It’s a pretty interesting batch with a lot of strong vocalists, which made this a rather unpredictable season of who will eventually win the competition. I wasn’t really expecting much from this season after a great Season 4, but I really thought they were able to deliver strong peformances. It was tough finalizing the list, but here we go..
Now, we pay tribute to the performances that made this season worth watching - and reviewing!
Holly Henry
[TEAM BLAKE]
Blind Audition
Quite fantastic. Her tone reminds me so much of Melanie Martinez of Season 3, which means she's another quirky contestant. But what separates her from the rest of "the quirks" is that she seemed authentic with a lot of personality and a good range, which is unusual for this type of singers.
Caroline Pennell
[TEAM CEE LO]
Knockout
I wasn't so sure of her song choice during this week as it somehow seemed redundant. Haha. But to be perfectly honest, the way Caroline phrased her words and added her own inflection to this song made me a serious fan and suddenly became my favorite contestant this season. Oh, and for a quirky singer, she's got a solid and powerful voice.
Shelbie Z
[TEAM BLAKE]
Knockout
Fierce! This was a pretty hard song to cover live - even Carrie Underwood had problems in the past - but Shelbie killed it! I wasn't even a fan, but this made me want to take a second look. Her vocals were solid, her pitch was spot on, and the way she worked that stage was awesome. No competition.
Ray Boudreaux
[TEAM BLAKE]
Top 12
Oh Ray, this was lovely! I never would've thought that a John Legend song would work for him, but his nuanced and restrained vocal performance was beautiful. True, his voice cracked in spots at the beginning, but when he recovered, he never looked back. Just lovely.
Jacquie Lee
[TEAM CHRISTINA]
Top 8
Her a capella was a thing of beauty, the way she owned the verses were outstanding, the dynamics she showcased was terrific, and her delivery was pretty believable. I thought that the caterwauling towards the end was a bit too much for my liking, but I can't deny the fact that Jacquie killed this version of Who's Loving You despite the fact that her performances by then were starting to sound the same each week. That said, out of all her performances, this was one of her best.
Matthew Schuler and Jacob Poole
[TEAM CHRISTINA]
Battle Rounds
A Fallout Boy song on a reality singing competition? YES! This battle was really good. It's totally relevant and both guys sounded amazing despite jumping around on stage. Vocally, Jacob sounded more convincing, but I was equally impressed with Matthew as he held his own considering that this wasn't even his genre. Plus, I felt like he had more control over his voice and his deep tone was gorgeous. I was hoping somebody would pick up Jacob though.
Kat Robichaud
[TEAM CEE LO]
Knockout
Kat, to me, has a voice that you either love or hate, but personally, I'm just in love with her voice. You Oughta Know is such a wordy and angry song, and she pulled it off quite nicely with great breath control and interesting phrasing choices. Plus, I LOVE her crazy intensity - deliciously creepy.
Matthew Schuler
[TEAM CHRISTINA]
Blind Audition
LOVE! His voice actually reminded me so much of Burnell Taylor during this Blind Audition, but with a cleaner and better range. I thought he sounded awesome, he's easily marketable, and right this very moment, I knew that he could go far in this competition. He did, but faltered towards the end, which was sad.
Will Champlin
[TEAM CHRISTINA]
Knockout
The week that I noticed that Will was getting better and better each week. He gave a pretty stellar version of this Bruno Mars' song with fantastic runs, solid falsetto, and an emotional connection to the song. I thought his delivery was sublime.
Cole Vosbury
[TEAM CEE LO]
Knockout
I'm doubly impressed with this song choice considering the fact that this episode was filmed back in August. Cole's version had more power compared to the original, but it still sounded terrific. He was connected emotionally with the song and his tone was just magnificent. Plus, his phrasing was lovely.
Matthew Schuler
[TEAM CHRISTINA]
Knockout
Strong vocals. Impeccable range. Brilliant song choice. Enough said.
Will Champlin
[TEAM ADAM]
Top 8
Soulful! Who knew Will could pull something as classic as At Last? I was seriously iffy with the song choice prior to this performance, but he did amazingly well with it. I mean, you don't hear too many guys cover this song on these reality singing shows, but the risk paid off as it was pretty riveting. His vocal choices in the verses were good, but when his vocals took off towards the end, everything just soared. It's wasn't perfect by any means, but this was gorgeous.
Jacquie Lee
[TEAM CHRISTINA]
Live Playoffs
Who knew? Yes, her performance was a bit over-the-top in places and her high notes were a bit shrill, but she was a revelation during this week. Her tone sounded like a mix of Amy Winehouse and Joss Stone and her range was actually quite outstanding. This was a pretty riveting version of the song. Very nice.
Tessanne Chin
[TEAM ADAM]
Top 6
Just beautiful. I was genuinely worried when I heard of the song choice during that week, 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!
Kat Robichaud
[TEAM CEE LO]
Top 12
Excellent! Kat's a whack, but this performance was FIERCE! She gave me everything tonight from the dramatic staging to the theatrics to her relatively fantastic vocals. Her deep warm tone at the beginning was fabulous and the rasp she infused after the verse gave her rendition added character. There's no denying that out of all the performances that week, her version of Sail stood out.
Matthew Schuler
[TEAM CHRISTINA]
Top 12
Despite the tired song choice, Matthew somehow magically managed to breath new life to Hallelujah. He coloured the song brilliantly well, he did enough to differentiate himself from the other renditions, there's a great amount of outstanding vocal dynamics and his falsetto was just gorgeous.
Cole Vosbury
[TEAM BLAKE]
Top 12
No guitar? No hat? A Miguel song? Whoa, Cole! This would look like a total disaster on paper, but he made Adorn work for him. He stepped out of the box and pulled it off with flying colors. I love that his transitions were smooth and his voice was tender but had enough rasp and grit to add dimension to his version. This was just an all around fantastic performance.
Tessanne Chin
[TEAM ADAM]
Top 8
SO GOOD. This was a brilliant song choice and the reggae arrangement fits Tessanne to a tee. The performance was entertainingly unique, nobody else on this show can do it, it made her stand out, and there's confidence and fun to her performance that I haven't seen before from her.
Caroline Pennell & Anthony Paul
[TEAM CEE LO]
Battle Rounds
This was a weird pairing, but both made it work. I was actually shocked that they sounded absolutely fantastic together despite having different vocal stylings. Caroline's quirky inflections sounded terrific on the song especially the choices she made with her phrasing. Plus, she actually has a powerful side to her voice, which was surprising. Anthony has a smooth tone that was very soothing and the liberties he took with the melody was equally awesome. This was an odd match made in heaven.
James Wolpert
[TEAM ADAM]
Live Playoffs
I intially questioned why his voice kept on trailing off after each phrase on A Case of You, but I figured it's intentional. It gave his rendition some character despite the rawness of his delivery - especially during the verses. His vocals were absolutely lovely, his transitions were sublime, it had a quiet power to his delivery and that tone was everything I wanted in life. This was obviously one of the most underrated performances this season and, to me, the performance of the season. It was SO good, I had to include the studio version in the blog's monthly playlist, which I don't usually do.
1 comments:
Hi! I would just like to ask if you're gonna post the studio versions during the finale. I'm really waiting for the songs especially their duets with the coaches.
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