Six (sorry Shalyah and Paxton) of the Top 8 artists on The Voice managed to crack the iTunes Top 10 at one point following the semifinals. It’s fitting on the most important night yet of the competition that The Voice had its most successful night. It’s also fitting that the artists apparently connected more with America than they ever have before now. This should make for a very tense results show as the Top 8 is cut down in half.
Most of you believe that it will be Mary Sarah joining the obvious picks, Alisan Porter and Adam Wakefield, in safety. Though there are about 20% of you who believe that it will be either Hannah Huston or Bryan Bautista. We will find out, though, in this Voice live blog!
Is Hannah Huston the Dark Horse of The Voice Season 10? >>>
Opening Questions and One Result
There is so much more to this results show than these inane question and answer sessions with Carson Daly. If anything, these Q&A’s are making me like the coaches less. Adam and Pharrell manage to make it out all right, but Blake and Christina don’t fare so well.
For starters, with Christina it’s an incredibly leading question to ask her if she is confident that a woman is going to win this season. Anyway, she answers that she looks awful. It’s bizarre too because although Carson is talking about a female coach, Christina answers it like she is talking about a female singer winning, which has happened many times before this season. As for Blake, I don’t need reminding he has all three artists still on his team, which I’m attributing to Blake’s country cult powers.
After this is over, the first result is revealed and it’s Adam Wakefield moving on. No surprise there, and in my opinion he is the only Team Blake artist who should make it to the finale.
Some More Promotions and a Result
Before we can get to the only information we want, we have to sit through another time-stalling performance. Luckily, this one is by Alicia Keys, who is always wonderful, even if I’m not wild about her new single, “In Common.” In all the hullabaloo about Miley Cyrus joining as a coach for season 11, Alicia Keys’ similar announcement got lost. I’m really excited for Alicia on The Voice. This performance is a reminder of how talented and unique she is as an artist.
Then there is an outtake reel, which is just a lot of Pink laughing, which is adorable until Carson ruins it by reminding us to see the new Alice in Wonderland movie.
The grumpiness I feel is that the results are just inevitable and they need to get it over with, at least for these first two. Alisan Porter is saved next as we all knew she would be. Now we can finally move on to the really interesting result, the third person who is joining Alisan and Adam.
Things Finally Get Interesting
The only thing I have to say about the OneRepublic performance is that I, for a second, confused One Direction with OneRepublic. I was greatly relieved when it turned out to not be a boy band but just a slightly older boy band.
Now the third finalist is going to be revealed. It is Hannah Huston! I know I predicted it to happen, but I’m actually genuinely shocked. Good things do happen to people who deserve it. I’m talking about me, not Hannah. (I’m also being sarcastic.)
The Instant Save Artists are Revealed
The three artists competing for the Instant Save are Mary Sarah, Bryan Bautista and Laith Al-Saadi. This means Shalyah Fearing and Paxton Ingram are eliminated. Sad but expected.
The Voice Recap: The Top 8 Perform in the Semifinals >>>
Mary Sarah Performs “Something in the Water”
This is a good song choice by Mary Sarah. It’s also a solid performance. I’d gladly see her in the finale, even if I enjoy Bryan more and think he is more consistent. We’ll have to see if the powers of Team Blake can match Mary Sarah getting the opening death slot.
Bryan Bautista Performs “Adorn”
A smart choice by Bryan to go as sexy as possible with his Instant Save song. It might be cynical and even a borderline sexist position, but Bryan’s best chance of moving on is to play to his strengths as a commercially viable (read: very attractive male) singer.
If Nick Hagelin survived one Instant Save performance and nearly beat Paxton in another for no other discernible reason than being super handsome, the same should happen with Bryan. This is not even mentioning that Bryan is so confident and in control with his vocals here as always.
Laith Al-Saadi Performs “All Along the Watchtower”
This checks all the Laith Al-Saadi boxes. It’s a classic rock perennial. It has a meaty guitar solo in the middle. It’s all growls and bellowing. It also checks the most important box on a personal level: it’s super boring. The amount of cheering in the audience makes me worried that Laith might make the most of his final spot.
My worries look to be founded. Laith is destroying Mary and Bryan. He nearly has the amount of votes of both Mary and Bryan combined, according to the live feed of vote results. Congratulations, America, you’re disappointing me.
The Final Member of the Final 4 Is…
Oh, shut straight up, Carson; your heart is pounding. Not only do I not believe that you have a heart, but you’re a teleprompter-reading robot — what do you have to be nervous about? Unless Laith actually smells as much as it looks and you don’t want to stand next to him anymore. (Okay, low blow, but try to tell me you don’t think Laith looks like a sweaty, stinky mess.)
Laith Al-Saadi is saved. Wrong move, America. Wrong move.
The Voice season 10 finale airs Monday, May 23 at 8pm and Tuesday, May 24 at 9pm on NBC.
(Image and videos 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.
