'The Voice' Top 12 Live Playoffs: All Aboard the Madi Wagon

(photo: Tyler Golden/NBC)

I know we’re only one episode into the live finals of this Voice season… but is it too soon to start rooting for a Madi Davis/Jeffery Austin finale? This Monday, when many of the top 12 faltered, regressed, or suffered from some sort of identity crisis, Madi and Jeffery rose above, delivering flawless performances and firmly establishing themselves as real-deal artists.

Yes, I know Vegas bookmakers, office pool participants, and everyone else watching The Voice Season 9 are probably already placing big odds on a Jordan Smith/Barrett Baber final showdown – and both of those singers also did well this week. But don’t rule out Madi and Jeffery just yet.

Here’s how everyone fared this Monday…

Braiden Sunshine (Team Gwen)

There’s no denying that this 15-year-old, the youngest contestant in the competition, is talented. But his flip-flopping from episode to episode is so confusing. One week, he’s swaggering in a suit, belting “Feeling Good.” The next week, he’s simpering his way through a treacly Bread ballad. And now, this wannabe classic rocker is trying to fill the void left by Keith Semple and covering Styx’s “Renegade” – a song that was apparently his choice. Strange. Why pick this song? Didn’t Braiden watch that dreadful night when Kris Allen and Danny Gokey awkwardly covered “Renegade” as a duet on American Idol? I know Braiden was only 9 years old back then, but according to some odd narrative on Monday’s Voice show, he was apparently already rocking out in bars at that age.

Anyway, this performance came across as a little kid playing rock star. I think Gwen Stefani, Braiden’s coach, was right to worry about him doing the Styx song. (Not that she’s come up with many better song choices for Braiden, as last week’s Bread debacle proved, but still.) Braiden handled himself well vocally, for the most part – at least until that Peter Brady voice-crack at the end. But he seemed so young and green. This wasn’t the performance of someone who, as Braiden claimed, has been in a band for six years. This performance wasn’t authentic.

Blake Shelton gave Braiden what seemed like a backhanded compliment, by suggesting that Braiden do a country song next time. (If there is a next time, that is.) But Gwen seemed to think Braiden “nailed it” and told him, “You found your way and found who you are.” The problem is, I’m still not sure who is Braiden is, and I don’t know if he knows, either. I think he still needs a few more years to figure that out.

Amy Vachal (Team Adam)

Finally, Amy got her guitar back! And she got her groove back. After a couple weeks of guitar-free ho-humminess (last week’s Fabulous Baker Boys-esque jazz performance was a real snoozer), Amy reignited the spark that made her first audition so special, and she finally entered this decade with a sultry cover of Drake’s “Hotline Bling.” This almost made me want to do a Drake-style happy-dance.

No, this wasn’t exactly the “emotional breakthrough” her coach Adam Levine hoped for – Amy seems to have just two emotional settings, chill and chiller. But at least this wasn’t just chilled-out; it was also cool. She was giving me a bit of St. Vincent realness with that guitar, and I thought her arrangement was sexy and creative. She drew me in. She held my interest. And she made me root for her to ultimately take third place this season, after my above-mentioned favorites Jeffery and Madi. (More on them later.)

Unfortunately, the coaches’ critiques were upstaged by a brief, silly flirtation between Blake and his new boo Gwen, when he blushingly mentioned that Gwen once serenaded him with Drake’s booty-call anthem on The Tonight Show. But at least Gwen joked back that Amy’s version was better than the Fallon one. And Adam rightfully told Amy, “You’ve created an entirely new spin and version of the song. You should be so proud of the artistry involved in that.”

Mark Hood (Team Pharrell)

Last week, Mark was a consummate entertainer, wowing with a vivacious and uptempo “What Do You Mean” that was one of the top 24 semifinals’ best moments. So what did Pharrell Williams mean when he saddled Mark with Phil Collins’s incredibly overdone, Idol-circa-Season 2 singing-show staple, “Against All Odds,” this Monday? Pharrell saved Mark last week over two other stellar contenders, Riley Biederer and Darius Scott. Why did he even save Mark, if he was going to sabotage him like this only five days later?

In an instant, everything hip and modern about Mark was stripped away. He probably should have done “Hotline Bling,” too; even a performance filled with Drake’s drunk-dad dance moves would have been cooler than Mark in a dinner-theater suit, straining to reach those Collins power notes (say what you will about Phil, nasty petition-signers, but that man can sing), desperately hamming it up in the crowd. Even Mark’s phrasing sounded off.

Gwen claimed to love Mark’s “calmer, sensitive side,” and Adam praised his “drive and passion,” but honestly, it’ll be against all odds if Mark survives this week. His only hope, when he inevitably winds up in the bottom three this Tuesday, is to deliver another dynamite pop/R&B performance that earns the Instant Save.

