Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Blake Shelton comments on a knockout round performance on The Voice while the other coaches look on. (NBC Photo)

It’s only night two of the knockout round on The Voice, and already two of the four available steals in this phase of the competition are gone.

Soulful songstress Sugar Joans got one last night, courtesy of Pharrell Williams. Taylor Phelan got the other after Pharrell perhaps unwisely matched two of the best guy singers of Season 7 against one another. Taylor is now on Team Adam Levine.

Tonight’s also a one-hour episode. You know what that means.

We’ll be treated to three full knockout matches. We might only see snippets of others.

That’s always the biggest gripe I’ve had with The Voice. OK, perhaps there isn’t enough airtime to show every blind audition, every battle round match or every knockout round match.

But the show films every single one of the performances during those three phases of the competition. Why not as least post the video on YouTube and to The Voice website.

As it is, talented Gianna Salvato — I base that assessment on her pre-Voice music — is off the show after two rounds and we never got to hear her sing. Rebekah Samarin has advanced through two rounds; we haven’t heard her either.

Come on, Voice. You can do better.

On to the knockouts …

Taylor John Williams

Troy Ritchie

Troy Ritchie, 21, of Trabuco Canyon, Calif., sang “Out of My League” by Fitz and The Trantrums in the blind audition. Gwen was the only coach to turn around for his performance. In the battle round, he defeated Menlik Zergabachew. They performed “Maneater” by Hall and Oates. Taylor John Williams, 23, of Portland, Oregon, auditioned with a stripped-down version of “Heartless.” Two coaches turned around for his performances, which did very well on iTunes. In the battle round, he defeated Amanda Lee Peers. They performed Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” Gwen says she has paired these two together because they’re in the indie-alternative lane.

Troy is going to sing “Hay, Y’all” by OutKast. They’re trying to get him to put his own spin on the tune with an arrangement that will allow him to show off his singer-songwriter side and his crazy performance side. Taylor John Williams has decided to sing “Mad World.” He says it’s a song he can really relate too. But he also says he’s feeling lots of pressure to deliver a killer vocal. Troy kicks it off with his singer-songwriter vibe. But then he puts down his guitar and a dance party breaks out. Well, this is certainly a fun performance, isn’t it? Perhaps a little more style than substance, but it made me smile. Taylor’s turn. Love his opening. I smell an iTunes hit in this performance. This is a simply splendid performance, and Taylor is doing it without tons of vocal fireworks. My pick: Taylor. That performance is going to be very popular. Adam thinks Taylor took the knockout. Blake would give the win to Troy. Pharrell called Taylor’s performance “hypnotic.” Gwen says Taylor put the “whole room in a trance.” Gwen’s pick: Taylor.

Alessandra Castronovo

Mia Pfirrman

Mia Pfirrman, 19, of Temple City, Calif., auditioned with Katy Perry’s “Unconditionally.” She turned four chairs. She defeated another four-chair turn recipient, Beth Spangler, in the battle round. They performed “I Turn to You” by Christina Aguilera. Alessandra Castronovo, 21, of Millstone Township, N.J., auditioned with “When Love Takes Over,” the David Guetta song that features vocals by Kelly Rowland. In the battle round, she scored an upset over four-chair turn recipient Joe Kirk. They performed Rihanna’s “Stay.”

Mia is singing “Human” by Christina Perri. She’s getting lots of technical and performance advice during rehearsals from Adam and Taylor Swift. Alessandra is going to sing “Next to Me” by Emeli Sande because she says she wants a fun performance that will draw in the crowd. Adam and Taylor are trying to get her to come out of her shell and cut loose on stage. Alessandra gets to sing first. She’s delivering a solid vocal, but I’m not sure she’s cutting loose quite as much as Adam wanted. But while, this young lady has a heck of a voice and nailed a really impressive glory note near the end of that performance. Mia’s turn. Her performance starts softly, but quickly turns into a series of glory notes. Pretty impressive glory notes, I might add. She certainly picked a song that showed off the power in her voice. My pick: Alessandra. I just enjoy the tone of her voice more. Blake and Pharrell say they’d give the edge to Alessandra. Gwen says she’d give the edge to Mia. Adam likes the “ice water” Mia showed as a performer, but also compliments Alessandra on her progress. Adam’s pick: Mia.

Elyjuh Rene

Ricky Manning

Ricky Manning, 19, of Cape Coral, Fla., auditioned with “Love Me Again” and turned two chairs. He then defeated Brittany Butler, who also turned two chairs with her blind audition, in the battle round. They sang “On Broadway” by George Benson. Elyjuh Rene, 18, of Long Beach, Calif., auditioned with Beyonce’s “XO” and turned a pair of chairs. In the battle round, he scored an upset over Maiya Sykes, a four-chair turn recipient. They sang “If I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys. Pharrell says he has them paired up because they’re both R&B soul performers and he wants to see who can deliver the best soulful performance.

He’s going to sing “With You.” Elyjuh says he loves the song and thinks it will allow him to deliver a fun performance. But Taylor and Pharrell are telling him he needs to deliver emotion, not just perform a song he loves well. Ricky has decided to sing “Wrecking Ball,” saying he needs to reach deep down, find “that broken place and sing from there.” He also says he hasn’t performed a ballad yet. Elyjuh kicks it off and is delivering a final vocal, but is coming off as a bit too animated on stage, to the point where it doesn’t seem natural. And as the song goes on, he’s letting all the movement affect his vocal. But he recovered nicely and delivered a fine ending. Ricky’s next. Love the opening. Simple. Crystal clear. And you can hear pain in his voice when he hits the chorus. Pharrell wanting him to convey the emotion of the song. Ricky is doing that amazingly well. That, too, might do very, very well on iTunes. My pick: Ricky by a mile. Gwen calls Ricky’s performance “amazing.” Adam calls Ricky’s performance “ridiculously amazing.” Blake calls Ricky’s performance his favorite of the knockout round so far. Pharrell’s pick: Elyjuh. Huh? Are you kidding me?

Gwen is going to save the day and save Ricky, saying “I feel like I might have just won The Voice.”

Better news: No montage segments. Wow, might we see all the knockouts?