“The Voice” coaches welcomed John Fogerty, Missy Elliott, Brad Paisley & Selena Gomez to “The Voice” family. (Photos property of NBC & UnitedArtists Media Group)
By: Jacob Elyachar, jakes-take.com
The Blind Auditions are over!
Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Pharrell Williams and Gwen Stefani have found 48 artists that are worthy to inherit Tessanne Chin, Josh Kaufman, Craig Wayne Boyd and Sawyer Fredericks’ crown and sash.
To help them find the next big thing in music, each coach will be sending their teams into the Battle Rounds!
The coaches have also summoned four of the biggest names in music to assist their artists. Adam grabbed music legend John Fogerty, while Blake picked longtime friend Brad Paisley to assist his team. Meanwhile, Gwen Stefani gave her team quite the shock when they found Selena Gomez sitting next to the No Doubt front woman and Pharrell picked the Queen of Hip-Hop, Missy Elliott, to assist his team.
Which artists became the frontrunners or dark horses of the season? Whose dreams came crashing down? Which artist received a second chance in the competition via a coach steal? Read on to find out!
Up first, Adam paired Jordan Smith and Regina Love together for the first battle of the season. While Regina was happy to see John in the room, Adam revealed that they were paired together because they were different artists…but had powerful voices. He tasked them to perform Sam Smith’s “Like I Can.” Adam predicted that this would be one of the best battles in the show’s history and he was right! I instantly got chills from this performance. Their harmonies were gorgeous and each of them had great moments, but I personally believe that Regina took it to another planet. However, Adam picked Jordan for the win and I was so happy that Gwen stole Regina from Adam!!!
As Regina gave Gwen a hug, Blake and his guest mentor, Brad Paisley, were practicing “Dueling Banjos” on guitar and prepared for their first Battle Round of the evening. The four-time champion pitted Tyler Dickerson and Zach Seabaugh against each other. They tackled Travis Tritt’s “I’m Gonna Be Somebody.” In all honesty, Zach Seabaugh reminds me so much of fellow Team Blake alum Corey Kent White…the reason why…they are SCOTTY MCCREERY CLONES! I felt Tyler’s anxiety, heart and soul in this performance, while Zach had pitch issues all throughout the song. Blake made a horrible decision!
Gwen brought in Selena Gomez to advise her team. Her first pairing was Ellie Lawrence versus Tim Atlas. She paired them together due to their indie singer-songwriter background. From the moment that I first Ellie sing her first notes, I fell in love with her voice and her tone instantly hypnotized both the listener and the viewer. Unfortunately, Tim had a rough night vocally and Elle outsung him. I am glad that Gwen selected Ellie to move on to the next round. However, I am extremely baffled that Pharrell stole Tim (who is completely average) over someone great like Tyler Dickerson.
Team Pharrell battles always excite me! For example, Mark Hood and Celeste Betton breathed new life into the classic soul tune: “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” that moved adviser Missy Elliott to tears and gave me chills. After watching Mark and Celeste work their magic on The Voice stage, I think I am going to put their battle at the top of the Battle Round pantheon (which includes Season Two’s Jesse Campbell & Anthony Evans (Team Christina), Season Six’s Sisaundra Lewis & Biff Gore (Team Blake) and Season Eight’s Sarah Potenza & Hannah Kirby (Team Blake)). Their impeccable performance left Pharrell with an extremely difficult decision. He chose to go with his gut and picked Mark to move on to the Knockout Rounds. However, Celeste had the last word and gave a touching final moment that made Gwen cry.
Team Adam’s Dustin Monk and James Dupre got the experience of the lifetime when Adam gave them John Fogerty’s “Fortunate Son.” In my humble opinion, John might be one of the best advisers that The Voice ever had on the show (Cher, Stevie Nicks and Reba level quality). One reason why I enjoyed John as an adviser…he was willing to rearrange the tune for both Dustin and James (and like Adam, this is one of my favorite moments from the show). This was one of my favorite rock battles of the past six seasons and I believe that both Dustin and James (after the show) have strong careers after the show.
The final battle of the night belonged to Team Blake’s Barrett Baber & Dustin Christensen! As Blake previewed throughout the night, this battle could have the potential to be the ultimate battle of the four-chair-turns. It was hard for me to be unbiased when it came to the song that Blake picked out for Barrett and Dustin to sing: Marc Cohn’s “Walking in Memphis.” Many of you know how much America’s Got Talent alum Eli Mattson’s cover of this song means to me and how it is the golden standard for any artist that goes on to a Reality TV show. While both Barrett and Dustin might not have reached the standard that Eli set, both men poured their heart and soul into the song that had Adam, Pharrell and Gwen eagerly eyeing their “Steal” buttons. As Blake sent Barrett into the Knockouts, Adam and Gwen pushed their buttons and wanted Dustin to join their teams. Dustin chose to go with Adam.
Tomorrow night, The Battles continue!
Eli Mattson’s performance of “Walking in Memphis” belongs to NBC, Syco Entertainment & FremantleMedia North America.
