The first-ever sing-from-home edition of “The Voice” is live on NBC for Monday night. Season 18 will be over soon, and the Top 17 will be competing for your votes now. One of the first things for the audience to find out is which artist from the brand new four-way Knockout will join the other 16 contestants. The singers competing for this unconventional 17th slot are:
Todd Michael Hall (Team Blake Shelton)
Samantha Howell (Team Kelly Clarkson)
Nelson Cade, III (Team John Legend)
Michael Williams (Team Nick Jonas)
Following tonight’s two-hour program, you’ll be able to vote for your favorites. On Tuesday’s results show, here is how it will work to create a Top 9 for next week:
One artist from each team will be voted through (4).
One artist will be saved by each coach (4).
One artist will get an Instant Save by performing on Tuesday (1).
To see how we got to this point, enjoy revisiting our live blogs from each of the three recent Battle episodes on Monday, March 23, Monday, March 30 and Monday, April 6. And the ones from the Knockout episodes on Monday, April 13 and Monday, April 20.
Do you agree with our Top 17 power rankings going into this live episode? Follow along with our live updating blog below and keep refreshing for the latest recap details.
8:01 p.m. – To prepare us for the new normal of live shows, James Taylor was back on the screen to lead the artists through an at-home collaboration of his song in honor of the heroes on the front lines. We saw the Top 20 performing from their homes on cam and then switched to Carson Daly in an audience-less studio in Los Angeles. Carson told us that the coaches are joining via Microsoft Teams from their own spaces and that the artists would perform from their hometowns as well.
8:07 p.m. – As promised, the artist that moved on from the 4-way knockout was Team Nick’s Michael Williams!
8:08 p.m. – The first performances of the night were to come from Team Nick. For his performance, Thunderstorm Artis sang “Summertime” from Portland. Once again he was able to convey how strong of a musician he is, mastering both the guitar and some excellent runs. The highlight was the break in vocals to whisper an entire verse and still prove that he’s the vocalist we deserve! Both John and Nick were impressed by the whistling and thought it brought a great touch to the song.
8:16 p.m. – Next up was Allegra Miles from Florida with “New York State of Mind.” Here she threw us back in time with a standard that she brought a modern touch to. She breezed through the highs and lows of her voice perfectly, showing off a wonderful range. Nick told her that she’s shown growth over the course of the competition and this was her best performance of all.
8:20 p.m. – Also from Florida, Arei Moon went more upbeat with her rendition of “Finesse.” Despite not having the stage to work, Arei managed to exude an incredible sense of charisma and power in her recording. The vibe of the song and her energy as a performer shined brightly through the screen so that was a really pleasant surprise! Kelly definitely picked up on the 90s vibe and she and Nick both complimented her ability to be creative with the performance from home.
8:28 p.m. – Next up was Roderick Chambers from California with “Lost Without You.” While it was a solid vocal, it’s the kind of song that would have benefited from him being able to work the stage and show off some sex appeal and charisma. So unfortunately he was the first one that I felt was stunted by the at-home performance. John and Nick acknowledged that it’s not an easy song to sing because of the use of falsetto, but that Roderick nailed it.
8:32 p.m. – And from Ohio with “Sign of the Times” was Michael. The song selection here was good and fitting, but unfortunately it didn’t quite live up to the original. And like Roderick’s I think he would have benefited from being on the studio stage with a large production behind him to add weight and feeling to the song, filling in the gaps that his voice wasn’t rising to. Kelly was into the “rock n roll vibe” that he presented.
8:40 p.m. – The next team to present their performances was Team John. First up was “Blowin’ in the Wind” from Zan Fiskum out of Washington. Of all the artists so far she made the most of the format by creating what felt most like a proper music video. In that sense she created a unique vibe and showed off her personal style in order to add to a song that was sung beautifully. John appreciated the artistry and the subtlety and nuance in her voice. He liked that everything was intentional and Kelly even jumped in to yell that it’s the best version of the song she’s ever heard!
8:50 p.m. – John’s next artist was Mike Jerel with “All My Life” from Georgia. This was an interesting one because Mike performed from a theater stage from his college campus and yet still didn’t use that to his advantage. Instead he remained positioned at a mic and delivered a really plain interpretation of what is sadly a pretty dated song. John liked that he at least made the well-known song his own and that he threw in some big notes to make the song more electric.
