The Voice Top 5

PERFORMANCES

1. Kristen "Foolish Games" - When I heard the teaser that she was singing Jewel, I was really hoping it was this song. She did not disappoint. What a gorgeous performance. 

 

2. Josh "All of Me" - First of all, I love this song. I am totally a sucker for songs that were written for weddings (see Dave Barnes' "I Have and I Always Will"). Secondly, he FINALLY sang a current song! It is a miracle! This is my favorite performance of his since the live shows started. It was heartfelt and emotional.

3. Christina "Some Nights" - She hasn't really done an "anthem" so far, so I was happy to see this from her. She still looks like the most seasoned performer up there. 

4. Josh "Love Runs Out" - Another "finally" for Josh. He FINALLY did an upbeat song! And it is current too! Vocally, I didn't enjoy it as much as his first one, but it was definitely his most entertaining performance to date, and much needed at this point in the competition. I could actually see him as a One Republic-ish artist.

5. Jake "Heaven" - This is the ONLY performance that I won't totally hate on Jake for. He actually sounded decent, but his voice is still not close to the caliber of the other people left on this show. 

 

6. Kristen "Gunpowder and Lead" - This was a good performance, but as a friend and I discussed, something was weird about the rhythm of this version, which was slightly distracting. She still sounded great though. 

7. Kat "Let It Go" - This is actually the most I've ever heard of this song. All my kids ever sing is the title line over and over. and over. While her voice on this song is less annoying than Idina Menzel, my suggestion for her is to stick with the rock thing.

8. Christina "Hide and Seek" - I'm still unsure what I think of this performance. It was difficult to hear her for most of the first half of the song, which doesn't matter in the original recording, because ALL of the voices are of Imogene Heap and it works. When I could hear her, she was yelly, which didn't really work with the tone of the song. I'm torn.

9. Kat "Chandelier" - I just did not like this. The song is quite strange and pretty much required her to screlt (scream + belt) the whole thing... and the tone of her voice does not make for a pretty operatic tone. Sorry I'm not sorry.

10. Jake "Good Ol Boys" - Another straight-up redneck performance from Blake's golden boy. Worst of the night.

LAST CHANCE

What was with all the Carrie Underwood songs? Especially from one artist who hadn't sung a country song the whole competition? Obviously I don't really care that Kat went home (she clearly hasn't been a favorite to be in the bottom so many times!). However, I am so devastated for Kristen. I really thought the final was going to be her, Christina and Josh. If she had been on Blake's team, I can pretty much guarantee she would have been in the final. That's really crappy that the coaches have that much sway. It should be all about the artist. They shouldn't be allowed to talk after Last Chance performances either. Those should stand on their own.

Final Thoughts & Predictions

Jake is the first one to the final?! Are you freaking kidding me? Mark my words, the only reason he is in the final is because Blake is his coach. Blake's fans will literally vote for anyone, as long as they are on his team. I have no problem with Jake as a person; he seems like a nice guy. However, this show is called "THE VOICE" and he does not have a great voice. He also hasn't grown as a singer or performer, unlike Kristen, who has grown leaps and bounds since the beginning of this competition.

Who Will Win: Josh Kaufman- He has clearly been the most consistent, and several of his songs are still in the top 100 ITunes chart, which will count for the final. He has also never been in the bottom. 

Who Should Win: Christina Grimmie- She is the chance for this show to finally be a viable option for winners to be successful after the show. I bet most of you can't even name one other winner of this show... and that's because none of them have done much with their win. Christina could change all of that.

Who I Want to Win: Josh or Christina- I am completely fine with either of them winning, because they've been in my top 3 basically the whole time. If Jake wins, I don't think I will be able to watch this show anymore. Seriously.

 

The Voice Top 8

So. Many. Feelings!

PERFORMANCES

Delvin "I Believe I Can Fly" - First reaction: nooooooooo! This is one of the most overdone songs in singing competition history. And it's never that great. However, Delvin sang the heck out of this song. He finally got to take those gospel chops and put them to the best use possible. The season 2 WINNER of "The Voice" did this song, and didn't come anywhere close to being as good as Delvin was.

Christina "How to Love" - Adam went on and on about how there's no other version with a girl singing, and blah blah blah. However, Delilah performed this when they were on The Sing Off a few years ago and I preferred their version. This was not bad by any means though. I just don't want her to get pigeonholed into this rap song turned slow jam thing she's had going on the past two weeks. I preferred last week's performance.

