‘The Voice’ Recap: Adam Levine Sells, Blake Shelton Smirks, Christina Aguilera Gushes + Cee Lo Green Crushes in Second Night of Blind Auditions
‘The Voice‘ celebrated its diverse pool of talent with a diverse mash-up of Prince tracks. The judge gang performed a medley dedicated to the purple one, seamlessly mixing ’1999′, ‘Little Red Corvette,’ ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’ and a countrified ‘Kiss.’ The eclectic sounds foreshadowed what was an extremely eclectic blind audition.
Country pop duo the LiNE were up first, blowing away every single judge with their rendition of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ ‘American Girl.’ While they won over America’s hearts, only Christina Aguilera won the LiNE.
Jamar Rogers provided the first dramatic back story of the night. The HIV-positive former addict had his invitation hand-delivered by Carson Daly, making him laugh and cry at the same time. He won the interest of his idol, Cee Lo Green, with his cover of the White Stripes’ ‘Seven Nation Army.’ The other judges admitted they loved him too, but knew he and Cee Lo were a perfect match.
“Country heart” Gwen Sebastian also had a perfect match: Blake Shelton, but that didn’t stop the rest of the panel from fighting over her tooth and nail. Her performance of Sugarland‘s ‘Stay’ was flawless and moving, and Shelton was so happy to have her that he laughed in the face of his rivals.
Chaka Khan doppelganger Kim Yarbrough came from a series of jobs to kick starting her singing career with her cover of ‘Tell Me Something Good.’ Levine and Aguilera “fought over her like children,” with Levine ultimately edging out his “divalicious” competition.
The stunning Angie Johnson, a member of the Air Force band, performed ‘Heartbreaker’ by Pat Benatar and knocked Cee Lo’s socks off — as well as his glasses. “Are you as beautiful as I think you are?” Cee Lo asked, reaching into his pocket, “Let me put on my reading glasses.” He changed into comically oversized lenses, telling everyone, “I was right. She belongs to me!”
Lindsay Pavao had Cee Lo, Shelton and Aguilera fighting over her in the promo video following her left-field take on Trey Songz‘ ‘Say Aah,’ but the Fiona Apple enthusiast ultimately went with Xtina, who couldn’t be happier with her choice. ”You’re awesome, you have a beautiful voice, a beautiful face — you inspire me,” Aguilera told her. “If you grab my attention just by being you, I’m not gonna mess with that.”
Contestant Neal Middleton broke American’s hearts with his story of his accident (he fell off of a building) and lack of health insurance. His long red hair and top hat made him look like the lovechild of Axl Rose and Slash. His rock n’ roll tinged ‘Heard It Through the Grapevine‘ was impressive, but none of the judges bit his bait. Based on his performance, he should easily be able to move on from this to find more options — and perhaps his band Royal Bliss will see the positive outcome of his attempt.
Other rejections included a near clone of Gavin DeGraw, a rocker girl performing 10,000 Maniacs’ ‘Because the Night’ and Pamela Rose, a girl whose performance of Kelly Clarkson‘s ‘Already Gone’ unfortunately didn’t match her gorgeous looks. Hoja Lopez, who performed an audibly nervous ‘Teenage Dream‘ and Dez Duron, a Yale football star who broke the Louisiana state record for touchdowns, were also sent packing.
The final two auditions came from artists with relatively successful professional musical backgrounds. In the case of Jermaine Paul, his background was literal: he was a background singer for Alicia Keys before striking out to become ‘The Voice.’ His rendition of Avril Lavigne‘s breakout single ‘Complicated‘ was a polarizing one, earning him fans only in Cee Lo and Shelton. “With my back turned, I could hear the swag,” Cee Lo told him. After having the two judges battle it out, Paul surprised everyone and teamed up with Shelton.
The final contestant of the night was Angel Taylor, who achieved moderate success in 2009 and 2010 with her single ‘Like You Do’ and an album released on Columbia Records. When her deal ended, she was back to the drawing board to support her family (including five sisters, one of whom was a contestant on ‘America’s Next Top Model’). Taylor once toured with Adele, an experience that proved useful in her audition, where she sang the Brit powerhouse’s ‘Someone Like You.’ Levine picked her first, then Blake Shelton, whom she admitted to having a “massive crush” on. Cee Lo wanted Taylor too, but ultimately, Levine prevailed. Tonight proved that being a salesman pays!