#tsoul

The Voice live shows are finally here!  Last night, Team Blake and Team Alicia took to the stage to sing for America’s votes.  This season saw the return of the comeback artists and real-time voting.  I am not the biggest fan of real-time voting, but that is neither here nor there.  Here’s a recap of last night’s performances starting with Team Blake.

TEAM BLAKE:

CASI JOY- “Parachute”:

I was a fan of Casi’s pre-lives, but there was a bit of a disconnect with this performance.  She kept her signature yodel, but I’m not so sure this was the best song choice for her style.  It was an okay performance overall, but not as memorable as some of her previous ones.

FELICIA TEMPLE- “Defying Gravity”:

Felicia was Blake’s comeback artist and boy was I happy to see her back on the stage.  That is until I heard what song she’d be singing. I am a musical nerd and love this song, but this was not the right choice.  She did put her own spin on this Idina Menzel untouchable, but it left something to be desired.

AALIYAH ROSE- “Brass in Pocket”:

I loved hearing the smokiness in Aaliyah’s lower register on this one.  Once again though, this was not the right song choice.  Aaliyah has a great voice, but she just couldn’t connect to the song.

TSOUL- “Knock on Wood”:

Now this was a song choice I could get behind.  I loved the gospel-esque open on this one.  Tsoul threw in a few great riffs as well.  This was a pretty solid performance.

ALIYAH MOULDEN- “Mercy”:

This performance was sassy and soulful.  I love the youthfulness that Aliyah provides to vintage/vintage sounding tunes.  She crushed this performance!

LAUREN DUSKI- “Someone Else’s Star”:

I love Lauren’s vocal tone.  She has a way of connecting to any song she sings and  she truly emotes when she performs.  Lauren delivered a captivating performance last night just as she has been since blinds.

With the real-time voting, America got to pick two artists to move on and the coach (in this case Blake) picked the third.  America, not surprisingly went with captivating country singer Lauren Duski and young firecracker Aliyah Moulden.  Blake had a tough choice, but ultimately went with smooth and soulful TSoul.

TEAM ALICIA:

CHRIS BLUE- “Love on the Brain”:

This was AMAZING!  Chris chose to sing in Rihanna’s original key and absolutely nailed it.  He displayed an incredible falsetto and some jazzy scatting.  Best performance of the night!

ANATALIA VILLARANDA- “Stand By Me”:

I love the soulfulness behind her vocal.  This was a good song choice for her.  She was fierce on stage.

JACK CASSIDY- “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”:

Jack was Alicia’s comeback artist.  The beginning of this performance was great, but something happened mid way through and he just started sounding nasally.  I was not feeling this performance.

VANESSA FERGUSON- “Lean On”:

This was not my favorite song choice, but Vanessa made it her own.  I loved the “church it out” moment.  This was a solid performance.

ASHLEY LEVIN- “I Can’t Stand the Rain”:

This was a great song choice for her.  I really liked her soulful tone and she did a great job emoting the song.

STEPHANIE RICE- “Every Breath You Take”:

I love that Stephanie arranged this herself.  It was emotional and really fit her tone.  I also loved the big growl note near the end.  This was a good performance, but I kept finding myself comparing it to Hannah Huston’s (aka the best unique cover of this song).

America was really feeling Chris’ and Vanessa’s performances and sent them through to the top 12.  Alicia chose to keep Stephanie Rice.

TSoul - Speechless