This was one of the most important nights of the Top 8 contestants’ lives in relation to what they did on The Voice. From this point, all they can do is their very best for themselves to represent their team going into the finals. So with the best intentions, how can anything go wrong? I mean, other than their individual performances?
I’ll tell you how: The group songs And that’s why I’m going to address them here and not in chronological order as in the show. You see, no real good can come of the group tunes as Teams Adam and Cee Lo together and Teams Blake and Christina on the back end did their things. Let me pull one example out of the hat: Did you hear Lindsey Pavao’s “The Edge Of Glory” part? Before the group number, she performed a pretty spiffy tune to wind up her semi-final performance. But, put in that group Gaga gang thing, she came up short, she sounded substandard and not up to par with the others. (Not that many of them were any better.) That can’t help her chances going into the eliminations … not going up against Chris Mann. And it counts, believe me. The audience is watching. If someone crashes and burns, even stumbles in the group number, how do you think it reflects on one’s solo outing? Maybe I’m playing the group gigs too much … but I don’t believe so. Stuff like this is a direct reflection on what a performer does.
Keep that in mind as we move onward to the solos and the eliminations …
Team Adam’s Tony Lucca “How You Like Me Now”
Gyrating chicks in black and red made Tony Lucca look rather “pimptastic.” Luckily, the “escorts” who accompanied him down the stairs and continued to squirm on the stage did not detract from his performance, which was pretty damned good despite the repetitivity of the tune.
Team Blake’s Erin Willett “Without You”
Painful beginning, both wavy and uncharacteristically low for her. You have to start somewhere, however. The problem is she continues to be uneven and warbly throughout the song and it doesn’t feel like she ever “caught the wave” she was trying to ride with the song. It was one of the poorest performances I’ve seen from Erin and that’s a shame because I’ve enjoyed everything she’s done up to this point.
Team Christina’s Chris Mann “Ave Maria”
Nice to see Chris smack dab in the middle of his element. If he did tunes like “Ave Maria” all day long, he could quite possibly win The Voice. But this isn’t “The Voice – Opera” we’re watching. And, even though far from the best version of the song I’ve heard, I don’t doubt he’s head and shoulders above anyone else this evening, give or take. (An Aside: Chris’ girlfriend mentioned “I love Christina as Chris’ coach … she really knows what to do with someone who can sing …” She hasn’t been listening to Christina like I have all season.)
Team Cee Lo’s Jamar Rogers “If You Don’t Know Me By Now”
Well … that was daring and original. I’ll give Jamar that. But too daring for my taste because it didn’t work.
Team Blake’s Jermaine Paul “Open Arms”
In rehearsals, Jermaine’s voice sounded a bit wimpy. But I figured if he could cut loose on the tune he would do well. So … how did he do? Well, he fudged up the first part of the song, missed the notes completely so that the pianist had to repeat the first few before he got his act together. That didn’t bode well. And for the remainder of the song? Jermaine over sang it, sometimes painfully. “You came in and murdered that song … you killed it …” Christina said. Well, not quite … but he left it panting on the floor. And not in a good way.
Team Adam’s Katrina Parker “Killing Me Softly”
The Fugees version of the song was a dandy pick for Katrina. Jermaine could take a few lessons from her, a lesson in putting it out there in such a way as to give it some understated umph without killing it in a bad way.
Team Christina’s Lindsey Pavao “Skinny Love”
It appeared Lindsey projected more than she ever has before, which was a smart move on her part going up against her partner in crime Chris Mann. Nice performance from her.
Team Cee Lo’s Juliet Simms “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World”
Juliette did just what she was supposed to do to end the night: She put out a strong performance to close out the show. Always an enviable position to be in when you can make the audience take notice like that.
Who advances? Chris Mann (much to my chagrin), Erin Willett, Katrina Parker and Juliet Simms.
Notes:
Clacked by Michael Noble 
on May 01, 2012 @ 00:29 EST5EDT
I cheat and fast forward the group performances (a habit I picked up when I still watched Idol). They are usually absolutely painful. As are most of the coaches’ performances.
And I think there should be a drinking game where you have to take a shot every time Christina makes it all about her in her comments. There would probably be some serious alcohol poisoning.
I agree with most of your predictions. I think Team Blake is a toss up though. I think Jermaine has a following that might pull him through. And I love Lindsey, but it’s highly unlikely she’ll beat Chris. I’ve never been a big Juliet Simms fan, but she killed it.