‘The Voice' Season 27 Episode 13 recap: Michael and John narrow their teams from 5 to 2 in ‘Playoffs Part 2'
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Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways
The Voice Season 27 continued the "Playoffs" stage of the competition on Monday. In this round, each coach brings their team of five to the stage for a single performance that will determine which two move on the live shows. By the end of the round's 20 performances, only eight artists will remain in the competition. Mega Mentors Sheryl Crow and LeAnn Rimes assisted Team Michael Bublé and Team John Legend in the rehearsals leading up to the May 5 episode.
On the April 28 "Playoffs Premiere" episode, Kelsea Ballerini moved forward with Alanna Lynise and Iris Herrera for the live shows. Adam Levine advanced Kolby Cordell and Lucia Flores-Wiseman as the representatives for his team.
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Team Bublé
The five performances for Michael's team were Kaiya Hamilton singing "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" by Sting, Angie Rey with "How Do I Live" by LeAnn, Jadyn Cree doing "99 Red Balloons" by Nena, Barry Jean Fontenot on "Until I Found You" by Stephen Sanchez, and Adam David performing "I Shall Be Released" by Bob Dylan. During rehearsals with Sheryl, they helped Kaiya rework the song away from the original version into more of her own style, urged Angie to get "out of your head" because it was noticeable and convinced her to do the chorus in Spanish, and thought Jadyn returned to the roots of 80s punk with her "unique" sound. Sheryl wanted Barry to approach the song with "tenderness and urgency" and helped Adam know how to confront stage fright.
After seeing the final stage performances, the other coaches gave Michael advice to aid in his decision. Adam was "amazed" by Kaiya's rendition and gave her the "most improved player award" and Kelsea said she "ate and left no crumbs." John thought Angie achieved a song that requires "pipes," Adam liked Jadyn because she's "good old fashioned pop rock," Kelsea sees the confidence growth in Barry and how he "believes he's supposed to be here," and Adam admitted the coaches that didn't turn for him originally messed up.
Adam David on The Voice (Photo credit: Greg Gayne/NBC)
Michael challenged Kaiya with the song he gave her and commended her for being "brave" enough to take it on "flawlessly." He told Angie that he was happy to get to work with hr for the first time and gave her best performance, Jadyn that she has an immediately recognizable voice and "star quality," Barry that he worked hard on everything they discussed in rehearsal about confidence, and Adam that he is truly an artist because he's "authentic." Based on those impressions, Michael decided to stick with Adam and Jadyn for the live shows.
Jadyn Cree on The Voice (Photo credit: Greg Gayne/NBC)
Team Legend
The five artists on Team Legend were Bryson Battle with "pov" by Ariana Grande, BD.ii on "All My Life" by K-Ci & JoJo, Olivia Kuper Harris performing "What Was I Made For?" by Billie Eilish, Ari Camille doing "Rain" by SWV, and Renzo singing "Too Sweet" by Hozier. Getting to see them at rehearsal, LeAnn thought Bryson was on the cusp of "understanding his range" and helped him open up his vocal more, wanted BD.ii to "project out" and then helped him "beef up" his falsetto, advised Olivia to be "vulnerable" in her physicality because it wasn't working when thy could see her acting, and wanted Ari to bring more sensuality and complimented her "raspiness." LeAnn liked how "hard" into rock Renzo was taking his song.
Following the performances, Michael cracked a joke about wanting to steal Bryson and Adam called it "technically crazy." Kelsea noticed "the ease" that BD.ii performs with, Michael loved seeing Olivia "get into character" and thinks she can do anything, and her former coach Adam told Ari she sounded "amazing." Kelsea was interested by Renzo's fusing of rock and soul and projected him being a big star.
Renzo on The Voice (Photo credit: Greg Gayne/NBC)
John noted for Bryson the his "high notes were thrilling" and he is a "compelling" vocalist, commented on BD.ii's "pure, soulful voice that always sounds cool," was "thoroughly impressed" by the "stunning" performance from Olivia, referred to the "stylish" was that Ari approaches everything in her artistry, and John thought Renzo "knocked it out of the park." After further private deliberation, John chose Renzo and Bryson as the artists to move on to the semis.
Bryson Battle on The Voice (Photo credit: Greg Gayne/NBC)
At the end of the night, after decisions were final, Carson Daly informed the coaches that they'd each get to employ the Super Save and bring a third artist to the live shows. Who the coaches picked is to be revealed next week.
The updated teams are:
TEAM LEGEND — Bryson Battle, Renzo
TEAM BUBLÉ — Adam David, Jadyn Cree
TEAM KELSEA — Alanna Lynise, Iris Herrera
TEAM ADAM — Kolby Cordell, Lucia Flores-Wiseman
The four-time Emmy Award-winning musical competition series The Voice is in its 27th season featuring five stages of competition: Blind Auditions, Battle Rounds, Knockouts, Playoffs and Live Performance Shows. In the coaches' chairs, Michael is the defending champion after winning Season 26. He is joined by John, in his 10th season, and Kelsea, competing for the first time. Adam rejoined the panel of coaches for his 17th season after taking a hiatus following Season 16.
