The Voice review: Jej Vinson, Gyth Rigdon, The Bundys’ cross-battles
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Jej Vinson (Kelly) vs. LB Crew (Adam) – Going into this, we felt good about Jej’s chances and we still do. Yet, we will say that LB brought a lot to this performance with its gospel vibes and some of that rich growl in his voice! Jej just has this silky-smoothness to him when he moves around on stage that is just super-appealing to watch, and we know that he’s also got a big audience out there (plus also Kelly’s clearly-established base). Our winner: Jej.
Kalvin Jarvis (Adam) vs. Julian King (Legend) – This was a tough battle to try and sort out, mostly because if we were going by the whole competition, we’d probably say that Julian’s been better. But, was Kalvin stronger tonight with some of that energy and smoky-cool style that he brought to “New Rules”? The arrangement on Julian’s “Hello” was a little strange and of course, doing an Adele song on its own has a tendency to be a big risk. Our winner: Kalvin.
Carter Lloyd Horne (Blake) vs. Jacob Maxwell (John) – It’s a little weird to see the person on Team John doing a country song and not John. Carter to us was the clear winner here. He’s got a sort of haunting, Southern-rock-meets-blues style to him and we feel like he could really jam out the longer this show goes. “You’re Still the One” was just too weird a song choice for Jacob and it never felt like the song went anywhere. Our winner: Carter.
The Bundys (Kelly) vs. Andrew Sevener (Blake) – This may be the most balanced performance of the entire night. Andrew is sort of signature country, the kind you can hear on the radio any day of the week, without also feeling intimidating. He has a natural relatability. However, the Bundys can do so much in terms of harmonies and while we didn’t love “The Letter” as a song choice, how do you go against what they did here? Our winner: The Bundys.
Shawn Sounds (John) vs. Karly Moreno (Blake) – Can we say that we feel for Karly after listening to Shawn? While she had some moments within “Down” that showed off her unique voice, we don’t think that she measured up to the sheer power that Shawn delivered tonight. It was personable to him and the song was just so perfect for what he’s trying to be. Our winner. Shawn.
Kendra Checketts (Adam) vs. Jimmy Mowery (John) – How isn’t Kendra more of a favorite this season? She’s been so good in some of her performances and this was no exception. Great song choice, great vocals, and a good sense of how to handle the live-TV environment and the intimidation that comes with it. Jimmy just got swallowed up here and we don’t think that his intonation was steady throughout what we saw here. Our winner: Kendra.
Rebecca Howell (Kelly) vs. Beth Griffith-Manley (John) – This was an interesting battle just because you’re dealing with two very different sort of talents. Rebecca probably has a little bit more potential based on what we’ve heard, but there’s no denying just the grit and the power that Beth has brought to everything that she’s done. “I Put a Spell on You” is such a GREAT song — but Rebecca’s still got a chance because of the country vote. Our winner: Beth.
Gyth Rigdon (Blake) vs. Abby Kasch (Kelly) – Gtyh has been darkhorse for a while and we think that this continues this tonight. He was just so measured throughout this performance — he’s a cross-genre beast who can do a lot of different stuff. This is a dangerous battle though, mostly because Abby really brought a TON of energy to the end of the show. She just needed to hold out some notes a little further. Our winner: Gyth.
Who did you like the most on tonight’s The Voice performance show? Be sure to share some of your thoughts in the comments, and check back soon for more. (Photo: NBC.)