Photo by: Tyler Golden/NBC
The Voice Season 12 Top 12 Elimination Results
As for the rest of the show, it was mostly business as usual. The only small difference is that Carson Daly didn’t say his usual line of, “in no particular order” when he started announcing who America saved. This did made me wonder if they were ordered by number of votes. That’s mainly because Brenneley Brown was the first person announced. She’s the only artist that hit the top ten on iTunes and got that 5x bonus on her votes.
America Saved:
1. Brenneley Brown
2. Jesse Larson
3. Lauren Duski
4. Vanessa Ferguson
5. Aliyah Moulden
6. Lilli Passero
7. Chris Blue
9. TSoul
10. Stephanie Rice
The Bottom Two
Troy Ramey & Mark Isaiah
Aside from Brenneley, the rest of the order had little correlation to the iTunes rankings. However, last season the iTunes charts proved to not be the absolute indicator of who would make it. Since there’s no way to know how many votes people got via app or online it’s really hard to say for sure they aren’t in ranked order. Given that some favorites were near the bottom of the list, let’s hope they aren’t and Carson just forgot to say so!
Who Won the Instant Save?
As I said in the Top 12 Performances Review I expected Troy and Mark’s to be at the bottom. Coach Gwen Stefani choice to save Troy made little sense given who else was on her team, and Mark’s performance had been mediocre. With the built-in favoritism that country & rock artists get because of how the Instant Save is done I thought Troy might have had a shot. After his performance I suspected otherwise.
“Drift Away” by Dobie Gray could have been a great song choice – but Troy blew it with the problem he’s had all along. He under sings so at times you can’t hear him. Plus he drops the ends of words and sometimes the entire word of a phrase. Whether it’s a breath and enunciation issue or he just don’t know how to use the microphone well enough, the result’s the same. The full impact that he could make with his voice is lost.
In contrast, Mark is all pro on the technical side of things. He knows how to work a stage and use a microphone. Every word he sings is easily understood. To stay in the competition you need to have those basics down!
This is Mark’s best solo performance to date. For one, his song choice was a good one. It essentially did what he wanted to do for his first live show performance – showcase his intimate r&b side. While he’s no Bruno Mars he gave a solid performance.
Winner: Mark Isaish
Voting for the instant save had already closed when Adam made his plea to viewers to save Mark. However, all of Adam’s points about room for growth and potential had been showcased well. Some of that was in Mark’s rendition of “When I Was Your Man,” but where most people likely saw it was in his solo during “Hey Jude.”
Going forward Adam might do well giving Mark songs that he doesn’t know – so that there’s no modern person to imitate. He also seems like he’s able to connect emotionally to songs with heavier topics. (It’s what he wanted to do with “Once Dance” before being talked into making it purely a clubby pop tune.) I have to admit that I’m curious to see what Mark’s next song is!
Next Up: What’s up With Team Blake?
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