VOICE OVER: The Battles End in a 'Musical Pillow Fight'!

By: Oct. 23, 2012
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Tonight was the final night of Battle Rounds on NBC's The Voice! For the Battles, each contestant pairs up with another contestant from the same team to sing a duet in front of their coach and the other three coaches. After the performance, their coach has to decide which one gets to move on to the Knock Out Rounds, and who gets the boot. This season, a special twist was added in which one of the other coaches can actually "steal" whoever gets eliminated. Each coach only has two steals though, so they have to be pretty stingy. So as it stands coming into the last night of Battles, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, and CeeLo Green have all used up their steals, so Christina Aguilera is the only one with a steal still to use.

Make sure to check out the recaps of the earlier weeks of The Voice right here!

Team Christina opened the night Adriana Louise sang "Hot 'n' Cold" with former Disney star Jordan Pruitt. Billy Joe Armstrong helped out advising this team, which made Jordan and Adrianna very excited. While they were practicing the song, Christina thought Jordan was better at attacking it and being aggressive, while Adriana still had to work on that. In light of the fact that Jordan had experience singing on tour with people like The Jonas Brothers, Adriana said, "It's a little nerve-wracking knowing Jordan has all this experience on me." Christina called Jordan a "well-controlled singer," but she wanted to see her venture out more, with which Jordan admitted to having issues because she had worked in the security of Disney for so long. "To be a pop star," Christina advised, "You have to exude power and presence." On stage, it was clear that these two rock stars were having an absolutely wonderful time, as were the coaches. CeeLo had high praise for them, "That's one of the best battles we've had. You're both competitive vocalists; it's like the Olympics up there." Adam told them something similar, "I don't think we've ever had a battle that's this even," and Blake expressed his disappointment about not having any steals left, because he said he wanTed Jordan for his team. Christina called them both superstars, saying, "Jordan, you and I both come from a similar background as far as being Disney kids. You added a lot of ad-libs and soul. Adriana, you were able to hit some crazy notes. That's something you naturally do have, and that's what I connected with. The winner is Adriana." A tearful Jordan left the stage disappointed and a little surprised that she did not win, but Blake said that he hoped she would release a record very soon so he could buy it as soon as possible.

The youngest pair yet- Kelly Crapa (age 15) and Michaela Paige (age 16)- sang "I Hate Myself for Loving You" next. And these girls could not have been more different. Michaela exuded this extremely confident image with her blonde and pink mohawk with a rocker voice, while Kelly was straight-up country. Adviser Michael Bublé said, "Michaela is like a black woman trapped in the body of a 16-year old blonde rocker." Michael and Blake agreed that Kelly needed to work on getting out of her shell and not being so timid. But in their last rehearsal, Kelly really stepped up her game, consistently matching Michaela's power. Since they seemed fairly evenly-matched, a cautious Michaela said, "Kelly is tough competition. I know I don't have this in the bag." Seeing these barely high school-age girls (especially Kelly who really looked young) sing this ridiculously powerful song was just strange and amazing at the same time. Adam seemed to feel like it was an interesting combination too, saying, "That was the cutest thing I've ever seen. It was like a musical pillow fight." And yet, it was also so fierce that Christina said, "I was expecting a fist fight or something!" A proud coach Blake said, "You're the sweetest girls ever. Y'all did exactly what I asked y'all to do. But I think when you're in your mid-teens like you girls are, a year can make a huge difference, and I think Michaela just had a little more of an edge. So I'm gonna go with her." No steal for Kelly, but she seems to have a bright future ahead of her. 

The very last battle of season three was a highly-anticipated one between CeeLo's Avery Wilson and Chevonne, singing "Titanium." Right off the bat, Chevonne was bringing the power. Avery felt intimidated by his competition, and it definitely showed in that first rehearsal. "When I heard Chevonne belt, I was like, 'I need to step it up!'" Both CeeLo and his adviser, Rob Thomas, had confidence in Avery. CeeLo heaped on the praise, "Avery is like a child prodigy, he has one of the strongest voices I've ever heard." Contrastingly, Chevonne had a tendency to sing too hard. Her coach thought she was definitely a contender and that the key for Avery to win this battle would be consistency. The performance was absolutely incredible. It clearly blew everyone away, making this undoubtedly the best battle of the night. Blake and Adam both said that they would have chosen Avery to win this round, but Christina couldn't say enough about Chevonne's awesome stage presence. CeeLo, faced with a decision envied by no one, said, "Chevonne, you really impressed me at rehearsals. Avery, I'm just so impressed with you. And the stage presence too. You maybe gave a little less than Chevonne, but as far as a well-toned performance through and through, I would have to go with Avery." Chevonne didn't even get a chance to start a farewell speech, because Christina stole her almost immediately. There was much crying and sweet hugs, and it was obvious that Chevonne was over the moon.

That concludes all of the Battle Rounds! So who are the favorites now? Any predictions yet? Next week, we're switching gears as the teams transition to the Knock Out Rounds, in which the performers get to choose their own song, and the pressure is on more than ever. Tune in to NBC next Monday at 8/7c to watch the Knock Outs! 

Visit www.nbc.com/the-voice/artists/ to view the full list of current contestants, plus their stories, videos, and more. You can download your favorites from tonight's performances at www.iTunes.com/thevoice, or watch them on The Voice's YouTube channel: www.Youtube.com/NBCthevoice. Keep up with The Voice through the week and during the show on Twitter: @NBCTheVoice, #TheVoice.



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