‘The Voice’ Live Recap: The Top 8 Performs
On tonight's (May 27) Memorial Day episode of 'The Voice,' the Top 8 performed, with two coaches close to elimination. Season 4 newbies Usher and Shakira are down to one contestant a piece and as a result, the battles are further heated up.
Judith Hill: The soul singer wanted to show the world who she is and to demonstrate her artistry by performing the electronic pop song '#thatPOWER' by will.i.am and Justin Bieber. It was a surprising choice, but it sounded nothing like the original. It was unrecognizable except for the chorus and its melody. It certainly showed us J. Hill as an artist, since we know her as a singer already. Yeah, she Hill'ed it.
Sarah Simmons: A. Lev wanted the angelically voiced singer to capture the anger implicit in Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used to Know' in order to achieve a "goosebumps" moment. It was certainly an eclectic song choice, and she showed off different elements of her voice -- the soft, the high and the hard. That's not easy to do.
Amber Carrington: She went the adventurous route and performed Adele's Oscar winning Bond theme 'Skyfall,' stepping out of her pop-country box. It worked for her, since we got to hear the epic side of her voice.
Holly Tucker: The country cutie roared through The Band Perry's attitude-laden hit 'Done,' which is about washing one's hands of a bad relationship. Tucker turned up the sass-o-meter during her perf and delivered an aggressive and memorable performance.
The Swon Brothers: The only duo to make it this far in four seasons of the show, the Oklahoma-based pair performed 'Seven Bridges Road' by the Eagles. They needed to push the limits, and spotlight their ability to do harmonies. The staging was incredible, as they performed in front of a fire under a darkened sky, so it felt like campfire or bonfire performance.
Danielle Bradbery: She stuck with a country classic, performing 'Grandpa.' It was sweet and very down home. But we're not sure it'll notch her a win.
Michelle Chamuel: The sole remaining member of Team Usher Raymond got the ultimate show of support from her coach when he donned nerdy, Chamuel-style black specs. Host Carson Daly called him Urkel, to which Ush responded by calling him Jimmy Neutron! Zing. The quirky singer performed Bruno Mars' 'Grenade' to show a new type of vulnerability and let her voice be the focus. It was dynamically different.
Sasha Allen: The only horse in the race for Shak, Allen went uptempo with the David Guetta/Usher smash 'Without You,' upping the ante. It was an epic performance for her and it was also refreshing to hear the New Yorker and mother of two step outside of her ballad comfort zone.