The Voice Season 2: Battle Round #3 Recap

The Voice Season 2: Battle Round #3 Recap

1) Pip v.s. Nathan Parrett

Team Adam

"You Know I'm No Good" (Amy Winehouse)

Winner: Pip

Pip had a really good start to the battle round but Nathan sounded a tad bit shaky to me. Despite newfound confidence displayed by Nathan I still thought Pip was slightly sharper. Blake agreed with me but Christina did note that Nathan was still somewhat nervous. Cee Lo disagreed and thought he possessed confidence and gave him the edge but in the end Adam still chose Pip over Nathan. 

2) Erin Martin v.s. The Shields Brothers

Team Cee Lo

"What's Love Got To Do With It?" (Tina Turner)

Winner: Erin Martin

I had some difficulty early on hearing Erin really dive into thet song. Her voice sounded surprisingly off kilter while The Shileds Brothers also boasted some imperfections in their performance. I thought this was a real mess. Erin's yelps were just wildly misplaced while The Shields Brothers were almost too much in unison. Blake would have picked Erin but after the way he openly perved her, his opinion couldn't be taken too seriously. This match-up should have overwhelmingly been to Erin's advantage and I thought that Cee Lo was setting up The Shields Brothers to fail but I think he genuinely might have had to think this one over more closely. He really picked Erin's voice over The Shields Brother and not the performance because I actually felt like The Shields Brothers were better but Erin Martin is certainly the quirkier act between the two and I think that Cee Lo probably still made the better choice for the show moving forward.

3) Ashley De La Rosa v.s. Jonathas

Team Christina

"No Air" (Jordin Sparks)

Winner:Ashley De La Rosa

I thought Ashley had some pitch issues during her performance but I still found her overall performance to be far more commanding and interesting than Jonathas. I did find it interesting however that they used another song from an "American Idol" winner. Cee Lo commented on the choreography instead of focusing on the actual vocals. The other judges all picked Ashley over Jonathas and eventually Christina did too. I'm not sure about her live show viability.

4) AlyX v.s. Jermaine Paul

Team Blake

"Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into My Car" (Billy Ocean)

Winner: Jermaine Paul

I found this song choice to be astonishingly baffling. Presenting Alyx as a loose cannon and a wild card was an interesting choice of phrasing because Alyx was a bit of an oddity for me. I thought this was one of the closer bouts but only because I felt like Jermaine did a good job but based on his audition I actaully felt like he didn't even hit his maximum level of potential. Christina said that Jermaine made the song his own while Cee Lo gave Jermaine the nod. Adam felt Jermaine took the song and kicked it's ass and gave the bout to him. Blake felt that both singers did everything he asked of them but declared Jermaine the winner. I felt it was a closer call than I expected because I went into it expecting Jermaine to control it start to finish but Alyx held her own.

5) Angel Taylor v.s. Katrina Parker

Team Adam

"Bleeding Love" (Leona Lewis)

Winner: Katrina Parker

I went into this battle round expecting to hear Angel Taylor overpower Katrina's perfectly competent voice but instead I was surprised to discover how understated Angel's voice remained. Angel still exhibited rather potent control, tone, and pitch but I think Katrina showed up realizing who she was up against. I still fully expected Adam to pick Angel over Katrina because of her overall talent and live show viability. Christina was absolutely right about the song benefiitng Katrina much more so but her comparison of Katrina to Adele was ridiculous. This is one of the problems with The Voice though. A singer clearly wins the battle round but the other singer simply didn't get to shine to his or her fullest extent. Angel Taylor was one of the three or four best voices by far and Katrina's performance obviously forced his hand. Katrina simply made it impossible for Adam to pick Angel, which is who he would have preferred to keep. 

6) Gwen Sebastian v.s. Erin Willett

Team Blake

"We Belong" (Pat Benetar)

Winner: Erin Willett

This was a tough one because of Erin's dying father. Unless I heard her wrong, her father had maybe 24 hours to live at the time of the taping of the battle round. It was an unenvious position for everyone involved. I thought they both sang it pretty well but Erin's voice was geniunely more overpowering but how much of that was just sheeer volume was tougher for me to decipher. Christina picked Erin based on style but Cee Lo chose Gwen. Adam gave Erin a slight edge over Gwen before Blake agonized over his decision. He ultimately chose Erin over Gwen and it will always be a source of contention for those watching whether Blake was persuaded by Erin's powerful family situation. I do think that Erin's performance might have been.

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