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 Pharrell in the live playoffs will be Darius Scott, Evan McKeel, Madi Davis, Mark Hood, Riley Biederer and a mystery candidate we’ll find out about later tonight.

Darius Scott: Pharrell Williams and Rihanna pushed this gospel singer to show more energy on stage and it worked during the knockout round when he sang “On Broadway” and defeated country singer Morgan Frazier, who wound up being stolen by Blake Shelton. In earlier action, Darius defeated Daria Jazmin in the battle round when they sang “Lean on Me.” And he turned three chairs with a blind audition performance of Usher’s “You Make Me Wanna.”

Tonight: He’ll tackle Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown.” This is apparently Darius’ song choice. He’s worked out his own arrangement and says he wanted to sing something more current. And Darius is starting off tonight’s show in fine fashion. Wish the members of Team Adam and Team Gwen had picked their own songs. That was solid throughout, then Darius really picked up the energy in the last 30 seconds or so. Very good. And he’s getting well-deserved praise from the coaches. Blake doesn’t know the song, but says whatever version that is, it’s the one he’s going to buy tonight. Grade: A–

Evan McKeel: This young man from Richmond, Va., has been one of the most consistent performers during Season 9. His knockout round performance of Switchfoot’s “Dare You to Move” wound up being the second most popular on iTunes from the third night of performances. Earlier, he defeated Riley Biederer when they sang “Higher Ground” in the battle round and turned four chairs in the blind audition singing “Typical.”

Tonight: Well, he sang a short snippet of it at the spur of the moment in his blind audition, so tonight Evan will tackle Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed.” Pharrell says he knows folks want to hear the full version from Evan. And he’s encouraging Evan not to hide his emotions as he sings it. If Evan suffering from a case of nerves. Something about this seems too mechanical. Evan got stronger as that went on, but that certainly lacked the flair of the opening number for Team Pharrell. Grade: C.

Madi Davis: This singer-songwriter is the youngest performer on a team whose coach had great success with young contestants in Season 8. Madi turned two chairs singing Carole King’s “It’s Too Late” in the blind audition. She defeated Sydney Rhame in the battle round. Their duet of “Riptide” was so good that it charted on iTunes even though it wasn’t shown on TV. In the knockout round, she sang “Case of You” by Joni Mitchell and defeated Amy Vachal, one of the most highly touted performers on The Voice. Madi’s cover hit number 54 on the iTunes Top 200.

Tonight: She’ll sing “Songbird” from Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” album, but she’s changed the arrangement pretty dramatically. Madi says her mom loves this song so she feels a lot of pressure to do it well. Pharrell says she could record an album right now. Actually, she’s already released two EPs. Fabulous opening by Madi. Love that tone of hers. Heck, forget the opening. That was fabulous throughout. I enjoyed that more than any performance in the live playoffs so far. Really great. You have to love the emotion Madi showed when the performance ended, too. Grade: A.

Celeste Betton: Interesting choice for Pharrell, since Celeste only turned his chair in the blind audition when she performed Jennifer Hudson’s “Love You, I Do.” But Celeste, 27, of Hinesville, Ga., definitely held her own against Mark Hood in the battle round when they performed “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” Keep in mind, Pharrell could have gone with highly touted youngsters Sydney Rhame or Siahna Im, or with pop vocalist Daria Jazmin. Oops, I guess he really couldn’t go with Daria; we never got to see her sing though she turned three chairs in her blind audition. But Pharrell says the battle round match haunted him to the point where he just had to bring back Celeste.

Tonight: Celeste has one of the night’s more interesting song choices. She’s going to sing the Carrie Underwood hit, “Something in the Water.” Unfortunately, this is off to a bit of a rough start. But Celeste certainly finds her voice on the chorus. Well, until the band picks up the volume, virtually drowning out part of her vocals. OK, nothing’s drowning out Celeste now. She spent about 30 seconds singing that at the top of her lungs. Gotta tell you, Team Pharrell is doing very well tonight, though that was a bit disjointed. She’s getting rave reviews from the coaches. Grade: B

Riley Biederer: This young woman from Atlanta has lost the last two times she’s performed on The Voice stage. Both times, she was rescued by steals. Now she’s back on Team Pharrell, where she started the competition after auditioning with Kelly Clarkson’s “Invincible.” Riley turned in her best performance yet during the knockout round when she sang “XO” by Beyonce and cracked the iTunes Top 200. She performed “Higher Ground” with teammate Evan McKeel in the battle round.

Tonight: Riley is going to take on Tori Kelly’s “Should’ve Been Us.” Riley has been really strong the last two rounds. I like the diversity she brings to a show that’s heavy on teens and country artists. Riley turns in a high-energy performance and nailed a couple of great glory notes. Right now, I really wish she was on Team Gwen, because Team Pharrell is doing so great tonight that might not be quite enough to make the finals. Riley scores high marks for her stage presence too. Grade: B–

Mark Hood: No contestant in Season 9 brings more energy to the stage than this guy from Chicago. Of course, he has also worked as an actor, so I’m sure that helps. He was the very first singer we met when the blind auditions began, singing “Use Me” and turning four chairs. Since then, he defeated Celeste Betton in the battle round and Siahna Im in the knockout round. Mark sang “Stand by Me” for that latest performance.

Tonight: He’s putting an R&B twist on Justin Bieber’s “What Do You Mean?” Pharrell notes that everything Mark has done to this point has been an R&B classic. He likes the fact that he’s doing something more contemporary. And Mark starts sitting at a piano. After the first chorus, he abandons that, a wise decision considering what a great showman Mark is. And he’s working the stage once again. That might have caused a couple of notes to go astray, but Mark turned in a fun performance that certainly got a great reaction from the crowd. And he threw in all sorts of little vocal frills. Grade: A–

Summary: Madi Davis turned in my favorite vocal of the live playoffs. I’ll be disappointed if she doesn’t make the finals. Let’s not forget that great show-opening performance from Darius Scott; it matched Mark Hood’s in intensity. I’d say those three deserve to make the finals based on what we saw tonight. I won’t be disappointed, though, if Riley Biederer sneaks her way into the finals. She’s come on strong as of late.

See also
Song by song grades for Team Blake in the live playoffs
iTunes results for Team Pharrell
iTunes results for Team Blake