And then there were just 13. After half of the artists were eliminated last Tuesday evening on “The Voice,” we now have a Top 13 ready to perform on tonight’s episode. Six-time coaching winner Blake Shelton has an impressive six singers remaining. He is up against two-time reigning champ Kelly Clarkson (two contenders), three-time winner Adam Levine (two artists) and newcomer John Legend (three contestants).
Here’s how this live program works for Monday night, hosted by Carson Daly. All 13 performers will be singing tunes chosen by their fans. The home audience can then vote for their favorites over the following hours. For Tuesday night’s results episodes, seven with the greatest votes will be automatically voted into next week’s Top 8 show. Three will immediately be eliminated. Three will perform for an Instant Save on social media, with just one joining the Top 8.
This is a full list of contenders who are performing on Monday night:
THE TOP 13:
From Team Blake (6): Gyth Rigdon, Carter Lloyd Horne, Kim Cherry, Dexter Roberts, Andrew Sevener, Oliv Blu
From Team Legend (3): Shawn Sounds, Maelyn Jarmon, Celia Babini
From Team Kelly (2): Rod Stokes, Jej Vinson
From Team Adam (2): LB Crew, Mari
SEE ‘The Voice’ Top 13: How to vote and save your favorite artist of season 16 from elimination on May 7
And now enjoy making your own comments below in our updating live blog recap for Monday, May 6:
8:02 p.m. – Tonight’s show kicked off with the artist most of us think is the frontrunner at this point–Gyth Rigdon from Team Blake. For his song the fans chose “Nobody But Me” by none other than Blake. In rehearsals Blake was happy with the choice, calling Gyth a “dual threat” because of his voice and his ability to work the crowd during the performance. And sure enough Gyth lived up to those words. The moment of his performance was when he stepped away from the mic to approach the audience just as the swell of the song’s chorus was hitting and he got into the pocket of the song. He’s definitely one of the most charismatic performers this season.
8:09 p.m. – Also from Blake’s team, Kim Cherry took the stage next for the fan-picked Salt-n-Pepa and En Vogue song “Whatta Man.” In rehearsal, Kim and Blake discussed the potential of changing the arrangement of the track, but because it’s rap it can’t really be altered too much. In the end they decided that she is unique enough for it to sound different even with maintaining the original sound. The song ended up giving Kim the perfect opportunity to really dig into her rapping for the first time and she even managed to bring a lot of energy in her stage presence as well. Overall it might have been her best show of the season so far?! That being said, in critiques Kelly asked that next time Kim forego the rapping and just sing a ballad so that everyone can hear her voice.
8:19 p.m. – Next we skipped over to Team Kelly for a performance from her save, Jej Vinson. The fans decided to keep with the pop genre for Jej, sending him “Close” by Nick Jonas and Tove Lo. One bit of advice that Kelly gave him in rehearsals was to stick notes for longer periods than always falling back on the runs that he loves. For the performance Jej started out at the keyboard and then transitioned to a platform in the center of the stage which kept him apart from the crowd, but allowed him to make the ballad more intimate and really drive his deep vocal. I’m not sure he really connected properly with that song, but he did sound good! Adam told him that he’s always envisioned him in the finale and that he still feels that way.
8:29 p.m. – Andrew Sevener was the third Team Blake artist to take the stage with his take on the Luke Combs track “She Got the Best of Me.” He started the song off a little shaky, but with the chorus he found his stride and delivered a pretty solid country rock performance. Overall, I think he did his best, but at the end of the day he lacks the charisma and star quality that some of the other artists have and so it just feels comparatively flat. John thought the energy and passion were there, but that the song could have used “a little more finesse.”
8:40 p.m. – And another one from Blake’s team, Oliv Blu (his save) was up next. Blake said he saved her because she brings variety to the show and an example was that the fans gave her Sade‘s “Smooth Operator” to sing this week. And as promised Oliv served up something we rarely see on the show–a slow, groovy track. Surprisingly she was able to show off the power and versatility in her voice and also prove that she can bring the theatrics needed to be a star. I kinda really loved it?! As her former coach, John lamented that she was no longer on his team and he pointed out that the song is actually pretty hard to sing and she displayed a lot of control in order to handle it that well.
