'The Voice' Top 10 Playoffs: A Supreme Evening

Monday’s Voice installment was one of the stronger Playoffs episodes in recent memory — and that wasn’t even because the show welcomed guest mentors Patrick Stump, Colbie Caillat, Clive Davis, original coach Christina Aguilera, and the Supreme herself, Diana Ross. No, the real star power was on the stage, among the top 10 contestants. Yes, there were a few misses among the hits, and those are the contestants who’ll be at risk this week on Tuesday’s elimination show. But overall, this was a great night. I wonder if Xtina was bummed that she was sitting this season out.

Here’s how the evening went:

Matt McAndrew (Team Adam) – After the sweetness of Matt’s “God Only Knows” and the brooding rawkness of his “Take Me to Church,” Adam Levine tried to split the difference by assigning Matt Coldplay’s sweetly rawkin’ “Fix You.” Matt’s quirky, somewhat Chris Martin-esque voice worked well with the song’s high notes (except for a few wavering moments), but the performance got off to too slow a start before the anthemic, bombastic, get-out-yer-glowsticks segment finally kicked in. Luckily, Matt finished strong, sprinting through the audience to embrace random, adoring strangers. I don’t think this was Matt’s best vocal of the season, but this was the performance of a champion, and I think that victory lap he ran around the set might be foreshadowing of this season’s finale night.

Anita Antoinette (Team Gwen) – Passenger’s “Let Her Go” lent itself really well to Anita’s island-girl, rocksteady vibe, but Anita struggled to deliver a solid vocal while she was dancing all over the stage. She busted out some cool moves and looked cool doing it, too (her styling was so Janelle Monae tonight); however, her singing sounded labored. Anita is one of the best performers of the season, but she still needs to work on her breath control. If she can figure that out, she will be unstoppable.

Damien (Team Adam) – There’s no doubt that Damien is a spectacular singer, or that he’s the kind of singer who was born to sing classic soul songs like Stevie Wonder’s “You and I.” But I wasn’t really feeling this. It was all so dreary, so dinner-theater-y. Only when Damien brought it all home with those final power notes did his predictable performance emit any spark. I’m not saying the guy has to dance like Jason Derulo or collaborate with rappers or EDM DJs, but if he wants to make music in the real world, AFTER The Voice, he’s going to have to do something a little more modern than this.

Reagan James (Team Blake) – I’m not sure what is up with my gurl Reagan. She started off this season so strong, but this was her second weak week in a row. I mean, I give her props for trying to put her own spin on Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy,” but her Iggy was just iffy. Her attempt to apply her own melody to the verse, while ambitious and creative, just didn’t work, and she ended up winded and mush-mouthed, just like she was last week. I am afraid now that Reagan might end up in the fast lane — not from L.A. to Tokyo, but back to her Texan hometown of Burleson, after she gets eliminated. I much preferred Reagan’s rehearsal-hour reprise of Colbie Caillat’s “Try,” with guest mentor Colbie joining in, over this unfocused, breathy mess of a performance.

Luke Wade (Team Pharrell) – Last week, Luke messed up his song in front of, like, 5 million people. But can we just let that go already? Not only was this mentioned on Monday’s broadcast, but Luke’s flub was dramatically played in a loop of Voice commercials all friggin’ week. Let it go, NBC. That was seven whole days ago. Personally, I think Luke redeemed himself last week with the second half of his “Thinking Out Loud” performance, but if were any doubters left out there, he silenced them this Monday with his flub-free, Diana Ross-mentored “Try a Little Tenderness.” This was stupendous. He oozed charisma and confidence, looking and even kind of sounding like a young George Michael. Pure Luke-i-fication. This guy’s got it. Adam declared, “Luke’s back,” but come on. Luke never really went away.

Craig Wayne Boyd (Team Blake) – It could have been blasphemous for Craig to take a country classic like Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” and so drastically alter it. Craig slowed it down and turned it into a Strait-laced weeper ballad… and of course it worked, because Craig is untouchable in this competition. He’s a pro. He’s a golden god. He should have landed a record deal years ago, and it’s almost downright embarrassing that he had to go on The Voice in the first place. This remake mixed old-school country with ’90s hat-act country, and the result was something surprisingly fresh. It was also a genuine artistic statement. “That was magic. That was magic,” Blake Shelton proudly raved. “Freakin’ congratulations, dude. You are finally getting your moment.” Then Craig cried, just a couple of manly, stoic tears, and he probably picked up a few hundred thousand more sympathy votes that way. He is quickly becoming America’s sweetheart.

