Blake Shelton talks a good game about looking for different artists on "The Voice," but after three wins in a row, he knows what he’s good at. Moreover, the singers hoping to emerge as the season five winner know it too.
Nine singers advanced to the next round on ”The Voice” Tuesday, and Blake turned his chair around for six of them. The three who picked him? All country singers.
Blake won the right to coach Holly Henry, Austin Jenckes and E.G. Daily. Each of them fits the mold of contestants he’s done well with in previous seasons – country voices with some additional versatility.
Holly was the best of the three, turning all four chairs. Blake nearly gave himself whiplash in his hurry to see her, and nearly drooled when she described her talents as a songwriter.
“I’ve done fairly well in the past with singers who are singer-songwriters,” Blake said.
Indeed he has, so despite the best efforts of the rest of the coaches, she went with him. Apparently she’s seen the show before.
Familiar voice
E.G. may be new to the “Voice” stage, but she was the one act most in the audience had heard before.
It might have been from when she played Dottie in “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.” Or, for anyone in the audience with kids, her voice might have been recognizable as that of Buttercup from “The Powerpuff Girls,” Tommy Pickles from “Rugrats” or Baby Mumble in “Happy Feet.” The voice-over actress has made a living vocalizing animated characters, and now wants to speak in her own voice for a change.
Looking to take one final shot at making her singing dream come true, she turned two chairs and chose Blake to be her coach over CeeLo. That means we’ll be hearing Pee-Wee Herman jokes at least one more time this season.
Fashion central
CeeLo Green already has the Michael Jackson red jacket look going for him, so it’s no surprised that fashion was foremost on his mind as he looked over the first auditioner of the night.
“I like those boots,” he said, looking at Jacquie Lee’s black footwear with the silver accent notes. “I wonder if they make those boots for dudes.”
“Did you call those boots from Aldo?” he said later. Then he took a picture of them, presumably so he could add them to his Pintrest page or something.
Jacquie denied him, refusing to give him the shoes off her feet. Perhaps he’d have had better luck had he pushed his button for her, but he did not and she picked Christina Aguilera over Blake.
Fashion was also an issue for the next singer as Barry Black’s Pitch Perfect-esque vocal tricks confused Adam.
“I thought that bow tie was, like, some sort of weird harmonica or something,” Adam said.
“Do you really want a coach who can’t tell the difference between a bow tie and an instrument?" Blake responded.
Apparently so, because Barry picked Adam.
Key endorsements
Two of the successful auditioners got good luck messages from singers who helped them make it this far.
Tessanne Chin is no stranger to the stage, with success as a reggae fusion singer and a three-year stint touring with Jimmy Cliff. Cliff sent a video message wishing her well — not that she needed the help. She turned all four chairs and finally picked Adam.
Destinee Quinn got some help from Alice cooper in her quest to move from biker bars to bigger stages. She won the chance to perform with the rocker in a contest, and credited her work with him for helping her believe she had the talent to make it in the music business. He rewarded her faith by appearing in his scare-the-children makeup on Carson Daly’s handy-dandy tablet.
“Just think, if you win, you could turn out just like us,” he said. “Come. Join the circus.”
She’ll get that chance with Team Christina.
A piece of the pie
Cole Vosbury gets the award for being the most creative auditioner on Tuesday – and taking the biggest risk. In the biggest performance of his life, with everything at stake, he sang ... “Movin’ On Up.”
With all apologies to “The Jeffersons,” it’s not the most common song to hear in these competitions. But it won over CeeLo, the only coach to turn around for him.
CeeLo had to fight harder for Jonny Gray. The 29-year-old somehow only got two people to push their buttons, and picked the "Forget You" singer over Adam. The new pair hope the combination has them finally getting a piece of the pie – and ending Blake’s three-year run as the winning coach.