Holly Brand performs for Team Kelly during the playoffs on The Voice. (NBC Photo)
D. Smooth and Holly Brand are moving on to the semifinals for Team Kelly on Season 23 of The Voice.
The Voice playoffs — non-live — ended Monday night — without fan voting for the first time ever.
Instead, each coach got to pick two of their remaining five artists to advance.
Which meant fans had absolutely no say in who made the semifinals for the first time in the show’s history.
(If you’re getting the sense that I hate — absolutely, positively, undeniably hate — The Voice’s Season 23 format, I’m glad I’m coming through loud and clear.)
Anyway, Kelly decided to advance R&B singer D. Smooth and country vocalist Holly Brand, meaning the elimination of Ali, Cait Martin and Neil Salsich.
The latter had turned four chairs in the blinds and likely paid the price for being a new addition to Team Kelly.
Cait Martin had been one of the show’s standout vocalists. She might have paid the price for the fact that Voice viewers have shown female R&B singers little appreciation over the years.
I couldn’t argue with Kelly if she determined a country singer has a better shot at making the Voice finals.
Here are my song by song grades for Kelly’s team from Monday’s playoffs.
D. Smooth, 25, Birmingham, Ala., “Location” by Khalid — When the song opened, I thought this is going to be too mellow for the occasion. But D won me over with the vocal acrobatics. And if that hadn’t worked, he would have won me over with that excellent ending sitting at the edge of The Voice stage. Chance called it “insane.” Kelly called it his best performance on the show. Grade: A–
Cait Martin, 32, Atlanta, Ga., “Alone” by Heart — Cait said she was introduced to the song via Celine Dion’s version. Kelly was right in the intro. Cait’s one of the best singers on the show, with tons of vocal firepower. So I expected her to slay this. But she didn’t. There were unnecessary vocal flourishes in the tender opening, and when the song exploded, it didn’t find the sweet spot in Cait’s lovely voice. Instead, it sounded shouty at times. Still, Kelly said she conquered the song. Grade: B–
Neil Salsich, 34, St. Louis, Missouri, “Have a Little Faith in Me” — Neil, the very first singer we met on Season 23, reminded us why he turned four chairs back in the blinds. He put on a show. There were lots of flourishes, but they all worked. I don’t know what more he could have done to prove he belonged in the playoff unless he performed the song hanging upside down from The Voice ceiling. Blake said he killed it. Kelly credited him for doing a great job. My guess is she felt more allegiance to singers who had been with her team longer. Neil was a knockout round steal. Grade: A
Ali, 24, Walnut, Calif., “Never Alone” by Tori Kelly and Kirk Franklin — Ali showed off her unique tone and delivered a very nice ending. In between, there were a couple of vocal stumbles and the interplay with the chorus, even if it came off as planned, sounded like a bit of a mess. Ab libs should work better than that. Chance called the performance “fire.” Kelly said Ali “moved” her. Grade: C+
Holly Brand, 22, Meridian, Mississippi, “Bring On the Rain” by Jo Dee Messina — The former Miss Mississippi says she’s often felt she wasn’t good enough as a singer. Huh? That is one very pretty voice. She made a big impression in the knockouts and did it again with this performance. She delivered a heartfelt performance and, most importantly, still sounded great when the song went big. That ending was exquisite too. Grade: B+
D. Smooth listens to the feedback after his playoff performance for Team Kelly on The Voice. (NBC Photo)
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