Idol Chatter & Voice Views

From this point forward, it’s pretty much win or be eliminated in the knockout round on The Voice.

Three more knockout matches aired during Tuesday’s episode, and Miley Cyrus used her lone steal of the round to rescue Belle Jewel from the brink of elimination.

That means Alicia Keys has the only remaining steal heading into the final seven knockout matches of Season 11.

We’ll see those next week. Meanwhile, on Tuesday … dang, did everyone catch that performance by Courtney Harrell. If not, be sure to check it out below.

My recap of Monday’s episode follows. Follow the links and you’ll find a profile on each singer. The number in parenthesis is the number of chairs the contestant turned in the blind audition.

BEST OF THE NIGHT

Team Blake

The match: Bindi Liebowitz (2) vs. Courtney Harrell (2)

The songs: Bindi — “Son of a Preacher Man” by Dusty Springfield; Courtney — “River Deep, Mountain High” by Ike and Tina Turner

The verdict: Blake awards the win to Courtney; Bindi is eliminated. My take: Wow, Courtney Harrell just made me a huge fan of hers with that performance. Talk about impressive. Watch out, Ali Caldwell and We McDonald. There’s another R&B force to be reckoned with on this show. Courtney clearly won that matchup.

YEP, HE’S A FRONT-RUNNER

Team Adam

The match: Billy Gilman (4) vs. Ponciano Seoane (2)

The songs: Ponciano — “I See Fire” by Ed Sheeran; Billy — “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten

The verdict: Adam awarded the win to Billy; Ponciano was eliminated. My take: No surprise here. Billy turned in a pitch perfect performance and delivered a big finish while flipping a female’s song that fits his own personal career struggles. Forced into an underdog situation, Ponciano needed a song with a whole lot more punch and dynamics than the one he chose.

FINALLY, WE MEET BELLE

Team Alicia

The match: Christian Cuevas (3) vs. Belle Jewel (1)

The songs: Christian — “Superstar” by Luther Vandross; Belle — “Don’t Dream It’s Over” by Crowded House

The verdict: Alicia awarded the win to Christian; Belle was stolen by Miley Cyrus. My take: At first, I thought Christian was going to deliver a sleepy ballad performance in a knockout round that calls for high drama. Well, he delivered it during the final third of that performance. Belle’s performance, meanwhile, never really got out of first gear, though she has a very nice tone. She did enough to impress Miley, which makes me wonder what we missed when Belle’s first two performances were montaged.