'The Voice' Top 12 Recap: Girls Crushes, 'Some Girls,' and the Girl Vote

The top 12 finally competed on The Voice Monday night — which means now, for the first time in Season 8, the coaches have no say in who stays and goes. It’s all up to America. from this point on.

Well, good luck, America. Because there were many fantastic performances this Monday. This will not be an easy decision. Let’s get to the recap and try to sort it all out, shall we?

Hannah Kirby (Team Blake) – “I don’t know how you could possibly, humanly be a better vocalist than you are,” Blake Shelton raved after Hannah tore up the stage belting, or more like bellowing, Stevie Nicks’s “Edge of Seventeen.” But while I admire Hannah’s huge confidence and equally huge voice, I do think her performances could be improved if she’d just pick her moments a little more judiciously. She needs to realize that just because she possesses the lung power to sing every note at the top of her lungs doesn’t mean she has to sing every note at the top of her lungs. She seems to have the same vocal-volume modulation problem as Saturday Night Live’s Jacob Silj. And while she may never run out of energy onstage, listening to her can sometimes be exhausting for me. This girl is so naturally talented; if Blake can just get her to work on her dynamics, she could be on the edge of glory.

Brian Johnson (Team Adam) – Obviously not to be confused with the AC/DC power-rocker of the same name, this kinder, gentler Brian took on Sting’s “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You,” dedicated to his doting wife. Sting songs are extremely difficult to pull off — even for very high-voiced singers, as Brian’s coach, the very high-voiced Adam Levine, pointed out — but Brian handled this like a pro. Was it an exciting performance, though? Well, no. Brian doesn’t do exciting. This was just the sort of pleasant Hot AC performance we’ve come to expect from this everyman. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since not all Voice viewers gravitate towards “edgy” or “hip” singers. But on a show full of distinctive, flashy performers, Brian could easily fade into the background.

India Carney (Team Xtina) – “Take Me to Church” was a breakout moment for Matt McAndrew last season, and this Monday, India took The Voice to church again, making the evangelical Hozier rock ballad her own. Interestingly, this was not India’s most flawless vocal of the season, but somehow that worked for her: The fact that she was willing to get a little messy, a little unhinged, a little “dirty” and “evil” as coach Christina Aguilera and guest mentor Reba McEntire worded it, made her seem more authentic and believable, instead of like this perfect UCLA music school-trained singing robot. India exhibited a previously unseen wild swagger that reminded me of Cookie from Empire, and her styling was on point, too. She looked like a rock star. Will she be Season 8’s “last true mouthpiece,” to quote a line from the Hozier song itself? We’ll see if she makes it to the finale in a few weeks’ time.

Mia Z (Team Pharrell) – I loved that Mia covered “Miss You,” the Rolling Stones’ disco-fied classic from my personal favorite Stones album, Some Girls — and that 15-year-old Mia chose the song herself. I was worried, however, that the song, which is like 70 percent Jagger vamping, would not showcase her vocals enough to impress voters. But then Mia hit what Blake called her “dolphin cry” and what Christina called her “stratosphere area,” and I stopped worrying. Mia slayed this. Her adlibs were brilliant, too. “You have the ability to do things that only a handful of singers in the world can do,” declared Blake. Mia is some girl, all right, and she’s a natural, incredibly charismatic performer. The other contestants should see her as a definite threat.

Deanna Johnson (Team Adam) – I’d initially pegged Deanna as a pop singer, but for the second week in a row, she was doing a Christian song, this time “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” by Hillsong United. I wish Adam would give her some more upbeat material, but maybe he has a strategy in mind and thinks this could be a solid niche for his star team member. Anyway, this was a powerful, classy, ethereal performance, with a bit of a Florence Welch/Sarah McLachlan/Lorde vibe, and aside from some minor struggles with her lower register at the beginning of the song, Deanna sounded absolutely lovely. She looked lovely, too. And most importantly, she exuded quiet confidence, as if she’d finally started believing all the people who’ve been telling her for weeks that she’s actually good. And she’ll be feeling even more confident next week, if she can make it to the top 10. If she doesn’t, I’ll chalk it up to the snoozy and relatively obscure song choice.

Sawyer Fredericks (Team Pharrell) – This innocent and optimistic 16-year-old interpreted John Lennon’s “Imagine” as an uplifting song of hope, and he gave me hope for the future of his generation. Because if there are enough kids like Sawyer on this planet — so supremely talented, so pure of heart — then this world will be a beautiful place and everything will be OK. The Voice stage is always a more beautiful place when Sawyer is performing, that’s for sure. Sawyer’s saucer-eyed, sleeve-hearted version of Lennon’s peace anthem was so simple but so moving, so compelling, so emotional, that even a missed note didn’t matter — in fact, his falsetto fail only enhanced his performance, making it seem more raw, more real. “You make everything you do seem right,” Blake told Sawyer. Truly, this kid can do no wrong. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I think he’s going to win. And I’m not the only one who thinks that.

