The Voice – And then there were eight

Update: Check out the iTunes chart rankings as of the lose of voting at 12:00p Eastern at the bottom of the post.

I swear, I’m not bitter about the results of last week’s episode. I’m perfectly content with the idea that Kat Perkins found herself in the bottom three and stole the Instant Save that I predicted would rightfully go to Bria Kelly. Nope, not bitter at all.

With Bria and Tess Boyer sent packing, The Voice is down to eight contestants. And while as much as Blake and Carson wanted to make the start of this live show about Adam’s new hair, this is the point in the timeline of any Voice season where the performances are great across the board. Now it’s about the little things that the coaches can help their performers find to improve on. That, and song choice, song choice song choice. This week, three people will be sent home, raising the stakes even higher.

Sisaundra Lewis: “River Deep, Mountain High” (Tina Turner) – Team Blake

Blake brought Season Two contestant Gwen Sebastian in to work with his artists this week, but the real story is that Lewis is covering a Tina Turner song just like I said she should last week (Granted, “River Deep, Mountain High” is a 60’s song instead of the 80’s time period I recommend, but I totally called that, right?).

I don’t know if it was the fact that Sisaundra’s mother was in the house (seeing her perform live for the first time in a long while) or the fact that she covered Turner or just how amazing she looked on stage, this was easily the best performance I’ve seen this entire season. If she doesn’t vault to the top of the iTunes chart tomorrow, The Voice fans need to be taken behind the woodshed.

Josh Kaufman: “I Can’t Make You Love Me” (Bonnie Raitt) – Team Usher

Usher brought Josh to Henson Studios where, among its many famous moments, was where they record the original “We Are the World.” Bonnie Raitt probably isn’t the first artist you’d think of for him to cover on the show, but I think it’s an inspired song choice – which we know from the last couple of weeks is pretty much the most important thing to get right at this point. (That Usher’s last contestant is a stolen artist from another team is a fact that shouldn’t be lost on the audience.)

Shakira complimented Josh’s intuition as an artist, a point that I think is spot on. This song works for him (though I’m beginning to think Josh Kaufman could sing anything and make it sound great), because he knew how to tailor the song to his voice, and tailor his voice to the song.

I get that they have to fill two hours, and that’s too short for everyone to sing twice, but I’d rather us spend more time on the contestants somehow rather than featuring the coaches. I don’t remember Gwen Sebastian from Season Two, but I will admit I liked the way her and Blake’s voices blended on his newest single “Come a Little Closer.”

Kat Perkins: “Get Lucky” (Daft Punk) – Team Adam

Adam brought in Maroon Five guitarist James Valentine to work with his team this week. The recap of last week, where Adam guaranteed Kat would make it to the finals if saved, just served to remind us of the tragedy of her being in the bottom three to begin with. I’m curious (read: worried) about the song choice here.

“We knew we had to go big” says Adam. He definitely loved the performance, as he was jumping up and down and screaming as she finished. It was something special: different and powerful and distinct. The live audience loved it. I’m not entirely sure it translated nearly as well at home, but we’ll see tomorrow.

Kristen Merlin: “I Drive Your Truck” (Lee Brice) – Team Shakira

Eight contestants left, and both Shakira and Usher are down to one artist. As much as I like the two of them, this isn’t necessarily because the voters like Teams Blake and Adam more (Though, admittedly the dynamic between those two is one of the show’s hallmarks). Either it’s because Adam and Blake are better at grabbing the multi-chair turns early on, or they’re simply better at talent evaluation. It’s a point to look closely at next cycle with two new coaches.

I’ve underestimated Kristen Merlin both of the last two weeks, and am determined not to do it again. It’s curious that country fans seem to be reacting better to a country artist not on Team Blake. I’m not as familiar with “I Drive Your Truck” as some of the other songs Kristen has taken on, but its emotional core makes it a great choice.

It was a beautiful performance, but I’m not sure I agree with Shakira that it was transcendent. Kristen’s placement on the iTunes charts make her a front-runner, but I still think she needs one or more “game changing” performances before she becomes the front-runner.

