Team Christina vs. Team Blake on The Voice

I love the way the producers have handled The Voice in comparison to the sloppiness that is American Idol.  With American Idol you feel like the show drags on, and on, and on.  

So this is how the performances work this week....

To start out, the live show is only one night a week, not two nights like American Idol, thank God! Carson Daly informed us last night that each of the contestants would sing a solo performance, and then later in the evening, perform as a group. Little did we know, their group performance also included their judge, which I truly believe was a creative idea on their part.  

Only one person from each of the teams will be able to advance depending on the viewers votes, but another one will advance solely on the judge's discretion.  What does all this mean?  It means Christina will lose half of her team and Blake will lose half of his team.  I'm loving this already.  Can you imagine having to wait for each contestant to be voted off one by one?  Not in The Voice's case, they got it together, it seems like.

Before the contestants sang for their lives, the judges belted out a few of Queen's hits, which was quite entertaining.  And another thing great about the show, is the judges' willingness to know their team.  Not only do they provide the one-on-on coaching the contestants desperately need, they spend a good amount of time together, going out to dinner and such.  I thought that was impressive.

Okay, so before we get started on the performances, let me reiterate.  Each judge will lose half of their team, one contestant chosen by the viewers and one contestant chosen by their judge will advance.  Next week Christina will only have 2 people on her team, and the same goes for Blake.  Adam Levine and Cee Lo Green's teams will be performing next week, and the same rules will apply.

Watch the performances, and my reviews after the jump...

The Battle Rounds - Week 2

I won't bore you with the whole process of how the competition works, because I already explained it last week, but I will say...   

Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, and Adam Levine didn't really have any hard decisions to make this week.  Each pairing had a very strong contestant and a weaker one.  I look forward to next week's round, because the previews show some "very hesitant" judges not wanting to pick their winner. Could be interesting.  If you missed Battle Week - Round 1 - click here.

In the following video, Tje Austin and Nakia battle it out, singing, "Closer" by Ne-Yo

Nakia knocks it out of the ballpark.  At first I thought Tje was going to take it home.  But Nakia's voice is so damn powerful. He had me in his pocket the moment he belted out the first words.  My fingers were crossed and Cee Lo agreed!  I'm 4-1 counting last week's results.

In the following video, Elenowen and Jared Blake battle it out, singing, "Ain’t No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye and Tami Terrell

There wasn't no competition here, Jared had this in the bag, hands down.  He felt the couple were at an advantage, because there were 2 of them, but I disagreed with him, and agreed with Blake Jackson on this one. 5-1

In the following video, Angela Wolff and Javier Colon battle it out, singing, "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King

My favorite performance of the night.  Javier took this one home, and rightly so.  His voice rocks.  Angela held her own, and she did amazingly well, but Javier outshined her in every aspect of their performance.  They did sound great together though. Adam Levine seemed to agree.  6-1.

In the following video, Beverly McClellan and Justin Grennan battle it out, singing, "Baba O'Riley" by The Who

Beverly was the bomb.  She showed her strength and absolutely took this home.  She showed great desire and heart was in her performance.  I felt Justin lost his pitch several times and kinda floundered towards the end. 7-1

I ended week two of the Battle Rounds and stand with a 7-1 record! Woohoo!!