‘The Voice’ Live Playoffs, Night 2: What Would You Do If I Sang Out of Tune?

On Monday this week, The Voice Season 10 Live Playoffs kicked off with Team Xtina and Team Blake, arguably this season’s two strongest teams. The result was a great episode filled with impressive performances. So, if you’re doing the math, you can figure out that Tuesday, night two of the Playoffs, featured the two weaker teams, coached by Adam Levine and Pharrell Williams. The result was not so impressive.

It’s unclear why the show’s producers didn’t stagger the teams more evenly over the two nights – or why Adam and Pharrell made such odd picks for their “Coach Comebacks” wild cards, for that matter. But, what’s done is done. Let’s recap!

Daniel Passino (Team Pharrell’s Comeback Pick)

Pharrell could have brought back any number of contestants – including his own former team members like Jonathan Bach and Malik Heard, or early standouts that Adam cast aside like Matt Tedder and Mike Schiavo. But instead he went with Daniel, the bland Team Xtina opera student that got slaughtered in the Knockout Rounds by Alisan Porter. And Pharrell made it sound like the main reason he picked Daniel was because he felt sorry for him, since Daniel had seemed so sad and “defeated” after his TKO loss. And then the show stuck Daniel in the death spot, to pretty much ensure that his second stint on The Voice would be even shorter than his first. The whole thing was baffling. And really, if Pharrell had wanted to bring back someone simply out of pity, he could have picked triple-montaged Katherine Ho and given her some screentime. I still feel sorry for that girl.

Anyway, Daniel sang Bruno Mars’s “When I Was Your Man” – maybe a dedication to his ex-coach, Christina Aguilera? Technically, it was fine (I must give Daniel some props, since Bruno tunes are not easy to sing), much better than his previous corny perfornance of “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” – but I still wasn’t convinced that this classically trained music student is a soul artist he wants or claims to be.

However, the enabling coaches acted like Pharrell had just recruited Jordan Smith as his Coach Comeback pick, fawning all over Daniel and probably getting his hopes up. “That was amazing. I’m super, super into what you do. You’re fantastic,” gushed Adam. “You just wrote your future,” said Pharrell. “You just put yourself right back in the mix again. It’s going to be tough for somebody on Pharrell’s team to outdo that,” lied Blake Shelton. With 11 more contestants to go before the night was over, Daniel’s future was anything but secure.

Emily Keener (Team Blake)

Emily’s ethereal voice sounded nice enough on Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy After These Years” – but at only age 17, she didn’t have many years of life experience to draw from, in order to convincingly interpret this poignant rumination on aging, nostalgia, and regret. She flatlined throughout most of her performance. Pharrell may have described Emily as “beyond her earthly years,” but to me, she sounded like a 17-year-old out of her depth. This is a tune I would have much preferred hearing from Adam Wakefield, Owen Danoff, or Laith Al-Saadi.

But again, the coaches had nothing but misplaced praise, praise, praise – making me feel nostalgic all over again for the recently cancelled American Idol. (Even nice guy Keith Urban offered an actual critique on that show once in a while.) Pharrell even called Emily “unbelievable” and “a unicorn.” Wow, that word “unicorn” sure is getting overused on The Voice, isn’t it? It’s time to start calling the truly great singers Pegasuses, or centaurs, or something.

Laith Al-Saadi (Team Adam)

After his “In Your Eyes” breakthrough last week, Laith continued to push himself with the Joe Cocker version of the Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friends.” Maybe the cover was a little too on the nose, a little too obvious/copycat, with more than a few Cockerisms tossed in… but at least his performance had oomph and verve. The energy elevated in the room for the first time in the episode. Even Carson Daly called this performance “a shot of adrenaline.” And bonus points for Laith’s guitar solo!

“Incredible job. You’re always good when you get onstage, and now that you’re incorporating the guitar stuff, I don’t know that anybody has done that stuff when we go live. It’s awesome,” said Blake. “It was really exciting…. I saw you let loose. I love the raw, gritty soul that you have,” said Christina. And Pharrell told the people watching at home: “If you love classic rock, you just heard what this guy just did… You gotta vote for him!” And I think America might just do that. There was a time when I dismissed Laith as fodder, but now I think he could be top 12 material.

