show, especially one on BBC One that does not have a single commercial break.
Thankfully, there were some moments in here that made the long run time worth it, whether it be questionable decisions by the coaches, a few memorable singers standing out, and at least two eliminations that made us tear up when they were over. Check out all of our quick-takes from the battles, and as always, we want to hear all of your thoughts on some of these singers below!
Ricardo Afonso vs. Mitchel Emms (Danny O’Donoghue) – Does anyone else feel like will.i.am was trying to convince Danny to take Ricardo, that way he could rush in and take Mitchel? Ricardo just never seemed to be comfortable with what is a wilder performance than he is probably used to doing. Winner: Mitchel
Emma Jade Garbutt vs. Mike Ward ( Tom Jones) – It’s a country hoedown! Was there a moment where Emma Jade almost forgot the lyrics? It’s either that or she hesitated, but there was one little moment during “Take It Down” that made Mike our pick. Tom agreed, and we’re absolutely stunned in this case that Emma was not stolen, given the lack of British country females out there. Winner: Mike
Alex Buchanan vs. Letitia Grant-Brown (Jessie J) – This was literally the worst battle that we’ve ever heard. The pitch was all over the place for both of the artists, and we don’t actually get how the judges could brave saying things nice about either one of them. Alex tried a little too hard, and was thus not picked.
But then … two steals? Color us confused; maybe this sounded better in person (or the coaches are basing this on an earlier audition). Winner: Letitia
Diva vs. Joseph Apostol (Tom) – There was just something about the voting demographics here that make Diva almost an easy choice to send home. It’s not to slam them, but people of Filipino heritage tend to have strong support blocks behind them. (Just look at anyone on “American Idol” over the years.) It also helped that Joseph simply pulled the emotion out of the song and threw it all over Tom’s face. Winner: Joseph
Abi Sampa vs. Laura Oakes (Danny) – Laura has that Liverpool voting block, which was enough to get Christopher Maloney all the way to the “X Factor” UK finals last year. The problem for her is that to us, Abi is a much more interesting singer, but putting someone with Middle Eastern tones into a song with a more mainstream singer just did not work at all. Winner: Abi
Liam Tamne vs. John Richard (will.i.am) – This was a rare case of a coach almost sinking two of his own artists with a weird, dated Phil Collins song in the wrong key. Then, Will surprised everyone by picking an underdog in John who only had one coach turn around for him. What made this even more heartbreaking was that there was no one able to steal, given that Will was the only one left with this capability. Winner: John
Lem Knights vs. Trevor Francis (Jessie J) – We really liked Lem and his magic afro, and what made this entire performance rather heartwarming is that unlike the blind auditions, will.i.am did not sit around for the entire show before deciding to pick someone. Thank goodness. We actually liked him more than Trevor, who we feel to be rather predictable.
Alys Williams vs. Lareena Mitchell (Tom) – This is going to sound incredibly silly, but does Tom really want a person in the live rounds whose name sounds so much like Leanne Mitchell? The steals were all gone by this point, meaning that the artists had to impress. Winner: Alys
Paul Carden vs. Sean Rumsey (Danny) – There almost seems to be some sort of a theme when it comes to these battles: The coaches picking the artists who are more of the undiscovered talents rather than the big stars. This very competition was an example of this, as Paul has plenty of experience, and did a better job probably than some people who were stolen earlier on, but he still lost. Winner: Sean
Emily Morton vs. Moni Tivony (will.i.am) – Moni had probably one of our favorite auditions on the season with “No Woman, No Cry,” but he was saddled here with a song that he quite frankly did not know. To see Moni win against Emily, who sounds like Janet Devlin from “The X Factor” UK, was a little bit of a surprise. With that being said, Moni’s cockiness is going to completely turn him off to voters. Winner: Moni
Colin Chisholm vs. Ragsy (Tom) – This battle was sad, since these singers are two of our favorites of the entire competition. They’re both good singers, and Colin has that super-cool story given that he is the oldest performer in the entire competition. We were sad to see the man go since he’s obviously tried so hard to make it, but there’s no doubting that singing chef Ragsy and his fun name are worthy to advance. Winner: Ragsy
Karl Michael vs. Nadeem Leigh (Danny) – Two great guys with emotional stories wrapped up the show, and the question that remained is whether or not they would be able to really have a competitive edge since they each loved each other so much. We really wish that there was a save for this one, since they were both brilliant here and even touching as they sang. Winner: Karl
Who was your favorite from this edition of “The Voice” UK? If you want to check out some more news related to this show, all you have to do is visit the link here.
Photo: BBC One