The beautiful reality of “The Voice”‘s battle and knockout rounds is the emphasis on direct competition. Whereas frontrunners on most musical competition series can survive off-nights by not being compared directly to one specific performer, “The Voice”‘s preliminary rooms remove that margin of error.
If one notably drops the ball in a Battle or Knockout performance, he could effectively be handing his competitor the key to the castle.
That reality plagued a presumed-frontrunner Tuesday as Ryan Innes fell victim to the Knockouts.
Positioned as well as any contestant outside of Judith Hill, Ryan Innes seemed like a lock to advance to the live rounds, especially given his Knockout pairing with Cathia, who was saved by Usher’s final steal after a lackluster battle against Mary Miranda. This particular pairing seemed to be “The Voice”‘s answer to a pro wrestling squash match–a way to spotlight Innes’ dominance.
But Cathia had something else in mind. On “Mr. Know It All,” the Bronx-born put forth a combination of vocal power, energetic stage presence and confident personality she had never previously indicated was in her wheelhouse. It was a revelatory moment for the 19-year-old.
Innes was solid on Gavin DeGraw’s “I Don’t Wanna Be,” but passion and competitive spirit–two things that defined Cathia’s attempt–were notably lacking. This was simply a smooth vocal showing from a great singer, and when positioned against his Knockout opponent’s performance, it came across as limp.
Reputation had helped some other contestants advance through close Knockout rounds, but in this case, Usher had to go with the winner. He selected Cathia to join Josiah Hawley, Michelle Chamuel and Vedo on his team for the live rounds.
Because of Blake Shelton’s obvious–and justifiable–affinity for country, his decision to select Holly Tucker over Luke Edgemon was not quite so surprising. But the mere idea that Edgemon, who received rave reviews for last week’s “You and I,” would miss out on the live rounds made for a stunning moment on Tuesday’s telecast.
Holly Tucker joins Danielle Bradbery, Justin Rivers and The Swon Brothers on Shelton’s team for the live rounds.
