Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Team Jennifer Hudson for the Season 15 Live Playoffs on The Voice includes (from left) Patrique Fortson, Colton Smith, Kennedy Holmes, Sandy Redd, McKenzie Thomas, Franc West. (NBC Photo)

The six members of Team JHUD (Jennifer Hudson) squared off in the live playoffs Monday on The Voice.

On Tuesday, two of those singers will advance to the Top 13 based on fan voting.

Then Jennifer will get to save a third singer to advance as well.

Here are song by song grades for Team JHUD from Monday’s show.

Patrique Fortson — Ain’t Nobody — Patrique showed off a whole boatload of vocal tricks in that opening. This fashion look really isn’t working for me, but Patrique left no stone unturned when it came to vocal acrobatics during that performance. It was almost too much. At the same time, consider his competition. Better to go all out than hold anything back. Grade: B–

MaKenzie Thomas — I Believe in You and Me — The intro was correct: MaKenzie has sounded much better than you’d expect from someone who started her Voice journey as a one-chair turn. She’ll need to pull off something special here to advance on a team stacked with talent. Really strong ending from MaKenzie for a performance that started a bit sleepy. Grade: B

Franc West — Apologize — Franc slips behind the keyboard. And he’s going to put his own spin on this, which is nice. After the first run-through of the chorus, he steps from behind the keys and goes into performance mode. Then it’s back behind the piano for a tender ending. Nice vision behind that performance. And strong vocal throughout. Grade: B+

Sandy Redd — No More Drama — To me, if I had to vote for a Season 15 winner right now, Sandy would get that vote. Yet she’s only here because of a steal and a save. Huh? She has stage presence for days, which she’s proving again tonight. That wasn’t my favorite Sandy vocal, but no way she doesn’t advance to the Top 13. Grade: A–

Colton Smith — Scared to be Lonely — A bit of a rough start for Colton. But then he finds his stride. He faces long odds to make the Top 3 on Team Jennifer. But this vocal is much better than his knockout round performance. He just nailed a big glory note, but then missed the mark a bit on the followup. Grade: B–

Kennedy Holmes — Halo — Hmm, someone in the opening called her the most ready to win The Voice. I’d disagree with that. But she has been very impressive, especially for someone who’s just 13. And especially in terms of stage presence. This is not Kennedy’s best vocal by a long shot, but I’m pretty sure she’s going to breeze into the Top 13 anyway. The best thing about the vocal was that tender ending. Grade: B

Summary: Kennedy Holmes might not be the “most ready” to win The Voice, yet, but she belongs in the Top 13. That Top 13 needs to include Sandy Redd. Based on the performances from Monday and stretching back to the blinds, I’d award the third spot to Franc, who clearly had a plan on how to put his own stamp on his live playoffs song, then made it work.

See also …
Song by song grades for Team Adam
Song by song grades for Team Blake
Song by song grades for Team Kelly
Apple Music songs returning, but with a voting twist