Moushimi (Team Pharrell)

Avalon Young, the most-robbed contestant of this past American Idol season, had a huge moment recently with a swaggeringly awesome cover of Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself.” Conversely, Moushimi drained all the swag out of the Biebs’ catchy track during her limp, wannabe-indie-girl performance Tuesday. Her voice sounded pretty, but she had no personality or energy at all. (This was the same complaint I had with her muted Halsey cover a couple weeks ago.) Adam called this performance “interesting,” but Moushimi did not hold my interest.

Actually, Adam came the closest to outright critiquing Moushimi, although most of his shade was directed at what he thought was the band’s fussy production. (So much for that “stripped-down” theme Carson was talking about.) But everyone else liked this number, especially Christina, who praised the “cool, dark twist” Moushimi put on the song. I just think if Moushimi was going to go there, she needed to be cooler, darker, and more twisted than this.

Lacy Mandigo (Team Pharrell)

If I had been drunk in a karaoke bar at Lacy’s bachelorette party, I might have enjoyed her shouty, clumsy, messy cover of Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield.” Actually… was Lacy drunk? That’s the only explanation for this amateurish performance, with its Jersey Shore fist-pumps, “crazy rock faces,” needless screeching, and excessive hairography. (Maybe she was just yelling so much to be heard over the band. WHY WAS THE BAND SO LOUD?) And on top of all that trainwreckage, there wasn’t any creativity to this performance: It was an identical arrangement to the original, with no modern spin or flair. This was not rock. Lacy was not a rock star. She was just some kid playing a rock star on TV.

“Such a cute little girl and all of a sudden, this monster comes out of her when she starts to sing!” Blake said. (Was that a compliment?) Christina pulled a Paula Abdul and nicely told Lacy she was “so much fun!” and looked “beautiful in blue.” Lacy’s coach Pharrell was the nicest, of course, telling her, “You were not meant to go home.” But sorry, I will just borrow a line from the spoken parental dialog from the “Love Is a Battlefield” music video: “You can just forget about coming back!” And I’ll leave it at that.

Owen Danoff (Team Adam)

After Lacy’s obnoxious debacle, Owen’s understated (but hopefully not underrated) performance – of a risky song choice, indie band Family of the Year’s “Hero” – was so refreshing, and actually a relief. Owen is the perfect example of an artist who can be hushed, subtle, and unassuming without being dreary and boring. And I emphasize the word “artist” in that previous sentence. This was lovely, vulnerable, quietly intense, and just about perfect. This guy knows who he is. And I want to know him better. He intrigues me. He’s becoming my new favorite.

“You made that seem like it was your song. There’s no reason for somebody to hear you perform that and not believe you didn’t write it. It’s rare to connect with a cover like that,” marveled Blake. “Most people would have to oversing that song to achieve what you did so simply, just because you have a unique tone. That’s amazing,” said Pharrell. “When someone can make a song feel like it’s theirs, to me, that’s the only real mark of a great singer… And I believe there isn’t anyone on the show that’s as good at that as you,” said Adam.

Shalyah Fearing (Team Adam)

Shalyah is without a doubt a promising prodigy, and Adam is, for the most part, a skilled coach. But I’m not so sure if these two are a match made in Voice heaven. I wonder if Adam really knows what to do with Shalyah. He encouraged her to do way too much with Beyoncé’s “Listen” (an overdone pageant song that needs to be retired from singing competitions immediately), even cheering her on when she pushed herself too far during rehearsal and her voice cracked. He actually claimed, insanely, that her voice-crack was his favorite part of her performance! Sixteen-year-old Shalyah proved she possesses massive pipes during her performance, and proved that she is fearless and in it to win it. But now it is time for Adam to teach her how to choose her big moments more judiciously. This performance was manic, desperate, and ridiculously over-the-top. It almost bordered on parody at times. I much preferred Owen’s less-is-more approach.

But the coaches didn’t tell Shalyah to tone anything down. Blake even called her “the freakin’ frontrunner.” Um, I think Shalyah has huge potential, but I don’t think Alisan Porter needs to worry just yet.

