‘The Voice’ Recap: Adam Levine Makes Surprising Steals
Just as the news broke that Cee Lo Green was being hit with a felony drug charge, the blind auditions barreled along on The Voice. But even though Cee Lo was making headlines, the night belonged to Adam Levine.
With Blake Shelton out of steals, and Cee Lo and Christina Aguilera having one left each, Adam was the only coach to still have both of his steals at the beginning of the night. But he quickly unloaded them.
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First, Adam picked up 16-year-old smarty-pants Juhi, who lost her spot on Team Cee Lo to 19-year-old Romanian-American George Horga Jr. after they duked it out on Gavin DeGraw’s “Best I Ever Had.” Even though all of the other coaches pointed out that George hit “a bad note” during his performance, Cee Lo still picked him because he “wants to commend and support someone who solely wants to do this, as if there was no plan B,” referring to the fact that George left his close-knit, traditional family to pursue his dream while Juhi still hopes to go to college. (Seems like apples to oranges, but it’s Cee Lo’s call.)
With everyone shocked that he let her go, Adam quickly scooped her up, saying, “I can’t believe he let you go! I think that we have work to do, but you’re 16 and already so good.” (Meanwhile, earlier in his critique, he admitted her unusual voice might get her “backed into a corner because you’re so specific.”)
Adam’s next steal also came after a surprising cut, when Christina chose biker-bar singer Destinee Quinn over former teen model Lina Gaudenzi after they performed the Dixie Chicks’ “I’m Not Ready to Make Nice.” While he said “technically there were problems and certain moments fell flat” during his initial critique, Adam stole her because he saw “so much potential” in her. Perhaps his choice was made clear when, during one moment of her performance, Blake mouthed “wow” to him. Either way, Adam’s steals are now gone.
But Adam’s brightest moment of the night came when he pitted computer nerd and Rivers Cuomo lookalike James Wolpert against uber-hipster Will Champlin, son of Chicago member Bill Champlin, on Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive.” During rehearsal, Adam made a point of saying the pairing wasn’t because they both wore glasses but because they were “cut from the same cloth.” But the way these types of shows work, it’s obvious they were paired up exactly because they look so similar – in the end, there can be only one geek-chic hipster.
During the battle, James rocked a very Revenge of the Nerds-style outfit – complete with form-fitting sweater, a tucked-in tie and slicked down hair – while Will looked like Elvis Costello meets Cosmo Kramer. Will especially hit some good notes, and there was a lot of white-guy dancing.
“James, you’re the surprise out of that battle because you don’t look the part,” Blake said after the song. And while Will had the more “solid and consistent” vocals, according to Christina, Adam surprisingly decided to go with James. As Will was accepting his fate and getting ready to leave the stage a loser, Christina breathed new life into his Voice career by hitting her button for the steal.
Rounding out the night, Christina also kept musician dad Josh Logan on her team, knocking out Spanglish-singing Irish guy Michael Lynch after the two performed “Harder to Breathe” by Maroon 5 (which only added to it being “Adam’s night”). And Blake stuck with burly, bearded singer-songwriter Austin Jenckes over jock-turned-musician Brian Pounds after they dueted on “To Love Somebody.” No one stole either of the rejected contestants.
At the end of the night, Cee Lo was the only coach who still had a save, which means he’ll be in the hot seat during tonight’s final episode of the battle rounds – certainly a more welcome position than the one currently unfolding in the headlines.
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