Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Colbie Caillat will be one of four new mentors to work with artists on The Voice as they prepare for Top 10 performance night. (NBC Photo)

But also with the comfort of knowing that even if they don’t, they’ll still have a wild card hope of making the season finale.

While we await more details on exactly how and when that wild card drama will play out, let’s meet the new mentors.

Judging from photos NBC posted to its media site, we know Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy will be working with Adam Levine and Colbie Caillat will be working with Blake Shelton.

My guess is that means Diana Ross will be working with Team Pharrell and Meghan Trainor of All About that Bass fame with Team Gwen. Just a hunch.

Oh, and tonight I’ll be live blogging from The Pullo Center at Penn State York because that’s the site of a watch party for supporters of DaNica Shirey, York County’s first-ever contestant on the show.

That said, I apologize ahead of time for typos and reserve the right to alter grades later. I’m pretty sure I’m going to miss the pause button on my DVR while watching The Voice in a live venue.

But I just got to meet lots of DaNica fans who are convinced she has a chance to bring home the Season 7 crown, including her uncle and Voice fans who are rallying behind a local gal from York.

Matt McAndrew

Blind audition: He sang “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri and enticed three judges to turn their chairs.
Battle round: Defeated Ethan Bulter; they performed Coldplay’s “Yellow.”
Knockout round: Defeated Rebekah Samarin with a performance of Train’s “Drops of Jupiter,” but only a snippet of the match aired.
Live playoffs: He sang the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows.” The song was the best received from night one of the live playoffs, hitting number 31 on iTunes’ singles chart and number 18 on its pop chart. Matt was voted into the finals.
Top 12: He sang Hozier’s “Take Me to Church.” The song was the best performing of the night on iTunes, hitting number 5 on the overall iTunes singles chart and number 2 on the site’s alternative chart. He was voted into the Top 10.

Kicking off the show is usually a disadvantage, but if anyone can survive performing first, it should be Matt. Adam says Matt has performed something soft and sweet and something bombastic. Now he wants to see him do something that falls between. Hence, Coldplay’s “Fix Me.” Adam predicts he’ll “crush this.” Matt’s in fine voice as the song begins. I smell another iTunes hit in the making. Yep, the music swells and the crowd goes wild. And Matt works his way out into that crowd; stage presence might have been a problem for him at one point, but it isn’t any more. Folks, we might be watching the Season 7 winner. The last 30 seconds of that were absolutely fantastic. Especially that huge note he hit right before the soft ending. Matt is getting nothing but praise from the coaches. Gwen calls it “amazing.” Adam says Matt can do “anything” and does it in such a humble way. He says Matt did Coldplay proud. Grade: A– (only because there might be something better later in the show).

Anita Antoinette

Blind audition: Sang Bob Marley’s “Turn Your Lights Down Low” and got all four coaches to turn their chairs.
Battle round: Defeated Mayra Alvarez; they sang Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now.”
Knockout round: Defeated Craig Wayne Boyd with a performance of “Rude” by Magic! Her foe was stolen by Blake Shelton.
Live playoffs: Sang Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass.” The song hit number 56 on iTunes singles chart, best from night two of the live playoffs, and 28 on the pop chart. Anita was voted into the finals.
Top 12: She sang “Redemption Song” by Bob Marley. The song hit number one on the iTunes reggae chart and number 42 on the overall singles chart. She was voted into the Top 10.

OK, Christina Aguilera is helping out Team Gwen. They’ve decided to give Anita “Let Her Go” by Passenger, deciding to give her an indie rock song she can do a reggae version of. In terms of excellent song choices, I’d say the coaches are two for two. I think the best way to expand Anita’s support is to have her do songs like this. And she’s doing a nice job turning the Passenger hit reggae. She sounds especially good on the chorus. It’s also difficult to believe Anita once suffered from stage fright. She looks like a natural now. A very solid performance from Anita. Perhaps not quite as dramatic as Matt’s, but a crowd-pleaser nevertheless. Blake calls it a “cool” way to change up that song and says Anita looks more natural every time she takes the stage. Gwen says she “really took over that song” and it sounds like a song you would do. She’s also taken with Anita’s voice, for a reason I don’t quite understand, but concludes her critique by saying Anita “killed it.” Grade: B

