Entertainment Weekly - The last night of individual eliminations before next week’s Semi-Finals featured few surprises and one tragic performance. But, just to be clear, this entire episode belonged to Sia. 

The Voice saves the Wigged One’s song for later in the evening, and opens instead with a live performance of “Locked Away” by R. City featuring Adam Levine. The fact that Carson never mentioned R. City was showing up this evening but that we were presented with a whole pre-taped package to announced Ellie Goulding’s appearance next week tells us a lot about who NBC thinks watches this show. Which is a shame because, as I learned tonight, the two guys in R. City are a blast. Their vocals may not be the stuff of reality-show champions, but these bros are having a ball on stage. Even more enjoyable to watch are Adam’s awkward attempts at dancing. He literally flees to the back of the stage whenever the guys’ parts come up, then kind of sways silently, hoping the camera never veers in his direction. I even catch him doing a “cha-ching” motion, for reasons that remain unclear to me.

Next week, the singers will all be mentored by Dolly Parton, and Blake is fanboying to beat the band. I cannot wait to see his face on Monday.

Entertainment Weekly - Making it to the Top 10 of any large competition is a big accomplishment. The Voice’s group of 10-best artists might still include some filler, but many of these singers are only improving week after week. For those who aren’t shining as brightly, their time to correct course is drawing to a close. One week from tomorrow, the Top 9 will be cut to the Top 4, banishing over half the singers from the competition in one fell swoop. It’s gonna be a doozy.

Blake gave each member of his team a guitar, again confirming he’s the cuddliest coach, Gwen cut Braiden’s hair this week…of course. She just can’t help herself and Ellie Goulding is performing next Monday!

Results
Team Adam:
Shelby Brown
Amy Vachal
Jordan Smith

Team Pharrell:
Evan McKeel [Eliminated]
Madi Davis

Team Blake:
Barrett Baber
Zach Seabaugh
Emily Ann Roberts

Team Gwen:

Performances
Team Adam:
Shelby Brown - Yoü & I
Amy Vachal - Blank Space
Jordan Smith - Who You Are

Team Pharrell:
Evan McKeel - Smile
Madi Davis - Love Is Blindness

Team Blake:
Barrett Baber - Delta Dawn
Zach Seabaugh - Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not
Emily Ann Roberts - Why Not Me

Team Gwen:

Source: Entertainment Weekly, NBC

Entertainment Weekly - The second live results show of the season didn’t feature those bloated flashbacks to past performances like last week. Instead, we got pageant questions posed to nearly every contestant and coach throughout the episode. I know that overwrought suspense is the bread and butter of these totally inflated results episodes, but hearing twelve canned, bland, and pre-planned responses to Carson’s softball queries had me bored to tears.

Every artist made it into the iTunes Top 75, and three were inducted into the Top 10 (Jordan, Jeffery, and Amy). Jordan made it all the way to the top spot by the end of the voting period.

Source: Entertainment Weekly, NBC

- Links -

Primewire [stream]

thevideo.me [stream/download]

[Team Pharrell] Mark Hood - Against All Odds
[Team Blake] Emily Ann Roberts - Blame It on Your Heart
[Team Gwen] Korin Bukowski - Titanium
[Team Blake] Barrett Baber - Right Here Waiting
[Team Pharrell] Madi Davis - Who Will Save Your Soul
[Team Gwen] Jeffery Austin - Let It Go
[Team Adam] Shelby Brown - In Color
[Team Pharrell] Evan McKeel - This Is It
[Team Adam] Jordan Smith - Great Is Thy Faithfulness
[Team Blake] Zach Seabaugh - My Love


Photos

Source: Entertainment Weekly, NBC

Entertainment Weekly - Like ripping off a Band-Aid, the coaches grit their teeth tonight and let go of 12 singers at once. Results shows on The Voice are invariably painful (favorites are sent home; coaches feel guilty; Carson gets more lines), and tonight may have been the toughest in years. Since season five, just two of the singers on each team were sent home at the end of the Playoffs, allowing the coaches to keep the majority of their performers. But, because of the comeback twist, fully half of each team was eliminated this episode. Tonight was the only night in recent Voice history that each artist, statistically, had an equal chance of staying and going. 

So the comeback twist probably didn’t work as the show intended: None of the four artists made it through to the Top 12. Only Jordan and Emily Ann made it into the iTunes Top 10 before voting ended (and as of Wednedsay, Emily Ann has slipped to the eleventh spot). Closest on their heels was Madi Davis.

- Links -

Primewire [stream]

thevideo.me [stream/download]

Photos

Entertainment Weekly - From the Blind Auditions on, there’s been a general consensus among Voice viewers that Team Adam is the standout group this season. Once Team Gwen picked up Viktor Király, its star rose as well. But Team Blake and Team Pharrell both came hard during the second live episode, and now it’s anyone’s game.

Entertainment Weekly - After eight seasons, The Voice can officially consider itself an old hand in the reality game. This show is a well-oiled machine, and it has its beats down pat. Which is why the announcement that a new wrench is being thrown into the mix, in the form of “comeback artists,” was so surprising. This season, each coach gets to bring back one singer they’d previously let go. This could be a shot at redemption for a previously underappreciated performer…or it could just be prolonging the inevitable. We’ll find out which on Wednedsay.

The first night of Lives kicks off with performances from all of Team Adam and Team Gwen, including their comeback picks (or, as I like to think of them, “zombie artists” risen from the dead). Twelve songs is a lot to pack into this show (and into a recap), and the tired call for less banter has never felt more relevant.

- Links -

Primewire [stream]

thevideo.me [stream/download]