The Voice Recap, Week 2 Of The Battles

Last week's battles ended with a crazy good performance that sent 6 lucky singers on to perform in the live shows. Last night 12 hopefuls battled for their coaches, and their future careers. I actually thought every did pretty well, and some surprised me, but only half could move on.

Team Christina

The first battle featured Geoff McBride and Sera Hill with Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools." Geoff and Sera both have soulful voices but Geoff's is more powerful and he definitely wanted to show that off. What I was getting from the older contestants last night is that they obviously have more to prove, and they don't mind throwing their experience in their competitors faces. While talking with Lionel Richie, he encouraged him to go without the sunglasses and to try to get his "swag" together. Christina told Sera that she loved her ad libs and Jewel mentioned that even though Geoff has the bigger voice, she has more emotion and that could help her win. On stage I thought their voices complimented each other, especially during the chorus. Sera sold the song for me though, Adam thought she she turned it into a show. Cee Lo liked them both but thought Geoff had more control. Xtina went with Sera who was a little overwhelmed by her win backstage.

Xtina also got breadmaker Lee Koch to sing against Lindsey Paveo with Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box." Lee had a harder time with this than Lindsey, he confessed that he hadn't listen to the song in over 10 years. This seemed to shock everyone, especially Lindsey, Nirvana happens to be her favorite band.  During the sessions, Lee still struggled with the songs, and Jewel told him it would help if he would understood the song better. Even though Lindsey has the more commercial sound, I really liked Lee's voice during this. If I'm not mistaken, wasn't this song done by someone on Idol last year, and it was kind of the same slowed down arrangement. Is this the only song Courtney is allowing to be played on TV? Adam thought the performance was "delightfully creepy," while Cee Lo thought the lighting made Lee look like Jesus at certain points. Not even looking like our Lord and Savior could help Lee though, Christina went with Lindsey.

Team Blake

Blake had Charlotte Sometimes do battle with Lex Land with Foster The People's "Pumped Up Kicks." Not entirely sure why he picked this song, but it kind of worked. He did say that he chose Charlotte and Lex because of their personalities, which couldn't be more different. Charlotte came off as utterly obnoxious during rehearsals, totally getting under Lex's skin. Kelly Clarkson's advice for Miss Sometimes was to not get too crazy with her voice. Also Charlotte, no one cares about your probably made up disease. Stop mentioning it. During the auditions, I wasn't really here for Lex's voice, mostly it was the boring song she chose, but I was really rooting for her during this battle. Her notes were clearer, and more subtle. She really came out of her box and didn't let Charlotte intimidate her. Xtina thought Lex's breathy voice was sexy, and Adam would have chosen her too. Charlotte boasted about how she wanted to win and beat her, in the end Blake chose her.

Team Adam

Adam picked Mary J. Blige's "No More Drama" for Kim Yarborough and Whitney Myer. Right out of the gate Whitney was worried about having to sing with Kim. "We are both powerhouse singers, it's just that Kim's house is bigger, " she said. Kim let Whitney and Adam know that she was there to bring it and pull no punches. "Some of the places she's going, I've already been there." Well, damn Kim. Whitney was too worried about Kim out-singing her, that she couldn't focus on her own vocals. I sort of liked the R&B tones to Whitney's voice, when I could hear it. I feel like she knew she wasn't going to win so she didn't sing out as much as she could have. Blake likened their match to a Diva's concert, with Kim being a low-budget Chaka Khan, of course. Although he really liked Whitney, Adam went with Kim.

Team Cee Lo

Cee Lo and his cat had two match-ups last night, the first was Sarah Golden and Juliet Simms singing Rod Stewart's "Stay With Me." This one was pretty easy to call too because Sarah instantly threw it in Juliet's favor. Juliet noticed she "swallowed" Sarah during their first go with the song, it was more of her type of tune than Sarah's. When meeting with Ne-Yo and Cee to go over her parts, I couldn't help but notice her cute outfit, and the fact that she was dressed like"Bad" Sandy from Grease during the final rehearsals. Ne-Yo was definitely feeling her though, he even did the stank face. They both sounded alright during the song, I liked the little bounce Sarah had going but this was Juliet's battle to win. The other coaches agreed, and Cee Lo went with Juliet.

The last singers to go were BFFs Jamar Rogers and sandwich king Jamie Lono. Cee Lo chose Foreigner's "I Want To Know What Love Is," for them, the soaring parts of the song proved to be challenging for Jamie's voice. Twice his voice cracked, which made Cee Lo wonder if it could be fragile. It might have been more a dry mouth issue (ewww), but on stage Jamie didn't try so hard to hit his notes which made for a better performance. Jamar was all too excited to be singing a duet with Cee, his idol, and you can tell that on stage he really felt the lyrics and that emotion is was what I think helped him to win. Xtina complimented him on his beautiful tone, and there was really no question about who would go on. Jamie was especially disappointed to have to sing against his friend, but in the end he saw the bright side in him going home, it's so that Jamar could continue to live out his dream. I'll eat sandwiches from you anytime Jamie!

The show ended with tears, and I had a headache, but it was a good night and I look forward to next week's battles!