By Erica
Woot! I finally got a new laptop, so perhaps I will be more timely with the blogs? (Although, not if the Housewives keep having reunions like Beverly Hills or Atlanta. I think that The Voice serves as a nice balance, a palate cleanser between drama filled cat fights. As much as I sometimes get irritated with Adam’s snarky responses to Blake (that Blake doesn’t really return), at least they aren’t gaslighting each other or everyone else. Geesh!
Also, there were no new twists this week. I’m glad. I needed routine, even if it meant the lousy twitter save is still in effect. I’m finally figuring out most names and personalities too. There are some real stellar performances this week, and so many artists that there wasn’t even that much filler stuff.
Last week, when I nearly went Dorinda on their asses, I said that Kelly’s team was the weakest. Now, that is still true, but I don’t think I gave enough credit to Kaleb Lee. He’s true blue country, funny, and seems sweet. He had a great performance with on point vocals. He could be Kelly’s saving grace. However, as a group performance, Blake’s team SLAYED. They sang “I Thank You” together. I might get a smack down for this… don’t tell anyone… but I might like Pryor’s voice more than Blake’s! Also, the last time Kyla sang with someone else on the show, she got called out on pulling back with a “backup singer” mentality. That is gone now! There was a moment that it was her turn to sing and she was hitting some seriously awesome high notes that I saw Blake just get the biggest grin on his face. The dimples were out in such force I was almost blinded! I think he was just giddy with pride and excitement over her talent.

Individually, it is still Pryor Baird, Britton Buchanan, and Kyla Jade as my early favorites. They continue to impress. If nothing else, they are well worth checking out on YouTube!
I did not catch whether or not Blake picked the song, but Pryor’s choice was brilliant. It was much different than last week’s 9 to 5, and he did it brilliantly. I didn’t recognize “Pickin’ Wildflowers” but it had this gravelly country rock that was perfect for his voice (yet, as I said before, he somehow pulled off 9 to 5 which is NOT gravelly country rock to say the least!) Also kudos to him for working the high platform stage set that I don’t think I’ve seen since Chris Blue. He worked the entire stage, and it made for some great camera angles.
Britton Buchanan KILLED it with Mellencamp’s “Small Town”. It was as if that song was written for his voice frankly. How many instruments does this guy play anyway? Both he and Pryor played the guitar, which I loved. Britton worked the crowd well, in a way that if memory serves, we usually see later on in the season. I’m sure I’m forgetting others doing it. He’s not QUITE as smooth in working the stage as Pryor, but it might be an age thing for me rather than his actual level of comfort.

And then came Kyla for the last performance of the night on Monday.
Supposedly it is luck of the draw, and I don’t care if production cheated to make sure Kyla was the finale. She KILLED singing “One Night Only” from Dreamgirls. It was magical. Again I am not so much in awe of her high runs, but the deeper notes she can hit. I want to know what her octave range is. Honestly, her pauses and body language were also impressive with this one. I think, if she has ANY acting ability, she could sing in a musical. She certainly gives JHud herself a run for her money singing this one! (A reminder – JHud won a damn Oscar singing this number as Effie). Apparently Blake and Jennifer had been tweeting about Kyla and that she was doing this number, and Jennifer was so excited to hear it. Also remember that just last season, Kyla was a backup singer for Jennifer on The Voice!

As for the bottom two, my predictions of who had the weaker teams also came true. Rayshun from Team Adam and D.R. King had to battle it out. Rayshun did fine on Monday, but he needs to do some variety in song selection and come out with something really memorable. Remember how I said Kelly made a mistake in saving him and not Tish Haynes Keys? Again, I was right! D.R. totally biffed it Monday night. I thought it was terrible. It wasn’t much better for his Twitter save performance, frankly. I kind of felt bad for Kelly as she of course said really kind, thoughtful things to him and she obviously DOES think he is talented. But in the “Vote to keep my guy” speech portion of the evening, Adam gushed on and on about Rayshun’s talent, and why he is needed. Kelly’s mainly consisted of “It’s my birthday, y’all, don’t send him home on my birthday!”
Thank God America didn’t listen.
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