The Voice recap: 'Live Semi-Final Results'
WELP. The final four has been revealed, and it’s not exactly the quartet one might’ve expected to make it through to the last round.
Tonight’s The Voice semi-finals made the usual ordeal of doling out results, but instead of just having the bottom three perform for their chance to advance, they had to wait while the bottom two below them got ushered away by another tally reveal. This whole system seems a little cruel, but that’s where we’re at.
Let’s start from the top.
The night began with a series of questions for the coaches this time, with Miley Cyrus promising to personally have a hand in Brooke Simpson’s future career moves and Adam Levine praising his top contender, Addison Agen, by calling her a “unicorn” of an artist.
That’s when we learn that Chloe Kohanski is the first artist going through to the finale — a surprise to exactly zero people — and that Blake Shelton is now 12 for 13 on getting someone through to the end.
After that, we get a nice high-energy, genre-bending performance in “Home” by Machine Gun Kelly, X Ambassadors, and Bebe Rexha before we catch up again with what Chris Blue has been up to this year. In short, he’s been busting his bottom with the hope of getting an album on shelves by the end of the year, which…tick tock, it’s almost that time.
After Carson Daly prompts Addison Agen to reveal that her career goal is to revive the dying folk singer genre, she’s given the second green light of the evening. No surprise there, either. So far, so good for all ye ballot boosters.
Jennifer Hudson then comes on the stage to deliver theater with her partly a capella, wholly dramatic performance of her latest single, “Burden Down,” and that’s when we learn that finalist No. 3 is Brooke Simpson, who was more likely than most, but was certainly no guarantee to get here.
That’s when Voice alums Matthew Schuler, Michael Sanchez, Alisan Porter, Chris Mann, Matt McAndrew, and Mary Sarah come to the stage to perform a piece from their “Voice Neon Dreams” residency in Las Vegas — they choose “It’s Time” by Imagine Dragons, which is not doing any one of them any favors — and we move on to the extra-excruciating part where Carson lists out who gets to advance to the instant save performances.
The three who get chosen to have a chance at the next round are: Adam Cunningham, Noah Mac, and Red Marlow, which means Keisha Renee and Davon Fleming are done and Jennifer Hudson will have no one in the finale this year. Gulp.
The order in which they were announced has zip to do with the order of their performances somehow, but here’s how the instant save bids shake out.
Team Blake: Red Marlow
“Dixieland Delight” by Alabama
Red Marlow does what Red Marlow does again here with this number, and as usual, it’s fine enough. The tune here is just a fun, campy little country song that has a pretty iconic twist with the rushed tempo in the third act, and Red plays along with it just as well as anyone could. His voice is still pretty unwieldy, and he’s not showing us anything new or revolutionary tonight, but hey. Something must be working for him.
Adam Cunningham
“Here’s a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)” by Travis Tritt
It’d be pretty absurd indeed for a guy who was almost sent home from the bottom two twice in a row to find his way into the finale, but honestly, Adam kinda states his case for exactly that tonight with his rendition of this hokey country classic. Unlike Red, Adam does have some range. But he tries to tap the gas throughout his performance to recapture the enthusiasm that’s earned him tickets through the last few weeks, and things start to slip into sloppiness towards the end. If nothing else, Red’s just a hair (ha!) more consistent than Adam tonight.
Noah Mac
“Sign of the Times” by Harry Styles
It might seem like an ideal scenario for Noah Mac to be in, if he’s gotta be in the bottom, because he’s up against two country artists who can easily cancel each other out with genre-specific voters if he can just deliver on his own performance. And Harry Styles’ hit is a pretty smart selection because it’s not only current, but it has that moody soft-pop sound that seems to suit Noah Mac so well. Unfortunately, his nerves must be getting to him tonight because he’s not really bringing that intensity and fervor that seems to have been such a signature of his performances past.
From the numbers we see during the commercials, it’s neck and neck for Noah and Red, with Adam trailing far behind, and, in the end, Red edges his way into a victory and a chance to perform in the finale.
It’s absolutely shocking that Red Marlow has made it all this way, but here we are. It’s Red versus three women, at least two of whom have the talent to topple him, but we’ll see if he manages to pull out the ultimate upset.
TEAM STANDINGS:
Team Adam: Addison Agen
Team Miley: Brooke Simpson
Team Jennifer:
Team Blake: Chloe Kohanski, Red Marlow
