The spirit of Christmas must be invading “The Voice” as it lurches toward semi-finals next week. Not only were most of the time-killing songs in Tuesday’s results show from the holiday songbook, they only cut one person instead of two.
But what a person! A guy who had the looks of a “Voice” winner, Matthew Schuler, 20, of Yardley, Penn., the first one this season to have all four judges turn in the blind audition. After choosing Christina Aguilera, who killed the place with a version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” that topped iTunes.
The ouster came in a week in which the final six got to sing two songs — one of his choice, one chosen by his mentor. And while Christina gave him the Percy Sledge soul classic “When A Man Loves A Woman,” Matthew chose One Direction’s “Story of My Life” and dedicated it to his family.
But said in interviews after the show that he felt doing the song might turn One Direction fans against him.
But there was, as usual, no time to analyze, grab a comment, or get any type of reaction as his ouster becomes apparent as the credits roll.
Earlier in the night, he joined Tessanne Chin and Jacquie Lee — what would seem to be the logical final three — in lighting up Florence + The Machine’s “You Got the Love,” a song perfectly suited for a soulful trio.
But that final three will never be.
Matthew was eliminated when Twitter voters (on the East and Central time zones only, mind you) chose to keep James Wolpert, who was the first of any of Adam Levine’s team to even be threatened for three weeks running.
With James saved, Levine’s team is not only still intact four the fourth consecutive week, it outnumbers every body else put together. He has Wolpert, another bespectacled singer in Will Champlin as well as Tessanne. By conrast, Christina only has one singer left in Jacquie Lee and Blake Shelton is down to just Cole Vosbury, who to his credit is hanging in there (Cee Lo Green has nobody left).
The musical highlight of the results show was the product of a rivalsinging competition: Season one “American Idol” winner Kelly Clarkson tore it up with her winning new Christmas ditty, “Underneath the Tree,” surely the most powerful new Yule song since Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You.”
After rising to fame on Fox, Clarkson is all about NBC now: A former Voice mentor, she’s got her own Christmas special coming up on the network Dec. 11 and will be on the tree lighting special from Rockefeller Center Wednesday.
It’s still more than three weeks until the holiday, but another three Christmas songs were part of the Tuesday show: Blake Shelton joined by season one “Voice: contestant Xenia on “Silver Bells,” and the Top six doing the worst-mixed version of “O Holy Night” on network TV. None of the individual voices could be heard. The show’s three backup singers were heard louder and the arrangement mix with “Joy to the World” was dreadful.
On the other hand, the other star duet, it beat the show’s other star collaboration — Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme joining the male finalists (Cole, James and Will) on a version of “More Than Words” that was more than shaky.