He Will Be Loved: Adam Levine Rebounds on 'The Voice'

If you’d asked me as recently as Monday which coach had the weakest team on The Voice Season 9, I would have said Adam Levine. Night after night, he shamelessly begged contestants to join Team Adam, and night after night, those contestants ignored his desperate pleas and signed up with Teams Blake, Pharrell, or Gwen instead. But what a difference an episode makes! This Tuesday, on the fourth Blind Auditions installment of this season, Adam scooped up three frontrunners and got back in the game. I should never have doubted someone as hyper-competitive as him.

Viktor Kiraly was probably Adam’s standout recruit of the night. This Viktor definitely has what it takes to be a Voice victor. He’s already an established pop star in his parents’ homeland of Hungary; he convinced DMC (yes, of Run-DMC) to rap on one of his international singles; and he’s got a slick Robin Thicke vibe going on, minus the post-“Blurred Lines” douchery. With the Thicke similarities, he seemed a natural fit for Pharrell Williams, and when Pharrell astutely noted that Viktor had performed the Donny Hathaway version of “What’s Going On,” and Viktor revealed that he has a Hathaway tattoo on his back, it seemed like a done deal. (Pharrell/tattoo connections was a recurring theme this Tuesday, as you’ll see later.) But shockingly, Viktor picked Adam, because “he seemed so excited.” Adam may be on his way to a third Voice victory with this guy. So can we please invite DMC to guest on the Season 9 finale?

Andi & Alex may have doubled Adam’s chances. The first identical twins to appear on The Voice since the Morgan Twins of Season 4, these girls offered the sort of heavenly harmonies that only sisters can create. They transformed Dido’s “Thank You” into something fragile and melancholy and magical, with a gorgeous vocal arrangement that Adam described as “unbelievably thoughtful” and “compassionate to the other [singer].” All four coaches fought hard for these talented girls, with Blake Shelton pointing out that he’s the only coach to ever take a duo (the Swon Brothers) all the way to the finale, and Pharrell noting that he won last season with an outlier folk singer (Sawyer Fredericks). But Adam scored again. His aggressive snail-oil-salesman pitches were at long last starting to work.

And finally, there was Chance Peña, a 15-year-old Texan lad who had the voice, if not exactly the stage presence, of a 35-year-old. He sort of seemed like a baby Josh Kaufman. Sure, Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire” may not have been the best song choice for him – despite what Adam said about loving Chance’s “emotion,” I thought Chance actually lacked some fire and was a bit awkward onstage. But his raw talent and teen-heartthrob potential were undeniable. Only Adam took a chance on Chance, but as a former teen singer himself (Adam was only 16 when he formed the Maroon 5-prototype band Kara’s Flowers), he may know just what to do with this kid.

And now, for the rest of the night’s Blind Auditions…

Darius Scott - This was one interesting cat – a church singer/multi-instrumentalist/stylist/man-bun-wearer. A renaissance man for the reality TV age! His interview package had me intrigued. But his performance of sometime-coach Usher’s “You Make Me Wanna” left me underwhelmed. While Darius’s chilled-out style was groovy and sexy, he was just a little too chill; I wanted more charisma, more vocal dynamics. After all that build-up, I just expected more. I really only heard promise when Darius got into his runs at the end, but by that point, three coaches (everyone but Blake) had already surprisingly spun around. Darius picked the chilliest coach on the panel, Pharrell, which made sense once Darius declared, “High school wouldn’t have been high school without N.E.R.D.” and showed off his spiffy N.E.R.D. wrist tattoo. He totally outed himself as a Pharrell fanboy. I’m these two will get along famously, but hopefully Team Pharrell’s guest mentor, Missy Elliott, can amp things up during the Battle Rounds rehearsals. I am worried that this yin/yin pairing could get a little sleepy.
MEMBER: Team Pharrell

Korin Bukowski - There sure are a lot of hat-wearing indie girls this season, aren’t there? This one may be the quirkiest of the bunch, and she’s totes adorbs for sure, and she has a cool surname (I hope she’s secretly related to Charles). But her Manic Pixie Dreamgirl act could wear thin, real quick. It was all a little much, from her dorky “Greetings, pilgrims!” opening salutation to her actual pilgrim dress, from the B-roll of her manically climbing trees with squirrels to her faux-Brit vocal affectations while warbling Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness’s “Cecilia and the Satellite.” But I do think Gwen Stefani, the only coach that turned for her, could help Korin find the right balance between adorkable and just plain annoying.
MEMBER OF: Team Gwen

