Yahoo News The Voice Recap: Night 5 of the Battles Scares Up a Steal That’s More Trick Than Treat
Halloween night on The Voice gave me chills, all right — but not entirely in a good way. First, John Legend, Gwen Stefani, Niall Horan and Reba McEntire let go two singers who’d demonstrated great potential rather than use any of their precious Steals. Then, Niall did hit his button to save a contestant whose performance was about as exciting as finding an apple in your bag when you were really jonesing for M&Ms. Am I being too harsh? It has been known to happen. Let’s discuss the evening’s performances, then you can let loose in the comments.
Team Reba: Tom Nitti (Grade: A) defeated Dylan Carter (Grade: A) on “’Til You Can’t” | Reba’s Battle of the Country Boys was a study in contrasts. They both sang ridiculously well, but whereas Tom was utterly thrilling, gritty and intense, Dylan was pure emotion; he even moved curmudgeonly me. Reba couldn’t make a wrong choice between Dylan and Tom, but if it were me sitting in her swivel chair, I’d have gone with the latter, too, and counted on another coach to pick up Dylan. Can’t believe no one did! WTH?
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Team Niall: Olivia Minogue (Grade: B+) defeated Laura Williams (Grade: B) on “Ghost” | Not sure why this Battle was abbreviated; from the snippet that we heard, it was pretty badass. But even from that little bit, it seemed at least fairly obvious that Olivia had the stronger vocal.
Team Gwen: Jason Arcilla (Grade: B) defeated Eli Ward (Grade: B+) on “Make It With You” | Gwen’s matchup between her singer/songwriter types challenged Eli to conquer his nerves and Jason not to be so chill that he vanishes before our eyes. On stage, bless his heart, stiff as he was, Eli did try to move around a bit. His vocal was absolutely dreamy, too; he totally would’ve been a ’70s teen idol. Jason sang extremely prettily as well, but I’ve gotta say, even if the camera hadn’t done a double take every time it landed on Eli’s wide eyes, he still would’ve been my pick to win. His vocal was simply more ear-catching.
Team Legend: Mara Justine (Grade: B+) defeated Claudia B. (Grade: C) on “Son of a Preacher Man” — Claudia stolen by Niall | No two ways about it: Mara mopped the floor with her competition on their Dusty Springfield cover. Claudia hit the notes… and that was it. I felt like I was watching a beauty pageant contestant who was wishing they’d just move on to the evening-gown category already. Mara, on the other hand, sold the s—t out of the number, giving us attitude, range and what once upon a time Kelly Clarkson would have referred to as spectacular stankface. Shocked that Niall passed on Dylan but stole Claudia. Again, WTH!
So, what was more surprising — that no one stole Dylan or Eli… or that Niall saved Claudia? Sound off in the comments after voting for your favorite Tuesday night below.
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