Nate Butler (Team Adam’s Comeback Pick)

Even as I type this, I am still shocked that Adam did not bring back his old “She Will Be Loved” duet partner, Mike Schiavo, and instead went with old-fashioned balladeer Nate – a guy so completely swag-free, he makes Daniel Passino look like Drake or The Most Interesting Man in the World from those Dos Equis ads. Nate’s “Sara Smile” was pleasant – he has a “smooth and silky” voice, as Blake noted – but it was just a little too smooth. This man has absolutely no edge. And he has none of the sex appeal to do Hall & Oates’s sultry soul ballad any justice. I did not smile.

“Man, you’re going to be here for a while,” said Adam. But I can’t imagine this snoozy performance was enough help survive Nate beyond Wednesday’s hour-long results show.

Caity Peters (Team Pharrell)

Sheesh, even one of Team Pharrell’s strongest players had a bad night this Tuesday. I’ll give Caity credit for at least not going with a predictable and overdone Adele song; “I’ll Be Waiting” was a welcome change of pace from “Hello,” “Someone Like You,” “Rolling in the Deep,” etc. But the upbeat, hard-charging song overpowered Caity. It was just too big for her. She struggled to keep up with the band, and her pitch and phrasing were oddly off. Maybe she should have done “Someone Like You,” after all.

Christina went into Paula Abdul mode again and diplomatically complimented Caity’s striped mod frock. Pharrell got into his hippie/New Age mode and told Caity she finally “released her spirit.” But I’m afraid she might be released from the competition after this.

Caroline Burns (Team Adam)

Young Caroline has had a tough run on The Voice – a no-chair rejection last season, followed by an awkward Battle and a montaged Knockout this season. But when she did Kodaline’s “All I Want” this Tuesday, she found her sweet spot. Yes, she still seemed a little green, but this was her best vocal yet, and she finally seemed connected to what she was singing. This was the perfect example of a singer clicking with the right material. This is the direction in which Caroline needs to continue, after she likely makes it to the top 12.

“Your talent pours out of you,” said Blake, comparing Caroline to his Season 4 winner, Danielle Bradbery. “You have been steadily very great, everyone has loved you the whole time, but I still think this is kind of the precursor to something. The next thing you do is going to truly be explosive. I feel something bubbling up with you. Something is going to happen,” predicted Adam. I have a hunch that Caroline will have a chance to make something happen in the coming weeks.

Brian Nhira (Team Adam)

Brian had a breakthrough performance in the Knockouts, but he sounded like he had the wind knocked out of him when he did Sia’s “Alive” this week. He absolutely could not reach for those huge power notes. “I’m still breathing,” he gasped. Well, barely. This was such a disappointment. I had expected that Brian would nail this, and that he’d bring some fiery gospel flair to Sia’s song – but it seems he took on more than he could handle.

“Congratulations on just, like, having a fun life with a voice like that,” Pharrell said dismissively, before comparing Brian to a bagpipe. “The good news for you is you will never in your life ever have to sing a harder song than that ever again,” Adam said foreshadowingly. Brian will probably never sing on The Voice again, either. Too bad. He had potential.

Hannah Huston (Team Pharrell)

Thank the Voice gods that we had Hannah to close, or maybe save, the show, with her confident performance of Aretha Franklin’s “Ain’t No Way.” I did miss the drama, and danger of her “House of the Rising Sun” – this effort was more classy and controlled than that Knockout Rounds tour de force – but there still ain’t no way Hannah isn’t advancing to the top 12 after this polished, pimp-spot performance.

“Watching you perform, there’s something that you exude. It’s like a combination of frustration and desperation when you’re singing, like you just got all of this inside of you and you’re trying to get it out. And you do. And it’s easy to get caught up in your performances,” said Blake. “When you’re hitting those notes and going up and down and all around the room like that, it’s amazing, the way you steal all of our hearts,” added a proud Pharrell.

So now, it is prediction time. Which six of these contestants – two voted through by America, and one saved by a coach, per team – will make it to the top 12? For Team Pharrell, Hannah Huston will clearly get through, and probably Caity Peters (despite her off night). For his pick, Pharrell will likely go with quirky girl Emily Keener. As for Team Adam, I predict the top two will be Shalyah Fearing and Owen Danoff, with Adam saving Caroline Burns.

And if these predictions are correct, then the Coach Comeback was all for naught and a big waste of everyone’s time – just like last season! Tune in Wednesday for a special live results show and find out if I’m right. See you then.

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