Emily Ann Roberts (Team Blake)

Last week, I thought Emily’s stoic performance of the religious hymn “In the Garden” would be a slam-dunk, but she surprisingly didn’t secure the public vote and had to be saved by Blake. So maybe she decided it was time to switch gears and get a whole lot sassier. I’m glad she did. Her cover of Patty Loveless’s “Blame It on Your Heart” had glimmers of “Before He Cheats”-era Carrie Underwood feistiness, and her cute personality sparkled in a way that I hadn’t seen before. Emily is young and fun, so this is the lane she should go down from now on.

A bunch of “graduation” metaphors and similes ensued. “You seem like you’re graduating from The Voice and you’re in the country world and you’re a star,” raved Gwen. “This person has kind of grown up before our eyes,” said Adam. Blake whooped and hollered and praised Emily’s evolution. And then Gwen said she liked this song, which is all about cheating. Hmmm.

Korin Bukowski (Team Gwen)

Korin’s metamorphosis into her coach’s mini-me continued apace this week, as Gwen convinced her to undergo a confidence-boosting glam bleach job. (This was kind of weird – since, while we’re on the subject of cheating, the nanny that Gwen’s ex Gavin Rossdale was reportedly messing around with supposedly copied Gwen’s glam platinum style. But I digress.) I don’t think the peroxide worked. If anything, all that bleach-fume inhalation took a toll on Korin’s voice, because she didn’t sound so terrific here.

Sia and David Guetta’s “Titanium,” or really any mighty Sia song, is tough to take on, and sweet, meek, winsome indie girl Korin simply wasn’t up for it. She struggled and strained, and she never came close to the all-conquering glory and triumph of the original. She wasn’t titanium. She was the opposite of titanium – like chalk or something. Something soft and unsubstantial. This was a shame, since I’d actually appreciated her vulnerable “Aida” performance last week. This was just the wrong song for Korin.

The coaches – who, come to think of it, are about as soft as chalk themselves – still praised Korin, though. Blake praised her “range” and “cool hair.” Gwen called her “beyond cool” and said this performance had turned out “just as I had envisioned.” OK, then. But I envision Korin landing in this week’s bottom three.

Barrett Baber (Team Blake)

What a smart move it was for Barrett, the oldest singer left in the competition, to do a countrified version of the housewife-pleasing Richard Marx weeper “Right Here Waiting.” This was ‘80s sap done right! While Mark’s Phil Collins cover had epically failed, Barrett’s performance totally worked, because he made the Marx classic his own. This reminded me of country singer Jake Worthington’s breakout moment doing Bryan Adams’s “Heaven” in Season 6. Basically, a lot of '80s easy-listening power ballads translate to the country genre very nicely – and they get votes. Blake and Barrett aren’t dumb.

Madi Davis (Team Pharrell)

I almost didn’t recognize Madi for a moment without her cool-girl fedora hat and boho style, but this was a makeover that actually worked. Looking elegant in an Audrey Hepburn topknot and Inauguration Ball full skirt while sassing her way self-assuredly through an unexpectedly reggae-fied, playful version of Jewel’s Lilith Fair classic “Who Will Save Your Soul,” Madi was still 100 percent herself – that is, she was a true original. This was sexy, but tasteful. Mature, but still age-appropriate and fun. And Madi’s vocals were on point. What a contrast to the screechy, nervous Korin performance we’d witnessed a couple commercial breaks ago.

All of the judges made way too much of a fuss over Madi’s age (SHE’S ONLY 16!), and Gwen’s product-placing mention of Madi’s L.A.M.B. shoes was unnecessary, but there was no denying that Madi had come in like a L.A.M.B. and gone out like a lioness.

Jeffery Austin (Team Gwen)

Jeffery didn’t need the dark hair-dye job Gwen gave him this week to give an amazing, confident performance; he could have shaved his head like CeeLo Green or donned one of Christina Aguilera’s discarded doll-hair wigs and still totally slayed. His keening cover of James Bay’s “Let It Go,” inspired by abandonment issues stemming from losing his father at age 9, was exquisitely heartfelt. It built and built in passion, with a big, explosive, belting finish that felt entirely authentic. Jeffery seemed caught up in the moment, and so was I. This was a perfect blend of passion and vocal control – not always the easiest combination to pull off – and one of the finest male pop/R&B powerhouse performances since Josh Kaufman’s “All of Me” in Season 6.

“To have a voice as unique as yours and as powerful and have the stage presence that you have… it’s like you’re our greatest dream, to have somebody who starts off a good singer and winds up here, which is one of the best in the competition. I’m so proud of you, so proud of Gwen, so proud of the show. It’s an amazing accomplishment,” Adam marveled. Yep, that pretty much summed it up.

