‘The Voice’: The Battle Rounds Come To An Awkward End

Rae Votta | March 27, 2012 5:00 am

The battle rounds came to an end last night, which mostly means we’ll finally get an outfit change from Christina (we’re all sick of that glitter disc headpiece, right?). The episode pitted a wide variety of weird pairs against each other, we were treated to Cee Lo’s tears not once, but twice, and the four teams were finalized before moving into the live performances next week. Head below to see who made it through.

TEAM CEE LO James Massone vs. Wade Cee Lo selected Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” as a challenge to the competitiors, but his all-satin outfit during his confessional posed a greater challenge to viewers’ eyes. To recap, James turned three chairs during his audition and doesn’t want to go back to the auto shop. Wade has old-school style, but only got Cee Lo to turn. James has so much hair he needs a headband, and mentor Ne-Yo says he just has to get out from under his nerves and fly. Mentor Babyface tells Wade to embrace the emotion of the song, and when they start rehearsing Cee Lo starts to cry, telling the singers he’s humbled by their talent. When they take the stage James has on a shiny Varsity jacket to complement his headband (Blake calls it “merch”), and he outshines Wade, who’s a little too hesitant for the song. Cee Lo agrees with the rest of the judges, and breaks his own heart, by selecting James instead of Wade.

Tony Vincent vs. Justin Hopkins Cee Lo picks an “epic” song for the two family men who’ve been working their entire careers toward solo stardom: “Faithfully” by Journey. Again, Cee Lo has tears in his eyes — so emotional is he about his teams! (Of note, he’s switched to a white satin number for this duo). Babyface calls Tony a professional who is always looking for ways to improve, while Ne-Yo points out that the roughness in Justin’s voice is his strength. It’s easily the best duet of the night, with both performers pushing themselves to new heights together. Cee Lo calls this the hardest decision he’s had to make this season, but ultimately goes with Tony Vincent.

TEAM ADAM Nicolle Galyon vs. Mathai Adam chooses “Love Songs” by Sara Bariellis, which plays well to Nicole’s piano-based singer-songwriter skills. Robin Thicke describes her voice as “morning coffee on the veranda” and encourages her to embrace her confidence. Adam describes Mathai as “a pure thing” and strives not to over-coach and ruin her specialness. In rehearsals, the piano screws up the duet scenario, which Mathai says could be good for her since it was Nicole’s advantage. Unfortunately, it leaves Nicole awkward, while Mathai’s unique voice keeps trucking along. Adam says he had high expectations and was let down by their performance, but picks Mathai as the winner.

Orlando Napier vs. Karla Davis Both Orlando and Carla were only picked by Adam during blind auditions, and so he pairs them up to battle on Hall and Oates’ “Rich Girl,” but when both of them struggle with it he switches to “Easy Like Sunday Morning” by The Commodores. Orlando starts off strong, with hope that their duet will be great, but Carla falls flat on too many of her notes for the thing to really soar. Shockingly, Adam puts Carla through to the live shows.

TEAM CHRISTINA: Moses Stone vs. the LiNE Country duo The Line is matched up with hip-hop artist Moses Stone on “Satisfaction.” The Line is sad the song doesn’t have a country vibe, but Christina says if you want to be a career artist you have to be able to morph into other genres. Christina takes part of Moses’ mentoring session with Lionel Richie to show off her own riffs, and Moses tries to match her as best he can. When The Line rehearse, Jewel calls them out on being too happy and too much like a wedding band, encouraging them to put some angst into their performance. The match-up is one of the most uncomfortable staging-wise, as they walk back and forth at each other in little half-marching steps, until Moses breaks into a rap. It’s as if the Black Eyes Peas made a country album. Christina goes with Moses’ high-spirited performance as her choice.

TEAM BLAKE: Naia Kete vs. Jordan Rager Blake’s final two take on Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours.” It’s more suited to Naia’s voice, but Jordan’s country style could transform it into a unique interpretation, if Jordan wasn’t so scared out of his element. Miranda Lambert mentors Jordan, helping him get comfortable, while Naia and Kelly Clarkson discuss how the bar should be higher for her since the song is her niche, and Blake recommends she saves her vocal tricks for the end of the performance. The pair can’t find a satisfying blend at all, so when Naia does her solo she pulls no punches in showing off her style, while Jordan doesn’t add many frills. Blake picks Naia to finish off his live show team.

Next week we start the live shows. Whose team has this year’s winner? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook!