The Voice recap: 'Live Top 11 Eliminations'

He did it! After such a spirited performance, Rayshun LaMarr did, indeed, bypass the traditional bottom two repeat trend that seems to so often plague anyone who’s found themselves low on voters on The Voice, so huzzah for him. It is certainly well deserved.

Tonight, though, after one groan-worthy team performance of “The Scientist” by Team Adam, a saucy showcase of “Make Me Feel” by Janelle Monáe, and a not-so-terrible take on “Give Me Shelter” by Team Alicia, the first nine contestants announced for the Top 10 are announced as follows (drum roll please):

1. Pryor Baird (Team Blake)

2. Britton Buchanan (Team Alicia)

3. Rayshun LaMarr (Team Adam)

4. Brynn Cartelli (Team Kelly)

5. Spensha Baker (Team Blake)

6. Jackie Verna (Team Adam)

7. Jackie Foster (Team Alicia)

8. Kyla Jade (Team Blake)

9. Kaleb Lee (Team Kelly)

That leaves Sharane Calister and Christiana Danielle vying for the last spot, which, in retrospect, does make a lot of sense since neither of them had performances worth writing home about last night.

Sharane (unwisely) decides to take on another icon’s masterclass moment — this time, with Beyonce’s “If I Were a Boy” — and there’s just no redemption to be found in tonight’s rendition, either. Just like last night with Mariah Carey’s “Hero,” this piece might be one that she nails at home on a regular basis, but on this stage, with this kind of pressure, the size of the song is clearly just too much for her to bear, and her voice is just not there. Even her coach Adam Levine has to dance around the subject of her actual singing tonight to encourage voters to pick her, with promises that she’ll have her own Rayshun LaMarr breakthrough moment, too, if only she’s given another chance.

Sorry, Adam. She just was. And she didn’t.

Meanwhile, Christiana’s still got some kinks to work out with her vocals as well, but tonight’s is a far cleaner performance than last night. She chooses “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri, which is a pretty and quaint enough pop-love song to conjure up some emotions from her fans, and whatever imperfections might exist in her delivery can easily be chalked up to points of passion. It might not be the goosebump-inducer Alicia Keys tells us it is, but her maturity and self-measurement is leaps and bounds better than her competition here. It’s an easy decision for voters tonight.

Saved by America: Christiana Danielle
Sent home: Sharane Calister

TEAM STANDINGS:

Team Adam: Rayshun LaMarr, Jackie Verna

Team Alicia: Britton Buchanan, Jackie Foster, Christiana Danielle

Team Kelly: Brynn Cartelli, Kaleb Lee

Team Blake: Kyla Jade, Pryor Baird, Spensha Baker