First impressions from the battle rounds of season three: ridiculously impressive. There were contestants that had skills that I did not know they had. Those who I did know had skills rose to the occasion. Truthfully, there were not that many people who deserved to go home or were easy to say goodbye to.
The steal was also introduced. I think this is a great new nuance to the game that's been added. Each judge can get up to two steals. How can a steal happen you ask? When a judge eliminates a contestant in the battle round, that contestant is available to be stolen by the three remaining judges. If more than one judge elects to steal, the contestant can choose which team they want to be on.
Team Blake had the first battle and Blake enlisted the help of Michael Buble to help him with his team.
The first battle was between Scottish rocker Terry McDermott and Country man Casey Muessigmann. The song chosen was Carry on Wayward Son by Kansas-- Although Casey did step up, he sounded better than his blind audition; Terry came out with tons of confidence. The judges were thoroughly impressed by both men, but ultimately this battle went to Terry and I couldn't agree more. Blake said, the thing about you Terry is that you just know who you are as an artist.
Battle goes to: Terry McDermott
Battle two was between soulful Bryan Keith and College drop-out with tons of talent Collin McLoughlin from Team Adam who chose the song Santeria by Sublime and asked Mary J. Blige to sit in-- First thing is first, I did not thing this song did either one of these young men justice. This was an off song choice by Adam, I like the song, and I like Sublime, but this wasn't the right sound for either one of them. These two could not be more different from one another; Collin came out with tons of energy and eagerness, Bryan was more relaxed and more confident. Adam ended up choosing Bryan, but Collin received two steals from Cee Lo and Blake and chose to join Team Blake.
Battle goes to: Bryan Keith
Collin McLoughlin stolen by Blake
Cee Lo's Team had battle three between Peruvian rocker Diego Val and Youtube sensation JR Aquino. Cee Lo chose a great rock song in Jesse's Girl by Rick Springfield and had Matchbox 20 frontman Rob Thomas to advise the contestants; this song highlighted both singers in a great way-- Cee Lo chose Diego, and I was one of those people who initially doubted Diego; I didn't even think he would know the words. He showed so much potential though, and JR who was labeled as strong came across as boring in this performance.
Battle goes to: Diego Val
Christina Aguilera's team had the expertise of Billy Jo Armstrong from Green Day to help them with their battle. The first battle of Team X-Tina was between African refugee Nelly's Echo and former church singer and misfit De'Borah-- At first I thought Christina's song choice of Message in a Bottle by Sting was a little bit off, but when I heard what both of these artists brought to the song in terms of interpreting it in their own style, I was impressed. I actually liked the sound that Nelly's Echo brought to the song, but De'borah took it to another level with her style. I will say I am surprised that once De'borah was chosen by Christina that Nelly's Echo was not picked up by another judge because I do believe there was potential there. All the judges felt though that De'borah was the clear winner, and I must agree.
Battle goes to: De'borah
Blake had an all country battle with mother/ daughter duo 2 Steel Girls and yodeler Gracia Harrison. It's something that hadn't been done on The Voice before and I loved it because both artists came out strong and ready, especially being that the song choice was Sin Wagon by The Dixie Chicks-- Christina said it was entertaining and it definitely was! Both sides battled and battled well, but Gracia brought this sexy level of confidence that was unmatched by the mother/ daughter duo, and as a result Blake said goodbye to 2 Steel Girls. Gracia is someone that I think has a serious untapped talent, and I hope Blake is able to take her to the country charts because her voice is like a lost piece of art.
Battle goes to: Gracia Harrison
The final battle of the show was a battle for all ages and featured two amazing soul singers from New York from Team Cee Lo. It was between sophisticated club singer Amanda Brown and 18 year old phenom Trevin Hunte. They sang Vision of Love by Mariah Carey-- The judges were wondering at the end, just why did Cee Lo pit two amazing singers against one another, and Cee Lo had the same explanation I did. He had no idea how good Amanda Brown was, he underestimated her experience and her voice. Obviously, he saw some potential being that he was the only judge to turn his chair in the blind auditions; he discovered a diamond in the rough. Following the well fought, well matched battle, Adam said the whole thing was just crazy and that whoever did not get chosen by Cee Lo, he was going to try and steal for his team. Blake said Amanda was hot when she walked out onto the stage and remained that way throughout the performance, but by the end, he found himself attracted to Trevin as well, because, he took a woman's song and just performed it amazingly well. Christina said, this battle proved there was just too much talent for one team. Cee Lo said he wanted to continue with Trevin and be there for his journey. All three judges pushed the "steal button" and made their case to Amanda Brown. Amanda said she needed to take a risk, go against the grain, and she decided to choose Adam. I think this will be a good for her, and although I chose Trevin, I will try and steal Amanda for my personal team as well. Both of them are complete stars!
Battle goes to: Trevin Hunte
Amanda Brown stolen by Adam
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