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Episode 9 — you've seen four seasons' worth of the back-and-forth of these two. Will they show up for each other? Will Deborah show up for Ava really? So you imagine she could be firing her. It's sleight of hand that has to be grounded in something honest and true, or else the audience, I think, does smell that it feels kind of forced, right? Yeah, as Ava was running to her room, I thought of "Bulletproof," when she said to Deborah she will die alone. I was like, "Are you guys actually carrying this out right now?" Downs: Right, and that's very specifically why we have her on the boat say, "I don't want to leave you alone," because we were like, "Oh, these are all little breadcrumbs that would make one think this could have happened." 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I don't know if you wanna talk about the song in the first montage. Aniello: Yeah, "Wish You Well" is a song by Emma Louise, and she recorded the whole album with her voice pitched down to sound like a man. And so we thought that was a fitting metaphor for the way that Deborah's had to alter and change the way she goes through the world, to be more adaptable, and more palatable to the to the masses. So that song is is one that we really loved. And then the other sequence — Downs: Can I give you credit for something? I think one of the reasons that that montage works — obviously Jean does so much even without dialogue, and she's so compelling in that montage — but it was really thrilling for me to watch. She did the director's cut, and initially there was dialogue because she was getting voicemails during that. And so she chose this song and put it to music, and it was like so much better than I had imagined. When [Deborah's] walking through that tchotchke souvenir shop in the middle of the night, it reminded me in a way of of some of the stuff that we did in the very first episode in the pilot of the show when you see Deborah alone. And there was just something about the lensing in that and the way it was shot and the music and Jean's performance, and I was like, oh this is a hit. Anyways, sorry, so the second one! Aniello: I think what's nice about that sequence is the storytelling aspect of it. Ava, you see so on board, so willing to do whatever, and then just becomes scared, honestly, for not only how much Deborah is disassociating and drinking, but also how she just doesn't seem to have the the Deborah Vance fight. And that Deborah Vance's fight is the thing we love. It's what everybody loves about Deborah — that fight and that grit and that determination. And when she doesn't have it for her own performing especially, that's what scares Ava the most. You can see her concern and how nervous she is to broach the topic with her. Aniello: She also, I think, understands that she's grieving, but she's trying to get her out of it with saying, "Let's go work on material, let's figure it out, let's move on, let's move forward." And the fact that Deborah isn't wanting to move forward in the way that she almost always does is really disheartening for Ava. In that last scene on the boat, I think it is [Deborah] not wanting to move through that stage of grief and not ready to move on to the next stage of grief, and Ava being so desperate for it. And Deborah then deciding to be critical of Ava, but Ava doesn't react in the way that I think Deborah wants her to. She kind of just takes it, which we do think is some serious character growth for Ava, that she just is like, "I see what you're doing, and I'm not going to debate you. I'll let you work this out however you need to." But I think she says that speech she does with love. And so for us, I think that that was something that we were writing and rewriting and rewriting until we shot it. And it's a it's a beautiful performance from both of them. And then of course it sets up that exciting ending of of Deborah excited yet again about the biggest challenge of her life potentially. Max Deborah reminds me of an athlete. She's always trying to prove herself, doesn't wanna retire, and goes through slumps for whatever reason and gets unmotivated, but they just need that spark again. Aniello: Yup, absolutely. Statsky: And she has that spark now. The show is renewed for Season 5. Is this gonna be the last season? You guys have always said you had a five-season plan. Aniello: We've always said that, yes. We absolutely know how we want to end the series, and it's always been the same as when we originally pitched it. I think we are still working towards this being the last season. That being said, we haven't broken the season and figured it out. We have a very supportive studio and network that have always let us make as many episodes of the show per season as as we feel is appropriate for the story of the season, so that's why we've done not 10 [episodes] every season. Sometimes it feels like eight, sometimes it feels like nine, sometimes it feels like 10. We do have still quite a bit that we want to cover in the season. Right now it's five, but we can't say for sure. Downs: Right now it's five, but right now in this stage of breaking, we have too many episodes in one season. So Part 1 and Part 2? Five seasons and a movie? Statsky: [Laughs] I dunno! Downs: We've been so lucky that, like Lucia said, HBO Max has let us do what is appropriate for the story. The tentpoles have always stayed the same. It's just where they happen has changed. The ending will be the same. We considered her getting late night in Season 3 when we were first mapping out the show and it ended up being Season 4. We also talked about it being half of Season 4 and then it became the whole season. So all of these things, even though we always know where we are ultimately building towards, they do shift during the writers' room process. Statsky: We know the ingredients. It's just a question of where in the recipe will they go. Aniello: Yeah, that's good. I like that analogy. Well, have you booked Conan as a parking attendant? I listened to the podcast, Paul. Statsky: [Laughs] Downs: We haven't yet, but, yes, I was just on his podcast and I did say, "We'd love to have you on." Then he did share his phone number and said, "Let me know." Aniello: Don't be surprised. Downs: We wanna have him. Deborah's rewriting her legacy, so she needs to go on his pod. Downs: Literally, yes. Aniello: Good pitch! All four seasons of Hacks are streaming on Max. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. 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