It was Fan Choice on Monday’s
The Voice (Monday and Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on CTV2), which means coaches Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, John Legend and Gwen Stefani had the difficult task of helping their team members find their way around ill-fitting song choices. As usual, there were some pairings that causes singers to fumble, while others proved their worth by turning lemons in lemonade.
ROSE SHORT IS AMAZING
One of the biggest head-scratchers on Fan Choice night was Rose Short performing The Beatle’s “Maybe I’m Amazed,” which on paper sounded like an odd pairing. In reality, it was the performance of the night. Rose brilliantly walked the tight rope of keeping the song true to the original while still laying down some grit and power notes to make it her own. Sounding better than ever, Kelly said Rose sang straight from the Lord. Preach, Rose. Gwen said she felt like she was in a dream and described watching Rose as what she thinks it would feel like to take drugs. So yeah, she really liked Rose’s performance.
KATIE KADAN CAN LIVE
There are so many places to start with Katie Kadan’s performance of “I Can’t Live.” Her iconic glasses. Her old Hollywood glam gown. Her soaring notes that at some points turned operatic—if said opera took place in a bluesy speakeasy. Her ability to make a beautiful love ballad that has veered into cheesy territory in recent decades feel fresh and cool once again. Maybe it was John Legend’s celebratory dance throughout her performance that we loved the most, with the
EGOTSMA-winner knowing he was about to win back-to-back seasons of
The Voice. Even though the wasn’t performance wasn't her best (really fans, you couldn’t have voted for a Janis Joplin song?), it’s going to take more than a strange song pairing to dim Katie’s light.
EVERYONE LOVES RICKY
John said that he often forgets that Ricky is a contestant while watching him and feels like he’s watching a professional singer who should be coaching. Same, John. Ricky is at risk of getting lost in the competition because his performances have such an effortless quality that it’s easy for viewers to forget that what he’s doing is really, really difficult. He’s almost too good. Thankfully, everyone loves Ricky.
SHANE Q’S CONFIDENCE BOOST
Shane Q was on track to have one of the best performances of the night, with the confidence his coach Kelly has been trying to instill in him finally coming through in his voice and presence. Unfortunately, Shane flubbed a line on Shawn Mendes’ “Mercy” early on and lost the bravado he worked so hard to get, going from a beautiful and passionate rendition of the track to one that was marred by pitch issues. Still, the first half of Shane Q’s performance was more than enough to warrant him a spot on next week’s show, because when Shane Q is on, he’s unstoppable.
HELLO SUNDAY’S PERFECT PAIRING
Not all the song pairings on Monday night were out of left field. Hello Sunday got the vocal appropriate/age appropriate assignment of Zedd and Maren Morris’ “The Middle,” with the super-cute, super-talented teens continuing to earn their title as the most improved artists this season. As Blake said, he hates bringing up their ages, but it’s impossible to not talk about how young they are and how talented and focused they are at only 14 years old. Plus, they say ‘thank you’ in unison and that hasn’t gotten old yet.
The Voice airs Monday and Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on CTV2.[video_embed id='-1']RELATED: John Legend’s daughter is ‘skeptical’ about his singing[/video_embed]
