Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Pharrell Williams with Taylor Swift, who will serve as a mentor for all four teams on The Voice during the upcoming knockout round. (NBC Photo)

Don’t look in the direction of Blake Shelton, who’s coached contestants to the crown more times than anyone else.

Through the first four blind audition episodes, Adam Levine and Pharrell Williams have done a much better job of reeling in contestants whose auditions impressed all the coaches.

With just one new set of blind auditions left, Adam has already snagged five contestants who turned all four coaches’ chairs. Those include Jonathan Wyndham, Chris Jamison, Joe Kirk, Damien Lawson and Mia Pfirrman.

Pharrell already has four, four-chair-turn recipients — Luke Wade, Maiya Sykes, Taylor Phelan and Blessing Offor — on his team.

Blake and Gwen Stefani? They have one four-chair turns apiece, James David Carter and Anita Antoinette, respectively.

Heading into tonight, each coach has 10 teams members. If you total up the chair turns those contestants have earned, Team Adam comes out on top with 32, compared to 31 for Team Pharrell, 21 for Team Blake and 20 for Team Gwen.

So, if you put a ton of stock in chair turns, it appears Adam and Pharrell have the strongest teams at this point.

Of course, I don’t put a ton of stock in chair turns. My favorite audition so far came from Team Gwen member Jessie Pitts with her lovely cover of “The Story,” and she turned just two chairs.

If I had to pick a dark horse contestant at this point, it’d be personable teen Reagan James, the gal on Team Blake who’s from Kelly Clarkson’s hometown.

On the other hand, three of the past four winners turned four chairs with their blind auditions; the exception was Season 4 winner Danielle Bradbery, who turned three.

And it’s time to meet more artists …

1. Matt McAndrew, 23, Philadelphia, Pa.: He recently graduated from the Music of the Arts in Philly. He’s sharing an apartment with his mom and sister because money is tight. He teaches guitar and voice, coaches student bands and works in a grocery store. He says he got his first guitar at age 11 and played until his fingers bled. “Eventually I started singing.” It wasn’t until later in high school that he started taking singing seriously. He has a tattoo of a box on his left arm. He plans to put a check mark in it when he gets a record deal. Matt will be singing “A Thousand Years.” He shows off a nice soft tone as the song opens and gets Adam to turn around quickly. Blake and Pharrell join him when Matt hits the chorus. There are a couple vocal missteps in the performance, but Matt also delivers a very nice ending. Adam says he felt like he was listening to a “really accomplished, unique artist up there.” Blake calls his voice “interesting and intense.” Matt likes pop-rock or acoustic rock. Pharrell says he’s been waiting for a voice like Matt. And Matt joins Team Adam.

2. Brittany Butler, 21, Boston, Mass.: Brittany’s parents divorced when she was very young and she was raised by her mom, who has Crohn’s disease. That means she spent tons of time with her granddad, who introduced her to music from the 1940s and ’50s and jazz standards. He bought Brittany her first guitar, then a camera so she could record herself singing and post videos to YouTube. She says she worked very hard to earn a full scholarship to the Berklee College of Music. Her granddad died in 2009, and the idea of fulfilling his dream has young Brittany in tears. She starts singing “The Girl from Ipanema.” Brittany has an interesting voice that entices an early chair turn from Gwen, who’s followed by Pharrell. Gwen called the vocals “very good” and likes Brittany’s “cute style.” Pharrell likes the way she embraced an incredible jazzy tune and praised her “uniqueness.” She joins Team Pharrell.

3. Evan Watson, 39, Fishkill, N.Y.: In 2013, he opened Plan Bee Farm Brewery. He makes the beer; his wife handles the packaging. The beer is sold at a farm stand outside their house. Evan says his dad was a musician and he always fooled around with his guitar. After college, Evan says he “got a little traction” as a one-man band and got an opportunity to open for Meatloaf. He made a self-produced album, but deciding he needed more stability and walked away from music for a while. “But music is part of me,” he says. He’ll sing “The Night They Tore Ole Dixie Down.” Evan has a nice, gruff voice. But no one turns their chair.

4. Ryan Sill, 20, Sterling, Va.: His mom was an opera singer, Ryan tells us. She teaches voice lessons from their house, which means Ryan has been around music all his life. But mom does not give him private lessons. “It just does not work,” his mom, Linda, says. His sisters also sing. Ryan went to James Madison University and studied engineering. He’s also in an a cappella group that got 800,000 views for a cover of “Titanium.” That convinced him engineering wasn’t his future; music is. Hence, The Voice. Ryan says he’s always performed in choirs and a cappella groups and that this is his first time on his own. He’ll sing “Secrets.” Really nice tone. He has Gwen turning her chair in a heartbeat. Blake joins her at the chorus. Blake says his voice sounded “cool” and he looks cool. He calls his voice “laid back and powerful” at the same time. Gwen said she sensed his tone was special from the very start and was impressed with some of the high notes he hit. Ryan joins Team Gwen.

