‘The Voice’: Pharrell Performs “Hunter,” Luke Wade Covers Marvin Gaye
Tuesday brought another night of exciting live performances on The Voice. After Monday’s showcase of veterans Blake Shelton and Adam Levine’s teams, newbies Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams were up to make their first marks of the Live Rounds. The two take very different approaches: Gwen professes her love to just about every one of her contestants, and Pharrell produces the hell out of every one of his. To each his own.
Before they can get to these stripped down performances, however, Pharrell opens up the show with a not-so-basic performance of “Hunter.” There are plenty of backup dancers on hand to support him, and a section of models in sunglasses watching on in what appears to be white bathrobes. Such is the way with the mega producer.
Pharrell is a tough act to follow, but the show must go on. Here are Team Gwen and Team Pharrell’s 10 live performances.
Team Gwen: Ryan Sill
Team Gwen’s Ryan Sill kicks off the contestant performances. The former college a cappella singer sings a stripped down version of OneRepublic’s “I Live,” and receives some dedicated coaching from Gwen on how not to look so awkward while on stage (in the nicest way possible, natch). The result is his best performance to date, with considerably diminished aca-bopping.
“What’s awesome is that she’s helped you so much with performance,” says Adam, adding, “Your pitch is just unbelievably good.”
“It’s rare that people actually break out of that shell, and you did,” adds Pharrell. “
I feel so emotional toward you,” says Gwen. “I love your voice, and I love you.”
Team Gwen: Bryana Salaz
Teen pop hopeful Bryana Salaz gets into the Veteran’s Day spirit by bringing her veteran father to meet coach Gwen, and giving him a grateful shout out after her performance. Bryana sings 5 Seconds Of Summer’s “Amnesia,” and hopes to “not only connect with Gwen, but with America.”
As cheesy as that sentiment may be, her vocals are undeniably powerful. The performance is more believably emotional than her past performances, as well.
“Bravo for being up there and doing such an amazing job at that age,” says Adam. “What’s rad is that you have such a perfect coach.”
“With each second that went by you had more strength to the very end there where you hit that amazing, unbelievable note,” says Blake.
“You did everything right. It’s night and day form when you walked in, “ says her coach. “You were living it, and it was real for you.”
Team Gwen: Anita Antoinette
Gwen says oversaturation be damned when she assigns Anita Antoinette Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass.” The Jamaica native gives it a little bit of a reggae spin, but could the arguably overplayed song deter some of the audience from downloading Anita’s version?
Time will tell, but you know who’s not deterred from loving it? All of the coaches.
“I love it. I love you! That was so great,” gushes Adam. “When it went reggae, I wanted it to stay like that.”
“It absolutely looked like you completely owned that moment,” says Blake.
“You’re one of the only ones in the competition that has that personality that’s so natural on stage and really infectious,” Gwen raves.
Team Gwen: Ricky Manning
Knockout steal Ricky Manning looks to win votes with Sam Smith’s “Lay Me Down.” His long-distance relationship helps him relate to the lyrics, and he seamlessly integrates a falsetto in with his strong voice to wow the coaches.
“You were so calm but in control,” says Blake. “That was just a solid beautiful performance.”
“When you listen to your performance now and to see where you’ve come from, it’s an amazing thing to sit here and watch,” says Pharrell. “You deserve your position on this show.”
“The only thing I was worried about was that note at the top,” says Gwen. “You were so tasteful, and you put your personality into it,” says Gwen. “I thought you were incredible.”
Team Gwen: Taylor John Williams
Closing out the night for Team Gwen is pop folk singer Taylor John Williams. He gives a swamp-pop approach to Stealers Wheels‘ “Stuck in the Middle With You” in an effort to show his more fun side. The rendition suits him, and earns (yet some more) rave reviews from the coaches.
“I thought it was a really cool and inventive way to do the song,” says Adam
“The half time thing really did work for you,” Blake agrees.
“Amazing job,” says Gwen. “What I love most is that you know who you are, you know what you want to do and you have a vision for yourself. That’s everything.”
Team Pharrell: Jean Kelley
Pharrell digs deep into the archives for Jean Kelley, assigning his steal from the Battles‘ Brenda Russell’s “Piano in the Dark.” Pharrell tailors the song to be more contemporary for Jean, but the resulting performance is a bit more 80’s drama than power vocals. It’s also just about the only performance that doesn’t earn uniformly rave reviews.
“I think that it was really, really good,” says Gwen. “It was just so dramatic that sometimes I was getting lost in the drama.”
“Sometimes that drama was overwhelming certain things in the vocals that were really hard to ignore,” Adam agrees.
“It’s going to be amazing if you just keep pushing,” says her coach. “This is just the beginning.”
Team Pharrell: Elyjuh Rene
Elyjuh Rene picks the perfect time for his coming out moment as an artist, and Pharrell produces said moment absolutely flawlessly. Elyjuh starts off Disclosure’s “Latch” stripped down, and then ends it with high energy, soaring notes and impressive working of the stage. The emotional performance earns standing ovations from all four coaches.
“Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow,” starts Adam. “You just became the frontrunner on one of the strongest teams we’ve got.”
“I definitely think that you’re the one to beat on Team Pharrell,” Blake agrees.
“I’m super proud of you because you came up here and you showed everyone who, what, when, where, why and how Elyjuh Rene is Elyjuh Rene,” says his coach.
Team Pharrell: Luke Wade
It’s never a disappointing performance from Luke Wade, and tonight’s rendition of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” is no exception. Luke manages to stay true to the song while still distancing his performance from karaoke territory by inserting just the right amount of ad lib.
“You’re amazing,” says Adam. “I don’t even care what you do because everything you do is so great every time.”
“You had fun with it, and that’s what you needed to do,” says Blake.
“Hashtag Luke-i-fied,” says Pharrell. Incidentally, this is all he says. #Lukeified, indeed.
Team Pharrell: DaNica Shirey
Though DaNica Shirey’s voice is a sure standout at this stage of the competition, she is still working on her onstage confidence. Pharrell believes in her powerhouse pipes, though, and assigns DaNica the challenging “Help Me” by Joni Mitchell. She rises to the challenge, and delivers one of the top performances of the evening.
“You sounded gorgeous,” says Gwen. “You got to do your runs and do your things to it, and I think Joni would have liked it as well.”
“Ability wise, there’s nobody like you in this competition,” says Adam. “You just turned Joni Mitchell into Chaka Khan.”
“All you needed to do was believe, and you did, and you came out here and showed everyone in the world that you’re a hummingbird,” say Pharrell.
Team Pharrell: Sugar Joans
Before Sugar Joans can strip down her performance, she strips down her persona. As she admitted in the Blinds, Sugar Joans is not her birth name, but a moniker she adopted after deciding her real one wasn’t working for her. “Only a few people can be born with a cool name like Beyoncé,” explains Sugar AKA Sophia Louise Pizzulo. So there’s that. She doesn’t mess around with her performance of Aretha Franklin’s “Say A Little Prayer For You,” which she performs dressed like an angel styled in the mid-70s. It’s another well-timed coming out moment on Team Pharrell.
“You just had your moment,” says Gwen. “I feel like that was the perfect choice for you.”
“That was the best performance of the night,” declares Blake. “Your vibrato comes from No Man’s Land.”
“I’m so proud of you,” says her coach. “You just took us on a nice emotional roller coaster ride.”
All 20 finalists will be whittled down to 12 through texting, call ins, Facebook, the new Voice app and real time saving. The whole process will be explained, at length and often, by Carson Daly, with the first round of results announced tonight.
Any guesses as to the Top 12?