Kat "Get Lucky" - I thought I would hate this. I wanted to hate this. But I didn't. I was pleasantly surprised. I think to do a song in a different way and be good, it has to be SO different that you barely recognize it. This version definitely had that going for it. 

Josh "I Can't Make You Love Me" - Full disclosure: I have a very deep love of and connection to this song and am very critical of performances of it. It actually is my favorite performance of Josh's during the live rounds, but that's not saying much. I still am waiting for him to pull off something else as joyous as his Battle Round performance of "Happy," but that is just not happening. Apparently that doesn't matter though because people, myself included, seem to like him anyway :-)

Audra "Forgive" - It's really weird, but it sounds like the tone of Audra's voice has changed throughout the course of the competition. I'm not sure how that happens, but as someone mentioned on another blog, she now sounds like Carrie Underwood, which I never would have thought at the beginning of the season. 

Kristen "I Drive Your Truck" For me, this whole performance was kind of a mess. There was too much going on and I thought the vocals suffered.

Jake "Hillbilly Deluxe" - Not terrible, but I'm ready for this guy to go home. 

Sisaundra "River Deep, Mountain High" - As Simon Cowell would say, this could be seen on any cruise ship in the world. I was not impressed. Tina and Celine can both sing circles around her with this song!

LAST CHANCE

If Sisaundra had sung this well on Monday, maybe she wouldn't have been in the bottom half. I wish Audra had been performing songs like this the whole time. I didn't like Kat's performance, and I thought Delvin did well. I am officially ticked off at Adam. To me, he is solely to blame for Delvin going home. He essentially told anyone who was voting for his team to vote for Kat. I think that is completely wrong. Next season they should do away with judges' comments after the Last Chance performances. Let America think for themselves! Ugh, so sad and disappointed with the decision, especially since I can almost guarantee Kat will go home this week.

RANKINGS

1. Christina Grimmie

2. Josh Kaufmann

3. Kristen Merlin

4. Kat Perkins

5. Jake Worthington

The Voice Top 10

PERFORMANCES

1. Delvin "Bright Lights" - WOW. He killed it. There is nothing more to say. 

2. Christina "Hold On (We're Going Home)" - Drake? For real? This girl can sing anything. As I said last week, she is a true artist already. I have no idea what the actual version of this song sounds like, but it certainly can't be as good as this!

3. Tess "Ain't It Fun"- I was fairly skeptical when I saw she was singing this, since we've heard her only do ballads for the most part. However, I think she did it justice! This is one of my absolute favorite songs out right now, so I dug it. 

4. Sisaundra "Oh Sherie" - Y'all know how I feel about her, but there is no denying this performance.

5. Audra "You Lie" -  Reba saved this girl in my eyes. This was definitely my favorite performance of hers thus far. She had great dynamics and her falsetto was really pretty. 

6. Josh "This is It" - Josh has been one of my favorites for a while, but I don't understand these song choices. If he wants to be a current artist, I want to hear more current songs!

7. Kristen "Let Her Go" -This was another performance I was on the fence with. It was nice, but she didn't do much that varied from the original.

8. Kat "Landslide" - I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. Full disclosure: I don't like Stevie Nicks and Kat sounded too similar to her for my taste. (I really appreciate the Dixie Chicks version) However, I thought it was a good choice for her to do a slower song, one where she wasn't screaming like a banshee :-)

9. Bria "I'm with You" - Once again, not a good song choice for her. Her voice was not suited for the clarity this song required. With that said, I think the judges were exceptionally hard on her. She did all she could with the song that was given to her. I felt awful, because I would have totally been up there crying too.

10. Jake "Run" - Fan of country or not, this just was not good for the most part. He sounded super nervous at the beginning, and I didn't think it got much better from there. 

LAST CHANCE

Based solely on the Last Chance performances, Kat deserved to stay. It was the first performance I really enjoyed from her. However, Bria finally did the kind of song she should have been doing the past two weeks, but too little too late. It is TOTALLY the coaches' fault that she was in the bottom three. Tess completely copped out on "Who Knew" and didn't sing hardly any of the high parts. She deserved to go home.

RANKINGS

1. Delvin Choice

2. Christina Grimmie

3. Josh Kaufman

4. Kristen Merlin

5. Audra McLaughlin

6. Kat Perkins

7. Sisaundra Lewis

8. Jake Worthington

I think Team Adam is the team to beat!