8:51 p.m. – Blake’s fifth artist to perform was Dexter Roberts with “Something Like That” by Tim McGraw. Dexter’s performance was very cool, kind of like what you’d expect walking into a Nashville bar and I think that’s the vibe he was going for. It was a true romp of a show and the in-studio crowd looked like they were loving the hell out of it! Kelly thought he exemplified how “country is a lifestyle” and that performers like him are why country does so well on the show.
8:56 p.m. – Team Legend’s Shawn Sounds was on hand for the quick follow up with the classic Luther Vandross version of “A House Is Not a Home.” John was happy with the song choice because it’s an opportunity for Shawn to show the emotion of a song. For me, Shawn delivered the best vocal of the night so far–giving us full range, true emotion and a whole complete show all in a single performance. Adam was blown away by the performance, calling it unbelievable, and John called it one of the best of the season by any artist.
9:06 p.m. – John’s save from last week, Celia Babini, was next to sing with the Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper track “Shallow.” As John pointed out this was the first time the song has been performed on any competition show before. Because the song is a true duet it was a little weird when she opened with the Bradley part, but the gear-switch to the Gaga parts were an improvement. Still I think the song was too big for her voice which doesn’t really hold notes as well as she needed it to. In his critique John admitted to us that Celia was nervous about taking on the song, but he thinks she really made it her own and that’s a success all things considered.
9:18 p.m. – Adam’s first (of only two!) artist of the night was LB Crew, the guy that came back after being eliminated during the Cross Battles. The fans chose the Boyz II Men song “I’ll Make Love to You” for him. I have to admit that I was expecting LB to make this a showstopper, but he kept it pretty understated for the entire first half of the song. But, man, when he loosened up for the booming chorus it turned into something else entirely, even if a bit pitchy in the end. Adam was happy that he put his all into the performance.
9:28 p.m. – Adam’s second artist, Mari, went next. The fans gave her Ashanti‘s “Foolish,” an R&B song she was happy to receive so that she could return to that comfortable genre. I think this was a the perfect song choice for Mari because it still sounds current enough to bring in younger fans, but some of the older audience members will remember the original. More than that though it gave her good space to work vocally and I also really liked the stage production! Adam declared Mari a “superstar” and thinks she’s been slowly creeping through the competition and applauds that she stays true to herself every week.
9:35 p.m. – Blake’s final artist, Carter Lloyd Horne, was next with “Let It Go” by James Bay. Gotta admit I was going it’d be the version from “Frozen,” but that might have been too risky, right? Instead Carter delivered a star-making performance directly from his wheelhouse. If this kid wasn’t already on your radar then I think this performance will have put you onto him and it could very well ensure him a spot in the finale. When Blake and Carter learned of his song choice they were worried, but in the end they were pleased with it. I’m surprised Blake and the rest of the coaches were so muted in their response to that performance though because I thought it was great!
9:44 p.m. – Team Kelly’s Rod Stokes got the penultimate performance spot for his rendition of “When a Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge. Kelly found it to be the perfect song for him because as she put it, Rod is “all heart” as a performer. I’ve got to say, Rod had the audience in his pocket from the very, very first note. It was a pitch perfect performance all around, big where it needed to brand still sultry in the way it’s meant to be. I don’t think he’s ever come alive as an artist until now, to be honest! The performance struck fear in the hearts of the male coaches, they all lamented that Rod isn’t on their team and now it finally seems like Kelly might be able to make it a threepeat!
9:55 p.m. – The final performance of the night came from Team Legend’s Maelyn Jarmon, an artist already vying for frontrunner status. Tonight she took on Coldplay‘s ballad “The Scientist.” It was, without a doubt, the performance of the night and season. Admittedly Maelyn hasn’t really been on my radar up until now, but she shot right to the top and I honestly don’t think we’ll get anything close to this good for the remainder of the season. She may have just won! The voice! The passion! The drama! It’s ALL there. Whew.
SEE ‘The Voice’ winners: Where are they now (Season 1 – 15)?
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