Shelby Brown (Team Adam)

This season more than ever, much ado has been made about the teenage contestants, but Shelby’s hard-to-watch meltdown in rehearsal proved that perhaps youngsters are not fully equipped to handle the pressures of being on a nationally televised competition. Thankfully, however, Shelby totally pulled it together once she hit the stage and sang Jamey Johnson’s “In Color.” Yes, she did get ahead of the beat for a decond, but her soaring vocals more than compensated for any momentary flub.

Honestly, even though they put a positive spin on things, the coaches spent way too much time focusing on Shelby’s minor error, which I wouldn’t have even noticed if they hadn’t mentioned it – repeatedly. “Not only did you recover, but you recovered with one of the most powerful notes you’ve ever sang in your life… it’s not about whether you make a mistake. You’re going to make mistakes. It’s how you recover from those mistakes. I don’t care about those mistakes. You made a tiny baby one and then came back with your best moment on the show,” Adam said. Let’s hope America’s voters will be just as forgiving. I have a feeling they will be.

Evan McKeel (Team Pharrell)

Evan the theater boy did “This Is It.” No, not the Strokes song, “Is This It,” but the similarly titled Kenny Loggins tune. Seriously? I don’t care how well Evan sang this (for the record, he sang it very well; no one can ever fault his technically pitch-perfect vocals). It was still a Kenny Loggins yacht-rock oldie. And Evan is only 20 years old. Why would he do a song that made even “Renegade” seem hip by comparison? This wasn’t even a good choice for Josh Kaufman three seasons ago.

There was a Clay Aiken vibe to this hokey performance (please, Claymates, don’t come after me), and it also felt more like something from one of those Broadway talent competitions (Grease: You’re the One That I Want!, the BBC’s Any Dream Will Do… yes, I will watch anything) than a Voice performance. It was just… uncool.

“You earned it. I want America to vote you through because you deserve it. You went out there with your heart tonight,” insisted Pharrell. I think Evan has the fanbase, not to mention the vocal chops, to survive this week. But if he wants to give Barrett, Jordan, Jeffery, and Madi a run for their money, he can’t keep doing corny performances like this.

Jordan Smith (Team Adam)

I think Adam and Blake invoking last Friday’s Paris terrorist attacks when praising choirboy Jordan’s stirring performance of “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” was a bit too soon – I doubt Jordan was trying to exploit that tragedy for votes, and I’d hate for anyone to jump to that conclusion. But I had to agree with Adam and Blake: Jordan’s classy, near-a cappella performance, showcasing a massive amount of heart and a perfect, pure tenor voice, was an emotional breakout moment.

“Coming off the weekend and the horrible things that happened over in Paris and just kind of having a heavy heart the last few days, thank you for that. That was beautiful, man,” gushed Blake. “Sometimes there’s so much about the world that can be so confusing and so sad. And then you come along and make us all feel like there’s a lot of hope… all of a sudden, you just feel the sense of rejuvenation and joy that for a moment you don’t think you’re going to get to feel again,” said Adam. You know, Jordan could have a huge career in gospel or CCM. And he’ll probably have another huge week on iTunes.

Zach Seabaugh (Team Blake)

Last week, Zach stunned with a from-out-of-nowhere, Elvis-in-Vegas-style performance that was a hunka hunka burning fun. He slathered on the cheese, and I ate it up. This week, when I saw him goofing off during rehearsal with coach Blake, singing “Footloose” (a Kenny Loggins cover I can actually get behind), I was stoked. I was ready for Kevin-Bacon-in-a-barn-style dancing, maybe an '80s prom tuxedo, the works. Zach isn’t the strongest singer of this Season 9 bunch, so he’s at his best when he doesn’t take himself too seriously and simply entertains.

But it turns out Zach was just blowing off some steam in the rehearsal room. For his actual performance, he did Little Texas’s ballad “My Love,” and it was drippy and blah. The vocals were mush-mouthed, and the charisma was lacking. Elvis had left the building.

Of course, Pharrell and Gwen once again made a big deal about Zach’s tender age (HE’S ONLY 17!), and Blake claimed that his handsome new protégé was ready to get on a tour bus and go headline arenas. So kudos for Adam for being a voice of mild dissent and admitting that he “wanted more Elvis stuff.” I wanted that too.

So now, it is prediction time. On Tuesday’s results show, the bottom three singers will go through that whole “Instant Save” rigmarole, and America (well, the East Coast of America) will tweet two singers to safety while one goes home. I think those three singers will be Korin, Braiden, and Mark. Mark has the performance skills to prevail, and Braiden has the Twitter-savvy tween contingent in his corner, so that means this is probably the last time we’ll see Korin’s pretty little blonde head on The Voice – until next month, that is, when hopefully one of the finalists chooses her for a “Bring Back” finale group performance.

Tune in Tuesday to see if I’m right! See you then.

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