‘The Voice’ Recap

This week on ‘The Voice,’ the battle segment begins, where each team member picks two contestants to perform a song against one another in hopes to reach the next round. Each coach also has a high-profile mentor to lend advice to every contestant.

Blake Shelton has Sheryl Crow, Adam Levine has Hillary Scott from country act Lady Antebellum, Shakira has Joel Madden of Good Charlotte and Usher has Pharrell Williams.

After this episode, Usher really showed off his musicianship as he gave some of the best advice and critiques to each of his contestants to help enhance their performances. Made me appreciate him as an artist even more, because he understands the craft a little bit more than others.

Highlight performances came from the jump. Sasha Allen and Amber Carrington went head-to-head to stay on Adam’s team. He chose for her to sing Pink’s ‘Try’ and even though Sasha massacred the vocals, Adam opted for Amber but the other judges didn’t hesitate to “steal” Sasha for their respective teams. Both Usher and Shakira vowed for her, yet Sasha’s daughter urged her to pick Shakira and she did, leaving Usher a little emotional and even (in his words) “dumbfounded” that she didn’t pick him.

Usher paired Jess Kellner versus Taylor Beckham and chose Amy Winehouse’s ‘You Know I’m No Good.’ This had to be one of the weakest showdowns of the episodes so far, with Jess’ low-rent Colbie Caillat imitations and Taylor’s weak vocals; there really wasn’t a true winner in this match. I was even more flabbergasted when Shakira and Blake both claimed Taylor should win the round. Did they hear a different voice from what the audience heard, because she was struggling. However, when Usher picked Jess, it took a while before Blake decided to steal Taylor. Blake will regret that decision later in the season.

Of course they saved the best for last. Judith Hill and Karina Iglesias battled it out with ‘It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World’ by James Brown. For some reason, Adam prefers to match up his best contenders with one another, making his team weaker with every battle. Judith and Karina were top-notch and brought their A-game to the table. Adam eventually chose Judith over Karina but Shakira snagged Latin rocker Karina for her team.

Watch Judith Hill & Karina Iglesias Perform 'It's a Man's Man's Man's World' on 'The Voice'