‘The Voice’: Watch Chris Jamison Belt Out Nick Jonas’ “Jealous” & Matt McAndrew Do Hozier’s “Take Me To Church”
Getting through a whopping 12 performances proved to be quite a challenge on Monday’s episode of The Voice. Typically verbose coaches Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Pharrell Williams and Gwen Stefani had to keep it brief, both for fear of Carson Daly’s wrath, and for the sake of ending the show before the barely anticipated premiere of State Of Affairs.
Ultimately, they made it through all 12 — along with a requisite promotional appearance by Katherine Heigl and Alfre Woodard — with what appeared to be only one skipped commercial break.
With no saves left, the contestants really needed to blow the audience away, or at least be better than two of their peers. Here’s how they did:
Team Pharrell: Sugar Joans
“God colored outside the lines when he made her,” says Pharrell of his save, Sugar Joans, who starts off the night. She’s #blessed, indeed, to have such a big fan in Pharrell, who saved her after last week’s Aretha Franklin cover. Tonight, Sugar keeps it soulful with Al Green’s “Take Me To The River.” Although it starts off a little shrill, Sugar busts out a powerful performance with an amazing final note. The coaches rave.
“This forced you to do a little bit less in the beginning, which I think we all wanted to hear,” says Adam. “This showed a lot more about what you could do on the softer side of your range.”
“I always look forward to your performances,” says Blake. “There’s something about your tone that disguises how range-y you can be.”
“You continue to come out here and just show people new terrain, and that’s what it’s about,” says her coach. “I just thank you so much for following through and showing everybody song by song.”
Team Pharrell: DaNica Shirey
For better or worse, taglines really stick when it comes to Voice contestants, even if they are as banal as “soulful stay-at-home mom.” Said mom, DaNica Shirey, takes a risk by performing Radiohead’s “Creep,” a song that has brought down contestants in the past. Instead of the mournful Thom Yorke wail, however, Pharrell gives DaNica a jazzy arrangement that fits with her performance style. The big band background really works, creating a different, and therefore downloadable, rendition of the song.
“You are a freak of nature. It’s incredible that that comes out of you,” says Gwen.
“You’re so good, so anything you sing is going to be amazing. That makes the choices that much more difficult,” says Adam.
“I’m just happy that we were able to come out here and make this happen for you,” says Pharrell. “This was amazing.”
Team Pharrell: Luke Wade
If there’s anything Voice coaches love (other than, you know, every performance by every contestant…ever), it’s triumph over adversity. Luke Wade caters to this love when he starts his performance of Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” a verse early.
It’s the most glaring mistake of the night, but he recovers well. The performance is quite impressive, but all the coaches want to talk about is the recovery from the botched intro. To them, it’s better than not making the mistake to begin with, apparently.
“He recovered like a professional would recover, and that is precisely what is required of anybody to be able to do this,” says Adam.
“It’s happened to all of us,” says Gwen. “People don’t care about that, actually. They actually like when that happens.”
“When it hits you, you were just like ‘Okay, I’m just going to go with this,’” says Coach Pharrell, adding, “Hashtag Luke-i-fied” for the second week in a row. Even Pharrell can’t make #Lukeified happen.
Team Blake: Jessie Pitts
Her performances may be hit or miss, but Jessie Pitts has a vision for who she wants to be as an artist. Blake’s save displays a sense of artistry behind the piano in a stripped down version of Swedish House Mafia’s “Don’t You Worry Child,” and her vocals are sweet. Her tone borders on goat-y and broken, though, when she stands up from the piano to end the song up-tempo.
“I loved hearing it broken down like that, and it was just very beautiful,” says Gwen.
“The one thing that I would just say is keep exploring the big part of your voice,” says Adam. “Keep reaching for those notes, because you can really hit them with your full voice.”
“This show’s called The Voice; she’s got that. If it was called the artist, she’s got that too,” Blake raves, adding, “She’s got a lot of the things that actually remind me of Miranda [Lambert], because she takes things and makes them her own.”
Team Blake: Reagan James
Happy birthday to The Voice’s youngest remaining contestant, Reagan James! The recently minted 16 year old celebrates by making it to the Top 12 and preparing Lenny Kravitz’s “It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over.” (Getting a learner’s permit will have to wait.) She has a strong voice and confident stage presence, and her performance only suffers from a few (lack of) breath issues.
“You definitely made that song your own, and it’s cool to see you floating across the stage,” says Pharrell.
“There were a couple moments that were a little breathy,” says Adam. “Sometimes that did affect my enjoyment of it.”
“I’m about to download that song and own it myself,” says Blake. “The way that you navigate a melody, it blows my mind.”
Team Blake: Craig Wayne Boyd
Blake’s last remaining country singer, slash the only remaining country singer, is Craig Wayne Boyd. He drops his southern rock side, and gives a straightforward country performance of George Strait’s “You Look So Good In Love.” The song lacks any serious wow moments, but it’s still one of the more technically on-point performances of the evening.