Damien Lawson

Blind audition: All four coaches turned their chairs when he sang Boyz II Men’s “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday.”
Battle round: Defeated Kelli Douglas; they sang Otis Redding’s “Knock on Wood.”
Knockout round: Defeated Toia Jones with his performance of “How Do I Live” by LeAnn Rimes.
Live playoffs: He sang “I’m Not the Only One” by Sam Smith. The song landed at number 40 on the iTunes overall singles chart and number one on the R&B/Soul chart. He was voted into the finals.
Top 12: He sang “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” and the song was one of the top performers on iTunes, hitting number 12 on the overall singles chart and number one on the R&B/Soul chart. He was voted into the Top 10.

Damien will be singing Stevie Wonder’s “You and I.” Adam calls Stevie his hero and says he wouldn’t give this song to someone who couldn’t handle it. But he thinks it’s in good hands with Damien. OK, perhaps, but this opening is very sleepy, and not Damien’s most impressive vocal. OK, Damien rescued that song in the last 30 seconds, when his voice soared to incredible levels. Until that point, I thought Damien was in trouble. But that ending was very, very impressive. It brought all four coaches to their feet. Pharrell says Damien’s hometown must be so proud. Adam says he felt the “entire audience get on board” with Damien’s performance. My only complaint would be that the song didn’t require as much emotion as some of Damien’s earlier efforts. Grade: B+

Reagan James

Blind audition: Turned two chairs singing Ed Sheeran’s “Give Me Love.”
Battle round: Defeated fellow teen Kensington Moore; they sang Lorde’s “Team.”
Knockout round: Defeated Grant Ganzer with a performance of “Hit Em Up Style.”
Live playoffs: She sang “Try” by Colbie Caillat. The song hit number 53 on the iTunes singles chart and number 27 on the site’s pop chart. Reagan was voted into the finals.
Top 12: She sang Lenny Kravitz’s “It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over.” The song hit number 112 on the iTunes singles chart and number 53 on the site’s pop chart. Reagan was voted into the Top 10.

I’ll be surprised it Reagan doesn’t bounce back this week after an off Top 12 performance. I loved her performance of Colbie’s “Try” and now she’s being mentored by her. This is an interesting song choice. Reagan is going to sing “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea. She plans to strip it down and make the song her own. Right off the bat, she sounds lots better than she did last week. Yep, and she’s going to do a bit of a rap in the middle of the song. Sorry, Reagan, but I’m having trouble following the lyrics. I’ll be very interested to see how that goes over on iTunes. Reagan might have tackled a bit much over the course of that performance, but the last 60 seconds or so sizzled. Adam calls it Reagan’s best performance so far. Blake says: “That was hard to do.” He calls it easily her best performance so far. I didn’t like it as much as “Try.” I liked it much better than last week. Grade: B–

Luke Wade

Blind audition: Got all four judges to turn their chairs for his performance of Otis Redding’s “That’s How Strong Love Is.”
Battle round: Defeated Griffin; they performed “Maybe I’m Amazed” so well that Griffin was stolen by Blake Shelton.
Knockout round: Sang Hall and Oates “Rich Girl” and defeated Taylor Phelan in a battle of singers who had turned four chairs in the blinds.
Live playoffs: He sang Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” The song landed at number 66 on the iTunes singles chart and 32 on the pop chart. Luke was voted into the finals.
Top 12: He sang Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud.” The song hit number 37 on the iTunes singles chart and number 20 on the site’s pop chart. He was voted into the Top 10.

