NBC’s ‘The Voice’ review: Taylor John Williams, Ricky Manning, Luke Wade, Elyjuh Rene rock Playoffs

Tonight, “The Voice” had its second edition of the Live Playoffs. Was it worth the wait? We did have some questionable song choices and a few obvious performances that may have well led to automatic eliminations. With that being said, at least a few people did manage to bring everything they had to the table.

We’re going to separate the performances up by team, and remember to head over here in the event you want to see what we thought about the first night of the show.

Team Gwen

Bryana Salaz, “Amnesia” – The vocals weren’t perfect, but how smart was this? 5 Seconds of summer is the hottest boy band out there right now, so giving her a song of theirs to do will get the younger voters.

Ryan Sill, “I Lived” – This is the sort of performance that you would say “that’s nice” after almost like Shirley from “Community.” He’s a sweet kid and you really want to like him. Unfortunately, there’s not much else we can say.

Ricky Manning, “Lay Me Down” – We’re surprised that Ricky went late in the show. We thought that we would be an afterthought going into this. It was a very nice performance from him! We don’t know how much he’ll be remembered, but he definitely gave it his all out there.

Taylor John Williams, “Stuck in the Middle” – The last performance of the night. Was it the best one? It was solid, but we cannot say that we rocked out the same way that we did when Craig Wayne Boyd gave his performance last night.

Antia Antoinette, “All About That Bass” – We don’t know about this. Anita can do the song, but it took away what we feel like is her best attribute: Her passion. This song just doesn’t give you that much to work with vocally.

Overall, we’d say that Ricky, Taylor, and Anita should be the ones to advance, combining what we saw tonight and in other performances.

Team Pharrell

DaNica Shirey, “Help Me” – Not the easiest song in the world to do. We give DaNica a whole lot of credit just for being able to take on this sort of risk. She is extremely likable, and that in itself is enough to root for her.

Elyjuh Rene, “Latch” – Elyjuh is a beast of a man. Seriously. Great runs, great stage presence, and a real knack for performing almost effortlessly. Elyjuh is the sort of guy we could watch for hours and never get bored.

Jean Kelley, “Piano in the Dark” – This was one of the first performances that Pharrell mentored on the show, and his song choice and advice was surprisingly off. The last thing we needed to see from Jean was her giving MORE to the performance. She was already giving a ton!

Sugar Joans, “Say a Little Prayer” – Sugar basically poured a whole bag of sugar into this performance, but not necessarily any spice. It was a little all over the place, and even if the notes were there, some of the theatrics were a distraction.

Luke Wade, “Let’s Get It On” – We still feel like this song is a little bit hokey, but Luke does have a whole lot of talent. He probably did just about as much with this song choice as almost anyone in his position could. With that in mind, we have to at least give him a little bit of credit.

eanwhile, we’d give it here to DaNica, Elyjuh, and Luke for bringing it tonight.

What did you think about these performances tonight? Share with a comment below, and head over here to get some further news worth singing about in your email inbox via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo via NBC.)