The Voice kicked off week two of the blind auditions tonight. Each of the judges racked up a few ones to watch, and levied some less-than-kind words against each other in the process. (Should I be embarrassed to admit I think that's half the fun?) The night started off with a bang and ended with a... proposal? Oh yes.
Here's the need-to-know from tonight's action-packed episode:
- Blake's country mafia grows ever more menacing. 22 year-old Morgan Frazier — who moved to Nashville when she was just 16 to pursue her singing career — kicked us off with a heartrending country version of Cheap Trick's 1979 classic, the universally beloved "Want You To Want Me." It's been done a million times, but Frazier's stripped-down originality convinced me this was meant to be a country love song all along. Gwen and Blake vied for the winning voice — and, despite Adam's best efforts at making Gwen's case, Frazier went with the country king after all. - The sonic lovechild of John Mayer and John Legend only got one chair to turn around. Jeffery Austin belted out Sam Smith's "Lay Me Down" with such ease and confidence, I have a hard time believing it's really the first time he's performed in front of a crowd in six years. Inexplicably, only Gwen turned around — but every other coach was kicking themselves. They ought to be, because this guy's golden pipes belong on the Hot 100, like, yesterday.
- Blake's country mafia grows ever more menacing. 22 year-old Morgan Frazier — who moved to Nashville when she was just 16 to pursue her singing career — kicked us off with a heartrending country version of Cheap Trick's 1979 classic, the universally beloved "Want You To Want Me." It's been done a million times, but Frazier's stripped-down originality convinced me this was meant to be a country love song all along. Gwen and Blake vied for the winning voice — and, despite Adam's best efforts at making Gwen's case, Frazier went with the country king after all. - The sonic lovechild of John Mayer and John Legend only got one chair to turn around. Jeffery Austin belted out Sam Smith's "Lay Me Down" with such ease and confidence, I have a hard time believing it's really the first time he's performed in front of a crowd in six years. Inexplicably, only Gwen turned around — but every other coach was kicking themselves. They ought to be, because this guy's golden pipes belong on the Hot 100, like, yesterday.
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- Blake and Adam are super into suburban dads who moonlight as '80s metal-rockers. New Jersey native Manny Cabo's rollicking take on Whitesnake's headbanger "Here I Go Again" lit the house on fire — and, evidently, the hearts of the judges. The infectiously energetic 45 year-old reduced resident tough guys Adam and Blake to the impassioned desperation of crush-struck teenage girls. "You seem like a man's man — and I want a man," Blake cooed. Adam upped the ante with this steamy plea: "My heart is pounding right now... Man do I want you so damn bad." Despite Blake's lobbing juvenile insults at Adam ("I don't trust grown men who roll up their jeans!"), team Adam scored.
- "It's no longer a Care Bear wrestling match!" Things got heated between pals Pharrell and Gwen in their face-off for raw talent Madi Davis. Davis, who grew up partially deaf, blew me away singing Carole King's "It's Too Late" with one of the most unusual voices we've heard yet. It doesn't take a music major to instantly recognize she's got something magic: that raw, natural singular gift that can't be taught. While hearing the judges face off for the songbird isn't quite as sonorous as her performance itself, the tussle is also more than worth a watch. In Adam's erudite words, "It's no longer a Care Bear wrestling match!"
- Gwen's got a few zingers of her own. It's usually the guys who crack the callous one-liners, but Gwen got the laughs when she wondered out loud about Blake,"How does he think of such good things to say when he has alcohol brain damage?" We may never know, Gwen.
- You can propose on The Voice?! Nine seasons in, I guess it was bound to happen. Duet Jubal and Amanda delighted with The Eagles' "Seven Bridges Road," but being the sole two-for-one act wasn't enough for these lovebirds. When asked if they were married yet, Jubal whipped out a ring and popped the question. Yeah their performance was good, but skip to the end of the video to see the epic proposal.