The 24 contestants faced the first round of Live Eliminations tonight on NBC’s The Voice. On Monday and Tuesday, contestants from all four of the coaches’ – Gwen Stefani, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton and Pharrell Williams – teams performed a “stripped down” song. Based on votes, two members of each team are staying in the competition and moving on to the next Live Rounds. In addition, if the singers land in the top 10 charts on iTunes they also get a specified amount of extra votes added to their totals.
Each of the four coaches also gets to choose one more of the remaining singers that they want to keep on their team and in the competition.
So here is a recap of what happened tonight during the Live Eliminations:
The night kicked off with a performance from Team Gwen’s 6 remaining artists. The singers collaborated on The Five Stairsteps’ song “Ooh Child.” During the performance, contestants Jeffrey Austin, Regina Love and Ellie Lawrence were the standouts. Meanwhile, young Braiden Sunshine seemed to be struggling from the get-go, as his vocals were relatively shaky throughout.
Shortly after, Gwen’s artists were subjected to the elimination results. Just a reminder, the six singers left on the team is Jeffrey Austin, Regina Love, Ellie Lawrence, Korin Bukowski and Viktor Kiraly.
The two artists that were saved by the audiences’ votes were Jeffrey Austin (who sang “Say You Love Me” by Jessie Ware) and Braiden Sunshine (who sang “Everything I Own” by Bread). Braiden was a complete surprise for me, as I felt his performance was very weak, and he was one of the few singers who received criticism from the coaches during the Live Playoffs.
Gwen decided to keep Korin (who sang “Aida” by Sarah McLachlan) on her team.
Thus, Viktor, Regina and Ellie head home.
Between teams, The Voice welcomed back their season 8 winner, Sawyer Fredricks. The Team Pharrell alum sang his latest single, “Take It All.”
Team Blake was next to take the stage. Shelton’s six contestants came together to perform “Stand” by Rascal Flatts. Their overall performance felt much more cohesive than Team Gwen’s, but lacked any stand out moments – except one from Ivonne Acero and Morgan Frazier.
Afterwards, Team Blake faced the results. Recall that the six singers left on the team are Zach Seabaugh, Barrett Baber, Ivonne Acero, Morgan Frazier, Nadjah Nicole, and Emily Ann Roberts.
Carson Daly announced that the two artists that are saved by America’s votes were Barrett Baber (who sang “I Drive Your Truck” by Lee Brice) and Zach Seabaugh (who sang “Brand New Girlfriend” by Steve Holy). Honestly, looking back I am not surprised Zach was saved, and I guess there were enough classic country fans voting to save Barrett.
In the end, Blake ends up saving Emily Ann Roberts, ridding away all of his non-country artists (as Ivonne, Morgan and Nadjah were sent home).
The third team to take the stage was Team Pharrell. The six singers – Darius Scott, Evan McKeel, Madi Davis, Celeste Betton, Riley Biederder, and Mark Hood – collaborated on the R.E.M. classic “Everybody Hurts.” Pharrell definitely has the soulful singers of the competition, and they were all able to get their moment during the performance.
The Live Results revealed that the two artists saved by the audiences’ votes were Madi Davis (who sang “Songbird” by Fleetwood Mac) and Evan McKeel (who sang “Overjoyed” by Stevie Wonder).
After a long, drawn-out deliberation, Pharrell ended up choosing Mark Hood (who sang “What Do You Mean?” by Justin Bieber) as his save. Personally, I think he should have saved Riley, who had one of the best, most dynamic performances of the Live Playoffs. Furthermore, Celeste, Riley and Darius were sent home.
Last up, was Team Adam, who sang the Johnnyswim song “Diamonds.” Their group performance seemed fairly disheveled. Blaine Mitchell was the only one who had any real breakout moments, while Amy Vachal’s soft voice got drowned out.
The six artists who entered the Live Eliminations on Adam’s team were Blaine Mitchell, Amy Vachal, Shelby Brown, Chance Pena, Jordan Smith and Keith Semple. Host Carson Daly revealed that the two artists saved by votes were Jordan Smith and Shelby Brown.
Surprisingly, Adam decided to keep Amy Vachal – who I definitely agree deserves it, but did not think Adam would go for. Thus, Blaine, Chance and Keith were sent home.
Thus the Top 12 of The Voice this season is:
Team Gwen
Braiden Sunshine, Jeffrey Austin and Korin Bukowski
Team Blake
Zach Seabaugh, Barrett Baber and Emily Ann Roberts
Team Pharrell
Evan McKeel, Madi Davis and Mark Hood
Team Adam
Jordan Smith, Shelby Brown and Amy Vachal
You can catch the next Live Rounds on The Voice next Monday, November 16 at 8 pm.