Luke will sing Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness,” with Pharrell saying he did such a good job with his first Otis Redding song, he decided to give him another. Luke is determined to avoid the lyric misstep that affected his performance last week, saying that won’t be good enough to make the Top 8. Pharrell predicts this will be one of Luke’s biggest moments. No problem with the start this week. Wow, someone please take Luke Wade some oxygen. He just went crazy over the last 90 seconds of that performance, and probably punched a ticket to the Top 8 in the process. The opening didn’t overwhelm me. But Luke poured every ounce of energy into the ending, pumping up the crowd to a fever pitch. Pharrell says Luke exceeded his expectations and calls it “a job well done.” Adam and Gwen concur. Grade: A–

Craig Wayne Boyd

Blind audition: Turned a pair of chairs singing Travis Tritt’s “The Whiskey Ain’t Workin’.”
Battle round: Lost to James David Carter, but was so impressive performing “Wave on Wave” that he was stolen by Gwen Stefani.
Knockout round: Lost to Anita Antoinette, but sang the Marshall Tucker Band’s “Can’t You See” so well he was stolen back by Blake Shelton.
Live playoffs: He sang Grand Funk Railroad’s “Some Kind of Wonderful.” His cover hit number 59 on the iTunes singles chart and number seven on the site’s country chart. He was voted into the finals.
Top 12: He sang George Strait’s “You Look So Good in Love.” The song hit number 11 on the iTunes overall chart and number one on the site’s country singles chart. He was voted into the Top 10.

Craig Wayne is going to sing Johnny Cash’s “Walk the Line.” Blake says he’s turned it into a ballad. OK, here’s another quick prediction: Craig Wayne is headed back to the top of the country singles chart this week. He sounded fabulous on the first verse of this Johnny Cash classic. I doubt he’s going to pull a lot of new cross-over votes with this performance, but it’s going to go over amazingly well with his country fan base. And he punctuated the performance with a great final line. That folks, just might get him into the Top 10 on iTunes. The performance brought Pharrell and Gwen to their feet, and they’re not exactly country fanatics. Gwen says every time he performs he gets better. She says she expects Craig Wayne to have “a real career” after this. Adam says he’s gotten “crazy, crazy good” to the point of being “amazing.” Blake called the performance “magic.” Grade: A

Ryan Sill (Team Gwen)

Blind audition: He performed OneRepublic’s “Secrets” and enticed two judges to turn their chairs.
Battle round: He defeated Jessie Pitts; they sang “I Need Your Love” by Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding. Jessie was stolen by Blake Shelton.
Knockout round: He defeated Beth Spangler with a performance of Ne-Yo’s “Miss Independent.”
Live playoffs: He sang OneRepublic’s “I Lived.” The song hit number 181 on the iTunes pop chart and number 70 on the site’s pop chart. Ryan was Gwen Stefani’s choice to advance to the finals.
Top 12: He sang Duran Duran’s “Ordinary World.” The song landed at number 120 on the iTunes singles chart and number 56 on the pop chart. Ryan found himself in the bottom three on results night. He sang “More Than Words” for his save-me song and received the instant save to advance to the Top 10.

Ryan says he needs to go all out, because he’s needed a save to advance each time. Gwen is having him sing “Starlight” by Muse. Having seen the performances so far, Ryan needs to pull off one heck of a performance to avoid the fate of most instant save winners — elimination the very next week. Ryan’s aware: He says he needs to hit this one out of the park. The opening was only so-so, but the music swells and so does Ryan’s vocals. Only problem is he’s reaching for a couple high notes he doesn’t seem capable of hitting. This is a high-energy performance, a good move on Gwen’s part. Ryan gives us another nice ending to a song: Tons of power followed by a touch of softness, but I’m not sure it’s going to be enough to get him through. Blake says he thinks that might have been his strongest performance so far. Pharrell says he thinks Ryan is the most improved singer on the show. Gwen says she’s proud of how well Ryan did. She says he’s progressing “every single week.” Grade: C+

DaNica Shirey (Team Pharrell)

Blind audition: Turned three chairs with her performance of Jessie J’s “Big White Room.”
Battle round: Defeated Toia Jones in one of Season 7’s most celebrated battle round matches; they sang Beyonce’s “Halo.”
Knockout round: Sang Whitney Houston’s “Saving All My Love for You” and defeated young Katriz Trinidad.
Live playoffs: She sang “Help Me” by Joni Mitchell. The song landed at 120 on the iTunes singles chart and 52 on the pop chart. She was voted into the finals.
Top 12: She sang Radiohead’s “Creep.” The song landed at number 59 on the iTunes singles chart and number 30 on the pop chart. She was voted into the Top 10.

