NBC’s ‘The Voice’ review: Judith Hill, Sasha Allen, and a tear for Midas Whale

In a way, there’s some irony to the knockout rounds on “The Voice,” mostly because they actually feel more like battles than the battle rounds. There are some much bigger performances in here, since you don’t have to worry about awkwardly singing with someone else that you don’t know and can have a very different style than you.

There were some fantastic battles in here, but there were also some ridiculous pairings by the coaches. For example, why in the world were Amber and Midas Whale paired together? It feels like there was some great artists who went home that could have stayed.

Amber Carrington vs. Midas Whale (Adam Levine) – This pairing makes us sad. Midas Whale is a duo that would do very well in the live rounds, whereas Amber actually was good enough to keep Adam from picking Sasha Allen. The issue here with Amber was simply that her performance was a little predictable, whereas the boys in Midas Whale had crazy energy, and also extremely creative. This battle left us with a very frustrating and bittersweet feeling: Amber is probably the better singer, but Midas Whale had to be our favorite duo ever on the show. Not only that, but they were probably our favorite act of the season just in terms of entertainment. Now, we have to put them with the Shields Brothers in “great ‘Voice’ duos gone far too soon.” Winner: Amber

Garrett Gardner vs. Tawnya Reynolds (Shakira) – We barely remember Tawnya, whereas Garrett was an early favorite, and has a voice that makes you wonder how he didn’t get through last time. His “Too Close” rendition was gritty and fantastic. Meanwhile, we would have loved to see Tawnya actually speed up her tempo a little bit on “Hell on Heels,” since it did feel a little sleepy. Winner: Garrett

Amy Whitcomb vs. Caroline Glaser (Adam) – If you remember, Amy was the former “Sing-Off” contestant, whereas Caroline is the quiet girl who was stolen by Adam during the battles. We are going to probably stop being bitter about Midas Whale next week, but for now … yeah, we’re still bitter. They were better than either of these ladies, but someone did get through here. Winner: Caroline

Kris Thomas vs. Mary Miranda (Shakira) – For the first time all season, the Selena Gomez lookalike Mary sang in English. We don’t necessarily think either one of them really delivered a fantastic performance, but we would have went with the former mostly because he seems a little bit more capable to handle the emotion of the songs. Winner: Kris

Judith Hill vs. Orlando Dixon (Adam) – The moment that Orlando got Judith, he was probably banging his head against a wall. Judith’s song choice here was a stirring gospel version of Willie Nelson’s “Always On My Mind,” and this was probably all you needed to hear from a woman who has a huge chance of winning the show. Orlando was good … but yeah. Winner: Judith

Karina Iglesias vs. Monique Abaddie (Shakira) – Here’s another case tonight of two strong performers that probably should have both advanced. Karina was the Amanda Brown of the battle rounds, and we have to say she picked a much better song. Sorry, Monique: You are more original that Celine Dion’s “The Power of Love,” a song we have heard a billion times on singing shows already. Winner: Karina

Warren Stone vs. Sarah Simmons (Adam) – Okay, we admit that “Died in Your Arms Tonight” is one of our favorite songs out there in the world. The problem is that Adam’s got a very good team of women, and he probably didn’t help himself by picking a rock song out of his wheelhouse. Plus, Sarah’s “Wild Horses” was great, and she’s a major favorite to go far. Winner: Sarah

Shawna P. vs. Sasha Allen (Shakira) – Considering just how hyped-upSasha has been for this performance, we knew that she was going to be great … and we almost felt bad for Shawna. We hope that she can find some success somewhere moving forward, but there’s no questioning that Sasha owned this battle and quite possibly the night. Winner: Sasha

Who was your favorite artist to advance during the knockout rounds tonight? Be sure to share your thoughts below! If you want to read even more news when it comes to “The Voice,” be sure to visit the link here.

Photo: NBC