‘The Voice’ Recap: Kelly Clarkson Sings a Dolly Parton Classic
At least 11 contestants on The Voice have something to be thankful about — they’ll be staying around another week. The other two? Hopefully they’re thankful about getting to spend the holiday with their families.
Tuesday night’s Top 13 results show marked the first time any of the coaches have performed with their team members, and Team Kelly Clarkson gave a lovely rendition of Dolly Parton’s iconic “I Will Always Love You” that mixed in some touches from Whitney Houston’s equally iconic rendition. Clarkson, flanked by contestants Chevel Shepherd, Kymberli Joye, Lynnea Moore and Sarah Grace, led off the performance, with each singer getting to take a turn and add her particular flair to the familiar melody. When the song reached its upward modulation, the singers split their voices out into a cascade of harmonies that earned some enthusiastic applause from the studio audience.
Adam Levine also performed with his team but was less successful, selecting Fleetwood Mac’s “Rhiannon” and mostly making crowd favorite Reagan Strange look even better. DeAndre Nico and Tyke James struggled to stay on key throughout the deceptively tricky tune, much less approximate the mystery and melancholy of Stevie Nicks’ delivery.
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After some statements about why they’re thankful — and a marketing tie-in with the new Grinch movie — the singers got to find out who would be sticking around, who would be leaving, and who would benefit from the power of the internet with an Instant Save. The obvious frontrunners at this point, such as Reagan Strange, Kirk Jay and Kennedy Holmes, were quickly shuffled to the “safe” corral. The final three waiting to learn their fates were Team Jennifer Hudson’s SandyRedd, Team Adam Levine’s Tyke James and Comeback Stage winner Lynnea Moorer.
SandyRedd chose the bombastic Imagine Dragons song “Believer” to fight for a place in the competition, giving an over-the-top performance that was heavy on drama. Moorer, who had the Internet’s support on The Comeback Stage, fought her way through sometime Voice coach Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You.” Tyke James, meanwhile, chose the Michael Bublé (and Blake Shelton) song “Home,” not really hitting notes so much as brushing up against them momentarily and actually singing the phrase “I want to go home” without irony. Despite Levine’s pleas for voters to save him and keep the show “interesting,” James got his wish. Joining him was SandyRedd, with Moorer earning the season’s first Instant Save from viewers on Twitter.
She’ll get to battle for the right to continue another week when The Voice returns on Monday, November 26th, airing on NBC at 8:00 p.m. ET.