“The Voice: Season Seven” Top Four (Chris Jamison, Matt McAndrew, Craig Wayne Boyd & Damien) pose with Carson Daly during a visit to “The Today Show.” (Photo property of NBC)
By: Jacob Elyachar, jakes-take.com
A couple of months ago, over a hundred artists received invitations to audition for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be mentored by Adam Levine, Pharrell Williams, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani!
After an impressive round of Blind Auditions, several early frontrunners such as Alessandra Castronovo, Taylor Phelan, Toia Jones, Elyjuh Rene, Ricky Manning, Sugar Joans and DaNica Shirey fell during the Battle Rounds, Knockout Rounds and Live Rounds respectively.
Last week, America voted through Team Adam’s Matt McAndrew and Chris Jamison and Team Blake’s Craig Wayne Boyd into the Final Three! However, in a Voice first, the show invited back previously eliminated artists to compete for a Wild Card spot.
The following Wednesday on Today, Carson revealed that America brought back Team Adam’s Damien to compete in the Season Seven finale!
Tonight, the Final Four sang three songs (one final coach pick, one with their coach and an original song written by an all-star group of musicians) for America’s votes.
Did Team Adam use their monopoly to rally their troops for a third win? Or will Craig and Blake pull off a Sam Bailey-Sharon Osbourne like-win tomorrow night? Read on to find out…
Up first, Team Adam’s Damien (aka Wild Card) tackled one of the most beloved tracks of all-time: Leon Russell’s “A Song For You.” Damien had a huge mountain to climb, as he has to match Elliott Yamin’s master class performance of this love song on American Idol all those years ago! While he did not have David Foster to advise him to transform the song into his own, Damien did his best…but I needed him to open up and give me power notes. Sorry, Damien but Elliott will always be the master of this song. B-
Team Blake’s Craig Wayne Boyd was the first artist to premiere his new original track! “My Baby’s Got A Smile on Her Face.” This song originally belonged to Blake and the “Neon Light” singer gave it to Craig because of his lack of upper register. I think Craig won this completion with this song! I loved his conviction and the passion that he showed as he sang this track! A-
Over the past couple of seasons, Adam delivered impeccable duets with his artists. His cover of “Yesterday” with Tony Lucca gave everyone chills, while Will Champlin’s fans were satisfied with their interpretation of “Tiny Dancer.” Unfortunately, his duet with Chris Jamison was completely boring! Their cover of Robin Thicke’s “Lost Without U” had too much falsetto and I did not connect with them. D
It took me a while to accept Matt McAndrew as a credible vocalist. He reminded me too much of both Will Champlin and Josh Kauffman and I gave him the Xtina-Lucca-Martinez treatment. But, I started to respect him when he stole the show when Team Adam sang Billy Joel’s “Only The Good Die Young” and topped two Voice titans: Chris Mann and Christina Aguilera with his cover of “The Blower’s Daughter.” Tonight, his original song, “Wasted Love,” exploded onto The Voice stage! This was a show-winning moment that was in the same league as Tessanne Chin’s “I Have Nothing” and Josh Kauffman’s “Set Fire to the Rain.” Bravo, Matt! A+
Craig Wayne Boyd and his coach kicked off Round Two of the competition! They tackled Randy Houser’s “Boots On” and this was one of the first times that I enjoyed watching Blake rock with one of his finalists! (The last time that happened was when Blake mentored both Cassadee Pope and Terry McDermott way back in Season Three). They tore the roof on and expect them to be in my Top 10 Duets Countdown later on this month! A
I cannot believe that Adam chose Sir Elton John’s “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” for his duet with Damien. This song has cost numerous favorites such as Clay Aiken, Bo Bice, Pia Toscano, Jeff Jenkins and Sisaundra Lewis their competitions. While I wished that they did not perform this track, I decided that they should have leaned more towards Oleta Adams’ Jazzy/Bluesy version of the classic track. Otherwise, both men did an impeccable job singing this reality TV staple and made both Elton and his longtime songwriter, Bernie Taupin, very proud. A
The biggest issue I have Chris Jamison is that there are too many artists in the Pop/R&B singers in the music industry. JT, Usher, Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, Enrique Iglesias, Bruno Mars, Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke have already carved their niche in the market. Every time I see Chris perform, I cannot help but comparing him to the artists that I mentioned and all I see is a pretender! I hate pretenders and I think Chris stole someone else’s spot in the finale (DaNica Shirey). F
Craig Wayne Boyd ended the second round with his rendition of Alabama’s “In Pictures.” The way Craig performed this song reminded me of Will Champlin’s final song: “Every Thing I Do (I Do It For You).” He gave me chills and made my arm hairs stick up. I know that no matter what happens tomorrow night, I know that Craig is going to have a future in the music industry! A+
I am so excited that Damien is singing a Max Martin song! He is one of my favorite all-time songwriters. He wrote songs for Britney, Backstreet Boys, Bon Jovi, Celine, Kelly Clarkson, Maroon 5 and now Damien! His original song, “Soldier,” is a breath of fresh air! This uplifting track was impeccable and could be one of the biggest hits on both mainstream and urban radio! A+
I am so glad that Chris performed JT’s “Cry Me A River.” It definitely validates my point that Chris Jamison is trying to copy a certain Mr. Timberlake! Wrong move, Chris…and in all honesty…you will FLUNK out of the music industry! F
Matt McAndrew surprised everyone with a poignant cover of The Wizard of Oz track: “Over The Rainbow.” This is one of the most difficult songs to perform…it requires the singer to have perfect pitch and breath control. Matt really made the audience think they were in Oz (complete with Kristin Chenoweth’s Glinda greeting the crowd). Congratulations, Matt! You captured our hearts and possibly won The Voice. A+
Tomorrow night, an all-star group of artists such as Fall Out Boy, Jennifer Hudson, Jessie J, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Ed Sheeran come celebrate the end of “The Voice: Season Seven.”