Ryan Sill (Team Gwen) – Last week, Ryan totally ruined a song by one of my favorite bands, Duran Duran’s “Ordinary World.” But he somehow narrowly survived elimination, so this week he returned to ruin another one of my favorite songs by another one of my favorite bands, Muse’s “Starlight.” (Why, Gwen Stefani, why?) Actually, this was much better than last week. Ryan hit all of the notes, even the helium-high ones, and he worked the crowd ‘n’ stuff. But Ryan Sill is no Matt Bellamy. And that’s the problem: For some reason, Gwen keeps thinking that Ryan should be singing alternative rock, and her buddy Pharrell Williams bizarrely co-signs this. But… no. Just, no. Gwen should not be making Ryan sing alt-rock. She should be putting him in a boy band with some other cute-boy Voice also-rans, or she should at least have him sing pop. Ryan’s “Starlight” was not bad, but it was largely forgettable. He may not be able to break the “Instant Save curse” this week.

DaNica Shirey (Team Pharrell) – Last week, DaNica sucked all the angst out of Radiohead’s “Creep.” That song was all wrong for her. DaNica is a traditional diva in the mighty Whitney/Mariah/Celine mold, and big, belty pop ballads are in her wheelhouse. That is why she was so fantastic doing Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing” this week. She was so utterly in her element — so confident, and even surprisingly sexy in a classy, womanly way — that Whitney’s own mentor Clive Davis was impressed. Said Adam, whose own magnificent contestant Tessanne Chin slayed this song two seasons ago: “This isn’t a song you should give to anybody, really… unless they can do what you did today.” Yes, this felt like a finale performance. I half-expected confetti to rain from the ceiling and Carson Daly to trot out that famous fist-shaped Voice trophy. I don’t know if DaNica will win this show, because we’re still only at the top 10… but if she were to reprise this in the finale week, should she make it that far, she’d probably take the prize.

Taylor John Williams (Team Gwen) – Taylor started off this season seeming as cute and harmless as the puppies at the doggy daycare center where he used to work. He was good, but came across as one-dimensional. But then he revealed his dark side, and his dark artistry, with covers like “Mad World” and “Stuck in the Middle With You.” That’s why last week’s sweet, soft Bread cover seemed like a bit of a regression. This week, Taylor came roaring back with one of the wildest and weirdest entries in the Beatles’ catalog, “Come Together,” while wearing a badass bandanna that looked like it was borrowed from Pharrell’s closet. Taylor had his swagger back! He came grooving up slowly with his joo-joo eyeball, and I was digging it. Fellow headwear enthusiast Pharrell called him a “Rock. Star.” Said Adam: “It’s nice to see the whole beastly-dude thing come out.” Gwen openly crushed on him in a girly manner not quite befitting a 45-year-old married mother of three. But I can’t say I blamed her. Like I said, Taylor is cute.

Chris Jamison (Team Adam) – Adam’s song selection of Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’s “Uptown Funk” was a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it’s an extremely popular, fun, and current song. It came out just a week ago! But on the other hand… no one, and I mean no one, possesses Bruno’s charisma. Just two days ago, Bruno, whom Adam described as a “monster,” was on another NBC show, Saturday Night Live, doing this song and singing and dancing as smoothly as a fresh jar of Skippy. So even if Chris gave the performance of a lifetime — and he really did try here — he wasn’t going to meet the high, high standard set by the song’s originator. And the fact that in the original recording, the verses are gang-chanted, while Chris had to carry most of the song solo on The Voice, did not help matters. I think Chris will be safe this week — he did get the pimp spot, after all, and his momentum in this competition has been surging — but no more Bruno Mars tunes for him after this, please.

So, who won’t be safe this week? My guess is the bottom three will comprise Ryan, Reagan, and Damien, with Damien (rightfully) winning the Instant Save by a landslide vote. Tune in Tuesday to find out if I’m right! See you then.

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