While I understand The Voice‘s desire to whittle down the contestants to a more reasonable size, I’ve never been a fan of how they do eliminations in the first live shows. It may give the four teams equal playing field, but having all teams go down to three is harsh. Not all the teams are created equal. The talent level of The Voice is high all around this season, but I enjoy some teams over others. Some teams deserve all their members to stay, while other teams could easily lose a few. Let’s look at who will likely go home during the first live results show, even if they don’t all deserve it.
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The Voice Recap: The Live Playoffs Night 1 >>>
Who’s Safe?
Sawyer Fredricks: His “Trouble” cover was a great way to end the first night of the live shows. It was also the only performance to break the Top 20 on iTunes on Tuesday coming in at #13. He’s safe.
Mia Z: She wasn’t far behind Sawyer in terms of quality. It’s hard to do something unique with a song as recognizable as “Ain’t No Sunshine,” but Mia added her own spin. The public agreed and she landed at #54 on iTunes.
Meghan Linsey: She might get some flack from fans by having success in country music before joining the show, but she proved how much skill can come with experience. Her cover of “Love Runs Out” was the second best performance of the night, just barely behind Sawyer’s “Trouble.”
Cory Kent White: Adam might have had some problems with his performance. He was right; it wasn’t a particular dynamic performance, but it was a solid one. It likely earned him a spot in the Top 12.
Joshua Davis: There’s always a risk doing a song that the audience isn’t very familiar with. Joshua Davis’ “Budapest” performance demonstrated the rewards. I have to agree with Christina; he does have a very soothing quality to his voice.
Deanna Johnson: If Joshua’s voice is soothing, Deanna’s is beautiful and haunting. She had my favorite performance of the night and ended the second night on a high note.
Kimberly Nichole: She got special permission to perform “What’s Up” and she earned it. She’s probably my favorite singer in the competition and I love her range. It still boggles my mind how such a powerful voice can come out of such a small body.
India Carney: If there was a problem here, the song choice made her sound too much like her coach. There’s no denying the range of Christina’s voice. This was a difficult song with a lot of vocal pyrotechnics and India pulled it off.
Who’s in Jeopardy?
Team Pharrell’s Caitlin Caporale and Team Blake’s Brooke Adee had pleasant pop performances, but they were rather forgettable. There was nothing bad about them, but nothing sticks out in my memory and they could easily fall through the cracks.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the song choice for Team Adam’s Tonya Boyd-Cannon, but she’s a powerhouse. I hope she sticks around for the Top 12. On Team Christina, I like Lexi Davila‘s voice, but I thought “All By Myself” was a horrible song choice. She managed to do something cool with it, but she was fighting an uphill battle.
The Voice Recap: The Live Playoffs Night 2 >>>
Who’s Going Home?
Hannah Kirby: She gave an interesting performance, to say the least. There was something oddly entertaining about the way the song possessed her. It was distractedly manic, her gyrating overshadowing the performance.
Sarah Potenza: I could easily see her going through to the Top 12 in place of Brooke, but Sarah’s first live show performance was one of her weakest.
Lowell Oakley: He gave a fine performance, but the competition on Team Pharrell is so steep I’d be surprised if he made it through.
Koryn Hawthorne: Blake welcomed her to the Top 12 and she has the voice for it, but I found her performance to be rather uneven. She committed and hit some big moments, but there was too much vibrato for me. It was less of a stirring gospel performance and more of a Cowardly Lion solo.
Brian Johnson: If any team is given a special dispensation to have four members on their team, it should be Team Adam. I might have actually enjoyed his performance more than Tonya’s and I hope he stays too. My gut tells me he will be headed home.
Nathan Hermida: Again, I liked the performance, but there wasn’t enough of a wow factor for me. I’m afraid he’ll be voted out.
Rob Taylor: He wanted to be seen as more than the guy with the high voice. He finally showed some more range, but his big moments relied almost entirely on his falsetto. It is an incredibly impressive falsetto but not worthy of a Top 12 spot.
Sonic: I really wanted to like her performance, but I couldn’t get into it. It might have been the song choice.
So here’s my Top 12 predictions: Sawyer Fredericks, Mia Z, Meghan Lindsey, Cory Kent White, Joshua Davis, Deanna Johnson, Kimberly Nichole, India Carney, Caitlin Caporale, Brooke Adee, Tonya Boyd-Cannon and Lexi Davila.
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The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays (and Wednesday this week) at 8pm on NBC.
(Image courtesy of NBC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
