Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Sydney Sterlace, one of the youngest contestants on The Voice, advanced to the semifinals Tuesday night. (NBC Photo)

The Season 26 playoffs began Tuesday night on The Voice with performances from the five remaining members of Team Gwen.

Each coach can advance just two artists from the playoffs to the semifinals, set for Dec. 2.

If you haven’t figured it out, folks, that means you’ll get to vote just twice in Season 26.

That, of course, is pathetic. Hell, there were three voting shows in the spring when The Voice had just 40 singers.

This fall’s cast included 56. And more than eight deserved to advance to fan voting.

Trust me, I’ll be ranting much more about this slap in the face to fans before Season 26 ends. Like here!

See also …
The Voice snubs fans again, deserves to be cancelled

Jose Luis, 21, Carolina, Puerto Rico, “No More Drama” by Mary J. Blige: With all the cape-flipping, Jose’s knockout performance struck me as a bit too pretentious. This performance? Great song choice. Great performance. Even better vocal. I didn’t recall Jose having such an impressive growl in his vocal arsenal. And he built to a nice big ending. This was the best of the Team Gwen performances Tuesday night. Grade: A–

Jake Tankersley, 31, Sand Springs, OK, “The Painter” by Cody Johnson: Jake dedicated this song to his wife. And he turned in a solid performance. Problem is, he’s the stolen contestant on a team full of Gwen originals, meaning he needed to blow away everyone else to advance. He needed an amazing vocal, an overwhelming performance or an incredibly heart-wrenching performance to advance. As solid as this was, it fell short of that. Grade: B

Gabrielle Zabosky, 25, Oxford, Pa., “Listen to Your Heart” by Roxette: A really nice song choice for Gabby to show off her vocal abilities. She’s gotten a little shouty in the past. I thought she did a much better job on this song while still showcasing her impressive vocal firepower. She nailed glory notes repeatedly over the course of a two and a half minute performance and still demonstrated what a pretty voice she has. Grade: B+

Jan Dan, 29, Newark, N.J., “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas: I appreciate the risk Jan Dan took because he probably needed a risk to improve his chance of advancing. But this was a rather sleepy song — albeit a very surprising pick — to use that risk on. The runs at the end came off as a forced attempt to get more out of the song than possible. Hey, and can someone please mute Michael Buble’s damn mic while the singers are performing. Grade: B–

Sydney Sterlace, 15, Buffalo, N.Y., “betty” by Taylor Swift: I thought Sydney was the favorite heading into tonight. But I find this an odd song choice with a spot in the finals on the line. It’s a story-teller, singer-songwriter song and Sydney is trying to create vocal moments that the song doesn’t really lend itself to. Sydney’s got a great voice and incredible potential, but I think this was her weakest performance on the show. Still, I won’t be shocked if she advances based on her better past performances. Grade: B–

Results: Gwen expressed pride in getting a chance to work with all five of her singers.

She advances Jan Dan. She said she had to pick him because he’s “so unique” and wants to give him a chance to share his “taste and perspective” with America.

She advances Sydney, saying it was a gut feeling and Sydney “moves me. I want to see me. I just can’t let her go home.”

So, Gwen advanced the two singers who turned in the weakest playoff performances. Hmm, no wonder she’s got one victory in seven seasons as a coach prior to this.

And had she been able to advance three singers — as is usually the case — fans would likely have a chance to vote for Jose or Gabrielle in a Top 12 on Dec. 2.

Jan Dan turned a surprising song choice into a spot in the semifinals on The Voice Tuesday night. (NBC Photo)