Mu$ic i$ the Door: The Voice Australia Season 1: Top 16 - Part 2

The Voice Australia Season 1: Top 16 - Part 2 - Perform

06 June, 2012 9:17 PM

Published by MDS

We lost Chris Sebastian, Danni Da Ros, Emma Louise Birdsall and Viktoria Bolonina in the latest episode, leaving only 2 contestants in Seal's and Delta's team. Tonight it's Team Joel and Team Keith turn to shine and once more, 4 contestants will be leaving us by the end of the week. Next week, is the big semifinal. And the next one, the grand final. Who'll crumble tonight? Who will emerge from the ashes? ... This is The Voice!

Recap after the JUMP ...

Watch all the performances at The Voice AU Official Site

Team Keith

Diana Rouvas

"I Can't Make You Love Me" (Bonnie Raitt) - 10/10 - Keith tells her she kncoked it out of the park last week. "Everything Diana's done up to this point is wow stuff from a technical side, and I really want to see that all stripped away and brought down to a place of intimacy. For me all the wow is coming from your heart", Keith says. This is quite gorgeous, Diana took Keith's advice, all the big notes are stripped away and it's just a simple beautiful arrengment. Fatai got her moment last week, Diana is getting hers tonight. The little runs at the very end were something breathtaking, I felt every word she said, especially cause she got so emotional. The judges were in total awe during this and so was I. Keith would be stupid to let her go.

Brittany Cairns

"Straight Lines" (Silverchair) - 7/10 - This is a bigger challenge to Brittany. She says she's gonna be portraying a totally different side of her vocie. Keith wants her to get comfortable with the meoldy, which is really low. He thinks Brittany doesn't sound confident with it, he says they've got to open the song up. "There's somthing about this song that's a bit more epic than what Brittany might normally choose to do. I'm trying to get her get more liberated". Mmm. I'm not sure which were Keith's intentions with this song but I'm not confident it worked. It's a 180º change for Brittany, it actually reminded me to XF's Jacqui Newland, not vocally, but because she's going for a rocky edge. I like the way she's sounding, she basically nailed the song but I was missing the epicness in it, it needed an extra push. After Diana's showstopper, I'm not sure Brittany will be here next week. Either way, this should make a terrific studio.

Adam Martin

"Romeo and Juliet" (Dire Straits) - 9/10 - Keith picked this song cause it's a bigger song stylistically and lyricaly. Adam says he can relate to it because he has been in love and knows what it feels like to lose love. Keith advices to pay more attention to the sentiment. I can't get enough of his tone. It's something quite fabulous. I've never heard this song before but this is a pretty terrific performance. Adam's best without a doubt. Keith's team is on fire tonight, well, for the most part at least. Seal wanted to see more of Adam's style, no idea what he's talking about and I agree with Delta, it seemed that Adam wrote the song.

Darren Percival

"I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)" (Stevie Wonder) - 8,5/10 - "There's a lot of preassure on this next performance, to show the audience that there's more than I can do". Darren struggled with the song at rehersals, "I tend to think instead of just doing". He says he can really relate to the lyrics. He says that before he met his love, it passed a long time which was really hard for him, "I really feel how is like to wake up and feel not really great". Great performance but more of the same. I'm not sure what he meant when he said he wanted to show the audience what else he can do, cause I'm seeing the same old Darren tonight. It was overall more exciting but I didn't like this song much. There were some fab moments though, like those final notes. Apparently, the album this song first appeared in is what made Seal want to become a musician. Joel says there's no other voice like his in Australia.

Team Joel

Prinnie Stevens

"Forever" (Chris Brown) - 3/10 - She's going first once again. When she was standing next to Laura, all she was thinking was "please Joel, don't let me go home". She didn't get this song at first, at all. Joel thinks she's struggling with people's perception of her. "Don't let the show question who you are". Honestly, I don't get this song either. If she's the Australian answer to Beyonce, why not make her sing Beyonce? Once again, the stylist proves to be a total fail. What in hell is Prinnie wearing? Just awful. Vocally weak, again. I'll never warm up to her, cause she gives me no reason to. She could be a good singer but with this performances she'll never get there.