Krista Hughes - OK, this was when the episode first started picking up steam. (“Thank you for being good!” cried out Gwen, speaking for all of America.) Sure, Darius and Korin may have shown some promise with their respective maverick performances, but Krista was a standout without any gimmicks. Her rendition of “Angel From Montgomery” had so much grit and old soul and heart; it was hard to believe that this small-town West Virginia girl had never even been on an airplane before traveling to her Voice audition, because she belted the John Prine ballad with such maturity and confidence and worldliness. Krista earned the first four-chair turnaround of the night, but the moment she started talking (in an increasingly prominent Southern accent as the conversation went on) about Merle Haggard and George Jones, we all knew where this one was going. Sorry, Adam. You lost this one.
MEMBER OF: Team Blake

Cole Criske - There must be something in the Voice water. This show keeps churning out such talented, wise-beyond-their-years youngsters, from Season 3’s Melanie Martinez and Season 4’s Danielle Bradbery to reigning champ Sawyer Fredericks. And now, this amazing kid. Crooning John Mayer’s “Dreaming With a Broken Heart” (the first song he listened to after his father’s tragic death six years ago), Cole sang from a place of pain, deep down, and the effect was riveting. He didn’t need to showboat with crazy runs or any other vocal theatrics and acrobatics to get the emotion across; that being said, Cole did have perfect pitch. This was just a phenomenal audition, all around. I was surprised that Cole didn’t get four chairs… and that he went with Blake, despite his obvious crush on Gwen. Maybe it was Blake’s connection to another wise-beyond-her-years teen, Season 1 Team Blake finalist Xenia, who hails from Cole’s hometown of Temecula. Or maybe Cole saw Blake as some sort of father figure. But since Blake noted that Temecula has “really good wine,” he’s probably not a role model. Anyway, let’s just hope Blake can do for Cole what he did for Xenia, because this boy deserves a shot.
MEMBER OF: Team Blake

Alex Kandel - Following in the motorcycle-booted footsteps of Season 2’s Juliet Simms (former frontwoman of Automatic Loveletter) and Season 3’s Cassadee Pope (ex-Hey Monday), this alt-rock chick recently parted ways with her semi-successful band Sleeper Agent (as seen on Jimmy Fallon, at Coachella, on tour with fun. and Cage the Elephant). Now she’s seeking solo success via The Voice. But I’m not sure if Alex can go as far as Juliet or Cassadee. Performing in public for the first time without her longtime bandmates, she seemed lost and floundering, and her cover of Echosmith’s “Bright” was kind of dim. The energy was totally lacking. Alex’s new coach, Gwen, might be able to change that – Gwen has years of experience fronting a band and then successfully transitioning to a solo career, after all. However, Gwen has a very strong team this season. It’s hard to figure out which contestant Gwen would be willing to sacrifice in the Battle Rounds in Alex’s favor.
MEMBER OF: Team Gwen

Celeste Betton - A gospel singer and single mom who put her musical aspirations on hold to care for her daughter, Celeste came to The Voice with a compelling backstory (and a great look), but not necessarily ready-for-prime-time chops. Her overambitious reaching for the high notes in “Love You I Do” from Dreamgirls forced her pitch to go wildly astray, and the result was far from dreamy. Only Pharrell buzzed in… and he almost didn’t, when Celeste hit one particularly wonky note. (He literally paused mid-buzz, whisking his hand away from the red button as if it were a hot stove.) Unfortunately, I think this lady is total Battle Rounds fodder. Pharrell already warned her that he has some other strong “soulful singers” on his team. She won’t likely outlast them.
MEMBER OF: Team Pharrell

So next Monday and Tuesday, the Blind Auditions conclude. Will Adam’s lucky streak continue? Will Gwen continue to take risks and make interesting decisions? Will Blake round out his team with three more country singers? Tune in and find out.

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