Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Team Kelly Clarkson for The Voice Season 15 live playoffs include (from left) Zaxai, Kymberli Joye, Sarah Grace, Chevel Shepherd, Abby Cates and Keith Paluso. (NBC Photo)

The six members of Team Kelly Clarkson 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 Kelly will get to save a third singer to advance as well.

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

Abby Cates — Next To Me — Her performance of “Because of You” last week was superb. She looks like a star tonight, but she’s struggling trying to find the pocket on this song. This isn’t Abby at her best, but she has an Instagram army at her back, so we’ll see how that works out. Grade: C–

Keith Paluso — Someone Like You — No guitar tonight for Keith. Interesting opening, deep and raspy. Nice slow build to the chorus. And Keith certainly served up a passionate vocal and it’s nice to see him putting his own stamp on the song. He needed a big performance because you have to think he faces long odds with all the youthful talent on this team. Grade: B–

Sarah Grace — When Someting Is Wrong with My Baby — Ah, Sarah is at her organ. She told Voice Views she wanted to show that she’s more than just a singer. Dang, really nice vocal. Young Sarah is slaying tonight. Check out the emotion she’s pouring into this performance. One of my favorites of the night. Grade: A–

Zaxai — When I Need You _- Zaxai immediately shows off his impressive range. Yep, Zaxai, you’d better pull out some vocal acrobatics on this. And he did over the last half of the song, including a big high glory note. Not sure he nailed it perfectly, but it was another example of his impressive range. Unfortunately, that tender closing didn’t quite work after all the vocal gymnastics. Grade: B–

Chevel Shepherd — Grandpa Tell Me Bout the Good Ole Day — Chevel is the only female country singer on the show, something Kelly might want to keep in mind as she plots strategy for her team. She’s going with a classic country sound on this, and I like the way she’s working the stage a bit, showing nice stage presence for her age. Solid performance by Chevel. Grade: B

Kymberli Joye — Radioactive — Hmm, another song choice you probably wouldn’t expect from the gospel background singer. Impressive opening. And, dang, Kymberli looks like a star too. Oh, yeah, Kymberli deserves one of those spots in the Top 13. No doubt about it. From a vocal standpoint, this is the most powerful performance we’ve seen tonight. Kymberli just set The Voice stage afire. Grade: A

Summary: To me, this is the easiest team to pick. Kymberli turned in what might have been the night’s best vocal and has been impressive in every round of the competition. Kennedy seems to be the show favorite among the minors, but Sarah Grace and Chevel Shepherd were just as impressive Monday night. If I’m Kelly, that’s the trio I want to take to the Top 13.

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