Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The dirty business of eliminating some very talented contestants begins tonight on The Voice with the battle rounds.

Of course, there’s a new wrinkle in the mix. This year, for the first time, a coach can steal a losing contestant.

I’m sure Carson Daly will explain exactly how that will work early on in tonight’s episode.

Meanwhile, if you want to learn more about any of the 64 artists who made it this far, head here. I’ve done individual profiles on each singer or duet.

And keep an eye on the featured video spot to the right over the next few days, because I plan to feature pre-show music from artists who have made it to this point in the competition.

The first song featured is Lelia Broussard’s “My Heart’s a Cannonball.”

OK, we’ve learned a little more about the steal. Each coach is limited to two.

And if more than one coach tries to steal, the artist gets to pick which team he or she goes to.

Battle 1: Terry McDermott vs. Casey Muessigmann — Interesting pairing, considering Terry is a rock singer and Casey is a country singer. Blake wants them to sing the Kansas song “Carry On My Wayward Son.” Both of these guys have pre-Voice music you can learn about by following those links. Casey seems determined despite the fact that they’ll be singing a rock song, saying his father set a good example on hard work. Terry, still rocking at age 35, says he does so in order to provide security for his family.

Nice harmonizing to begin the song, which seems to heavily favor Terry, who seems to be perfectly in his groove. Casey, though, is trying to make up for the vocal mismatch with enthusiasm and showmanship, and doing a pretty good job of it. Terry just hit a couple of big splendid notes that would tilt the match in his favor if I had a vote.  My pick: Terry McDermott. 

And Blake picks Terry McDermott.

Battle 2: Bryan Keith vs. Collin McLoughlin: — Adam has his first two singers performing “Santeria” by Sublime.   We met Bryan back in the first episode of the season when he earned a four-judge turn-around. Collin got two coaches to turn around when he performed “Wild World.” Judging by the lead-in to this point, you’d think Bryan would be a favorite among the guys on Team Adam. But the rehearsals seem to indicate that Collin is doing better. Yet as they head to the stage, Bryan proclaims “this is my song.”

Uh-oh, a bit of a rough opening for Collin. Not so for Bryan, whose voice seems much better suited to this song. His performance on this song seems effortless. And while Collin seemed to do better as the song went along, it didn’t seem so effortless. Adam says Collin attacked the song with “beastly intentions.” My pick: Bryan Keith. 

And Adam picks Bryan Keith.

But hold it, Blake and Cee Lo both are interested in stealing Collin. Blake earlier said he would have chosen Collin as the winner of this battle round. Cee Lo noted that he turned around for both singers in the blind audition and doesn’t think “Santeria” did him any justice. Little surprised to see the judges use a save so early, since each only has two available and that wasn’t an overwhelming performance from Collin.  And Collin is stolen by Blake Shelton.

Battle 3:  JR Aquino vs. Diego Val — JR is the so-called Internet sensation. Diego is the guy who overcame a hip problem that left him in a hospital as a child. They’ll be asked to sing “Jessie’s Girl.” And Diego says he doesn’t know the song. But he’s got the heartthrob factor in his favor. JR seems much more smooth on the early rehearsals. Wow, not only does the guy have lots of YouTube followers, he’s also got 80,000-plus likes on his Voice Facebook page. Diego says he’s been rehearsing every day. JR vows to bring more attitude. “I’m not going to just settle for YouTube,” he says.

Diego looks more the part for this song than JR, but JR is pulling off the more impressive vocal performance. That said, for someone who didn’t know the song, Diego didn’t do that badly and hit the one big solo glory note in the song. I can see where Diego would come off more unique among the two. But this is supposed to be about the voice, right? My pick: JR Aquino.

And Cee Lo picks Diego Val, saying he thinks he can do more with him as an artist.

Battle 4:  Nelly’s Echo vs. De’Borah — The guy from Nigeria and the gal who said she no longer felt welcome singing in church once she started showing her own style will pair off singing “Message in a Bottle.” I was listening to Nelly’s music last night and came away impressed. De’Borah has very little serious music out there for our listening pleasure, so it’s tough to determine her talent level. She appears as though she’s struggling with this song.

Nelson is off to a solid start, showing off an excellent range and pretty much drowning out De’Borah. She’s dressed to the hilt, with bright blue pants and matching glasses. The one thing about this battle — they truly seem to be battling one another rather than performing a duet, and the result isn’t exactly ear-pleasing. But there’s no doubting the passion they poured into the performance. De’Borah is going crazy on this song. Just a little too much screaming for my taste. My pick: Nelly’s Echo.

 Christina picks De’Borah

Battle 5: 2Steel Girls vs. Gracia Harrison — Gracia yodeled in her blind audition and enticed three coaches to turn around. She also sold her favorite pair of designer jeans to get to the auditions. 2Steel Girls did an excellent job of “Before He Cheats” and is one of just two duos on the show. They’ll be singing “Sin Wagon” by the Dixie Chicks. Gracia seems nervous, not to mention intimidated by the fact that she’s going up against two voices. But 2Steel Girls note that duets don’t have a history of strong performances on The Voice.

Gracia starts off strong. I think I like her better when she doesn’t yodel. Actually, I think these battle rounds are tough for a duo. Neither singer gets enough time to showcase their vocals. In fact, I can’t recall a duo that survived this stage of the competition. Gracia showed lots of attitude and sass during the performance, and I think that and solid vocals throughout give her the edge.  My pick: Gracia Harrison.

Blake picks Gracia Harrison.

Battle 6: Trevin Hunte vs. Amanda Brown — This is the matchup The Voice has been billing as a show-stopper for a week now. Trevin is the guy who struggled with his confidence and is trying to prove an eighth-grade teacher wrong.  Amanda sang backup for Alicia Keys, just like the Season 2 winner, Jermaine Paul. Cee Lo was the only coach to turn around for her; all four turned around for Trevin.  Cee Lo admits he thought Trevin would take this battle, but is clearly impressed with Amanda’s performance. Amanda admits she’s been singing Mariah Carey music for a long time. Oh, yeah, they’ll be singing “Vision of Love.”

OK, now I understand why The Voice was so excited about this performance. Trevin is up to the challenge of tackling Mariah Carey. And Amanda is certainly up to the challenge of matching Trevin note for note. And maybe even leading the way. Gotta say, I found her voice more pleasant than Trevin’s, though both were downright amazing. Wow, some of those notes they hit. My only complaint — did Cee Lo dress Trevin? Sure looks like it. My pick: Amanda Brown.

Cee Lo picks Trevin, saying he wants to be part of teaching him to have more confidence in his ability. Not surprising.

And now the steal process begins. All three coaches — who didn’t turn around for Amanda’s blind audition — now want her on their team and are lobbying for their services. And Amanda Brown winds up on Team Adam.