Who got instantly eliminationed on The Voice?

Here’s the deal (because there’s almost always a deal): As much as I dislike the coaches having to make cuts on The Voice, Adam Levine brought up a pretty good point with regard to the surprise announcement there were to be instant eliminations beginning this episode. Paraphrased, he said: “Wouldn’t you rather vote someone off and have that control rather than the voters out there taking care of business and voting off someone you really believe in?”

Yes … there is some method to that madness. But when it comes right down to it, it’s just a temporary balm for the inevitable.

Meanwhile, until we got to that aspect of the show, there were performances to be performed:

(Team Blake) RaeLynn “She’s Country”
The Good News: In her shorty-short dress and exposed shoulders, RaeLynn was sassy all over the stage. Add to that this was probably the best performance she’s had in some time and that’s more points in her favor. Curbing the growl, also to her advantage. The Bad News: The performance, with as much *umph* as she threw into it, was uneven. Some of the “babydoll” phrasing aspects of the song were unnecessary. Still, overall, more pluses than minuses.

(Team Christina) Jesse Campbell “Halo”
Shrieky and screechy. Maybe Adam “wasn’t feeling the song choice ’til it kicked in” … but I didn’t feel it at all. It felt desperate, which in a lot of ways, has been the M.O. for Jesse. Many of his outing have dripped of desperation for me.

(Team Blake) Jordis Unga “A Little Bit Stronger”
Well now … didn’t Jordis put out a heartfelt performance? The thing with me is the tattoos up and down her arms. Dolled up, nice dress, nothing ruins that look — especially if you’re performing for your very survival moving forward on a show — than hideous dribbly ink blotting her arms and distracting what efforts she offered.

Then, Christina saunters on the stage with half-clothed men to belt out some frantic tune, assisted by her entire team. First of all, she looked horrible. You know the saying “10 pounds of potatoes in a 5 pound sack” … ??? Well, toss in the fact part of the sack was missing and you’ve got a picture in your mind what Christina looked like. Not a good look on her. Her ass was hanging out and her boobs threatened to free themselves from their confines. Good news though: Chris Mann sounded good nestled within the company.

(Team Christina) Ashley De La Rosa “Foolish Games”
Appropriately moody is what Ashley was going for … and she accomplished it. But so much moodiness was strived for that half the time you couldn’t hear her or hear what she was singing. That’s been a continuous problem over the course of the last few weeks on The Voice. It’s not that it’s distracting during the performance … because you need to have something to distract you in order for it to be distracting. On this one, you were just left wanting. Anything.

“Payphone” performance by Maroon 5. *meh* I’ve never been a huge Maroon 5 fan except for their first album. Time and again, even Adam has admitted he doesn’t have the best singing voice … and this new song of theirs didn’t do any favors to winning me over.

(Team Blake) Erin Willett “Set Fire To The Rain”
Too. Much. Adele. That’s been the case on many a singing competition of lat.. The familiarity of her songs is at once comforting but there’s something screaming “Cripes! Enough Adele, already!” Interestingly, what made Erin’s performance different were some uneven spots and the back up singers. The downside was the offering was just there; it was anything but memorable. Adequate was more what it was. Christina said she sang her heart out but, if she did, it just wasn’t enough.

(Team Christina) Lindsey Paveo “Part Of Me”
Another “just there” performance is how it started, but Lindsey began losing steam after the first third of the song. Warbliness and off-key, horrible schlock came into play. I’ve been looking for a hopeful the coaches would call out as one who who get nixed during the instant elimination and I thought I had found the first victim. Little did I know …

Of the two team performances, I picked the predictable and comforting “Heartache Tonight” Blake and his team oozed out on stage. (I don’t even remember the name of the tune Team Christina sang and I don’t care enough to research what it was.) The not-so-good stand out item about the song? The piercing vocals of RaeLynn. *ouch*

(Team Blake) Jermaine Paul “Against All Odds”
Another heartfelt (?) performance of the night turned out a much better outing for Jermaine than his “Livin’ On A Prayer” of a couple weeks ago. It worked, but there were elements of it that were gratuitous. Even Adam mentioned he “over-embellished” on the song.

(Team Christina) Chris Mann “Viva La Vida”
Something told me with Chris’ admission “I’ve seen some other contestants kill it with contemporary songs. How do I kill it with my classical background?” question to Christina he was going to have problems tonight. Which leads me to state again: Chris Mann is not The Voice. I wanted to see some of the majesty of “Viva La Vida” come through with equal majestickness from Chris’ operatic tones. It didn’t happen. It just fell flat and lifeless, dropping limply to the stage.

Then, after all was said and done with the performances, we are unceremoniously ushered along to the instant eliminations by everyone’s favorite host, Carson Daly.  Christina was up first and, after an appropriate enough blathering of Charlie Brown off-camera “Mwah-Mwah-mwaaah-mwaahaah-mwah”-ing by her, she chose Jesse Campbell as the ousted from her team. Bit of a shocker for me as I was expecting Lindsey Pavao to get the ax. I was not surprised, and even a bit relieved, to find Blake’s choice of Jordis Unga exit the competition.

Come elimination time from the voters, I’m going with Chris Mann and Ashley De La Rosa to be cut.

Clacked by Michael Noble
on Apr 17, 2012 @ 00:35 EST5EDT