Team Adam
Tony Lucca, The Heavy’s “How Ya Like Me Now?”
Tony builds on his last performance with an aggressive, energetic ditty that kicks off the show well. One thing to be said of Tony is he knows how to put on an entertaining show. While he did a decent but slightly bland version of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” a few weeks back, he’s really tried hard the last two times out to push his voice and energy out to fill the entire room. His voice falters here and there but he does have a way of getting people fired up.
Katrina Parker, The Fugees’ “Killing Me Softly”
Though there is definitely a tonal quality that stretches back to the Roberta Flack original, this version of the song Katrina sings is very clearly patterned on the Fugees remake. Katrina hews close to Lauryn Hill’s vocals and while it doesn’t necessarily give her a standout independent moment, it shows just how capable her voice is. She keeps pace the entire way, while we all watch to see if she’ll fall off the tightrope of faithfulness. Pulling it off with aplomb, she proves one of the strongest contenders to take it all.
Christina made a plea to Adam to overlook the strong popularity of Tony and pour his attention on Katrina, which I happen to agree with. Not only the overall best voice to come out of his team, Katrina is a Top 2 on the season. Still, America has a way of rewarding popularity over ability, so Tony has a strong chance to represent Adam in the finals.
Predicted Finalist: Tony Lucca
Deserving Finalist: Katrina Parker
Team Blake
Erin Willett, David Guetta’s “Without You”
Started out a bit shaky and off-key, but the arrangement brought some interesting levels for her to work with. It was an obviously emotional song for her, which played into the performance, both for good and for bad. The bad dragged down the technical aspects of the song at points, like a consistent rhythm or strong phrasing, which made her have to push for some of the bigger notes to tag each line. The good gave a heartfelt, invested quality that kept you watching.
Jermaine Paul, Journey’s “Open Arms”
One would think this would be an open-and-shut, easy song for Jermaine and there are points where he’s able to skate by on his natural ability. For some reason, he feels like he has to add a lot of affectation to the rendition and it becomes more about these adds than it does about his pure vocal ability. It’s a competent turn but the runs and the tricks actually hold the song back from being more enjoyable.
This showdown is a bit trying, though either would represent Blake fairly well. Jermaine has experience and some polish that has kept him aloft in this competition, but Erin has a big voice that strikes a chord with audiences. She also has a way of really baring emotion in connection to a song that Jermaine still doesn’t hold, despite all of his technical accomplishments.
Predicted Finalist: Jermaine Paul
Deserving Finalist: Erin Willett
Team Xtina
Chris Mann, “Ave Maria”
As a gambit to make the finals, they go back to Chris’ roots with an opera song. It’s no surprise that he mostly nailed it and brought his technical expertise to the forefront. Admittedly, there was a bit of a disconnect on an emotional level in his rendition, so it wasn’t as sweeping and engaging as it could have been. But it was decidedly different and showed an ease and comfortability that hasn’t always been present in Chris’ songs.
Lindsey Pavao, Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love”
One of the sadder things of this competition to me was becoming so bored with Lindsey throughout. As a vulnerable soul, she seemed to recede into herself as the show went along and it worked against her. Christina addressed one of the biggest aspects of that, her shrinking from the microphone. To Lindsey’s credit, she took that to heart, and it made for a strong, more compelling performance here. She seemed more confident and lived-in in the song and it made all the improvement.
In all honesty, the way Team Xtina has shaken out heading into the finals is a bit surprising. There are fans of both Chris and Lindsey, to be sure, and they both bring unique talents to the setting. Yet, for as strong a team as Christina’s bunch seemed throughout most of the season, one can’t help but feel that either one is going to present a weaker challenge to take the crown.
Predicted Finalist: Lindsey Pavao
Deserving Finalist: Lindsey Pavao
Team Cee Lo
Jamar Rogers, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes’ (or Simply Red’s, or Teddy Pendergrass’) “If You Don’t Know Me By Now”
Cee Lo gives Jamar the freedom to rearrange the song choice with his own flavor and it pays off well with an electronic-infused R&B slow jam. There was still a bit of the trademark Jamar bombast but Cee Lo’s intention to bring a more intimate level proves right and allows him to explore aspects of his range we hadn’t seen up to this point. In particular, he holds a nice tone in his lower register and has an amazing dynamic command for going from top to bottom smoothly.
Juliet Simms, James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s World”
A nice change in direction, pulling away from pure rock, and yet she brought her amazing intensity which elevated the whole thing. She reminded me somewhat of Susan Tedeschi with that Southern rock-infused soul. More impressive was that the song showcased more of the softer singing that had kind of detracted from her in a couple of previous performances. All-around it was an assured turn that guaranteed that Juliet will go far, despite whatever the outcome of this competition.
Team Cee Lo was the most eclectic of the season, but also tended toward the most schizophrenic. You never quite knew what kind of talent you were going to see on performance weeks from this crew and, while Team Adam seemed to be the weakest overall, there wasn’t a case to be made that Cee Lo’s bunch was really in this. Until last week. The team has really shone of late and Jamar and Juliet both present significant possibilities to be victors. Juliet stands out the most but the way Jamar took command of his song this week made this the toughest choice of the four teams.
Predicted Finalist: Jamar Rogers
Deserving Finalist: Juliet Simms
Who are your Top 4 and who do you think is going to win the big prize? Let us know in the comments below.
