NBC”s ‘The Voice’ review: Did Matthew Schuler, Carroline Pennel, Jacquie Lee rule live show #2?
Before this week’s episode of “The Voice,” we did not give either Christina Aguilera or Cee Lo Green much of a chance to win this season; and while we don’t quite know if either of them is going to go all the way to the finale still, this night at least proved that they actually have the more consistent teams of the season. Not only that, but we had the best performer of the week (ironically to a Miley Cyrus cover of all things), and at least two other artists that stand a chance of going really far.
All in all, this was a heck of a night of performances, and a nice little reminder of the fun little environment the show has created for itself.
Amber Nicole, “Wasting All These Tears” – Wait, did Cee Lo really choose for Amber to perform a song from Cassadee Pope? Whether or not you’re putting on a conspiracy cap or not, we’re sure that “The Voice” appreciated that a coach is trying to keep a former star in the spotlight. The good thing about “Wasting All These Tears” is that all you have to do is change the instrumentation slightly to make it sound like a different kind of song, and it worked well for Amber! The little music breakdown at the end was also nice.
Jonny Gray, “Bittersweet Symphony” – Amber had a song choice that was a little bit of a strange one. The song has a bit of a cult following, but it’s not an easy song to attach to melodically and most viewers of this show tend to love having that little earworm to attach themselves to. At least he’s got that following from military families, and a great body of work to back him up with this show.
Tamara Chauniece, “I Will Survive” – We remember her probably less of any other contestant in the top 20 right now, and it did not help here at all that the performance that was chosen here was one that was so completely predictable and almost karaoke. She did “I Will Survive” justice vocally, but it sounded like a straightforward cover that is not in any way representative of what is a typical Cee Lo Green team member.
Kat Robichaud, “She Keeps Me Warm” – This was a very different sort of song choice for Kat, and it was great. We know already that there are some crazies out on social media saying it’s suspect that she changed the “she” to a “you” to sing the song for her husband, and that’s a load of (insert curse word here). If we are going to celebrate when a song that is originally sang from a man to a woman is suddenly turned into a same-sex anthem, we can’t do the opposite here and say that it is wrong that she changed it up. It was all about someone performing a song that had a meaning to them, and giving a great performance with it. Plus, the post below from Mary Lambert pretty much proves that she didn’t have a problem with it.
Caroline Pennell, “We’re Going to Be Friends” – Hey, it’s that song from the opening credits for “Juno”! That is seriously the last time that we heard this. Caroline’s not necessarily the most powerful singer, but she’s one of the best. She’s extremely likable, and she almost reminds us every time she goes on stage of Taylor Swift right after she wins an award. A great performance here.
Josh Logan, “Crazy” – He literally did just about everything with this “OMG another coach’s song!” that he could. While the acoustic jam of this song still loses some of the soulful Gnarls Barkley classic, it was a great performance still. The freaky thing is that we don’t know if anyone will remember this guy sans hat. He actually looks more like a singing version of Howie Mandel.
Olivia Henken, “Roar” – Wait, Christina taught her that there were other genres besides country? Shouldn’t she have already known that? In between her and Restless Road on “The X Factor” last week, Katy Perry’s song is getting a lot of play … and we still don’t really understand it, given that this song still does not feel like it altogether works very well in the genre. It just feels like a pop song with a slight country twang.
Stephanie Anne Johnson, “Georgia on My Mind” – A good performance for Stephanie, mostly because we weren’t just sitting here and listening to her do the same cover that we have heard a thousand times on other shows. We do think that she will have trouble standing out as we get further into the competition against people with a little more unique voice, but this could be enough to survive here, if she can get more votes than the previous two.
Matthew Schuler, “Wrecking Ball” – This was a surprise song choice, and no, he did not take his clothes off and swing across the stage with a wrecking ball. We’ve always felt like this song is actually a great pop hit if you can ignore most of the ridiculous theatrics that Miley Cyrus surrounded it with. And we completely bought every second of it. Matthew may be the one guy who can change things up and give Christina a contestant who makes it into the top 2. Amazing.
Jacquie Lee, “I Put a Spell on You” – This is a tough song to do, since you have to keep the vocal quality here, while also making it feel like you are putting a curse on someone like Jessica Lange on “American Horror Story: Coven.” While Jacquie could have used a little more grit, there isn’t any doubt that she has a killer voice. Christina may only have two huge contenders, but these two have a serious chance of going all the way on the end of this competition. Episode Grade: A-.
Who was your favorite tonight? Be sure to vote in our poll below! Also, click here if you want to read our review of what happened on the show last night.
Photo: NBC