‘The Voice’: The Top 12 Decided, Cee Lo Green & Rod Stewart Perform

Caila Ball-Dionne | May 9, 2013 5:29 am

So much excitement on the third night of The Voice this week! Cee Lo is back! Rod Stewart is still performing! Adam Levine brings the broadcast into overtime! Your votes totally didn’t count!

Wait…what was that last one?

That’s right: your votes didn’t count this week. If it always struck you as odd that American Idol and The Voice’s voting systems were less flawed than, say, the national government’s, you can rest assured that they’re just as faulty! Carson Daly, accompanied by a really serious looking British man, announces that there was a glitch in the voting system this week. To be fair to the contestants, all votes that were made via text or online were not counted.

Apparently, this decision doesn’t have an affect on the overall outcome, but does leave open the door for HBO to make Recount: 2 with the four singers sent home tonight. Check your local listings.

Rod Stewart makes his Voice debut, singing “Finest Woman” off of new LP Time. At 68 years old, he’s looking more like Dustin Hoffman’s dad every day, but his voice is on point with or without his gaggle of backup singers. Josiah Hawley, Garrett Gardner and Karina Iglesias join him for the one verse of “Forever Young” that he sings, and (if you were concerned) everyone leaves the stage with their hips intact.

Cee Lo’s homecoming to The Voice’s stage is completed by his Season 2 finalist, Juliette Sims. “It’s so good to be home with family,” says the former coach. There is no Lady Bird or Purrfect the Cat with him during his performance of his latest single “Only You,” but he is wearing an all-leather get up, so…can someone check on the whereabouts of the pets, please?

Team Blake Shelton and Team Shakira partner up to perform The Script’s “Hall Of Fame,” and it’s all good until they try to rap. Stick to singing, kids, and you will go far. Adam Levine and Usher’s teams delve into some EDM with Swedish House Mafia’s “Don’t You Worry Child.” We’re not going to point fingers, but some coffee shop singers and those who count Stevie Nicks as a fashion role model are not necessarily meant for strobe light performances. But…do what you can with what you’ve got, right?

So, who’s going to the Top 12?

From Team Blake, Holly Tucker and Danielle Bradbery are voted to the next round. Blake tells Justin Rivers and The Swon Brothers, “I respect you as men and I respect you as great singers and artist. There is a reason all of you have made it this far,” before he uses his save on The Swon Brothers.

The audience votes through Sasha Allen and Kris Thomas from Team Shakira. Shakira looks like she is just about to throw up when she has to make Shaki’s Choice between Garrett Gardner and Karina Iglesias. She turned to God, and (literally) drew a name out of a hat the night before to help her make the decision. Whether it was actually his name that came out or not, Shakira saves Garrett. “I feel like I can still affect change in the life of [Garrett],” she says before sending Karina Iglesias home. His lip ring must have hypnotic power.

From Team Usher, America saves Michelle Chamuel and Vedo. Usher curls up in to a one leg up fetal position when it’s time to chose who to save. Usher decides on this season’s heartthrob, Josiah Hawley, leaving Cathia to suffer from her coach’s choice to assign her a Whitney Houston song. “It’s left up to you to nourish yourself and push the limits,” he tells her. So…don’t call you for an intro to Bieber?

Adam is up last, and will not be cut short by silly things like time limits and Law & Order starting. The audience sends Judith Hill (who fakes a really good surprised face) and country diva Amber Carrington to the Top 12. For those of you whose DVRs cut off as Adam debated between Sarah Simmons and Caroline Glaser, Adam saved Sarah. With no airtime left, Caroline is forced to take her goodbyes to Twitter.

So there you have it: the Top 12. Do you think the voters (the ones that were actually counted) and coaches made the right choices? Any big surprises here?