5. Fernanda Bosch, 17, Miami, Fla.: She is from a Venezuelan family and says music is a very big part of the culture. “We all get together and sing and dance. It was a very big influence for me.” Her mom is a swim teacher and Fernanda works with Special Olympics youth. She formed a group called Music Laugh (perhaps), but the biggest crowd she’s played in front of is about 200 people. She’s never had a vocal coach, so she’s hoping to get that type of guidance on The Voice. She’s singing “I Try.” She has an interesting voice. And a nice rasp. She’s well into a somewhat uneven performance when Gwen and Blake turn around simultaneously. Blake likes her natural “sandpaper, gravel rasp” and calls it “badass” and “so Team Blake.” Gwen compliments her range and her timing. Fernanda decides to join Team Blake.

6. Beth Spangler, 30, Aiken, S.C.: She works at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia. She’s a radiographer who works with children. “My favorite part of the job is being able to help these kids. But as much as I love my job, music is my passion.” She says she’s been singing her whole life, but there aren’t many opportunities to sing in her hometown, she drives three hours to Atlanta to perform. Though she’s a “little country bumpkin,” she says she plays soulful pop music. She took some time off music to help her father, who lost his leg in a motorcycle crash. She’ll perform “Best Thing I Never Had.” She immediately displays a strong pop voice, and breaks into a big smile, when she sees Blake and Adam facing in her direction early in the performance. At the last minute, Pharrell and Gwen turn around, too, giving Beth a four-chair turn. Pharrell says he has some super soulful singers on his team, but “I do not have a you.” Gwen calls her performance “so beautiful” and her range “so crazy.” Blake says he fell in love with her voice “instantly.” And Beth joins Team Adam, who lands yet another four-chair turn recipient, his sixth.

7. Erin Kim, 24, Los Angeles, Calif. Erin teaches Taekwondo at his father’s studio and Carson Daly tells us times have been tough for his family and Erin is hoping music can help get them through it. His grandfather came from Korea to start a taekwondo gym and his father eventually took it over. His father always enjoyed Korean folk music and acoustic music. At 18, Erin went out to an open mic. At about age 20, he started getting interested in music. He performs acoustic soul hip-hop music, often at colleges. He’ll perform “Latch.” Erin has a good voice, but can’t entice a coach to turn a chair, though Gwen calls it a “creative version” of the song.

8. Griffin, 23, Greenville, S.C.: He has three siblings who were very close and put on lots of plays and musicals. When he was 12, he wanted to go to Nashville to establish himself as a singer and kept trying to talk his parents into moving there. It sounds like his family suffered through some tough times growing up. After high school, he and his sister started a bow-tie business so he would have enough money to move to Nashville. They ran the business for three and a half years before selling it. Griffin’s now been living in Nashville for a year and a half and works as a patient accounts representative at a senior living community. “I moved to Nashville to become a musician, not to sit behind a desk all day long,” he says. He’ll sing “It’s a Beautiful Day.” His fun, upbeat performance of the song earns chair turns from Pharrell, Blake and Gwen, the only coaches with spots remaining on their teams. Griffin says he plays pop music. Pharrell says he “couldn’t believe” Griffin’s range. Gwen likes his “rich, deep” voice. Griffin joins Team Pharrell.

9. Chandra Knudson, 21, Harlan, Iowa: She works as a graphic designer at a church and as a part-time nanny. She calls her hometown “definitely country. We had flannel Fridays in high school, if that says anything.” She’s been playing music and entering talent competitions since age 5. But hold it: This singer also has a crazy obsession with Batman. She has 13 Batman T-shirts, two Batman dresses she made herself, even Batman underwear. And, you guessed it, a Batmobile. Well, actually, a yellow car plastered with Batman stickers. “Slightly embarrassing riding with her,” her sister says. She’s going to sing “Hard to Love.” She has a touch of twang to her voice. She also knows a thing or two about glory notes. But no one turns.

10. Mayra Alvarez, 26, La Porte, Texas: She comes from the same town as James Worthington. She grew up singing in church. Her dad was part of a quartet and booked her to sing in churches. She eventually started singing on Christian TV. “I’m here today because of my dad,” she says. She’s going to audition with Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature” and says her biggest challenge will be to make the song her own. Mayra is doing a good job of just that, gets Gwen to turn midway through the performance, then entices Blake to do the same with a big note. Gwen calls her “such a beautiful singer” and says her voice was “light and fluffy and floating all over the place.” Mayra joins Team Gwen.

11. Justin Johnes, 15, Massapequa, N.Y.: He comes from a musical family. His mom sang in a choir; his dad was a drummer. “We’d all go down in the basement and watch the ‘N Sync live tape and that’s where I got my inspiration to become a singer and picked up some of my moves.” Justin says he started singing seriously in sixth grade, making YouTube covers with a friend. He doesn’t perform out anywhere, just in those videos, a mix of covers and originals. His audition song: “Let Her Go.” Hey, the youngster has a very nice voice. And it takes until the very end of the performance for Blake to turn his chair. And he snags the final spot on Team Blake, who says he has “neat, different” things he does with his voice. “The fact that he’s 15 and he’s already created his own sound, I love that about him.”