“You’re such a professional, and so natural,” says former coach Gwen.
“We know how good you are at getting the room riled up, but we needed a moment like this,” says Adam. “I’m super proud of both of you guys.”
“It’s one thing to have one breakout moment on this show, but to have two in a row — and you just did — that’s unbelievable,” says his coach.
Team Adam: Damien
When it comes to the live rounds, there is, as Blake would put it, a 200% chance that someone will break out a power ballad. In this case, Damien (no last name needed) is that someone. Adam’s choice for the emotional singer is “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” by The Hollies. It’s grand. It’s dramatic. It’s…way, way saccharine. The audience goes wild for his performance, though, and the coaches applaud Damien’s almost operatic voice.
“If this room is any indication of what’s going on in the world right now after seeing that, congratulations,” says Blake.
“That’s Baptist. Pentecostal. That’s Southern church,” says Pharrell
“I could not in a million years be any prouder than I am right now,” says coach Adam.
Team Adam: Matt McAndrew
Pop-rocker Matt McAndrew and Adam bond over tattoos a little bit before Matt rehearses Hozier’s “Take Me To Church.” He performs in front of a projection of a moving stairway, presumably to Heaven or the castle from the “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” video. Terrible backdrop aside, the song allows him to rock out in his lower register, and has the audience absolutely losing it.
“As much as I can tell you were dumping everything into that, I couldn’t hear him that good,” says Blake. “I’m just going to take a shot in the dark and say that was awesome.” Scientific approach.
“If I was KROQ I would be calling the show right now,” says Pharrell. “I can’t wait to hear the album that you’re going to make after this show.”
“When you said the ‘amen’ in that song, that was truly one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard you do,” says Adam.
Team Adam: Chris Jamison
Fresh off a Live Round save, Chris Jamison prepares to perform Nick Jonas‘ “Jealous.” Part of this preparation is the Adam Levine heartthrob makeover, which puts Chris in a slim cut suit for his JoBro moment. Looking fly, Chris gives one of the top performances of the night. He alternates seamlessly between his full voice and his falsetto and the ladies, of course, go wild.
“That is 100% your best performance,” says Pharrell. “The way you handled that falsetto every time, it was effortless.”
“It just showed all the strengths of your voice, says Gwen. “The screaming in here was so loud that I think I have permanent damage.”
“You are a talented, talented singer,” says Adam. “Ladies and gentlemen of the world, I give you Chris Jamison.”
Team Gwen: Ryan Sill
After seeing a Ryan Sill suffer with his physical rhythm, Gwen picks up a smart strategy: choose a song that doesn’t require Ryan to dance. Duran Duran’s “Ordinary World” certainly gives Ryan the opportunity to soar without bopping, but it just falls flat. And sharp. The pitch of notes that he’s not shouting is all over the place.
Either the live acoustics are drastically different than what comes through the television, or these coaches love everything.
“You were such an amazing singer,” says Adam. “Rock and roll music is the way you have to go because you just killed it.”
“You do have it. I agree with Adam: rock for sure,” says Pharrell. “Pick a lane where no one can do what you can do and stay there.”
“I couldn’t even sleep last night I was just so excited to hear you sing that,” says Gwen. “It was so perfect.”
Team Gwen: Taylor John Williams
Gwen views pop folk artist Taylor John Williams’s “aura” as being “dark, but not.” How fitting, then, that the stage design has a few simple spotlights set against a projection of butterflies. Like…a lot of butterflies. Sorry, not “fitting,” but rather “flitting,” like the wings of the absolutely bizarre butterfly lighting.
Butterflies aside, Taylor’s performance of “If” by Bread is fine, but not the level of phenomenal that earns top marks in the live rounds.
“You have a beautiful voice,” says Adam. “The purity of your voice was really able to come through tonight.”
“Your vocal really brought the tenderness out of the song,” says Pharrell.
“When I heard you do that song for the first time I finally really heard what your voice is,” says Gwen. “You were amazing.”
Team Gwen – Anita Antoinette
Jamaica native Anita Antoinette closes out the night with Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” It’s a powerful departure from last week’s “All About That Bass,” and its subtlety is a strong episode sendoff. The coaches would probably rave more if State Of Affairs wasn’t about to start.
“That song is like one of the most important songs that’s ever been written,” says Adam. “You gotta be proud that tonight you get to be that ambassador to Jamaica.”
“There is something about your voice that is just so soothing and calming and relaxing,“ says Blake.
“That was incredible,” says Gwen. “It was authentic, it was beautiful, it was true, and I just feel blessed to be part of it.”
The results are in tonight. Were you as blown away by all of the performances as the coaches were? Or do you have two you’re ready to send home packing? Let us know below!
