NBC’s ‘The Voice’ preview: Craig Wayne Boyd, Anita Antoinette face off

The final stage of the Knockout Rounds on “The Voice” air this coming week, and by the time the show airs on Monday night, the live shows will be on the horizon.

Well, we also know right now that Craig Wayne Boys has his work cut out for him competing with Anita Antoinette. For one, he’s an artist who Gwen Stefani stole to join her team in the Battles, so she has less experience working with him. Also, Anita is a reggae singer in part, and Gwen has a great affection for some of this style of music.

Here’s our quick-take on the two performances themselves.

Anita, “Rude” – Smart to choose a super-current song, and one that she can twist to suit her style very quickly. We love her, but this is a relatively safe song vocally to take on at this stage. It also does not allow much time to show off some of that emotion that she carries in her voice.

Craig, “Can’t You See” – Craig is almost the opposite. We don’t see anything that is particularly innovative about the song choice or the way that he is singing it; however, he is showing off a little more of his range here, and we give him points for stepping up the style game.

If we were going on individual performances alone, we’d say that Craig has the edge; however, Anita has the overall better history on the show, and if we were Gwen, we’d want someone who has a real chance of standing out in the live shows. We’d pick Anita, since most of the country votes are going to go Blake Shelton, anyway.

What do you think about this video, and who is your pick for the winner of this battle? Let us know your thoughts with a comment below, and head over here to get our most-recent “Voice” episode review. Also, sign up to get some further news worth singing about via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo via NBC.)

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