The Voice' Top 12 Results: Sugar, We're Going Down, Another week, another shocking Voice results show.
Well, Tuesday’s elimination episode, on which the top 12 became the top 10, didn’t start off with any shockers. The bottom three unsurprisingly comprised Sugar Joans, Ryan Sill, and Jessie Pitts — who were not only the first three contestants to perform Monday (singing first is always a disadvantage), but were also three of the saved (i.e., not-voted-through-by-America) contestants last week. Additionally, none of them had charted well on iTunes with their top 12 recordings: Ryan had stalled at No. 125 and Jessie at No. 93, with Sugar missing the top 200 entirely.
No, the shock value, if it can be called that, came at the end of the show, when it was time for the ever-controversial Instant Save — that gimmick feature that gives diehard fans East Coast viewers the chance to Twitter-vote for one of the bottom-three contestants.
Singing one last time in an effort to earn the first #VoiceSave hashtag of the season, Jessie did a lovely (if not quite Sara Bareilles-level) cover of “Gravity,” followed by Sugar belting out an effervescent “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” that was far more enjoyable than her previous Al Green cover.
Truly, #VoiceSaveRyan didn’t seem like a viable option here. After he so thoroughly butchered Duran Duran’s “Ordinary World” on Monday that I really am crying for yesterday, this time he continued to taint everyone’s cherished ’80s memories by doing Extreme’s “More Than Words.” Well, to be fair, this was much better than his Duran disaster. But was it better than the Cole Vosbury/James Wolpert/Will Champlin group performance of the song, WITH NUNO BETTENCOURT ON GUITAR, from Season 5? Heck no! (#VoiceSaveCole #VoiceSaveJames #VoiceSaveWill)
So it’ll take more than words to describe my shock and dismay when, in fact, Ryan was the one who received the reprieve via the Instant Save, leaving the ladies in the lurch.
The good news for Jessie and Sugar is, they still have some hope. Since The Voice changes its rules as whimsically as Adam Levine changes hair color, this season has yet another new twist: One contestant from the top 12 will be brought back to finale, as a fan-voted wild card, to compete alongside the top three contestants.
But of course, this isn’t great news for everyone. First of all, this wild-card opportunity, if it must exist, should be expanded to the entire top 20, so that truly robbed contestants like Taylor Phelan and Elyjuh René can get a shot. And secondly, and perhaps more importantly… is it really fair to let a wild card, someone who got booted weeks earlier, possibly advance to the finale over someone who made it all the way to fourth or fifth place… and for that person to maybe even coast on the momentum and excitement generated by a last-minute comeback to actually win over someone who’s rightfully earned a spot in the top three? I’m not sure Mark Burnett thought this one through.
On a more positive note, next Monday’s top 10 show should be a fun one, with a whole new slew of celebrity mentors. Colbie Caillat, Meghan Trainor, and Patrick “Sugar, We’re Going Down” Stump will all be on hand, and quite thrillingly, Pharrell Williams’s contestants will get some sage advice from DIANA ROSS.
Yes, that Diana Ross. Of the Supremes. Hopefully she’ll convince Team Pharrell’s Luke Wade or DaNica Shirey to cover “Theme From Mahogany,” and all will be right with The Voice again. See you then.