Delvin Choice: “I Believe I Can Fly” (R. Kelly) – Team Adam

Carson said that “I Believe I Can Fly” might be the perfect choice for Delvin, and just seconds later Adam mentions his doubts. It takes the artist having an emotional moment for the coach to change his tune and say that “Delvin Choice was born to sing this song.” Don’t get me wrong: I believe Delvin’s moment was sincere … the packaging, however, was a little convenient.

Until the final note, I wasn’t connecting with this song nearly as much as the audience was. I appreciated the way he was rooted in the song, in a way that it he was almost living the song as much as singing it, but it didn’t feel like it topped the original. I get that most people will disagree with me here, but I just wasn’t as happy as everyone else.

Audra McLaughlin: “Forgive” (Rebecca Lynn Howard) – Team Blake

Audra is the artist that I keep expecting to explode each week. Her jump to third on the iTunes chart (compared to the other artists) was nice, but I’m waiting for the week that she’s the highest charter of the contestants. “Forgive” might showcase her voice enough to get her there (but when you’re going to pick a song more than 10 years old, I think you’ve got to pick a classic … I’m concerned this doesn’t fit the bill). Audra’s covered some Martina McBride; I think she should revisit her catalog.

It is a big song though. They featured the ending note during the prep-session, and it was enough to get me to set down my laptop and listen. It was a killer performance, but we’re already too far behind to get even three of the coaches a chance to tell her how great it was.

Pharrell Williams and Gwen Stefani both performed as well. I am looking forward to them both joining the coaching ranks next cycle, especially as it signals the departure of CeeLo and Christina Aguilera – the weakest of the whole bunch. Plus, anyone dropping a “TV-Land” reference is top-notch in my book.

Jake Worthington: “Hillbilly Deluxe” (Brooks and Dunn) – Team Blake

I think NBC needs to option a sitcom that’s Blake Shelton and Jake Worthington as a father and son country act. Ratings gold, baby. The question will be whether Jake can overcome his “allerngies” on stage.

Jake is the artist who is probably most ready to go out on tour – with Blake – tomorrow. This wasn’t necessarily his best performance (I think his allergies did have a small impact), but he’s still kicking ass and taking names. But I’m not sure that we saw the introduction of “Jake the Artist” tonight, more like “Jake the Performer,” an important distinction.

Christina Grimmie: “Something” (Lil Wayne) – Team Adam

I liked that the show highlighted the fact that Christina’s two closet friends on the show went home last week; that’s the kind of behind the scenes point that critics are likely to discount, but I think has big impact. It’s also interesting that Adam would advocate a song choice that might be seen as a similar direction to last week (especially considering he originally cautioned Delvin against a choice that might be perceived as being a little on the nose).

Christina Grimmie could win this whole thing (words you wouldn’t have expected from me even two weeks ago). As great as the performances were tonight, this was the first that I rewound and watched again. There’s just something special about those “big notes” that always do well on this show, but it’s even more impressive when they seemingly come from nowhere.

So who goes home? Picking one artist at this point is hard; picking three is nearly impossible. In this stage of the game, it’s more about the performances than raw talent (because everyone left has the talent to win). So did Kat Perkins’ Daft Punk cover go over well with voters? Did Jake’s allergies affect his performance just enough? Will Delvin’s song choice not be as beneficial as I hoped?

Update: Here are the iTunes Chart positions at 12:00pm Eastern (one hour prior to the close of voting). It’s particularly interesting how last week played out. Kat was the 4th highest charting contestant on iTunes, but slipped into the bottom three in the overall voting. That means that Josh, Jake, Sisaundra and Delvin all sold less MP3s but gained more votes.

Note: Previous tracks appearing in the iTunes top 200 include “Hold On, We’re Going Home” (Grimmie) at 31, “Stay With Me” (Kaufman) at 99, “I Won’t Give Up” (Grimmie) at 145 and “This Is It” (Kaufman) at 198.