‘The Voice’: We’re Down To The Final 5

Caila Ball-Dionne | May 7, 2014 5:37 am

Time to get this train moving! As The Voice prepared for next week’s semi-finals, the remaining field of contestants was cut down from eight to just five. With this year’s elimination show format, that meant four contestants sang for their lives at the end of the live eliminations last night (May 6).

Shakira and Usher enter the show most vulnerable, as they each have just one contestant left. Both Adam Levine (who is still rocking regretting that blond hair) and Blake Shelton, however, could still lose their entire teams in this elimination. Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, though. There is a lot of tension to manufacture, and performances to execute, before the results would be announced.

Starting off the night with a twang, Kat Perkins dons her country boots, and joins The Voice’s country singers Audra McLaughlin, Jake Worthington and Kristen Merlin to sing The Band Perry’s “Chainsaw.” There is something a bit off about the performance, which could just be a set of exhausted contestants at this late stage of the competition.

The others, namely Christina Grimmie, Delvin Choice, Josh Kaufman and Sisaundra Lewis sing “Latch” by Disclosure (featuring Sam Smith) in a performance accompanied by a good amount of lighting effects. Christina and Josh are certainly the standouts in this particular group, but each contestant has a solid showing.

With four “last chance” performances still ahead, the top four are announced:

Advancing: Team Usher: Josh Kaufman Team Shakira: Kristen Merlin Team Adam: Christina Grimmie Team Blake: Jake Worthington

That leaves Sisaundra Lewis, Audra McLaughlin, Kat Perkins and Delvin Choice singing for the final spot via Instant Save. It’s a tight competition!

Sisaundra sings Aretha Franklin’s “You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman.” It’s as flawless as always, and will either be an incredibly strong bid for a save, or an incredibly memorable swan song.

“As far as I’m concerned, we’re far enough along in this competition that the bottom doesn’t exist anymore,” says Adam, who manages to praise Sisaundra without pulling votes from his own at-risk contestants.

“I just want to say to America, you know you want to hear this girl sing again next week,” adds Blake.

Audra sings her second Band Perry song of the night, choosing “Done” for her Instant Save effort. The performance is energetic, and her last note soars, but the whole thing doesn’t quite stack up to Sisaundra’s.

“What I just heard is you letting everything out and just leaving your heart on stage,” says Shakira. “I would love for you to stay.”

“This girl is a world-class vocalist. More importantly to me, though: she’s a country vocalist,” says Blake. “I want to activate and call on all the country fans out there to save Audra.” (Sorry, Sisaundra! Coach is putting all his eggs in the other basket!)

Inexplicably landing in the bottom for a second week in a row, Kat once again brings it for her Last Chance performance. This week’s take at Heart’s “Barracuda” hits some shaky notes, but the girl knows how to work a crowd.

“This performance basically took me back to the beginning,” says Usher. “I wanted to hit my button like five times.”

“Terry McDermott and Kat Perkins are the two best rock singers we’ve had on this show,” says Adam, urging America to vote for the season’s last hope for rock.

Suffering the consequences of resurrecting a Space Jam song on Monday, Delvin is in the bottom four singing Bruno Mars‘ “Young Girls.” Like all of the “bottom” finalists, he has a strong voice, but it isn’t enough to erase the R. Kelly of it all from recent memory.

“Technically speaking, you are an amazing vocalist,” says Shakira. “There’s nothing wrong that you do when you get up there.”

“Nobody sounds like Delvin,” says Coach Adam. “He doesn’t deserve to be in the bottom four, and neither does Kat.”

So how did the Blake/Adam rivalry net out?

Saved: Team Adam’s Kat Perkins

Headed home: Team Adam’s Delvin Choice Team Blake’s Audra McLaughlin and Sisaundra Lewis

Adam has a slight advantage with two remaining contestants, but all four coaches are still in it for next week’s semi-finals! Is any coach – or rather contestant – leading the pack? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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