Idol Chatter & Voice Views

By my count, there are just nine battle matchups left before we move on to the next phase of The Voice.

Yet we’ve still to hear from some of the brightest stars of the blind auditions.

That would include Adrianna Louise, Cassadee Pope and Nicole Nelson, all of whom enticed every judge to turn around for their first performances.

Well, we should see them tonight or tomorrow night.

Meanwhile, just two steals remain for the judges’ use after Christina pulled young Alessandra Guercio from the brink of elimination last Tuesday.

Battle 1: Alexis Marceaux vs. Daniel Rosa: Daniel is one of the feel-good stories of Season 3, a contestant who tried out previously but failed to get a spot on a team. This time he performed a quirky version of “Somebody I Used to Know” and got two judges to turn around. Alexis is the 23-year-old who saw her home and her city devastated by Hurricane Katrina. She’s been writing songs since age 13 and dropped out of college so she could devote her full attention to music and perform with other artists touring around New Orleans. Cee Lo says he paired them because they both have an indie sound. They’ll be singing Adam Lambert’s “Whataya Want from Me.”

Daniel looked nervous as the song begins. No such nerves on the part of Alexis. But Daniel sounded fine during the opening of the song before going badly off pitch on the chorus. Unfortunately, this is very one-sided. Alexis has been consistent throughout and, classical training or not, isn’t afraid to show off that big voice on stage. Daniel had his moments, but was all over the place vocally. My pick: Alexis Marceaux by a landslide.

Cee Lo picks Daniel Rosa. Wow. This is called The Voice, right? Wow.

Battle 2: Brandon Mahone vs. Nicole Nelson: Brandon is the 17-year-old whose mom moved him to Indianapolis so he could get off the mean streets of Chicago. He’s also something of a throwback, perferring classic R&B to the point where he performed a Temptations song for his blind audition. Nicole is the 35-year-old from Vermont who describes herself “as a bit of a hippy.” She’s also one of the few contestants to earn a four-chair turn-around in the blind auditions, doing it with a splendid rendition of “Hallelujah.” They will sing “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” You have to think Nicole has a big edge going into this match-up, based on experience alone.

If Brandon’s nervous, he isn’t showing it at the start of this performance. Well, I’d like to comment on how Nicole is singing, but Brandon is getting all the solo lines early in this number. But once Nicole kicks in, she shows off a pitch-perfect voice with excellent range. And the more pleasant of the two voices. Honestly, the end of this strayed off course a bit as the two seemed to be out-shouting one another. Until that point, this was a very solid performance. My pick: Nicole.

Adam picks Nicole. Wise choice.

Loren Allred vs. Brian Scartocci: We see just a snippet. Loren wins.

Cassadee Pope vs. Ryan Jirovec: Cassadee advanced in a battle we should have seen.

Joe Kirkland vs. Samuel Mouton: Joe won in another battle we got just a snippet of.

Battle 6: Devyn DeLoera vs. MarissaAnn: MarissaAnn is a 15-year-old from New York whom we barely met in the blind auditions, but who certainly has an interesting back-story. She was diagnosed with a potentially fatal liver ailment shortly after birth and needed a transplant from her dad to survive. Devyn credits music with helping her overcome shyness. She performed Christina Aguilera’s “Ain’t No Other Man” in what she thought might be a suicidal blind audition. It wasn’t; three judges turned around, including Christina, of course. They’ll sing “Free Your Mind.”

Wow. Where was MarissaAnn during the blind auditions? On the cutting-room floor, that’s where. Shame. This gal can belt it. Devyn is far from a vocal slouch herself. She just hit a hell of a glory note. Well, they sure ripped into that song. No fear about them not cutting loose, Christina. My pick: MarissaAnn, who surprised me with her sass.

Christina picks Devyn. Not a bad choice by any means. That was the most even match of this short episode.

And Blake Shelton saves MarissaAnn.