‘The Voice’ Recap: NOIVAS vs. Ray Uriel and the Last of the Battles

You and me, we’re going back a way The voice, To the right? So we know: the show is often about so much the confusing decisions of the trainers, since the efforts of the participants are at stake. And Tuesday’s conclusion of Season 23’s battles made for a cracking headache. As you’ll read when you get to the final fight in this round-up, Chance the Rapper went so far as to suggest that one of his teammates could win… and then kept it other type, allowing Blake Shelton to steal the standout. WTH? A nice parting gift for the cowboy on the way out, eh? Before you jump into the comments, let’s recap the performances of the night.

Team Niall: Jerome Godwin III (Grade: B+) def. Talia Smith (Grade: C+) on Like I Can | To get the Battle of Team Niall’s “two big voices” going, the coach first had to remove the instrumentation from Talia’s opening lines to give her more equality with her opponent, and then adjust some notes Sam Smith was able to hit, but jerome ? Not as much. In the end, the winner seemed clear. Mom-to-be Talia showed she had long range and charisma, but was criticized by Chance for pitch problems and Blake for leaving too many “loose ends”. (Nice to get some real criticism, huh?) For his part, Jerome sang like thunder. And what was really impressive about what he did was that he sang at top volume…but never seemed to yell at us; he maintained his musicianship throughout.

Team Kelly: Rachel Christine (Grade: A-) def. JB Somers (Grade: B) on “Light On” | As cute as JB seems to be, there was something vanilla about his voice that kept making me want to write him off as boring. But damn, he wouldn’t let me! It wasn’t just the vocal tricks he left behind on stage that influenced me either; there was genuine devotion in his tone. Nevertheless, Christine was clearly superior. She sang with unusual clarity and a richness that made my jaw drop. (How great would she sound on a country number?) JB is a good singer, Christine is a potential star (as far as The Voice Stars goes).

Team Blake: Neil Salsich (Grade: B+) on “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” | Because Alex Whalen was N/A due to personal reasons, his teammate was automatically promoted to the knockouts. But even if they had competed, Neil would certainly have made it. From what we’ve heard of his solo cover, it was searing. He seemed to alternately sing bold, italics, and both! Said it before and will do it again: He may well turn out to be just another Todd Tilghman.

Team Chance: Ray Uriel (Grade: B) def. NOIVAS (Grade: A) on “Jealous Guy” – NOIVAS Stolen by Blake | As the duo tackled the Donny Hathaway version of John Lennon’s oldie during rehearsals, it sounded like the four-chair-turn (NOIVAS) swept their one-chair-turn opponent off the stage; his voice is just this raging tidal wave of emotion. When the spotlight fell on her, Ray did a great job…but honestly, it didn’t pique my interest much. NOIVAS wasn’t just louder, he sang with so much more passion – he made Sit up and take note. So when Chance said he could win the whole thing, it didn’t sound like hype. I will never understand why he then let NOIVAS be stolen.

Your thoughts on Chance’s confusing choice of Ray > NOIVAS? Click on the comments after voting for the highlight of the night in the poll below.