Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The knockouts begin Monday night on The Voice with married country stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill as advisers.

Each coach has just one steal in this round and another 12 contestant will be eliminated, cutting the cast from its current 32 singers to just 20, heading into the live playoffs.

That said, those live playoffs have included 24 singers in each of the past two seasons as each coach got to bring back one previously eliminated artist.

Now, some random observations:

1. Alicia Keys’ team looked the strongest heading into the battle round and that proved to be the case. In fact, four of the eight battle round steals went to members of Team Alicia who were on the verge of elimination after losing their battles. That included Lauren Diaz and Josh Halverson (now on Team Miley) and Dave Moisan and Jason Warrior (now on Team Adam).

2. As a result of all the steals, Adam Levine’s team of eight now heads the pack in the terms of number of chairs turned during the blind auditions. And with the addition of Dave Moisan, three of the five acts that turned four chairs during the blind auditions are now on his team. I guess that makes him king of the four-chair turn once again.

3. Blake Shelton has had some trouble luring singers to his team, which is incredibly baffling. Not only has the guy coached a singer to The Voice title four times, he’s had five singers finish as runner-up. In fact, the only season he didn’t coach the winner or the runner-up was Season 5 when Tessanne Chin (Team Adam) and Jacqui Lee (Team Christina) finished one-two. Look at the list below and you’ll see that he doesn’t have a single singer who turned more than two chairs in the blind auditions.

4. Where did all the country singers go? Seriously, it’s as though The Voice producers were so tired of country dominance on The Voice, they told all the country singers to stay home for Season 11. (Odd timing, considering the knockout round advisers, right?) We barely met two young country singers who did make the show (Preston James and Charity Bowden) before they were cast aside. And only one of the 18 charting songs from the battle round was classified as country.

Adam Levine is taking the following singers into the knockout round on The Voice, from left — Riley Elmore, Brendan Fletcher, Dave Moisan, Simone Gundy, Billy Gilman, Jason Warrior, Ponciano Seoane, Nolan Neal. (NBC Photo)

Team Adam (22 chair turns)

Dave Moisan (4)
Nolan Neal (4)
Billy Gilman (4)
Brendan Fletcher (3)
Jason Warrior (2)
Ponciano Seoane (2**)
Simon Gundy (2)
Riley Elmore (1)

Miley Cyrus is taking the following singers into the knockout round on The Voice (from left) — Aaron Gibson, Sophia Urista, Darby Walker, Ali Caldwell, Lauren Diaz, Josette Diaz, Maye Thomas, Josh Halverson. (NBC Photo)

Team Miley (21 chair turns)

Ali Caldwell (4)
Aaron Gibson (3)
Darby Walker (3)
Josh Halverson (3)
Lauren Diaz (3)
Maye Thomas (2)
Sophia Urista (2)
Josette Diaz (1*)

Alicia Keys is taking the following singers into the knockout round on The Voice, from left — Christian Cuevas, Courtnie Ramirez, We McDonald, Sa’Rayah, Kylie Rothfield, Whitney & Shannon, Michael Sanchez, Belle Jewel. (NBC Photo)

Team Alicia (19 chair turns)

We McDonald (4)
Whitney & Shannon (4)
Christian Cuevas (3)
Courtnie Ramirez (2)
Kylie Rothfield (2)
Sa’Rayah (2)
Belle Jewel (1)
Michael Sanchez (1)

Blake Shelton is taking the following singers into the knockout round on The Voice (from left) — Gabe Broussard, Austin Allzu, Courtney Harrell, Karlee Metzger, Dana Harper, Josh Gallagher, Bindi Liebowitz, Sundance Head. (NBC Photo)

Team Blake (15 chair turns)

Bindi Liebowitz (2)
Courtney Harrell (2)
Dana Harper (2)
Gabe Broussard (2)
Josh Gallagher (2)
Karlee Metzger (2)
Sundance Head (2)
Austin Allsup (1)

** Only two spots remained on the show when he auditioned.
* Only one spot remained on the show when she auditioned.