The Voice 10: Top 10 Report Card

Disclaimer: All these opinions are clearly subjective and I am in no way affiliated with The Voice or any other corporation.

Last season I was getting the blog up and going so this time around I'm trying out a new format. Instead of using numbers, I'll be using letter grade for the performance "report cards" at the bottom of the post. The report card is basically a ranking of all the contestants who performed tonight. Anyways, on with the show!

Obviously my first thought was why is Michelle Obama and some white lady doing on The Voice? Second thought is what exactly is an "anniversity"? She's extremely proud to be here with "eeze military families". The first group performance was cute. There was a point where Michelle was lazily bobbing her head to the music and looking down and that pretty much summed up how I felt about the decision to give Nick three solos. But no one sounded all that good in this number so Nick was in company.

On with the review of the performances:

DANIEL PASSINO (TEAM PHARRELL)

"I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"

Does The Voice just want Daniel to fail? Why is he first? Fresh off of an instant save, the "buzzer beater" (whatever that means, Pharrell) is back trying to convince America to keep him safe. I don't know exactly how to sum up how I felt about his performance he seems to just be letting everything get to him. His vocals were very hit or miss and he's out here singing the cheesiest song in these singing competitions. This isn't the time to keep being extremely cheesy with the song choices and the performances AND also let your vocals slip (that falsetto was indeed false), Daniel. I immediately thought "oh, it's not like he would know any of this because the judges don't critique!" but as I typed it, Christina looked Mr. Passino square in the eyes and told him there were "some" pitch issues. So good for you girl! What's going on with Daniel, though?!?! D+

SHALYAH FEARING (TEAM ADAM)

"My Kind of Love"

So they basically just flip flopped the first two of the night. Anyways, Poo poo seems to be singing with her heart and not her vocal chords and the first half of the performance was so off pitch I thought about pausing it and just listening to her sing "Listen". She definitely sings with a lot of passion but it really came at the price of her vocals this week. When you're singing passionately you get an excuse for hitting a wonky note or two but the complete opposite happened here. She had about one or two solid notes and the rest was just wonk. If she's in the bottom I'm expecting a killer performance from her because, like Daniel, she's proven she can do this before but the dots just aren't connecting right now. But vote for her because I want to see her tear up "No More Drama" by MJB!!! C-

NICK HAGELIN (TEAM CHRISTINA)

"I Can't Help It"

The king of pop. Really, Nicholas? Did anyone used to watch Nikita on The CW? Nick looked like Percy stuck in that glass box underneath Division and if I'm going to be honest that's all I was thinking the entire performance. When Nick announced he was going to not stand still all I could think of is how he always sounds like he's just run a marathon and he's limping to get himself a shot of Gatorade so I was really scared he was going to crash and burn. Nope. It sounded about the same amount of out of breath as usual. On the positive side, he looked like he was giving a performance at his concert or an awards show. On the negative side, It felt like I was watching an impersonation of Justin Timberlake doing an impersonation of Michael Jackson. I only asked for one thing from Nick this week. One, simple thing. Sing on pitch my brother. 

...

Those last two or three falsetto notes at the end were beautiful. That's about as much credit as I can give Mr. Hagelin. Side note, Christina can tell Daniel he was off pitch when it was the first time but bow down at Nick's feet when he's even more off pitch EVERY single week? Her OWN artist? Are you setting him up for failure, girl? C-

HANNAH HUSTIN (TEAM PHARRELL)

"Rolling in the Deep"

I am so glad Hannah came at the point she did in the night. Not only was I glad we didn't have to wait until 9:43 to hear her sing again but it's nights like these that make you appreciate positive consistency with the contestants. First off, I LOVE Hannah's personality. I look forward to her clip package just to hear her talk sometimes, there's something ridiculously relatable about her. A few weeks ago I said she didn't have any control of her voice, to my credit that was coming off of "Ain't No Way". And there ain't no way that performance was perfect, but I spoke to soon. The smaller parts of "Rolling in the Deep" proved she has the ability to control her voice. Whoever that dude was fanning himself off after the performance, same. There was fire to her performance, she's one of those rare performers who is able to capture the emotion and passion of an upbeat song and drive it home. Did I mention her voice was just killing it this week? I think this was overall one of her best performances so far and that's saying something because she's had quite a few gems. A-

