Top Ten Performances of The Voice Season 5
Here are the top performances on The Voice Season 5 ranked by Rickey.
Pictured: (l-r) Adam Levine, Tessanne Chin -- (Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC)
Honorable Mentions:
Jacquie Lee and Christina Aguilera - We Remain - This performance was a surprise to me since Jacquie and Christina made this unknown song from The Hunger Games work as a duet. Jacquie held her own against Christina, which was impressive.
The Top 5 - Best Day of My Life - Opening group songs are generally bad (in any reality singing competition), so this was a pleasant surprise during the Top 5 results show. Everyone's vocals were on point and they sounded great.
Caroline Pennell and Tessanne Chin - Royals - Ah what could have been for Caroline! Though Tessanne held her own in this duet, "Royals" should have been a song Caroline performed solo during the competition. This makes her singing "Leaving On A Jet Plane" so much harder to take, knowing she can sing one of 2013's biggest hits flawlessly.
Cole Vosbury, James Wolpert & Will Champlin with Nuno Bettencourt - More Than Words - One of the best group numbers in The Voice history and on any reality singing show. It felt like we were treated to a signature performance on an awards show.
Caroline Pennell - The Way I Am and We're Going To Be Friends. Let's face it: Caroline was one of my favorites, so I liked most of her stuff. I lumped these two together since I didn't want to stack the list with too much Caroline. :)
Christina Aguilera and A Great Big World - Say Something - This was perfect. The song went straight to the top of the charts after this performance on TV. It was even recreated on The X Factor USA, and that song also became a hit on iTunes.
Lady Gaga and Christina Aguilera - Do What U Want - OK, it wasn't a great vocal from both Gaga and Xtina -- but the fact that this was the first time they met and then they sang together with so much chemistry and professionalism on stage blows my mind.
Lady Gaga -- (Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC)
Top 10
10. Jacquie Lee - I Put A Spell On You
The show put her in the pimp spot that night, and Jacquie delivered. This performance demonstrated that she can bring the big notes live and perhaps planted the seed in Christina that Jacquie should be #1 on her team, not Matthew Schuler.
One of Ceelo Green's many blunders this season. He let go of Cole in favor of Jonny Gray after this performance, which gave the opening for Blake Shelton to steal Cole in the Knockout round. Cole would move on to be Blake's highest finisher this season -- and this performance was the highest ranking performance on iTunes that week. Meanwhile, Ceelo's entire team got wiped out before the Quarterfinals.
8. Caroline Pennell - Anything Could Happen & As Long As You Love Me
These two songs quietly made Caroline one of the favorites this season. Her unique voice was a perfect match for "Anything Could Happen" during the Blind Audition, and she delivered a far superior version to the original on "As Long As You Love Me" during the Battles. We waited patiently for a breakout hit during the live shows -- then she sang "Leaving On A Jet Plane" and just like that it was over.
Will had many performances that made him beloved to his fans (I personally loved his blind audition), but this was his best. It reached the Top 10 on iTunes and made him the top male singer on Team Adam.
6. James Wolpert - A Case of You
From out of the blue, James made the case that he could actually win the whole thing after this performance on Week 1 of the live shows. It was a completely unexpected song choice that made it fresh and executed perfectly. He stumbled a bit throughout the live shows with some ambitious and unfulfilled song choices, but this is the song and performance that made his fans believe.
5. Tessanne Chin - I Have Nothing
What makes this performance important and memorable is because it is the song that delivered for Tessanne in the Top 3 to win The Voice. On the night she sang this vs. Jacquie Lee's "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", another big reality singing show winning anthem, Tessanne was the one who convinced America that she is the winner.
4. Tessanne Chin - Bridge Over Troubled Water
The performance that got everyone predicting "win" for Team Adam. #1 on iTunes and Tessanne's most emotional performance of the season. This also is a text book example of how to win a reality singing show competition: you peak at the right time. Tessanne was steady, steady, steady, then blam, Bridge Over Troubled Water, and she wins.
3. Matthew Schuler - Hallelujah
This was one of the best performances of "Hallelujah" on any reality singing show ever, and that is saying a lot because this song has been overdone everywhere. It was a remarkably fresh take. However, this also turned out to be the beginning of the end for Matthew as Christina Aguilera was simply incapable of coaching him to a win. A series of questionable song choices after this led to Matthew's elimination. How could you lose with a song that landed on the Billboard charts? I blame poor coaching.
2. Matthew Schuler - Cosmic Love
One of the best performances on The Voice series ever. Matthew just kept going and going and going. It made everyone believe that he's the real deal, after the surprising four-chair turn in his blind audition with "Cough Syrup". He eventually fulfilled the promise of this performance in "Hallelujah" but that was also the end (see #3).
1. Preston Pohl - Electric Feel
Simply one of the all-time bests The Voice has produced in five seasons, up there with "Time After Time" by Javier Colon. This was a perfect audition and the iTunes track is awesome.
As good as this was however, it was simply too good, that Preston himself could not recreate the magic no matter how hard he tried. And boy did he try -- he tried everything. Nothing worked. Only "Electric Feel".
Your turn. Do you agree with the Top 10? What performance do you think was the Best of The Voice Season 5?
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