The new Knockout Rounds on The Voice proved to be fast and furious Monday night as Adam Levine and Cee Lo Green cut their teams down to five singers each. Early favorites like Avery Wilson went home while previously unknown singers emerged as powerhouses (Loren All-Who?).
Tonight on The Voice we get to see Christina Aguilera and Blake Shelton’s teams compete as we get down to the 20 singers who will perform during the live shows.
My predictions for who will make it proved horrible last night I only got half of the 10 winners correct. Check out my picks for Team Blake and Team Xtina to see if I do any better tonight.
TEAM XTINA
Devyn DeLoera vs. Laura Vivas
It’s a battle of two passionate, powerful female vocalists.
Devyn DeLoera (“I Have Nothing” by Whitney Houston): Devyn is going big with a Whitney song. There are some good moments, but also some that I find pretty weak. She’s solid, but she’s not big and powerful enough for Whitney.
Laura Vivas (“I Need to Know” by Marc Anthony): This performance kind of scared me, like a Latina Grace Jones. She put in plenty of salsa moves and some Spanish to try and give her an edge.
Cee Lo finds Laura “caliente” and Adam chimes in that Cee Lo’s “corazon is en fuego.”
The Winner Is…DEVYN DELOERA!
Xtina basically admits she only chose Devyn because she has a better connection to her and Devyn is more in her wheelhouse. On the bright side, I’m 1/1 in terms of predictions!
Adriana Louise vs. Celica Westbrook
It’s yet another battle of powerful female vocalists. Are you sensing a trend on Team Xtina?
Adriana Louise (“Already Gone” by Kelly Clarkson): She’s definitely powerful and has a great glory note, but I don’t hear much of a melody. This is the problem with wannabe Xtinas, they sing all over the place trying to do impressive runs.
Celica Westbrook (“Never Say Never” by Justin Bieber): Ooh, the Biebs! I don’t know if this song translates that well to female pop star vocals, but she does a solid job. It’s very youth-friendly and fun.
This is a coin flip situation. Adam concedes that Adriana is more Team Xtina. Blake and Adam get into a petty “pitchy vs. bitchy” squabble.
The Winner Is…ADRIANA LOUISE!
Is Xtina amassing a team of mini-clones?
Alessandra Guercio vs. Dez Duron
The ladies love Dez based on the screams.
Alessandra Guercio (“Take a Bow” by Rihanna): She tries way too hard to dirty up the song, Xtina-style. This is an emotional strong, but she tries too hard to force big vocal moments into every line.
Dez Duron (“Stuck on You” by Lionel Richie): It’s a hot guy singing a sensitive song. The only way he could be more perfect is if he was holding a puppy. Vocally he’s pretty decent, but nothing special.
Cee Lo is jealous that Dez is on a team full of fine looking ladies.
The Winner Is…DEZ DURON!
Hooray for hot guys! That’s the right move, regardless of these performances, because Xtina already has two artists similar to Alessandra.
Chevonne vs. De’borah
It’s curtains for Chevonne.
Chevonne (“Dancing with Myself” by Generation X):It’s fun, silly, punk rock fluff.
De’borah (“You Found Me” by The Fray): She puts her distinct, amazing style on this song to create something totally unique and unexpected. Seriously, she’ll be around for a long time in this competition.
The Winner Is…DE’BORAH!
Woohoo! De;borah is gonna go far.
Aquile vs. Sylvia Yacoub
I picked both of them to go to the live shows, so no matter who wins, I do too.
Aquile (“Grenade” by Bruno Mars):He’s smooth, spot-on and great. It’s easily one of the best of Team Xtina.
Sylvia Yacoub (“Fighter” by Christina Aguilera): Wow, doing Xtina is just shameless. She does a great job, but she’s just doing Xtina. I guess this will test just how much of a narcissist Xtina is.
The coaches have a little fun at American Idol‘s expense when Adam compares Cee Lo to Randy Jackson and Blake asks who that is.
The Winner Is…SYLVIA YACOUB!
Boo! Xtina, way to admit that you love yourself THAT much that you pick someone just because she sang your song like you. Sylvia fills the same spot as Adriana and Devyn while Aquile would’ve appealed to a whole different demo in the live shows.
TEAM BLAKE
Gracia Harrison vs. Liz Davis
Gracia Harrison (“I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith): I thought she killed it and made it a great country song.
Liz Davis (“Gunpowder and Lead” by Miranda Lambert): She was fun, energetic and gave a much better performance than I’m used to from her. Though I think singing a song by the wife of the guy making the decision is a little manipulative.
The Winner Is…LIZ DAVIS!
Rudy Parris vs. Terry McDermott
Rudy Parris (“Forever” by Chris Brown): I think Kyle Gass put on a Criss Angel wig and somehow got on this show. He’s just not very interesting at all.
Terry McDermott (“Maybe I’m Amazed” by Paul McCartney): This is what happens when a great singer takes a great song and does it just right. This was an absolute slaughter.
The Winner Is…TERRY MCDERMOTT!
Collin McLoughlin vs. Michaela Paige
Collin McLoughlin (“Breakeven” by The Script): “Aww, he’s so cute.” That about sums it up. He’s good, but there’s nothing special or unique.
Michaela Paige (“Love is a Battlefield” by Pat Benatar): She’s cool and fierce. And she’s got a voice that is deceptively strong.
The Winner Is…MICHAELA PAIGE!
Julio Cesar Castillo vs. MarissaAnn
Julio Cesar Castillo (“Somebody to Love” by Justin Bieber): This sounded nasally and just not very good to me.
MarissaAnn (“Lady Marmalade” by Labelle): There were some good moments in this, but it was pieced together like Frankenstein’s monster with all those runs and spoken word segments. Still, she was much better than Julio and I think Blake just wanted two guys on his team, and one to go after the Latino vote.
The Winner Is…JULIO CESAR CASTILLO!
Cassadee Pope vs. Suzanna Choffel
Cassadee Pope (“Payphone” by Maroon 5): She schooled Adam Levine and turned this into a beautiful song that sounds like it should only be performed by girls.
Suzanna Choffel (“Could You Be Loved” by Bob Marley): This was just way too relaxed and unimpressive for a Knockout performance.
The Winner Is…CASSADEE POPE!
So now we have our Top 20 singers. I did a lot better tonight, correctly predicting four each from Team Xtina and Team Blake. Interestingly enough, Adam Levine chose BOTH singers he stole to move forward, but the other three coaches all eliminated both of their stolen artists.
Next week is a big three-night, five-hour election week extravaganza. The live performance shows air Monday and Wednesday from 8pm-10pm with an hourlong results show on Thursday at 8pm that will reveal the Top 12.
(Image courtesy of NBC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
