Usher was the final judge Tuesday to pare down his team for the Top 12 live performances next week on the “Voice.” Picking three of his five member team to advance, he said he was emphasizing soul and R&B.
The epitome of that, he said, was his first singer of the night, T.J. Wilkins, 23, of Los Angeles, who sang the difficult “Tell Me Something Good,” the Chaka Khan song written by Stevie Wonder.
Melissa Jimenez, the singer with her dad’s Mexican band, who has such a smooth pop tone, bravely tried Beyonce’s “Halo” in a stripped down version meant to show every shading of her voice. But it also showed some limitations, so she wasn’t chosen to continue.
Stevie Jo, that weird looking dude with a pretty fine R&B voice, tried on B.B. King’s “The Thrill is Gone,” and Usher wondered whether the kid ever really had the blues. He grew up the son of two metal singers, so maybe. Performing with his hair down and parted in the middle he looked a little like TV’s Mayim Bialik. His crouched performance style is unusual as well; Blake Shelton likened it to “sneaking up on a rabbit.” Usher had some tough choices to make, so in addition to the thrill, Stevie Jo was also gone.
So the other two got in: Bria Kelly, the 18-year-old from Smithfield, Va., did a knockout performance of The Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses,” itself an inspired choice.
Also in was Josh Kaufman, who pulled all kinds of tricks on his version of Bruno Mars’ “It Will Rain.” Kaufman, the 38 year old family man from Indianapolis had his start on Adam Levine’s team, but was stolen by Usher. He’s got visual gimmicks too: Big glasses, a beard and a fedora, any one of which would be fine. But three?
Of Usher’s group, I’d put money on Bria.
With the end of the Playoffs, “The Voice” moves to its live viewer voting next week. But since they showed footage of performances in the promo, it may be fair to say that while the voting will be live, the singing still won’t be.