The Voice Australia Season 2, Episode 20: Pimping is what this show does best

We're down to the final 16 on The Voice Australia season 2. There's been some great performances and a lot of meh performances but it's a new chapter for the contestants as we have reached the live rounds. Tonight, they will be performing 1 song each and at the conclusion of each team's last act, the team's coach will get to save 1 of their 4 artists to move onto next week. Before we get started, I've got to say that The Voice Australia has been very predictable in who they want to advance. Harrison has performed last 3/3 times while Luke Kennedy and Michael Paynter have been last twice. They need to at least TRY not to be as obvious and rotate the artists around. Even American Idol isn't that blatant with the performance order.


Team Joel

1. Michael Paynter - Locked Out of Heaven (4/10)

Normally, he would be about a 7 but he was off pitch for most of the song. I don't think he will leave but he will lose his frontrunner status.

2. Michael Stangel - Four Walls (3/10)

He's shouting and screaming his way through. Won't be getting the audience vote this time.

3. Danny Ross - The Joker (3/10)

Weak and no energy at all.

4. Kiyomi Vella - It's Oh So Quiet (5/10)

She was the best on Team Joel but that's not saying much. Joel decides to give her a Bjork song to get her to be 'Kiyomi' but Bjork is known for being unique and quirky. Is it really being unique if you try and copy another unique artist? Total cliche song choice. I don't find her unique at all and her shushing at me half the song made me want to mute her.

Team Joel Average Ranking: 3.5/10

Should go through (performance): Kiyomi; (strategic) Michael Paynter

Joel saves Danny. Ugh, predictable. Totally undeserving of that save. Danny needs to go.

Audience vote (should): Kiyomi, Michael Paynter
Audience vote (will): Kiyomi, Michael Paynter


Team Seal

5. Mitchell Anderson - Dear Prudence (6/10)

He doesn't have a bad voice but I feel like he's average all the time. The only performance of his that I liked was Walking in Memphis.

6. Alex Gibson - Folsom Prison Blues (7.5/10)

He's low key but I like his voice. I enjoyed that.

7. Jac Stone - Uninvited (5.5/10)

Great first verse but fell apart by the chorus. Pitch was very flat toward the middle and end. Last note was atrocious. Thanks for screwing her, Seal.

8. Harrison Craig - Can't Help Falling in Love (9.5/10)

Still the last person to perform on the team. 4/4. I loved that look of admiration he had when Seal was singing in his video package.

Finally that was the performance I've been waiting for from Harrison. He had some pitch problems in his other performances that were glossed over but not this performance. Tough song choice but he did an amazing job. One minor quibble that I had with it was that I did not like the changes made to the chorus. He should have sung that straight.

Wait, so he gets 3 judges' comments? Blatant pimping. Great answer on that Seal question.

Should go through (performance): Harrison; (strategic) Alex

Seal saves Alex. I like Alex and we all know Harrison is getting through so I don't mind this decision at all.

Team Seal Average Ranking: 7/10

Audience vote (should): Harrison, Mitchell
Audience vote (will): Harrison, Jac


Team Delta

 9. Tim Morrison - Something (3/10)

Delta really torpedoed Tim's chances of staying with that song. He doesn't have the voice to sing this. Ouch. Cringeworthy moments in there. Flat and sharp most of the song. The judges are saying a lot by not commenting on his singing. He's toast. Oh, he gets 3 comments too. I guess they had extra time.

10. Celia Pavey - Jolene (9/10)

My favourite's on! Delta sucks with her song choices. Jolene for Celia? Awesome performance again by Celia. No matter what Delta throws at her, she pretty much kills it. I heard a lot of desperation and begging in that performance, which Delta asked for. Ricky is right on both counts, she sang part of the song like she was in tears and she's going to be Delta's finalist.

11. Jackie Sannia - Skyscraper (8/10)

My 2nd favourite! Delta gave her Arithmetic last week which I thought was terrible but she sang great. Skyscraper by Demi Lovato?! Another crappy song choice. Jackie is still doing this song justice even though it's totally out of her element. Come on Delta. I get that you wanted her off the piano but she didn't play the piano during My Immortal and there are so many better song choices for her than Skyscraper. Joel's comment pissed me off. Like a little sister? What about her singing? The fact that he would have chosen someone else over Jackie twice makes me think he doesn't really like Jackie's singing at all.

12. Steve Clisby - Just the Two of Us (5/10)

I feel almost exactly the same about Steve Clisby as I do with Mitchell except Mitchell's got a better voice. I really don't like Steve's attitude here. He tries to coolly play it off as if his age was the barrier to not trying to hit those high notes but it's just that he doesn't wants to do it so Delta has to suck it up and act like it's OK. His performances sound the same all the time. Beginning part was boring (as usual) but he kicked it up a notch near the end. All in all, a classic Steve performance.

Team Delta Average Ranking: 6/10

Should go through (performance): Celia; (strategic) Jackie

Delta saves Steve. Wrong choice here. I would have saved Jackie (knowing that Celia would be saved by Australia)

Audience vote (should): Celia, Jackie
Audience vote (will): Celia, Jackie

Team Ricky

13. Simon Meli - Sympathy for the Devil (7.5/10)

Pretty good. I have liked every one of his performances so far.

14. Caterina Torres - Love Don't Cost A Thing (7/10)

Some pitch problems at the end but her performance was good. I think Ricky should have given her a different song because this song exposes all her problems when she has to sing and dance at the same time.

15. Miss Murphy (Karen Andrews) - 1 + 1 (9/10)

I really loved the changes Miss Murphy did to the song. Even though Ricky saddled her with this terrible song choice, she sang great. Seal noticed too. I like that she's shy when she's not singing.

16. Luke Kennedy - Please Don't Ask Me (9.5/10)

He has a shallow operatic voice so I thought Time To Say Goodbye wasn't outstanding but he killed Please Don't Ask Me. WOW. He surprised the heck out of me. He should sing pop songs from now on and do away with the opera. He doesn't have the deep and rich voice that opera needs.

Team Ricky Average Ranking: 8.5/10

Should go through (performance): Luke; (strategic) Caterina

Ricky's the only coach that saved the person who gave the best performance. He probably wasn't worried because he has the best team overall.

Audience vote (should): Miss Murphy, Simon
Audience vote (will): Miss Murphy, Simon

Rankings

1. Harrison Craig
2. Luke Kennedy
3. Celia Pavey
4. Miss Murphy
5. Jackie Sannia
6. Simon Meli
7. Alex Gibson
8. Caterina Torres
9. Mitchell Anderson
10. Jac Stone
11. Steve Clisby
12. Kiyomi Vella
13. Michael Paynter
14. Tim Morrison
15. Michael Stangel
16. Danny Ross

Coach rankings (advice + team selection)

1. Ricky - Great coach. Has one of the best teams ever.
2. Delta - I like the advice that she gives, plus she has Celia and Jackie, two of the strongest contestants.
3. Seal - Not bad although I'd say he was better with his advice last year. Harrison is his clear frontrunner.
4. Joel - I liked him last year but this year he has been insufferable. I hope he gets replaced by Keith Urban or Sia.

Coach rankings (song choice)

1. Ricky - His selections have played to his team's strengths.
2. Seal - Good song choices.
3. Joel - Bad song selection. Justin Bieber during the battle rounds?
4. Delta - When Delta stops mucking it up with her song choices, only then will Celia stand a chance of defeating the behemoth that is Harrison Craig.