The Voice – Team Christina vs. Team Blake

Photos: The Voice/NBC

Last night was the two-hour live battle show between Team Christina and Team Blake. I think it's safe to say that Christina's team  won, but Blake's team wasn't that bad. The show opened with another performance by the coaches, this time it was a medley of Queen hits. I'm going to keep my comments about Xtina's leather hot pants to myself, but otherwise she sounded great!

So it was Christina's Divas versus Blake's Pseudo Country Stars and Sweethearts. Little Raquel Castro tried her best with a JLo-esque performance of Ke$ha's "Blow". I like that they get choreographers and backup dancers but even that didn't really save this performance. Christina did her best to hype of her favorite, but Raquel's voice cracks and lazy dance movies might not help her stick around for long.

One of the highlights of the night was Beverly McClellan who went the easy route with a Melissa Etheridge song, but still rocked it even though she was sick. Carson said he never thought he'd see her in skirt, it was a little Braveheart-ish to me--after all, it was a KILT. Blake called her "sexy" and Cee-Lo said he was "blown away". As another judge on that other singing competition show would say, it's hers to lose. I was much less impressed with Lily Elise who sang Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry".  Oh dear, her vocals were all over the place and I'm sure at some point she wasn't hitting anything that could be compared to notes. The judges went easy on her though, but I don't think she'll make it to the end.

Frenchie Davis tackled Kelly Rowland's "When Love Takes Over". Frenchie's performance would have been better without the dancers, but I love the way she worked the stage and the audience. I also loved her interactions with the coaches. However, her voice cracked at the beginning and I think she held the notes for too long. Despite all that, I think Adam wants to sleep with her. Maybe he heard about her past career as an "internet model".

After a peek at Christina's dinner with her girls, they took to the stage for a take on "Lady Marmalade". I enjoyed it, but Christina used these girls as her backup singers! Frenchie got in some good notes, but poor little Raquel was overshadowed by all of them, and was seemingly dressed as a majorette.

Now on to Team Blake. Bret Michaels wannabe Jared Blake went for Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody". Not a bold choice but it was worked for him.  Halfway through the song he threw his guitar away, literally, and got up close with the audience. Jared's voice isn't that special to me, and he comes off a little cheesy, but he could get the cougar vote!

Dia Frampton made an interesting choice with Kanye West's "Heartless". There are no shortages of stripped down covers of this, check out The Fray's acoustic cover,  but this was surprisingly good. Dia's voice isn't special either, and never mind the fact that she already has a career outside of this with Meg & Dia, but she showed that she is at least different enough from a lot of the other singers in the competition.

Sigh,  Xenia bless your heart, girl. I can just imagine the choreographer trying to get her to point to her right and left at just the right time in the song. First of all, Jessie J's "Price Tag" was a terrible choice for her. She should have gone with something slower and a bit more alternative that fit her voice. I'm not sure if it was nerves or what but it was a bit uncomfortable to watch, and to listen to.

Finally, Patrick Thomas who sang "I Hope You Dance". He's more straightforward Country than Jared, if the huge cowboy hat didn't give that away. I have to agree with our friend PopBytes, he's got nothing on AI winner Scotty McCreery, but Blake is obviously impressed and think he's making Nashville proud. Christina just wants him to take his pants off.

Blake's team got together at his house (!) and it was even more evident how Xenia didn't really fit in with the group. The group did a cover of Maroon 5's "This Love" much to Adam Levine's amusement. "You're so much bigger than everybody else," Adam tells Blake, who was standing right next to Xenia who seemed confused.

I don't think Xenia or Lily are really cut out for the show and I see them making their way out. Next week is Team Cee-Lo going up against Team Adam. I think Cee-Lo has the edge but Adam's singers could bring it.