LAITH AL-SAADI (TEAM ADAM)

"The Thrill is Gone"

Laith is probably the only contestant left that isn't really "marketable". By that I mean that I'm shocked that America watches this genius at work every week and actually gets it, voting him through every week. Forget the fact that he just stands there with a mic and his guitar every week. The amount of power and grit in his voice that pours out when he's on stage is absolutely electrifying. What's even more incredible is that I feel he's holding back on us a little bit with his vocals because I know he's been waiting all season to hit us with those runs at the beginning of the song. Also, how awesome is it just to see someone having the time of their life jamming on that stage? (@Blake) I can't co-sign Adam's monologue about musicianship any more. B+

PAXTON INGRAM (TEAM BLAKE)

"It's All Coming Back to Me Now"

Don't get me wrong, Paxton sounded amazing (as always). I just thought there was something missing from this performance. Whereas last week there was emotion pouring out of him it came across as him trying desperately hard to connect to another power ballad just to have another moment like last week. He looked great, the staging was fine but something just didn't all the way click. His pitch was nearly perfect but there wasn't that emotional base to it that he's always been able to deliver on. B-

MARY SARAH (TEAM BLAKE)

"Stand By Your Man"

Does Blake have ANY other way to describe her than talk about how much of a classical country singer she is? But I know what this song is so I was actually excited to hear this performance!! This song suited her SO well. I thought her tone was much less nasally, even in her upper register. I know this might not be everybody's cup of tea but I think vocally it was her best performance so far. The only thing I still have an issue with is the fact that she can sing the song that well and still almost put me to sleep. B-

BRYAN BAUTISTA (TEAM CHRISTINA)

"Promise"

Bryan is so hard to talk about. I have absolutely no idea what type of artist he wants to be and at this point we should no. Versatility is good but he's done Zayn Malik, Seal, Bruno Mars and now this. The one thing they have in common is he's been cheesy every time he's up there. Cheese is a good topping but it's not a genre of music. For what it's worth, I thought he did a very good job. His voice was great and even though I had no idea what he was saying 75% of the time I felt his delivery. B

ALISAN PORTER (TEAM CHRISTINA)

"Let Him Fly"

Once again, her voice sounded great. I think we're passed the point of me consistently praising her voice. Once again, I don't know what it was about this performance but something didn't click for me. I like the fact that she's not trying to stand up there and belt power ballads with crazy notes and I think she definitely needed a more stripped back performance and she succeeded with this. Maybe it's the fact that I have self diagnosed ADD, but I couldn't really just sit still paying attention to this performance. It was good though. B- 

ADAM WAKEFIELD (TEAM ADAM)

"I Got A Woman"

The song fit Adam like a glove. For me personally, it's hard to tell whether or not he has an emotional connection a song. But genre wise, he was in his element. His voice was crazy, I lived for every note he shouted and that run at the end was wicked and it was brilliant to end the song with that little piano riff and the brass kick in at the end. "We don't have a lot of time! Let's go to Pharrell!" ...Carson. B+

REPORT CARD:

10. Daniel Passino D+ (Last week's position: #7 // -3) 
09. Nick Hagelin C- (Last week's position: #11 // +2) 
08. Shalyah Fearing C- (Last week's position: #8 // -0) 
07. Paxton Ingram B- (Last week's position: #1 // -6) 
06. Mary Sarah B- (Last week's position: #9 // +3) 
05. Alisan Porter B- (Last week's position: #4 // -1) 
04. Bryan Bautista B (Last week's position: #6 // +2) 
03. Laith Al-Saadi B+ (Last week's position: #2 // -1) 
02. Adam Wakefield B+ (Last week's position: #5 // +3) 
01. Hannah Huston A- (Last week's position: #4 // +3)

PREDICTIONS:

BOTTOM TWO:  Daniel Passino and Nick Hagelin (or Shalyah Fearing)