‘The Voice’ season 23 power rankings: Holly Brand and D.Smooth lead Team Kelly in The Playoffs

John Benutty
·4 min read
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When The Playoffs of “The Voice” season 23 continue Monday, May 8, the artists of Team Kelly Clarkson and Team Niall Horan will take the stage for their chance to advance to the live shows. In this round, together with The Playoffs Premiere from May 1 featuring Team Blake Shelton and Team Chance the Rapper, the coaches remain in control of the future of their team. Each coach selects two artists from the five performances to advance to the Top 8 live show on May 15.

Blake will move forward with his “huge performer” NOIVAS and country vocalist Grace West. Chance stuck with the tight harmonics of the trio Sorelle and the artist with a ton of potential Ray Uriel.

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For the first time ever, the coaches had a Playoff Pass at their disposal. In the battles, Kelly gave the pass to D.Smooth, sparing him the heat of the Knockouts and sending him straight through to this Playoffs round. Her team is rounded out by Neil Salsich, who she stole from Team Blake in the knockouts, and Holly Brand, Cait Martin, and ALI who have been with Kelly since the blinds.

SEE 16 country music stars that could replace Blake Shelton on ‘The Voice’ [PHOTOS]

Below check out our thoughts on how Team Kelly stacks up against one another and learn which two we think he’ll choose to take to the live shows.

1. Holly Brand

(Blinds: “Mississippi Girl”; Battles: “Lady Like”; Knockouts: “Blue Moon of Kentucky”)

If Kelly is looking to make a big statement in Blake’s final season — and we think she is — then she’s going to do it by winning with a country artist. Holly is Kelly’s safest bet at giving Blake a run for his money because she’s been super consistent in her performances and always delivers a clean vocal. That she has stayed true to her country roots and has that iconic twang in her voice is sure to bring in the votes, especially since she just happened to be at her very best in the knockouts.

2. D.Smooth

(Blinds: “Perfect”; Battles: “Unaware”)

It’s hard to think that Kelly might not stick with the artist she gave her Playoff Pass to, but of all four artists to benefit from the twist, D.Smooth might have been the most unlikely choice. He has one of the silkiest voices in the competition and a slick performance style that sets him apart from literally everyone else. If he sticks to his game plan and shows that he’s a one-of-a-kind performer then it’s going to be hard for Kelly to turn her back on him.

3. Cait Martin

(Blinds: “As It Was”; Battles: “It Must Have Been Love”; Knockouts: “All the Man That I Need”)

Cait has compiled one of the best sets of songs as anyone still in the competition, showing versatility as a vocalist and a wide range of taste as an artist. She’s a big, big vocalist that Kelly is naturally drawn to and that’s going to give Kelly confidence that Cait will deliver the drama and theatrics needed to make the live shows exciting. That being said, she will have to be 100% flawless in order to upset Kelly’s top contenders.

4. Neil Salsich

(Blinds: “Honky Tonk Blues”; Battles: “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”; Knockouts: “Takin’ It to the Streets”)

Though he didn’t receive the Playoff Pass, Neil sailed through the battles when his partner had to exit the competition unexpectedly. It would have been easy for Blake to move Neil to the bottom of his knockout pile at that point, but Neil rebounded in stellar fashion with a Doobie Brothers track. Neil has the vibe of a seasoned and established artist that will no doubt give a great Playoff performance, but we don’t see Kelly getting excited enough to choose her newest artist over any of the others she’s worked with longer.

5. ALI

(Blinds: “Killing Me Softly with His Song”; Battles: “Unaware”; Knockouts: “Best Part”)

ALI put up a strong fight against D.Smooth in the battles, delivering one of the strongest pairings of the round, but their best performance remains the Roberta Flack classic in blind auditions. Since then, an ALI performance hasn’t packed as much of a punch, leaving us to wonder if they have what it takes to outshine the three teammates it will take to advance.

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