The Voice 5: Top 6

TWO SONGS! That's right. We're down to the Final 6, and since they have 2 hours to fill, the remaining finalists delivered two performances. Some delivered - in fact, one is just peaking at the right time - and on a night where everyone needed to step up their game, one faltered even harder than last week. Indeed, The Voice has NEVER been this predictable.

Here we go!

12. Matthew Schuler
When A Man Loves A Woman
[TEAM CHRISTINA]
Whoa. After last week's disappointing performance and a Bottom 3 placement, I was expecting Matthew to get it together and deliver two outstanding performances tonight, but sadly, that didn't happen. I don't know what happened, but his voice just sounded shot. Compared to how he tore up Cosmic Love a few weeks ago, and then this? Sure, his voice sounded lovely at the beginning of the song, but it got really rough as the song went on. It sounded forced and almost unpleasant. Such a shame. 5

11. Matthew Schuler
Story Of My Life
[TEAM CHRISTINA]
Christina's attempt to appeal to the One Direction fans by this song choice alone was either smart or a little desperate. Haha. I really wanted to like this, but I couldn't. Seriously. Story Of My Life was meant to be sung as a group with all the charisma and whatnot, and he just didn't deliver. His voice was wobbly during the verses, and when he went into his upper register, it just didn't sound right. Heck, Harry Styles hit those high notes better - and that says A LOT! 5.5

10. Jacquie Lee
The Voice Within
[TEAM CHRISTINA]
Vocally, this was more contained and less scattered with a lot more finesse, but things got a little messy towards the end when she decided that it was in her best interest to scream at us. What did we do wrong to her? Yes, she has the potential to be great, but she just couldn't modulate her voice - it goes from soft to full screech and that's NEVER good. Oh, and what?! Did Christina say Jacqui was only 16?! I had NO IDEA! Let's crown her already. She's so good for her age!! 5.5

09. Cole Vosbury
Better Man
[TEAM BLAKE]
Maybe Blake needs to be more creative with his song choice for Cole no? Look, I appreciate the beauty of his tone, but my mind wandered throughout the whole performance. It was safe, his delivery lingered a little bit in the middle section of the song, and there was no dynamics whatsoever. 5.5

08. Will Champlin
A Change Is Gonna Come
[TEAM ADAM]
Was Will's version of A Change Is Gonna Come perfect? No. But I did love the liberties he took with the melody and he, once again, challenged himself with the vocal choices he made. His delivery lacked conviction though and he sounded a bit exhausted in parts, but there's a quality to his vocals that was quite pleasant. 6.5

07. James Wolpert
I'd Do Anything For Love
[TEAM ADAM]
I was pretty sure they'd cut this song brutally. I mean, this song runs longer than any of Christina's critiques. Haha. To be honest, I loved the beginning as it somehow showcased James' tone, but he kind of lost me when the band kicked in and everything went a little frenetic. There was an energy that I liked about his performance though, but it was still a bit all over the place in parts. 6.5

06. Tessanne Chin
Unconditionally
[TEAM ADAM]
I had reservations with Tessanne covering a Katy Perry song - Seriously! I don't remember a single cover of Perry's song that sounded good on any reality singing competition - but she somehow pulled it off quite nicely. The arrangement was quite interesting as it highlighted harder guitars rocking up this mid-tempo ballad a bit, there's strength to her delivery that was compelling, and she had great vocal control. The background singers were a bit distracting though, but I digress. 7

05. James Wolpert
Fall In Love With A Girl
[TEAM ADAM]
Minus the awkward pause in the middle - did he drop a lyric? - I thoroughly enjoyed this performance. The song choice was pretty cool, there's some interesting dynamics throughout the performance - without him really trying hard - and this was so different from anything else he's done in the past, which made this even more surprising - in a good way. 7.5

04. Jacquie Lee
Cry Baby
[TEAM CHRISTINA]
While I will seriously take Allison Iraheta's version of Cry Baby over Jacquie's, I can't deny the fact that she somehow made it work for her. Her vocals were absolutely powerful without being screechy - a first! - and I could tell that she was really trying to sell it. Her voice sounded a little light though with no grit and not enough texture to completely own the song, but whatever. 7.5

03. Cole Vosbury
Rich Girl
[TEAM BLAKE]
Ok. This was yet again another annoyingly safe song choice for Cole, BUT his beautiful and rich tone was front and center in this performance that I just couldn't let myself rank him much lower than this. True, the song seemed like it didn't go anywhere and he doesn't bowl me over with a big vocal, but I could listen to him all day. Enough said. 8

02. Will Champlin
Hey Brother
[TEAM ADAM]
Here's the thing with Will. He's very soulful that his emotions sometimes get the best of him when performing, but I would seriously have that over some manufactured emotions. His voice cracked in parts during this performance, but I seriously didn't care. He proved here that he's vocally and stylistically the most commercial left in the competition, and I enjoyed how he infused his vocal style in this performance. 8

01. Tessanne Chin
Redemption Song
[TEAM ADAM]
Just beautiful. I was genuinely worried when I heard of the song choice, but she did something special with this song and had her moment. Simple orchestration backed by a fantastic vocal and a delivery right straight from the gut and she put the emotion that it needed. Brilliant! 9

PREDICTION

Matthew Schuler