Jessie J and Will.i.am
(Image courtesy of BBC)
So The Voice goes live tonight with 12 nervous singers and four coaches. At the end of the results show each coach will have lost one team member from their team. Also for the first time this season the viewing audience get to have a say in who leaves and who stays.
The format is that after their performances each coach can take one of their team straight through to the semi-finals and the audience vote then decides which of the remaining two artists goes through.
A reminder of the make up of each of the teams:
- Team Will.i.am: Leanne Jarvis, Cleo Higgins, Leah McFall
- Team Jessie: Ash Morgan, Sarah Cassidy, Matt Henry
- Team Tom: Mike Ward, Alys Williams, Joseph Apostol
- Team Danny: Andrea Begley, Mitchel Emms, Karl Michael
Team Jessie was up first with Matt Henry, Ash Morgan and Sarah Cassidy,
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Matt Henry opened the show singing Wonder by Naughty Boy (ft Emeli sande). Matt understandably seemed nervous at the start and was a little hesitant but he warmed to his task and finished strongly. It’s tough to open a show so allowance must be given for his nervy start.
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Next up was Ash Morgan singing Lego House by Ed Sheeran. It was an impressive vocal performance by Ash who for me is the one to beat in this competition. Jessie called it the “best vocal performance ever on The Voice“. No faint praise then Jessie. Will.iam called Ash “the real deal” and Danny pointed out that Ash was adopting Jessie’s facial expressions when singing. A class act.
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Closing for Team Jessie was Sarah Cassidy, who performed Love Sensation by Loleatta Holloway. Sarah looked good and sounded good.
So Jessie had to choose her Fast Pass choice for the semi-final and it was no surprise that she chose Ash Morgan. So the tv audience vote will decide who else goes through: Matt Henry or Sarah Cassidy. It will be a nervous wait for these two.
Team Tom was the second team to appear, with a strong lineup of Mike Ward, Alys Williams, and Joseph Apostol.
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Alys Williams was first to sing, performing Is This Love by Bob Marley. It was a dreamy song and a dreamy performance. Alys didn’t really deliver for me. It was a relaxed rather than a high energy performance and the song choice was quite a risk.
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Joseph Apostol performed Higher And Higher by Jackie Wilson. It was a slow tempo opening and then Joseph followed the song lyrics and lifted it higher and higher in tempo. The arrangement suited Joseph and it gave him an excellent chance to grab a place in the semi-finals.
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Mike Ward closed for Team Tom with When I Was Your Man by Bruno Mars. Sir Tom Jones feels he could be Britain’s first country singer. He can certainly produce a country sound although he was a little pitchy at times. Jessie thought it was a good song choice but wanted a little more feeling from the performance.
Sir Tom Jones gave his fast pass to the semi-finals to Joseph Apostol, a choice I totally agreed with. It was Sir Tom’s birthday today so many happy returns Tom.
Team Danny were the third team to perform with a line-up of: Andrea Begley, Mitchel Emms and Karl Michael.
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Andrea Begley performed Ho Hey by The Lumineers. Andrea sounds great and although she is understandably static on stage she has a great sense of rhythm. It was a performance I would pay to see. It brought the house down.
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Mitchel Emms performed Radioactive by Imagine Dragons. Mitchel loves to rock and his performance was totally different from Andrea’s. Mitchel covered the whole of the stage, clutched the microphone stand and posed like a rock star whilst still delivering great vocals. Impressive.
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Karl Michael performed A Thousand Years by Christina Perri. Another fine vocal performance although Karl did tend to pace the stage a little.
I have to say that I didn’t envy Danny his choice as all three of his team performed to a very high standard. Danny chose Andrea Begley. All credit to Danny O’Donoghue for helping each of his acts to deliver a great performance.
Team Will.i.am were the final team to perform with Leanne Jarvis, Cleo Higgins and Leah McFall.
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Leanne Jarvis performed Where Have You Been? by Rihanna. Leanne delivered another strong performance which had stage presence and great vocals, particularly on the high notes. Jessie J was not wild about the song choice but then Jessie is not always mad about Will.i.am.
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Cleo Higgins sang imagine by John Lennon. It was a low key soulful start before Cleo took it up a level. Cleo isn’t always perfect on tone but she knows when to hit the big notes.
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Leah McFall sang I Will Survive previously recorded by Gloria Gaynor ( performing the Chantay Savage version). For me it was a good but not spectacular performance which gave Leah a good chance of a semi-final spot.
For me Leanne Jarvis was deserving of the fast pass but Will.iam decided to tweet, rather than speak, his choice of Leah McFall.
We return later tonight to find out who the viewers have chosen to go through to the semi-finals.
In the meantime a reminder that Ash Morgan, Joseph Apostol, Andrea Begley and Leah McFall are already through, courtesy of the coaches fast passes.
See the results from the quarter final results show.
See full results by week.
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