DaNica gets to meet Clive Davis, the guy she wrote a biography on when she was in 11th grade. And she’s singing a song by another of her heroes, Whitney Houston. She’ll do “I Have Nothing.” Pharrell says he’s convinced she can make a great R&B/soul album. He wants to see her go with feelings first on this performance. Her former manager tells the crowd at the Pullo Center that she’s heard DaNica sing this before, and knows she can pull it off. And she certainly sounds great. Dang, the power in this young woman’s voice as the song soars. Pharrell is already on his feet. Wow, folks, we might have seen better “performances” tonight, but that was one heck of a great vocal. The camera shows Clive Davis applauding the performance. Oh, yeah, most of the folks in the Pullo Center got to their feet, too. Gwen asks if she can do that again. Gwen calls her so fun to watch. Adam says Danica has “the chips stacked against her” when she tackles that song. Even considering that, he says that song shouldn’t be given to anyone who can’t do it justice; she can. Blake calls that song “a big job” and says DaNica “killed it.” Pharrell says every week DaNica keeps ascending. Grade: A

Taylor John Williams (Team Gwen)

Blind audition: His stripped-down version of “Heartless” prompted two coaches to turn their chairs.
Battle round: He defeated Amanda Lee Peers; they performed Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.”
Knockout round: He defeated Troy Ritchie with a performance of “Mad World” by Tears for Fears.
Live playoffs: Sang “Stuck in the Middle with You” by Stealers Wheel. The song landed at 63 on the iTunes singles chart and number one on the site’s rock chart. He was voted into the finals.
Top 12: He sang Bread’s “If.” The song hit number 34 on the iTunes singles chart and number 19 on the site’s pop chart. He was voted into the Top 10.

Taylor John is going to sing “Come Together.” Gwen is encouraging him to let his wild side cut loose. Christina is encouraging him to use the rasp in his voice. Taylor John says he has to let people in a little more than he has to this point. Taylor John has been one of the more inconsistent performers to this point, but he sounds really good on this, in spite of the headband he’s wearing. In the battle of heartthrobs on The Voice, it’s Taylor John vs. Chris Jamison. And this is the most animated we’ve seen Taylor John be on the show, so far. He certainly has the girls screaming. And that ending entices even more screams. That was certainly Taylor John’s most high-energy performance and one of his best vocals. Adam says it’s nice to see the “beastly dude come out.” He calls it a “fantasic job.” Blake liked the fact that Taylor John smiled and had fun while performing. Pharrell calls it one of the craziest performances we’ve seen; he calls Taylor John a “rock star.” Gwen admits she didn’t want Taylor John to do that song. She’s pushing Taylor John’s heartthrob factor. Grade: B+

Chris Jamison (Team Adam)

Blind audition: He sang John Mayer’s “Gravity” and prompted all four coaches to turn their chairs.
Battle round: He defeated four-chair turn recipient Jonathan Wyndham; they performed “Young Girls” by Bruno Mars.
Knockout round: He defeated another four-chair turn recipient, Blessing Offor, with a performance of Otis Redding’s “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.”
Live playoffs: He sang Ed Sheeran’s “Don’t.” Chris’ version of the song hit number 133 on the iTunes singles chart and number 50 on the pop chart. He was Adam Levine’s choice to advance to the finals.
Top 12: He sang “Jealous” by Nick Jonas. The song hit number 23 on the overall iTunes chart and number 15 on the site’s pop chart. He was voted into the Top 10.

Dang, The Voice sure is pushing Chris Jamison at us. Last week, he got to sing next to last. This week, he gets to close the show. Adam has Chris sing “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson. Chris wants to show viewers he’s not just a singer, that he’s a performer, too. Adam says he’s looking for some swagger and attitude from Chris. Well, I already like this performance better than last week’s. Chris is also delivering a more convincing performance this week. He has a band on stage with him, not to mention a whole squadron of background singers. This is a high-energy way to close the show, even if it’s not my favorite song choice of the night. Still another solid performance, and he who sings last seldom goes home. The crowd goes crazy over Chris. Blake said he sounded great. Pharrell thinks he took everyone higher than last week. Gwen liked the way he worked the stage. Adam clearly loved the performance as well. Grade: B