Lakyn Heperi

"Friday I'm In Love" (The Cure) - 7,5/10 - Seal's last week comment had some effect on Lakyn according to Joel. "As much as the young girls like you, but as an artist, I hope that you are doing music that stands the test of time, this is one of those songs". Joel is trying to help Lakyn explore who he is as an artist, that's why he picked this song for him. To him, this is one of his biggest challenges yet. He's definitely out of his comfort zone but that's not showing much, probably because he's got his guitar. This is solid but I much prefered him last week, I'm not sure this is what he's supposed to be singing. The ending was remarkable though Joel did a bad job picking this song.

Sarah De Bono

"How Will I Know" (Whitney Houston) - 9/10 - Whitney is Sarah's all time idol. She wants to do it differently than Whitney. Joel says she can't sit back and hide behind her voice, she has to take control. Sarah doesn't want it to be just a cover, she wants people to connect with the song and say this is Sarah De Bono's version. "It's sink or swim" (Joel) I like the acoustic feel, that was a nice move from them. Sarah's voice sounds fantastic in this performance. She's a belter but there are still some unique qualities to her voice. My fave from her so far, I was about to get dancing (not really).

Ben Hazelwood

"I'm with You" (Avril Lavigne) - 9,5/10 - Joel belives in Ben, he thinks he's great. He wants him to open up, that what makes him special. This song has meant a lot to Ben for a while. His brother James passed away after he lost his battle with depression and Ben always stuck close to the lyric "take me by the hand, take me somewhere new". "You care dude, that's why you do music" (Joel) The song is indeed a bit girly but I didn't care at all. Guess I'm a total fanboy of Ben cause I loved that performance from beginning to end, especially since Ben shared such a great connection with it and I didn't care about the imperfections that could've had. He just become a contender.

Rankings

Diana Rouvas
Ben Hazelwood
Adam Martin
Sarah De Bono
Darren Percival
Lakyn Heperi
Brittany Cairns
Prinnie Stevens

Predictions

Last week positions proved, once more, to be accurate, not only sending the lowest selling contestants home but also reflecting the coaches pick. The Voice US proved, these are no indication of the actual results, which include phone, text and Facebook votes. Only difference is that buying iTunes singles count as two votes, so we'll see next Monday 28 if the predictions are once again accurate. (iTunes positions as of June 5, 2012)

Team Keith

#1 Darren Percival - "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)" (Stevie Wonder)

#2 Diana Rouvas - "I Can't Make You Love Me" (Bonnie Raitt)

#6 Adam Martin - "Romeo and Juliet" (Dire Straits)

#21 Brittany Cairns - "Straight Lines" (Silverchair)

Look at that! Brittany Cairns was leading the charts last week only to fall to the bottom this one. She's the second lowest selling contestant this week. Reason to blame that is the obscure song she sang. Darren, who last week was #2, is now the top seller, with Diana a close second. Adam managed an impressive #6 also. Considering all this, Adam Martin is a goner either way and Keith's decision will be between Diana and Brittany. Will he go for a frontrunner who had a bad week or for a darkhorse who has been impressing since week 1?

Team Joel

#4 Ben Hazelwood - "I'm with You" (Avril Lavigne)
#5 Sarah De Bono - "How Will I Know" (Whitney Houston)

#14 Lakyn Heperi - "Friday I'm In Love" (The Cure)

#98 Prinnie Stevens - "Forever" (Chris Brown)

My boy Ben is #4 this week, the top contestant on Joel's team. Sarah is behind him at #5 with Lakyn at #14. I bet Ben will be the top vote getter, with Joel picking between Sarah and Lakyn. If that's the case, he'll go for Sarah, cause Lakyn Heperi is too similar to Ben. Prinnie Stevens has zero chance, having the same position as last week.

Results

Eliminated Contestants:

Adam Martin

Brittany Cairns

Lakyn Heperi

Prinnie Stevens

Well! Look who was right again? Despite the fact that Ben, who charted the higest, didn't make it by votes, Sarah did, I always suspected Lakyn and him were splitting votes. I'm glad Joel decided to go with Ben though, he was incredible with that song. Keith ultimately decided to go for the darkhorse with the stronger performance when he decided to save Diana over Brittany, another wise decision.