The Voice Recap: It’s Snoop Dogg Eat Snoop Dogg On Night 2 of the Blinds — Plus, a Season 1 Contestant Returns!
If the gloves had ever been on, they sure as shootin’ came off during Monday’s Night 2 of The Voice’s Season 26 Blind Auditions. Reba McEntire found herself Block’d, Snoop Dogg was moved to call for an instant Replay, Michael Bublé dredged up his painful past as a Chuck E. Cheese rat, and Gwen Stefani appeared to position a returning Season 1 contestant as the next, well, her. But which performances really deserved the hard-sell recruitment efforts? Read on, and we’ll discuss.
Dreion (Team Snoop), “Shining Star” — Grade: A | Singing the classic by Earth, Wind & Fire, for whom he has opened, this foster-care survivor put so much spin on every note, he couldn’t help but set all four chairs turning. And that last one — da-amn! Dreion should be a real contender. But after Nathan Chester only came in fourth last season, I refuse to get my hopes up over another showman with a killer voice.
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Mor Ilderton (Team Michael), “Coal” — Grade: B+ | As good at doing backflips as Benson Boone, this 20-year-old indie-folk singer with serious boy-band hair performed with a lived-in vocal that belied his years. Despite that mature tone, Mor sounded nervous as hell. But his jitters seemed to work for the performance, giving him an extra touch of vulnerability that inspired Michael to use his Block on Reba.
Felsmere (Team Gwen), “Some Kind of Wonderful” — Grade: C | The former Kelsey Rey made it onto CeeLo Green’s team in Season 1 of The Voice but was eliminated in the Battles. Now she was back — can you just compete whenever you want? — with a confidently sultry sound. The problem was, there was nothing to it that we haven’t heard a million times before (and, many of those times, better).
Kamila Kiehne (Team Michael), “Black Velvet” — Grade: C+ | This 17-year-old got three coaches swiveling their chairs from the start of her Alannah Myles cover — and possibly regretting having done so by the time she was done. Kamila has some power to her pipes, for sure, but she didn’t entirely know how to control it. Even Gwen said so — wait, does that mean I’ve started agreeing with Gwen?!?
Tanner Frick (Team Reba), “Thought You Should Know” — Grade: A | Tackling a ballad by Morgan Wallen — needless to say, an inspiration — this country boy delivered what felt like an altogether spontaneous, casual performance that was marked by a vocal that was gravely enough to line a driveway. As the four-chair turn’s eventual coach put it, “When you did that Chris Stapleton growl, it added so much dimension.”
Rowdy Shea (Team Gwen), “You Shouldn’t See Me Like This” — Grade: B | This newlywed ranch hand — basically The Voice’s Kayce Dutton — wasn’t nearly as vocally interesting as Tanner, but I did like the smoothness of his singing. He sounded radio-ready — or as he’d have called it, “rip-roarin’-ready.” Not sure why Reba didn’t join Gwen and Michael in turning her chair, especially considering how eager she was to steal Rowdy later.
323 (Team Reba), “You Drive Me Crazy” — Grade: B+ | This trio named for the first three digits of Tallahassee’s zip code considered their Blind Audition their last chance at making a career in music. Not sure if they’re gonna strike it rich. Their vocals were perfectly pleasant, but the younger of the two guys looked scared s–tless, the poor thing. Until the last second, the threesome was on track to be a one-chair turn.
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Gail Bliss (Team Snoop), “If It Hadn’t Been for Love” — Grade: A | At 61, this flight attendant is the oldest singer in the competition — and man, did those extra years of experience show. Her performance was pitch-perfect and stunningly well-modulated to demonstrate the control she has over her voice. Unless the show instructed the coaches not to swivel their seats in order to build up anticipation of the Replay being used, I can’t imagine why Gail wasn’t a four-chair turn. At any rate, she made it onto the show with Snoop’s Replay.
Austyns Stancil (Team Gwen), “Ooo Baby Baby” — Grade: A- | This amiable girldad, who got his start singing in church, was determined to get a chair turn for his daughters. Instead, his gorgeously soulful rendition of Smokey Robinson’s golden oldie got him four coaches from which to choose. One note in there was so badly botched, Austyns was sure to groan when he watched at home, but overall, he was sensational — and with colossal range to boot.
So if past contestants who made it onto the show can reenter the contest, who would you most like to see return? Answer in the comments after picking your favorite of Monday’s performances below.
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