Rob Taylor (Team Xtina) – America didn’t vote Rob through last week — he was Christina’s pick — but I hope after he totally put a spell on The Voice, with his ferociously, fantastically scenery-chewing “I Put a Spell on You” performance, that voters will keep him around. He’s one of Season 8’s top entertainers, a bona fide showman, and The Voice would be a lot less exciting without him. Rob totally tore up the stage on this — and here’s one singer who absolutely did not miss his falsetto! Seriously, if Rob and Mia Z ever dueted, dolphins in oceans all over the world would swim to the Voice set. “That’s the kind of performance I come back to The Voice for,” Christina said, beaming, while Adam said Rob had just “pulled ahead in the race.” I hope Adam was right.

Corey Kent White (Team Blake) – A few weeks ago, it was a shock when Corey beat out Team Blake’s supposed country frontrunner, Cody Wickline, in the Knockout Rounds. Now it’s Corey who seems like the frontrunner. Adam said Corey is “peaking at the right time,” and it was easy to understand why, because Corey’s cover this week of Jason Aldean’s “Why” was arguably an improvement on the original. His nicely raspy tone and bit of bad-boy edge, mixed with a sweetly earnest delivery, was a winning combination. Christina joked that Corey has a lock on the “girl vote,” but I feel Corey’s appeal extends beyond the tween audience, or even beyond the country audience. He could be America’s new sweetheart.

Koryn Hawthorne (Team Pharrell) – Last week, Pharrell Williams saved Koryn, after she didn’t secure the public vote. This week, she came out raging on Kelly Clarkson’s fight song “Stronger,” full of attitude, as if to prove that Pharrell had made the right decision — and that her near-elimination hadn’t diminished her spirit or determination. “Stronger,” like many Kelly Clarkson songs, has felled many a singer (it’s the song that led to Qaasim Middleton’s elimination on American Idol last week), but Koryn rose to the challenge. Taking charge of the arrangement in rehearsal and owning the stage on the live broadcast, Koryn was so fiery and confident, Christina actually compared her to Tina Turner. Maybe Koryn should be up for elimination more often; facing adversity seems out bring out the best in her. But I have a feeling that after this dynamite performance, she won’t be up for elimination on Tuesday.

Joshua Davis (Team Adam) – Simon & Garfunkel’s “America” was a smart song choice for Joshua; after all, I’d just compared him to Paul Simon last week. And on a night full of over-the-top belters like Hannah, India, Rob, and Koryn, it was refreshing to see someone pull back a bit with a hushed, mellow performance like this. But it may have been a little too hushed and mellow. I kept waiting for the song to build, for Joshua to take it somewhere, for some sort of climax, but Joshua left me hanging. I may have thought Hannah did too much, but I didn’t think Joshua did enough. That being said, I was wrong about Joshua last week (I thought his “Budapest” performance was underwhelming, but it ended up being the second-highest iTunes charter among the top 20 contestants), and Pharrell actually said this was Joshua’s best performance yet. And, despite Blake’s baffling lack of familiarity with this classic tune, there are undoubtedly plenty of people in America who love “America.” So Joshua probably isn’t going anywhere.

Meghan Linsey (Team Blake) – I didn’t think Meghan could get any better — she’s been outstanding since her first audition — but as Blake put it, she really had a breakout moment this week. Doing Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” was a genius move, not just because the buzzy, controversial song has been all over the news lately, not only because the song allowed Meghan to tap into all her real-life heartbreak and deliver a deeply emotional performance, but because this allowed Meghan to return to her country roots. I’ve always thought it was a mistake for Meghan to abandon country (and her built-in country fanbase from her Steel Magnolia days) for rock/soul music, but I think she found her niche here — singing soulful, bluesy, modern country. This performance was just perfect. I’ve totally got a girl crush on Meghan Linsey.

Kimberly Nichole (Team Xtina) – Speaking of girl crushes, I’m also crushing hard on Season 8’s Rock Ballerina. Kimberly’s “House of the Rising Sun” was a revelation, so intensely and incredibly and awesomely fierce. It’s a good thing that Kimberly sang last, because no one could have followed this. The audience was howling after she was finished, so much so that the coaches could barely even speak over the din. But Blake managed to tell Kimberly this: “I think we have to talk about the possibility of Christina wining her first season of The Voice because of you.”

So now, it is prediction time. Three singers will be in up for elimination on Tuesday night, and after Twitter’s Instant Save sing-off, two will go home. This is a tough call, but I am guessing the bottom three will be Hannah Kirby, Brian Johnson, and probably Deanna Johnson… with Hannah, who seems to have a very passionate online fanbase, winning the Instant Save vote. But really, it could be anyone, so I suggest you all get your hashtags ready for Tuesday’s show, just in case one of your favorites ends up in the bottom three. See you then.

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