|
|
GSNN
Primes |
|
Previous Episodes March 25 March 26 April 1 April 2 April 8 April 9 April 15 April 16 April 22 April 23 April 29 April 30 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Mark Burnett's singing competition takes away everything about music... except the voice. Recaps by Chico Alexander, GSNN
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright Statement Powered by 1&1 Internet |
|
Live
Playoffs Round of 16 Part 1 The teams are locked. The band is primed. Now the march to the summer finale of the fourth season of "The Voice" is on, and from here on out, it's in your hands. The final decision is yours. Will Blake repeat as champ, or will Adam take the crown back? And what about the newbies? Welcome to the Live Playoffs!
Tonight, Team Adam and Team Usher will compete. Tomorrow, Team Shakira and Team Blake take the stage. Wednesday, the result of your vote. The top two from each team will automatically advance, while the third person on each team will be picked by their coach. All of the performances are stripped down versions available for download on iTunes, and each download will count towards the total vote count. First up... Team Usher gets a warm-up in, of all places, a kickboxing gym. They're being prepped for their first group performance, "Black and Gold" by Sam Sparrow. We begin the individual competition with Amber Carrington from Team Adam, who credits her father for giving her her voice to begin with. Tonight, she'll hope you'll make her "Stay" with a country version of the Rihanna song of the same name. THEY SAY: Blake says she is setting the bar pretty high. Usher thought it was intimate. Shakira says she has something to offer the rest of the field. As for Adam... He still believes that Amber is the biggest surprise of the competition. "You literally could not have done a better job." WE SAY: Amber is beginning to show signs of what we call genre drift, going from country to pop and back. Courting both audiences is not a bad thing. But later in the competition, she's going to end up being forced to choose one or the other. Let's hope she chooses correctly. A model from Arkansas is next, Josiah Hawley from Team Usher. He's looking to get out of that and focus on music full time. Usher gave him a song that's right in his wheelhouse, "Starlight" by Muse. THEY SAY: Shakira thought it was his best performance. Adam says he made leaps and bounds. Blake: "I think the world's gonna lose a male model over this." USHER feels proud that he was able to master a difficult song and do it exuding the machismo of a heartthrob. WE SAY: Silent confidence, he exudes with the guitar in hands, but he never forgets where he makes his money, concentrating more on his voice than anything else. He should probably dial back on the dramatics for a second, though. He gets it back in the end, though. Team Adam's back on stage with Memphis music student Sarah Simmons. She was an all-turn early, and Adam is hoping that she can build off of that success with "Angel" by Sarah MacLachlan, dedicated to the memory of a dear dear friend. THEY SAY: Blake thought it was "amazing". Usher paid attention to Sarah's grit. Shakira called it "espectacular" and "incredible". As for Adam, he felt the stillness, as the crowd was enamored. He is speechless. WE SAY: This was all about channeling emotion. The point is to get America to fall in love with you on the stage. you could hear her heart and (if you have one of them newfangled HD sets) see her tears. Perhaps her best effort yet. Haunting. Up now for Team Usher, Cáthia, the steal of the century... of the season. Tonight, she takes on the late great Whitney Houston with "I Have Nothing". Does she really have the type of voice to sustain this money song to end all money songs? Never mind that, can she sustain dancing with Usher? THEY SAY: Shakira calls out Usher for "setting the bar too high for her". Blake thought it was good. Usher calls it a make-or-break, saying that she could knock it out of the park. WE SAY: There's an old phrase that we like throwing out at the Alexander house... "You're holding back on me.... Don't. *smirk*" HALFTIME! Time to take a break from the coaching action to see Adam and Usher take the stage with a duet performance of "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder. Back to action with an artist that Adam stole from Blake, St. Louis' Caroline Glaser. A few months back she was singing coffee houses. Tonight, she's taking the biggest stage on television (C-Note: you heard me, Foxy) with the biggest risk on television singing "The A Team" by Ed Sheeran. THEY SAY: Blake loved it, thinking he was back in that coffee house in St. Louis. Usher thought it was controlled. Shakira compared her to Adam. Adam notes that she didn't compete with anyone, and she should be proud of what she did. WE SAY: Kinda whiny. It lacked a wow factor to tie it all together. Vedo performed for high schools, middle schools, and the blinds, but now he's being put in front of America for their voice. Usher gives him "Against All Odds" by Phil Collins, and against all odds, Vedo's going to have to perform it... doing nothing. THEY SAY: Adam only disliked one thing: he's not on his team. Usher thought it was a bit of a hill with the depth of the song. He's pleased. He's on track for success. WE SAY: Yeah, what the coaches said. He put himself into this performance, and it paid off. Next, the ladies of Team Adam say that it's not just about sounding great together, but looking great together. To that end, they head to Adam's family store. Yes, he has a family store. He also has "Shake It Out" by Florence + the Machine We're running out of show, so let's get going with the indie artist from Massachusetts, Michelle Chamuel. The oddball of Team Usher will take on "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper, a song that will show off her natural vulnerability. She too is dedicating this to someone special in her life. THEY SAY: Shakira thought it revealed Michelle's "true colors". Blake calls his team and says to take notes. Usher thought it was a breakout moment. WE SAY: It was a dynamics rollercoaster, crescendos where none need be, descrescendos same thing. There's such a thing as "simple songs sung simply". This is one of them. She hit all the notes, but she needed to work on volume. Now we come to the final singer of the night, Judith Hill. Oh crap. You picked the closer to close. Team Adam's show-stopper is going to stop this show with "Feelin' Good" by Nina Simone. THEY SAY: Blake: "You're such a diva. Such a freaking diva." Adam... he likes how Judith conveys her personality as a singer. WE SAY: Killed it. Brought it back. And killed it again. The rest of the field, you are officially on notice. So that's the show. If I was Michelle and Caroline, I would be concerned. But that's another story for another day. To see this episode in its entirety, or to find out how you can be a contestant, go to nbcthevoice.com. |
|||||