Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The members of Team Adam and Team Pharrell take the stage tonight as the live playoffs continue on The Voice.

The top two vote-getters from each team automatically advance to next week’s Top 12 show.

Then each coach will select an additional artist to save. We’ll get the results tomorrow night at 8.

I’ll be providing song by song grades for the members of Team Pharrell in this blog. For Team Adam, head here.

And did you miss the song by song grades for Team Christina or Team Blake. If so, just follow those links.

Also, here’s a look at how the songs from Monday’s show did on iTunes.

Daniel Passino: Team Pharrell’s comeback artist is Daniel Passino, who had the misfortune of being paired with Alisan Porter in the knockout round and was eliminated despite an excellent performance of “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.” The University of Michigan student had turned two chairs in the blind auditions, singing “Marvin Gaye.” Tonight, he’ll sing “When I Was Your Man” by Bruno Mars. The song choice makes me yawn, but so did a couple from Monday’s show until Voice contestants took them and set the stage on fire. Pharrell notes that he didn’t have a steal when Daniel was eliminated, but admired the way he went head to head with Alisan. You’ll recall that Daniel is the classically trained singer who wants to sing pop. He’s turning in a solid performance here, and nailed a really nice glory note near the end of the song. The selection also gives him a chance to show off his range. His biggest disadvantage is performing first tonight. Adam calls it “amazing.” Blake calls it “a great job.” Pharrell has the crowd chant: “Damn, Daniel.” Grade: B

Emily Keener: One of the youngest singers on Season 10, she’s also one of just five who turned four chairs in the blind audition. Back then she delivered a wonderful re-arrangement of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” Emily has some of my absolute favorite pre-Voice music — checkout her “East of the Sun” album on iTunes — not to mention a really unique tone. Bottom line: I’m hoping to see her in the finals. Tonight, she’ll sing “Still Crazy After all These Years” by Paul Simon. Emily says something about the music of the 1970s appeals to her. And she’ll be playing the keys as she performs tonight. There’s that tone of Emily’s that I like so much. Just wondering about this song choice and whether it will deliver the moment she needs to reel in votes. There’s nothing very flashy about this performance. But Emily does provide a really nice ending. Christina calls it a “gorgeous” performance. Adam loved it too. Pharrell calls her “unbelievable” and encourages people to vote “for this amazing unicorn of a singer.” Grade: B+

Moushumi: The former medical school student from New Jersey scored something of an upset in the knockout round when she advanced over Nick Hagelin, who was oh, so impressive in his comeback performance. She did it with a cover of “New Americana” by Halsey. But it wasn’t the first time she’d impressed. Remember, she snagged one of the very last spots on Season 10, turning all three possible chairs with her blind audition performance of “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak. Her song tonight: “Love Yourself” by Justin Bieber. She says this song, at least her arrangement of it, is very much like her original music, alternative singer-songwriter style. Honestly, not thrilled with her arrangement. And her nerves seem to be showing in the vocal. Pharrell was right, this needed more dynamics. Moushumi did provide one very nice prolonged note during that song, but that wasn’t Top 12 worthy based on the other performances. Christina calls it a nice job. Pharrell says music is what Moushumi should be doing. Grade: C

Lacy Mandigo: This teen from North Carolina certainly has had an interesting run on The Voice. She just made the show on a last-second chair turn from Christina. She lost to Alisan Porter in the battle round, but was stolen by Blake Shelton. She lost to Katie Basden in the knockout round, but was stolen by Pharrell. And hence Lacy becomes just the second singer in Voice history to sing for three different coaches on the show (Tess Boyer was the other). Lacy says her Idol is York County’s own Lzzy Hale of Halestorm, and she’s staying the rock lane tonight by singing “Love is a Battlefield” by Pat Benetar. Weak opening for Lacy, whose voice gets swallowed up by the band. The sound mix is horrible on this. Lacy delivered a nice growl early on. But her attempt at a glory note at the end falls short. In between, she showed tons of stage presence, but the vocal needed more work. Christina says she “gave her all.” Blake liked her rock vibe. Pharrell likes the way she let go. Grade: C–

Caity Peters: She’s the young woman who considers herself the “black sheep” of her family because everyone else is a professional and she wants to pursue music. Well, she’s making a good case for her decision so far. Since turning four chairs in the blind audition, she’s impressed the coaches with her battle round performance of Billy Joel’s “Honestly” and Sam Smith’s “Leave Your Lover.” The latter was the only song from the final night of knockouts to crack the iTunes Top 200. For the live playoffs, Caity will be singing “I’ll Be Waiting” by Adele. Caity says Adele is one of her idols, and Pharrell likes the fact that she’s tackling an up-tempo song. Not sure tackling Adele was a good idea. Caity eventually found something of a groove, especially on the brief a cappella part and as the performance wound to an end. But all in all, that was not one of Caity’s better performances. Christina calls it “awesome.” Pharrell says likes the way Caity “released her spirit” and had fun with the performance. Grade: C+

Hannah Huston: Look at the pre-school teacher from Nebraska. Her cover of “House of the Rising Sun” cracked the Top 50 on the iTunes singles chart and was the best performing knockout round song on The Voice. Yep, she even topped Alisan Porter. Not bad for someone who never sang before a crowd of more than 60 people until she stepped on The Voice stage. For those who don’t remember, Hannah turned three chairs in the blind audition when she performed Allen Stone’s “Unaware.” Tonight, she’ll sing “Ain’t No Way” by Aretha Franklin. Pharrell says she’s a soul-pop artist and thinks this is a good match for Hannah’s talent. We’ve seen some really good performances tonight, and Hannah is delivering another. She’s proving Alisan Porter isn’t the only soul-pop artist who can deliver lots of vocal firepower on Season 10. Great voice, and she delivered that with tons of passion. That should be enough to earn a spot in the finals. Pharrell calls it an “amazing job” and says she “steals all of our hearts.” Grade: A–

Summary: Hannah’s show-stopper of an ending was clearly the highlight for Team Pharrell tonight. I definitely think Emily Keener belongs in the finals. Remember, Pharrell opted to keep her over Shalyah Fearing, so they’re both very talented teens. I’d grant that third spot to Caity just because I think she’s got the best track record over her time on the show.