‘The Voice’ 923 Karin Bukowski Try Try Tried Too Hard

the voice 923 korin bukowski 2015 images

the voice 923 korin bukowski 2015 imagesLast night, the Top 10 artists on The Voice performed and tonight we find out the results revealing the 9 that will be performing next week. Tonight is the last time that the competition is only eliminating one singer, as next week they are cutting down the Top 9 to the final 4. Thus, it was once again a big event for the contestants, as they are nearing the home stretch.

So here is the recap of tonight’s Live Eliminations:

The night kicked off with a performance of “Locked Away” by R. City and coach Adam Levine. Fortunately, Adam’s vocal performance improved a lot since the last time he took the stage (when he performed a group song with his team). It wasn’t flawless, but it is enough for him to continue to mentor his team without feeling completely unqualified (which again, Pharrell Williams might feel following the release of his embarrassingly revealing deposition video from the “Blurred Lines” lawsuit).

Afterwards, host Carson Daly welcomes the 10 artists to the stage. He starts by asking Amy what things are like off-camera on Team Adam. Of course, Amy emphasizes how much of a “family” they are and how [all of Team Adam] is so thankful that God put them in the competition (probably will win over a few Christian voters with this line). Basically all of the answers you would expect to hear from her, definitely nothing groundbreaking.

Following a few more questions, Carson announces the first two artists that are moving on Team Blake’s Emily Ann Roberts and Team Adam’s Jordan Smith. Both of these singers earned their place with their performances this week, so I am not surprised to see them head to the semifinals.

After we return from the first commercial break, Blake announces that Dolly Parton is going to act as a mentor for the remaining 9 competitors next week, and she will also be performing. Carson asks Blake if he knows Dolly well, in which Blake jokingly responds, “No, is she real?”  While I don’t think he intended to, Blake, unfortunately, lead himself into the territory of plastic surgery jokes with this response.

As the Live Eliminations continue, Carson announces the next two safe artists: Team Gwen’s Jeffrey Austin and Team Blake’s Barrett Baber. I am happy to see Jeffrey move on, as he had a really good performance this week. However, I have never been a big fan of Barrett and don’t see any unique appeal to him as an artist. Nonetheless, I have a feeling he won’t make it through the big cut next week.

Shortly after, Pharrell lets out a huge sigh of relief, as Carson announces that his last team member Madi Davis is moving on to next week’s performances. In addition, Amy Vachal of Team Adam is also safe. Amy is definitely one of my favorites of the competition, and Madi is also a top contender in my eyes. I am hoping Amy can keep up her streak of good song choices, and Madi can have a real breakout moment (as I don’t know why, but I somehow get the sense that she is the underdog currently) that will keep her safe in next week’s cuts.

After a performance from wig-wearing Sia, Carson brings out the remaining artists awaiting their fate. Carson announces the final two contestants voted in are Team Blake’s Zach Seabaugh and Team Adam’s Shelby Brown.

Thus, once again Korin Bukowski of Team Gwen finds herself singing for her life. In addition, Gwen’s Braiden Sunshine also ends up in the bottom. While I didn’t think Korin had a particularly strong performance this week, I have been waiting for Braiden to go home for weeks now and just don’t understand how he keeps scraping by. It gave me faith in the voters when he didn’t get chosen ahead of the really good singers.

The first one to take the stage is Korin, who sings, “Try” by Colbie Caillat. While this may be Korin’s third time singing for her life and you would think she has gotten used to the pressure by now, she manages to stumble and forget the words early on in her performance. You can literally see Gwen’s heartbreak, as she watches her team member. Unfortunately, Korin was never able to fully recover from her slip ups (yes, plural) and seemed to give up on herself and wave a white flag. It felt sadly like a Try Try Try meltdown as those were the main words Korin could seem to remember, and ironically she was singing ‘you don’t have to try so hard’, but at that moment, she really had to try her hardest.


Afterwards, Braiden takes the stage with “Harder to Breathe” by Adam Levine’s band, Maroon 5. He definitely had a lot more energy than Korin, which isn’t saying much. Midway through the song, Braiden seems to have some trouble keeping his breathing technique on track, and it literally seems to get “harder and harder to breathe” for him (sorry, I had to). I think this lack of breath ends up sabotaging him, as he has a minor slip up in lyrics towards the end. However, admittedly he does recover better than Korin did. In the end, I think if it were any other night Braiden would have a good chance of going home. However, considering Korin’s big blunder during her performance, he is most likely heading to the semifinals.

In the end, Carson announces that Braiden Sunshine got the most votes and was Instantly Saved by America be mere points. Thus, after 3 rounds in the bottom 2, Korin is finally sent packing. Unless Gwen Stefani can truly steer this kid in the right direction, he’ll be going home next week much to many Americans joy. I don’t mean to knock Braiden, but he’s like that relative who loves to sing songs that their vocal cords were obviously not meant for. He’s got a very pretty voice,  and there’re so many great songs that can really show that off. Hopefully, Gwen isn’t getting so shtupped to death by Black Shelton that she’s losing sight of her singers.

You can catch The Voice semifinals next Monday, December 7 on NBC at 8 pm.