Idol Chatter & Voice Views

During each live show of The Voice in Season 9, I’ll be live blogging.

And I’ll be grading each performance as it occurs, just as I have in past seasons.

Over the course of the show, I reserve the right to alter the grades based on the performances that follow.

Representing Team Blake in the live playoffs will be Amy Vachal, Blaine Mitchell, Jordan Smith, Keith Semple, Shelby Brown and a mystery candidate we’ll find out about later tonight.

Blaine Mitchell: This alternative rocker scored perhaps the biggest upset of the knockout round when he sang “Hold Back the River” and was declared the winner over Andi & Alex. All they had done to that point was record the most successful cover on iTunes for the first two rounds of the show. Blaine hit number 105 on the iTunes’ Top 200 with the James Bay song. Blaine, 24, had been stolen by Adam in the battle round. Blaine was singing for Team Blake at the time and lost to Blind Joe when they performed “Old Time Rock and Roll.” Oh, and for those who missed it, Blaine just got married.

Tonight: Blaine will be performing “Never Tear Us Apart” by INXS. Blaine says the song means more to him now because he just married his best friend. During the rehearsal, Adam is pushing Blaine to be more dramatic. He starts sitting on a stool in the middle of the stage. But he quickly stands and starts working the stage. And Blaine is providing all the stage presence Adam could ask for. Heck, he sings much of the song looking directly at his new wife. He also ends the song with a nice glory note. All that said, I wasn’t thrilled with the song choice. Grade: B

Keith Semple: This rocker and Ireland native certainly hasn’t had an easy road to the live playoffs. In the past two rounds, Keith, 34, was pitted against singers who turned four chairs in the blind auditions. First, he defeated Manny Cabo in the battle round; they sang “Baba O’Riley.” Then he defeated Dustin Christensen in the knockout round. Keith hit the iTunes’ Top 200 with his version of “I Want to Know What Love Is.” As for his own blind audition, Keith turned two chairs.

Tonight: Keith will be singing Mr. Big’s “To Be With You.” While Blaine just got married, Keith is awaiting the birth of his second child. Adam thinks this anthem-type song is perfect for Keith’s voice. I’m not so sure. That said, Keith gives us a really nice opening. But the arrangement has the background singers singing most of the chorus. Strange. Midway through the song, Keith walks away from the mic stand and starts working the crowd. This is a really strange arrangement. And it isn’t working for me. Keith’s much better than that. Grade: C+

Shelby Brown: Adam Levine managed to lure two country singers away from Team Blake during the blind auditions. Shelby, 17, is the lone survivor, having defeated fellow country singer James Dupre in the knockout round. Shelby sang Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus, Take the Wheel.” Previously, she turned four chairs in the blind audition and topped Amanda Ayala in the battle round when they performed “Edge of Seventeen.”

Tonight: Shelby’s going to straddle the country-rock line again, singing the Linda Ronstadt version of “You’re No Good.” Shelby says she’s gained lots of confidence from her experience on The Voice. The iTunes version of this is very good. Look at young Shelby work the stage. This is easily my favorite performance of the night so far. Shelby is delivering a solid vocal and a nice dash of sass. And the big ending that’s always welcome on these shows. Grade: B+

Amy Vachal: She needed a steal from Adam to survive the knockout round, when she went up against Team Pharrell’s Madi Davis. But her cover of “Sunday Kind of Love” was the most popular from the entire knockout round, hitting number 34 on the iTunes Top 200. Prior to that, Amy, 27, defeated the duo of Jubal and Amanda in the battle round; they sang “To Love Somebody.” And she turned all three possible chairs with her blind audition; Team Adam was already full when she stepped on the stage for that performance.

Tonight: Amy will be singing another classic, Frank Sinatra’s “The Way You Look Tonight.” This song has been covered by everyone from Tony Bennett to Maroon 5 — yep, Maroon 5. Adam says he picked this song for her because of her “jazz chops.” Okay, not crazy about this song choice either. Amy is really talented. But at some point, shouldn’t we get to see her do something current? There were some really great moments in that performance, including the tender ending. Pharrell calls it awesome and says it couldn’t have been any more beautiful. Grade: B

Chance Pena: No knock to Chance, who’s a talented young singer at age 15. But what in the hell is Adam Levine thinking? He could have brought back Andi & Alex, who merely turned four chairs in the blind auditions, then recorded the most successful song on iTunes in each of the first two rounds. And he doesn’t bring them back? Huh? Who knows, maybe Andi & Alex were perceived as too big a threat to some of the show’s pet contestants. Or maybe Adam’s too busy thinking up ways to insult Blake to pay any attention to how his artists are doing on iTunes. Oh, well, Chance did have a hand in the performance when “Wherever You Will Go” climbed to number 16 on iTunes after the battle round. That night, Adam declared Andi & Alex the winner, and Chance needed a Blake Shelton steal to stay on the show. In the knockout round, he sang “Demons” by Imagine Dragons, but lost to Ivonne Acero. Again, Adam, this choice makes absolutely no sense.

Tonight: Chance will be singing “Barton Hollow” by The Civil Wars. Chance says if he was playing a bar, this is exactly the type of song he’d perform. Now that I’ve ranted about Andi & Alex not being around, let me say that Chance is delivering a really, really great performance for a 15-year-old. He’s singing laps around the other 15-year-old we heard tonight. He also looks completely comfortable on stage. Very, very solid performance. One of the best tonight on Team Adam. Grade: B+

Jordan Smith: No one has gotten more publicity from The Voice than Jordan Smith. His blind audition of “Chandelier” turned four chairs. Since then, he has defeated Regina Love in a close battle round match as they sang “Like I Can.” And the 22-year-old was declared the winner when he went up against Viktor Kilary in the knockout round and performed Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain.” That turned out to be the second best performing song from the knockouts on iTunes, hitting number 50 on the site’s Top 200.

Tonight: Jordan will be singing “Halo” by Beyonce. OK, guys, we know he has a high voice. Think we could have him sing something by a male artist for a change? Or perhaps something we haven’t heard done a million times? Jordan delivered his special glory notes during the course of that performance, but for him to get the pimp spot yet again, that should have been over-the-top sensational. In truth, it was probably his weakest vocal on the show to date. Though you’d never know that from the coaches’ reaction. They seem to already want to anoint him as the Season 9 champ. Not so fast there. Grade: B

Who should advance: Sorry, coaches, but the two most entertaining performances tonight on Team Adam were delivered by Shelby Brown and Chance Pena. Shelby might have turned in my favorite performance of the night with her take on “You’re No Good.” Chance was much, much better than I expected on “Barton Hollow.” Wow, great stage presence for his young age. A funny thought just crossed my mind. What would happen if they wound up one-two in the voting and Adam had to choose between Amy and Jordan? Can you imagine the angst on his face? I didn’t like the song choice for either tonight. Based on vocal prowess, I’d give Jordan a slight edge.