8:54 p.m. – Mandi Castillo was up next from California. She sang the Spanish song “Corre” completely in Spanish which I think is a huge risk for this format. That being said, she sounded incredible and evoked passion in her very simple production. John was so proud of her flawless tone and vibrato and thinks that her power and passion comes out when she sings compared to her unassuming presence.
9:02 p.m. – Rounding it out for Team John was CammWess with “Ain’t No Sunshine” from South Carolina. Like he did in the last round, CammWess picked the perfect song to show off his smooth and wide-ranged voice. He’s incredible with ad-libs and with them managed to make such a classic sound fresh and completely his own. This kid is amazing. Why did Kelly ever let him go? How! Kelly thought he created so many tricks with the song to make it his own and John thought it was a challenging song, but he knocked it out of the park with his buttery tone.
9:10 p.m. – The first artist to perform from Team Kelly was Megan Danielle with “Anyone” from Georgia. I like that she went with another personal, emotionally-driven song, but the production of her performance wasn’t at the level of the other artists. There were pitch problems, enunciation problems and I think the emotional weight of the song didn’t translate very well. I thought she’d be a frontrunner this season, but now I’m not so sure. Kelly was proud of the performance and likes that she can move through different genres.
9:16 p.m. – From Memphis, Mandi Thomas was next with “I Hope You Dance.” I think with this song Mandi wanted to cement herself as the country vocalist of the season, but unfortunately her classical trained voice doesn’t translate easily into that genre. Despite some big notes, the overall power of the performance fell flat for me and never felt organic.
9:23 p.m. – Next up was Micah Iverson from Atlanta with “Your Song.” Fittingly he sang from the keyboard, but it was an expected, by the numbers rendition of the Elton John classic. I think he missed some opportunities with the big moments of the song because his voice didn’t hold out for him as long as it should have. Kelly was really happy with the performance though and Blake thought that he was able to “explode” at points of the song and that worked really well for him.
9:27 p.m. – Last up for Team Kelly was Cedrice from San Diego with “Everything I Wanted.” Of everyone on her team, Cedrice brought the highest production value and brought the personality of an artist to her performance. I loved the breathy nature of her vocal and how she paired that with the more full notes at the end. Kelly was so on board with the performance and said she doesn’t even think she needs the show because she’s cool enough to already be a superstar.
9:34 p.m. – Closing out the night was Team Blake which he calls the most “random and eclectic” group he’s had. Up first in this group was Toneisha Harris from Georgia with “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” by Kelly. This was yet another big song to show off her big voice and I think an attempt to make her appeal to a younger crowd with something more contemporary. Unfortunately I think it was a bad song choice because I like her on more mature songs, but hello this woman can sing anything and she absolutely killed it. Blake told her she brought personality and the vocal chops to back it up.
9:41 p.m. – Joei Fulco was next from California with “Runaway.” If her goal was to step firmly into the country-rocker position than this was the performance to do it, and the rasp and grit of her voice was definitely center stage. I think it would have benefited from the bigger production of the studio stage, but she actually managed to convey the appropriate image for the song with her own setup so major props there. Both Blake and Nick thought that she brought the right energy to a perfect song choice and that she performed it perfectly.
9:48 p.m. – Next up was Blake’s pop artist Joanna Serenko with “Rich Girl” from St. Louis. Turns out that Joanna also had a bunch of guitars hanging on the wall behind her, just like Joei, which is going to pit the two of them against each other in the votes I think. Joanna managed to deliver a dynamic vocal that reminded me of Jessie Ware, but didn’t really add anything else to her recording. Kelly thought the song selection was fun and Blake thought that she managed to show off her voice in a way he hadn’t heard before.
9:57 p.m. – Last up for the night was Todd Tilghman from his church in Mississippi with “Glory of Love.” Considering Todd’s usual energy, this was a subdued and really heartfelt song choice and performance. I think it was a smart choice considering the state of the world right now and it’ll speak to the audience in a special way. Blake called it an incredible performance and said that Todd is one of his favorite artists to have ever worked with.
10:00 p.m. – Tomorrow night we cut the field down to just nine, so get on the app and on the phone and vote for your faves!
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