[Reality-TV-Fanatics] 'The Voice' Recap: The First Battle Round Ends with a Surprising Showdown and Steal

 

Night one of the Battle Rounds now is when I pay the most attention the Battle rounds then the Knock out rounds.  Are you finding someone that stands out for you?

  'The Voice' Recap: The First Battle Round Ends with a Surprising Showdown and Steal
Monday, March 19, 2018

Derek Stauffer
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV

The Blind Auditions are over for The Voice season 14, and the show moves on to the Battle Rounds. Although the Battles last far too long -- mainly because they're paired with the virtually identical Knockouts -- The Voice starts things off strong with this first round. 

 

Nearly every coach brings out one stellar performance from their team, with the exception of Alicia Keys. Alicia is playing it reserved. While that doesn't make her Battles particularly fun to watch, it may be the smartest route to victory, as the other coaches (but particularly Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine), end up giving up some of their biggest talents to other teams.

 

As per usual, each team has their own mentor on hand for the Battle Rounds. The breakdown is simple.

 

Team Alicia has Shawn Mendes, the pop pretty boy de jour whose every song sounds like his first song, "Stitches." 

 

Team Kelly has Hailee Steinfeld, whose more of an actress who sings than a true double threat, but whatever. She's at least a lot more confident and interesting to watch than Shawn.

 

Team Blake Shelton has Trace Adkins, whose status as a country music legend allows him to have ridiculously long hair at 56, though someone really needs to check if he's awake or slip him some uppers for the rest of this season. Trace does not care or he doesn't want people to remember the last time he was on a reality show (it was The Celebrity Apprentice).

 

Team Adam has Julia Michaels, a long-time songwriter who recently turned into a singer. She's someone that no knows, but that's oddly refreshing. It's just a little weird to see Team Adam freak out over Julia and not just ask, "Who is this girl and why should we care?" 

 

Jamai vs. Sharane Calister ("Mercy")

 

It's the (former) singer telegram deliver versus the (former) long-lost twin for the first Battle. Upon seeing their competition, they both think they're being sacrificed for the other. Only one of them is right. Alicia is putting all her eggs in Sharane's basket.

 

Jamai does surprise Alicia (and the audience) by being better than expected, but he's a little too aggressive. The Battle is energetic but borderline screechy. Alicia seems to want to pick Sharane from the start ... so that's exactly what she ends up doing. 

Winner: Sharane Calister

 

 

Dylan Hartigan vs. Brynn Cartelli ("...Ready for It")

 

It's fitting that Kelly puts these two together because although Dylan is 21 and Brynn is 14, they're both immature about who they are as artists. Dylan has not outgrown his boy band stage. Meanwhile, Brynn is great but an obvious teenager. 

 

Dylan desperately needs to focus more on singing and less on just gyrating around the stage. Dylan dances more than he sings, and it's not even good dances moves; it's Drake in the "Hotline Bling" video but without the meme-worthiness of it all. Brynn is such a clear winner of this Battle. 

 

The live audience is into Dylan's aforementioned pelvic thrusts, which may explain why Blake makes the decision to steal him when Kelly does the right thing and picks Brynn to move on. 

Winner: Brynn CartelliSteal:

\Blake steals Dylan Hartigan 

Kyla Jade vs. JessLee ("One Last Time")

 

Instead of pitting his pop artists against the mountain of country singers, Blake goes with what he knows best and has the two cannibalize each other. Blake will bring as many country singers as he can to the live shows, even if it kills him. In the build-up to the Battle, Kyla seems to be the favorite of both Blake and Trace. They're more devoted in mentoring and guiding her.  

 

During the actual showdown, JessLee starts off shaky but does manage to recover (slightly). Yet the point is irrelevant when Kyla opens her mouth. Kyla's voice is so powerful, and she could easily become overwhelming and exhausting. For now, she strikes just the right balance for the Battle. The choice, for Blake, should be clear.

Winner: Kyla Jade

 

Rayshun LaMarr vs. Tish Haynes Keys ("Sweet Thing")

 

Adam picks his two biggest and most heavy-hitting singers together, which is a choice, but no one thinks it's smart one, including Rayshun and Tish. Adam does point out that this is good for them but bad for him, which is basically admitting that one of them is going to get stolen. 

 

Yet strategically, it really isn't that bad of a choice for Adam. Rayshun and Tish shouldn't both be on Adam's team when the live shows happen. They would cancel each other, out as they nearly do it in this Battle. Adam is making a slyly smart move.

 

Tish and Rayshun go into the Battle determined to sing their faces off, and they succeed. The coaches go wild when they go into their upper register and start belting. However, the far more enjoyable part of the Battle is the softer and smoother beginning. The two are a vocal match, though, so it's just about Adam picking his personal favorite. 

Winner: Rayshun LaMarr

Steal: Kelly steals Tish Haynes Keys

 

Christiana Danielle vs. Shana Halligan ("Use Somebody")

 

It seemed with her first Battle that Alicia was sacrificing Jamai for Sharane. In this second Battle, there's no question that she's heavily favoring one artist over the other. Hint: it's not Shana. 

 

Christiana is one of the best voices on Alicia's team, if not the entire competition. Shana, meanwhile, is a bit of a weirdo. She's distinctive, but there's no real heat or intensity to her voice. It's like a mildly pleasant whisper, and Christiana, by comparison, is a hurricane. 

 

This mismatch is quite a whiplash coming on the heels of the explosive showdown between Rayshun and Tish, but Alicia plays it perfectly. She needs to ditch Shana. 

Winner: Christiana Danielle

 

Jackie Foster vs. D.R. King ("Sign of the Times")

 

Neither Jackie nor D.R. were particularly memorable in the Blind Auditions. Well, that's not precisely true. D.R. stood out, but that was for his awesome name, not really his voice. Yet a little time with Kelly (or the right song choice) is all it takes for these two to go from non-entities to frontrunners. 

 

Jackie and D.R.'s voices meld together amazingly well. The end of the Battle does devolve into Jackie and D.R. trying to shatter glass by hitting increasingly higher notes. It's all about vocal pyrotechnics and not about singing the best song at that point. Yet Jackie and D.R. do earn that show-off by being excellently entertaining 90% of the time.  

 

Jackie has the slight edge, but that might just be personal bias with her genre of music. This Battle feels more like D.R. stepping out of his comfort zone than something he'll do on a regular basis. 

 

This is obviously going to be the third steal of the night, mostly because it's the last performance of the night, but these two are easily the most deserving of the steal. 

Winner: D.R. King 

 

Kelly picks D.R., which is a shock because Jackie seems more up her speed. But, of course, Alicia, Adam and Blake all press their steal buttons for Jackie. Adam makes the most passionate plea and...

Steal: Jackie chooses Team Adam!

What did you think of the first night of the Battle Rounds? Who had the best steal? Did Adam make a mistake pairing Rayshun and Tish together? Did Kelly make an error choosing Jackie and D.R. to battle? Who had you favorite performance of the night? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

The Voice season 14 airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8/7c on NBC. Want more news? Like our Voice Facebook page.

(Image and videos courtesy of NBC)

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