'The Voice' Season 8 Final Knockouts: Steal My Girl
The final Knockout Rounds of The Voice Season 8 took place Monday, and with Christina Aguilera being the only coach with a Steal left in play, all eyes were on her throughout the two-hour episode. (I’m sure Xtina was just fine with this.) What would she do? Who would she steal? And would Carson Daly totally spoil the results, like he always does?
Let’s recap!
TEAM ADAM: Tonya Boyd-Cannon vs. Barry Minniefield
Two of this season’s oldest, and most old-fashioned, singers went up against each other, and I have to say, I do wish these two had been paired up in the Battle Rounds earlier this season. Tonya and Barry could seriously perform as a professional duo! The only problem is… they’d be a duo playing piano bars and cruise ships. Nothing about them seemed current or marketable, with Tonya doing a restrained and surprisingly un-funky version of Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish,” and 53-year-old Barry crooning a pleasant but predictable cover of Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do for Love.”
Tonya was the better choice here, based on her overall body of work (although I actually thought Barry delivered a superior vocal this Monday and put up an admirable fight). But I think for Tonya to survive the Live Playoffs, Adam Levine will have to encourage her to cover more youthful material. She’s only 35, but she seems so much older, and she needs to bring the funk next time.
WINNER: Tonya
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TEAM BLAKE: Kelsie May vs. Brooke Adee
Kelsie struggled in rehearsal singing Taylor Swift’s “Tim McGraw,” and while her sharpness wasn’t as severe or ear-splitting once she got onstage, her performance still underwhelmed. The meandering ballad just didn’t give her a chance to have a wow moment, and that one glory note wasn’t so glorious; she hadn’t totally overcome her pitch issues. Meanwhile, Brooke gave an electric performance of MGMT’s “Electric Feel” (a cool song choice that brought back fond memories of Season 5’s Preston Pohl).
Carson claimed that this was Blake Shelton’s toughest decision of the season, and Blake’s other coaches hemmed and hawed as well when giving their input, and Blake’s verdict was dragged out over two commercial breaks. But all that was bunk. Come on, this was a landslide victory for Brooke. I felt bad watching sweet, young Kelsie break down in tears when Blake didn’t pick her, but he made the right decision.
WINNER: Brooke
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TEAM XTINA: Joe Tolo vs. India Carney
Poor Joe gave his all during his soulful and evangelical performance of Joan Osborne’s “One of Us,” a performance that could have gotten him through to the Playoffs under other circumstances… but he had to have known he was goner once he found out he’d be singing against Christina’s arguably strongest team member, India. He couldn’t even hope for a Steal, since none of the other coaches had any Steals left.
Then India came out and slayed the massive Jessie J ballad “Big White Room” — not just nailing every difficult note, but really feeling every note — and it was a done deal. This was a phenomenal performance from India. And it really was a knockout, in every sense of the word.
WINNER: India
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TEAM PHARRELL: Jacob Rummell vs. Lowell Oakley
It was pure Cute Overload when these two baby-faced youngsters got in the ring. It was like watching a cockfight between two really adorable fuzzy baby chicks. Jacob went with a very modern song choice, “Life of the Party” by Vine sensation Shawn Mendes, which could have given him an advantage over crooner Lowell, who did the Temptations’ old staple “My Girl.” But Lowell put so much swagger into his performance. While he totally overdid it with the adlibs, runs, and off-putting faux chuckles, I think he still made the oft-covered song fresh and even gave it some unexpected sex appeal.
Adam thought Lowell laid the shtick on too thick; Christina said this performance was “pre-calculated.” I do think Lowell needs to figure out the difference between doing too much and doing just enough. But I still appreciated the personality he brought to the ring. It was Lowell who was the real life of the party.
Pharrell Williams seemed torn — he even admitted that he thought Jacob’s performance was stronger — but he apparently saw more long-term potential in Lowell. I am sure this will be a controversial verdict, like many of Pharrell’s verdicts, including that time when he bizarrely picked Lowell over Kimberly Nichole. That may have been a mistake, but I concurred with Pharrell this time.
WINNER: Lowell
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TEAM XTINA: Rob Taylor vs. Treeva Gibson
Rob had the obvious advantage here, especially when Christina let out a banshee-howl cheer during the a cappella intro of his “Love and Happiness” performance. I was howling, too — this guy was bringing the fire, hitting high notes that even Adam Levine didn’t know existed, and stomping the stage like a RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars contestant. And his Suzi Bubble topknot was everything! Poor Treeva looked totally intimidated, and I can’t say I blamed her. Rob would be tough to top.
Treeva may have bitten off more than she could chew with Adele’s “Chasing Pavements.” Doing Adele is always a risk, because few singers (including Treeva) are at Adele’s level. It probably didn’t help Treeva that during the rehearsals, guest adviser Nate Ruess belted a few bars of this of this ballad and totally showed her up. Treeva’s subsequent performance was a valiant effort for such a young girl (especially for a girl that suffers from partial hearing loss), but it was shaky and amateurish, and it only really got going at the very end. It was neither at an Adele level nor a Nate level.
And so, Rob would be the only contestant in this Knockout experiencing love and happiness tonight.
WINNER: Rob
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TEAM ADAM: Joshua Davis vs. Lexi Davila
By awkward process of elimination, a thirtysomething family man and a teen girl ended up in the ring together, in the final, most apples-and-oranges pairing of the night. That’s just how it goes on The Voice sometimes.
Josh sang Amos Lee’s “Arms of a Woman” for his wife, and while it wasn’t an explosive, Rob Taylor- or India Carney-style performance, it was touching, vulnerable, and sincere. I bet there were a lot of women watching this and wishing that they could be Mrs. Davis. What a tender and genuine moment.
Lexi went next, covering Ellie Goulding’s prophetically titled “Anything Could Happen,” and while it wasn’t as awesome as Fifth Harmony’s game-changing, career-launching performance of the song from The X Factor Season 2, it was pretty astonishing. This onetime montage victim sort of came out of nowhere, with an incredible range. Really, Ellie wishes she could sing this well.
Of course, with only minutes left in the broadcast, we all knew that one of these two contestants would snag Christina’s one remaining Steal, so it was no surprise when Christina whacked her red button. It wasn’t a surprise, either, that it was Lexi who was up for grabs; Joshua is just total Team Adam material. And now, Lexi is totally Team Xtina. Everyone wins!
WINNER: Joshua / STOLEN: Lexi (by Christina)
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Well, of course, not everyone can actually win. But at least now we are closer to crowning the winner of Season 8, because we finally have our official top 20. And, after a requisite best-of clip show this Tuesday night, we’ll finally be moving into the Live Playoffs next Monday. Check out Reality Rocks’ breakdown of the pros and cons, strengths and weakness, pluses and minuses of each seminfinalist, and get ready for next week’s three-day Voice showdown.
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