‘The Voice’: Alessandra Castronovo And Joe Kirk Do Battle With Rihanna’s “Stay”
The Battle Round of The Voice continued on Tuesday, and the coaches really started to fall into their grooves. Gwen Stefani complimented all.the.things, and was filled with regret letting any contestant go. Blake Shelton basically called something from each battle “The most/best/perfect-est [FILL IN THE BLANK] that we’ve ever seen on this show!” Adam Levine celebrated the tremendous growth of just about everyone in such a short period of time (lives changed, people) and Pharrell Williams was all chill, all the time.
It would be remiss not to point out that Pharrell also managed to wear a sweater straight from The Cosby Show (Theo’s, though, not Bill’s) and looked super cool doing it. For this, he is the true winner of the Battles.
As for the technical winners (and also rans)…
Team Pharrell: Jordy Searcy vs. Taylor Phelan
Pharrell puts his two indie rockers against each other in the night’s first battle. Jordy Searcy faces four-chair turner Taylor Phelan in an acoustic performance of The Script’s “Breakeven.” “Don’t overthink. Overfeel,” Pharrell advises.
The slow tempo they approach the song with is certainly overfeel-y, but on the plus side, the audience doesn’t try to clap along until halfway through.
“That was class,” says Gwen. “I got so lost in what you’re doing that I wasn’t judging.”
“Jordy, there were certain parts of that really difficult chorus that you did so well,” says Adam. “Taylor’s stage presence had a lot of effortless simplicity, so I’d have to go with Taylor.”
“You guys both just improved incredibly,” says Pharrell, who struggles to choose.
Pharrell picks Taylor, but tells Jordy “reach out to me,” as he leaves the stage. No contact information was discernably exchanged; perhaps he meant on Twitter.
Team Adam: Alessandra Castronovo vs. Joe Kirk
Four-chair turner Joe Kirk (the adorable teenager who loves his brothers) goes against Alessandra Castronovo, an untelevised offering from the Blind Auditions. Though the two sing beautifully in their performance of Rihanna and Mikky Ekko’s “Stay,” they manage to erase any and all chemistry from the original duet. Lesson learned: it takes more than just facing one another and caressing a microphone to give an audience the feels.
“What Joe Kirk just did, that may be one of the most perfect vocals I have ever heard,” says Blake. Because there are degrees of perfect.
“Joe, I think that you have a career for sure,” says Pharrell. “Alessandra, your movement around the field, it was just purring.”
“Joe, you came out here, you were confident, you completed every single task with so much grace and precision,” says Coach Adam. “Most people sit up there and they burst a vein trying to sing the songs that you’re singing, but your doing it with so much ease that it’s almost surreal,” he tells Alessandra.
In a somewhat shocking decision, Adam chooses Alessandra. You might think that Blake’s assessment of “one of the most perfect vocals I’ve ever heard” would earn Joe a steal, but most perfect is not perfect enough.
Team Gwen: Menlik Zergabachew vs. Troy Ritchie
Closing out week one of the Battles is reggae singer Menlik Zargabachew and vest enthusiast Troy Ritchie. Gwen assigns this duo “Maneater” by slightly more famous duo Hall & Oates. There is a lot of awkward head bobbing on Troy’s end, balanced out by a lot of impressive falsetto. Menlik’s performance is solid, but he looks solidly annoyed to be singing Hall & Oates.
“Very hard to look cool when you sing that song, for some reason,” Adam says, probably to Troy. “Both of you, since the Blinds, have made the biggest leap of any two artists on the show.”
“Troy, I didn’t realize that you were as good as you are,” says Pharrell. “Menlik, I have to say, Ethiopia is so proud of you because you just shined.”
“It’s almost like I wish I could put you guys in a blender and make you one person,” threatens says Gwen, adding, “I’m so in love, Troy, with your voice.”
Gwen picks Troy, but Adam and Pharrell are quick to jump in for the steal.
“You have a serious, serious voice that needs to be heard,” says Adam.
“If you go with Adam, I’ll be hurt, but I’m still going to be happy for you,” Pharrell says, using his signature “you do you” approach.
With minimal hesitation, Menlick joins Team Pharrell.
We Hardly Knew Ye:
A few more contestants fought the good fight, but their battles were never meant to be televised. On Team Adam, Rebekah Samarin defeats Clara Hong; and on Team Blake, Grant Ganzer defeats John Martin, and Tanner Linford defeats Justin Johnes.
With the this round halfway over, is it too early to say that Gwen and Pharrell are proving themselves to be rookie forces in this coaching game? See how their teams measure up against the Voice veterans’ when The Battle Round wraps up next week.
