Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Austyns Stancil, Christina Eagle and Jake Tankersley will square off during the knockout round on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

The knockouts begin Monday night on The Voice and will continue for at three episodes.

And as was the case in past seasons with a cast of 56 singers — 14 per team — those will be three-way knockouts.

After all, the show has to reduce the pool of singers to a manageable size for the upcoming playoffs.

Each coach now has nine singers, which means each team will be split up into three knockout round matches.

During this round, coaches will have one save to use on a singer who doesn’t win his or her knockout. And they’ll have one steal to swipe a singer from another team.

That will leave each team with five singers heading into the playoffs.

Some other notes of interest:

* Based on publicity photos released by the show, trios we’ll see Monday include Adam Bohanan, Cassidy Lee and Jaukeem Fortson from Team Reba; Jake Tankersley, Christina Eagles and Austyns Stancil from Team Snoop and Camryn Brooks, Deon Jones and Jose Luis from Team Gwen.

* Oddly, the Team Michael publicity photos feature just two singers, Cameron Wright and Sloane Simon, leaving me wondering if someone on Team Michael left the competition. If so, they haven’t made such an announcement on social media.

* Night 2 matchups will include Edward Preble, J. Paul and Shye of Team Michael, Felsmere, Gabrielle Zabosky and Kay Sibal of Team Gwen and Katie O., Kendall Eugene and Frankie Torres of Team Reba.

* As noted in an earlier blog, 16 of the 17 singers who turned four chairs during the blinds made it to this round. The lone exception, DREION from Team Snoop.

* Speaking of which, Team Snoop was the only team that didn’t have a single singer stolen during the battles. I blame that parted on some questionable strong choices that left even top-flight singers struggling to make an impression.

* In contrast, Team Gwen and Team Michael each had three singers stolen. That means of their original 14 artists, only four went home during the battles.

* Not sure why the show needs them, but there will be mentors this round. Specifically, Jennifer Hudson and Sting.

* Most importantly, singers will be selecting their own songs this round. That’s refreshing after battles that saw several contestants pulled well outside their wheelhouse. I’ve long thought the show would be better off ditching the battle rounds and duets and holding back to back knockout rounds where the singers can pick their own songs.

Here’s a recap of how the teams stack up heading into Monday. Following the link will take you to a profile of each singer.

Team Gwen Stefani

Aliyah Khaylyn (3) *** STEAL
Austyns Stancil (4) STEAL
ChrisDeo (2)
Christina Eagle (1)
Georgia Starnes (4)
Jake Tankersley (4)
Mary McAvoy (2)
Mikaela Ayira (2)
Torre Blake (2)