‘The Voice’ Recap: Cher Chews Out Contestant
Cher is not messing around when it comes to being an advisor to Blake Shelton‘s team on The Voice. After meeting bluesy Monika Leigh and single dad Ray Boudreaux, the iconic singer dug into them during rehearsal for the second night of the battle rounds.
When Ray’s voice cracked on a high note and he said he “hoped” he could hit it on the day of the big performance, Cher sternly replied: “You shouldn’t have to worry about, on that day can you do it? You should be able to know that you can do it.”
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And the tough love didn’t stop there. When Monika sang the pairing’s battle song, “Some Kind of Wonderful” by Grand Funk Railroad, differently than rehearsed, Cher called her out on it: “If you’re gonna riff, make sure you know where you’re gonna end up.” When Monika asked for an example, Cher snapped, “Well you sing it different every time. I don’t mean to play it safe, but you’ve got this one chance – be secure before you go there.”
Though Monika didn’t heed Cher’s advice, it certainly spilled over to the coaches. After burning through both of his steals, Blake went into night two of the battle rounds on The Voice empty-handed. In comparison, everyone else indeed played it safe, as there was only one steal all night – and it just so happened to be Monika.
After Ray mopped the floor with her and kept his spot on Team Blake, Cee Lo Green went with his gut and followed his heart by stealing Monika despite all the warnings. “Trying to get her to do the same thing twice is like herding cats,” said Blake right before the steal. In other words, good luck with that, buddy.
Also making it onto Team Cee Lo was glam rocker Kat Robichaud, who battled teammate R. Anthony for a spot. Their performance of Aerosmith‘s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” featured way too much intensity and vibrato on both ends, culminating with Kat kissing her flexed bicep after the song ended. “You’re a dynamo, and I need a natural disaster like you,” said Cee Lo of why he picked her over her opponent.
In another matchup, Christina Aguilera gave Jacob Poole and Matthew Schuler Fall Out Boy‘s “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light ‘Em Up)” for their battle – and it was basically a screaming match. The best word to describe it: stressful. They both sounded strained, screechy and out of breath. (Make fun of them all you want, but there’s an art to what Fall Out Boy singer Patrick Stump does with all those emo songs.) Christina admitted it was “hard to stay consistent” during “a song that’s like a machine gun” before picking Matthew to stay on her team.
Other artists making it through (but whose performances were only featured for a few seconds on the truncated one-hour episode) were Cole Vosbury, who beat out Lupe Carroll to stay on Team Cee Lo; E.G. Daily, who trumped Sam Cerniglia on Team Blake; and Ashley DuBose, who overtook Justin Blake to continue with Team Adam Levine.
Speaking of Adam, who was mostly quiet all episode and is still the only coach with two steals – who’s he saving those steals for? We feel like the Voice mastermind must have a master plan.
Previous recap: Blake Shelton Uses Up Steals in Battle Round