Spoiler Alert! Recap and Review: THE VOICE Brings Back Taylor Swift for Night Two of the Knockout Round; Full Reviews and Pictures!

Ok, I admit, I was fairly skeptical about the reigning princess of country pop music, Taylor Swift being the Advisor for every competitor in the Knockout Rounds on THE VOICE. However, after two nights, I am going to stop drinking so much Haterade, and give the girl a break.

Look, there is no doubt that she is an incredibly talented artist, and, perhaps, an even more shrewd marketer and self-promoter, but I have never actually found her to be a halfway decent singer. Certainly she has improved over the years, and no doubt she has spent a considerable amount of time and money working with vocal coaches, because it is fairly evident that her technique has improved by leaps and bounds. But when she is compared to Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert in the country world, and Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande in the pop world, she pales in comparison.

That being typed, as I said last night, she was able to share some fairly astute, and some obvious, insights with the competitors. I just wish that the producers trusted the public enough to show us some of the actual vocal coaching (by T-Swizzle and the coaches) going on, just not them fine-tuning the performance machinations. When the show finally makes that subtle pivot, then they can truly say that they are all about the voice.

With Pharrell Williams and Adam Levine using their lone Steals of the round last night, only Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani had the ability to Steal losing competitors, and Gwen might have come away with the steal of the season!

Let me know what you thought of the show, and what you thought about my thoughts, in the comments below, or on Twitter @BWWMatt. Alrighty then, now to the performances...

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Team Gwen Battle 2
Troy Ritchie:
Song: "Hey Ya!" by Outkast
Three-Word Review: Close Your Eyes

First off, Troy is insane. I feel very confident in diagnosing him via this single performance. The amount of hyperactive spasming that he was doing nearly drove me nuts, so I can't imagine what it was like actually doing it!

I have to admit, I thought that this was THE WORST possible song choice ever; there is very little actual singing in the original song, but (with Taylor Swift's help) Troy delivered a professionally credible version of the song, that, if you closed your eyes, seemed like it could have been done by a legitimate recording artist.

In terms of the vocals, I still think it was a bad song choice. Despite his "funnish" performance, there still weren't many opportunities to see what a great vocalist he is. One point though, his falsetto was light years better in the Knockout than in rehearsal; when he was working with Gwen and Taylor, I doubted if he could actually hit the top notes, but he nailed them in performance.

Taylor John Williams:
Song: "Mad World" by Tears for Fears
Three-Word Review: Sweet, Sweet Sound

Holy hell, Taylor's voice is like hot butter on my breakfast toast. What can you say about a guy who has nearly perfect vocals? His tone, his runs, his musicality were exquisite. If it doesn't work out for him on THE VOICE, he could release the most successful album of lullabies in the history of the world; and I mean that in the best possible way. He is more controlled and introspective than Troy is, which makes you more confident that he can consistently turn in quality performances. So, that put him over the top for me.

Check out their performances below before reading what happened:

Should Win: Taylor John Williams (barely)
Did Win: Taylor John Williams
Steal: Nada

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Team Adam Battle 2
Alessandra Castronovo:
Song: "Next to Me" by Emeli Sandé
Three-Word Review: Whoa! That Run!

That run! That run into her head voice made me fall in love with Alessandra. Her voice is insanely smooth and controlled. So many performers on THE VOICE feel like they have to show off at every turn, adding unnecessary riffs anytime there is an extended note. Alessandra, on the other hand, chose one moment to significantly deviate from the melody; and that moment was extraordinary.

Mia Pfirrman:
Song: "Human" by Christina Perri
Three-Word Review: Ms. Belty McBelterson

Anytime someone says, "I want to show off my lower register," I get nervous. Very rarely do non-professional singers have the ability to hit those lower notes without the help of autotune. However, in this performance, Mia didn't seem to have the pitch problems that have plagued her in the past, which is a positive. However, I felt like her song only gave me one thing, power. That's all there really was; yes, the notes sounded good, but there were no vocal dynamics to her performance, it was belt beginning, middle, and end. Now look, I am a musical theatre fan first, so I love me some belting, but the best songs and performances have build; have an arc, and, for me, Mia's was just power.

Should Win: Alessandra Catronovo
Did Win: Mia Pfirrman
Steal: Nope

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Team Pharrell Battle 3
Elyjuh René
Song: "With You" by Chris Brown
Three-Word Review: Polished, but Cliché

Before Elyjuh even opened his mouth he had a strike against him in my book, just because he picked a Chris Brown song to perform. I won't get on a soapbox, but you should know that was in the back of my mind. That being typed, he delivered a really clever, really cool performance. However, while there were definitely interesting vocal moments in the song, it didn't sound special to me. It sounded like the Pat Boone version of any song in the '50sl;extremely polished, but lacking any connection to the true message or feel of the song.

Ricky Manning
Song: "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus
Three-Word Review: We Gotta Contender

Ricky was really smart to let the song's emotional message guide the arrangement into a more tender, more emotional direction. That was a professional performance, either for a recording artist, or even a musical theatre performer. There was such control, so much pathos in that performance, it truly took the song's heart-breaking lyrics and made them real (the lack of a naked Miley riding a literal wrecking ball might have helped too). This guy is legit!

Should Win: Ricky Manning
Did Win: Elyjuh René
Steal: Gwen Stefani
New Team: Team Gwen

Not just to use the name of my column, but "But, Wait! What?" How in the world did Pharrell cut Ricky? Even if he did it knowing someone would Steal him, there is no reason to cut Ricky; he could legitimately win the title. Good for Gwen!

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Photo Credit: Trae Patton | NBC

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