‘The Voice’ Season 15: Live Top 10 Performances Recap
Trae Patton/NBC Reading Time: 6 minutes
Competition is heating up this week on The Voice! The Top 10 will become the Top 8 heading into next week’s Semifinals. With only two weeks left after this, the pressure is on.
So who will rise to the occasion and who will fall short? Let’s see what the Top 10 has in store for tonight!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqmF70dORVg
Kennedy Holmes
Oh boy, we’re getting right into it with Kennedy in the Top 10. She’s doing a more upbeat song, “Me Too” by Meghan Trainor. Oh boy. I know I’ve complained that her song choice is a little pageant-y for my taste but this maybe overcompensated for that. Once the performance actually started though, I was pleasantly surprised! I was really into it. It was fun to see Kennedy working the stage and dancing for once! She seemed to have a great time with this one. Plus, her vocal ability is never a question. “Me Too” isn’t the best vocal showcase but after doing big songs week after week, it’s nice to see a different side of Kennedy. Yes, she is mature and super talented. But she’s also just a 13 year old girl trying to have fun with her time on The Voice!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHYWf3-v9cY
Reagan Strange
After two weeks topping the streams on Apple Music, Reagan is fighting to keep that streak going. This week, she’s covering “Cry” by Faith Hill. She’s somewhere in between pop and country and this definitely rode that line too. But Reagan was shaky in this performance. She was a little under the pitch for most of the performance. But when she was on, she was really on! If she was more consistent, she would be unstoppable, but her song choice and pitch issues are holding her back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s-NRCChB9A
Sarah Grace
When I first heard about this arrangement, I wasn’t too sure. Sarah chose to sing “Amazing Grace” but to the tune and accompaniment of “House of the Rising Sun.” It was definitely something unique and new though! I guess it’s a way to avoid singing an overdone song on this show: by combining two overdone songs into one? But surprisingly, Sarah pulled this one off. She sounded great and her stank face was back in full force. Plus, can we talk about her trumpet solo? A first on The Voice! And I doubt we’ll be seeing that happen again any time soon. Sarah impressed even a skeptic like me here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI56vKSELCg
Kymberli Joye
Kymberli went with a gospel song for the second week in a row, singing “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” for her Top 10 performance. She is right in her wheelhouse here. Singing in the clouds was some pretty epic staging too! Kymberli has probably the strongest pure vocals this season. She is consistently spot on. And now singing gospel just takes her to the next level. It’s amazing to think that she had to be saved by Kelly to get into the Top 13. Kymberli took us to CHURCH!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4n4sirbfDk
Chris Kroeze
The first of Blake’s three country guys tonight was Chris Kroeze. For the Top 10 round, Chris sang The Oak Ridge Boys’ “Callin’ Baton Rouge.” The way the song jumped around didn’t play well into his voice, but overall it was an okay performance. He had great energy, especially next to the fiddler. It was entertaining to watch but vocally not his most impressive. Chris is someone who I don’t expect to go all the way, but he always does just enough to stick around. I suspect that may be the case here too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuDTkC9n0Dk
Dave Fenley
After his beatboxing debut last week, Dave is back to his country roots. He’s singing Keith Whitley’s “When You Say Nothing At All” for his Top 10 performance. This is very reminiscent of his Blind Audition! And probably a necessary move after last week’s riskier song choice. I thought Dave did a solid job but this wasn’t anything outstanding. I almost liked when he took more risks. This seemed predictable and the song has been overdone on talent shows. Yes, it’s a good song. Yes, Dave did fine with it. But it wasn’t very memorable in my opinion. And it doesn’t help he’s on Team Blake with two other male country singers!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahYcEb0qxYo
DeAndre Nico
To switch it up from last week, DeAndre went with his OG, Bruno Mars, this week. If you’ll remember, DeAndre auditioned with “When I Was Your Man.” Now, he is performing “That’s What I Like,” a more upbeat Bruno Mars song choice. I really wanted to like this, because I generally like DeAndre. But unfortunately, this is not what I like. And I think this just about sealed his fate in the bottom three tomorrow. His voice isn’t bad but I just wasn’t buying the vibe and stage presence. It seemed too forced. DeAndre’s strength is in the slower ballads so this could hurt his chances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FydZfX9GW0c
Chevel Shepherd
Chevel has emerged as a contender on one of the strongest teams this season, Team Kelly. As the sole female country artist remaining (and the only one not on Team Blake), Chevel has a huge advantage there. She sang “You’re Lookin’ at Country” by Loretta Lynn for her Top 10 performance. This was a perfect song choice for her! Chevel has such cool inflections in her voice and her tone is so unique. Those showed that off in all the right ways. She really did some vocal olympics here in the yodeling too! This was my favorite performance of Chevel’s so far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFmfrJjNZa0
Kirk Jay
Kirk sang “Tomorrow” by Chris Young for his Top 10 performance. He had a little bit of a rocky start but found his stride in the first chorus and kept it going from there. And his falsetto at the end really sealed the deal! Kirk has separated himself as one of the most consistent, strong singers this season. While I don’t think this was his best performance to date, it was undoubtedly good. At this rate, chances are we’ll be seeing him in the Finale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekCOJctMi2s
MaKenzie Thomas
Closing out the Top 10 is Team JHud’s MaKenzie Thomas. She has been a dark horse in this competition so far! But she is a vocal beast so deservedly so. Tnight, she decided to sing Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me.” I could not have been more excited! We’ve seen MaKenzie cover Jessie J, Destiny’s Child, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Hudson…just add Celine to the list. And she killed it once again! This was a showstopper for sure. MaKenzie is peaking just at the right time. I thought this was her best performance all season! And her high notes were absolutely unreal. Even after the key change! That is not easy to pull off. She is a FORCE on the stage.
Tune in to The Voice tomorrow night as the Top 10 becomes the Top 8! We’ll also have performances from Kelly Clarkson, Gwen Stefani, and Anne-Marie & James Arthur. Tomorrow should be another exciting results show!
