Did The Voice's New Twist Steal Your Heart? Weigh In on the Battles!
Don't put those big red buttons away so fast!
The blind auditions are officially over on The Voice, but as the battle rounds began Monday, producers introduced a new twist that put the buttons — and more importantly, the battles between the coaches — back in action. But did the highly anticipated steal twist actually work?
The Voice team sounds off on the steal: "This is a second change for people"
"The Steal" was used twice during the two-hour episode. First, Adam Levine chose Bryan Keith over Collin McLoughlin after a close battle set to the tune of Sublime's "Santeria." Midway through gushing to Adam about how he loved Maroon 5 as a kid, both Blake Shelton and Cee Lo Green interrupted with the push of a button that made Collin light up. Blake and Cee Lo busted out their best sales pitches when Collin asked why they wanted to steal him and in the end, Blake and that pointy finger of his won out. The save seemed worthwhile after Collin made so much progress vocally during his training with Adam.
Producers played their cards right and saved the best steal — and probably one of the best battle performances ever — for last. In the final battle, Cee Lo foolishly paired his two best singers Trevin Hunte and Amanda Brown together on Mariah Carey's "Vision of Love." The resulting performance was exactly what the battles are supposed to be: a beautiful, perfectly complimented duet that also gave each singer ample room to show off their vocals individually. The chill-inducing performance brought all four coaches to their feet and had Adam and Christina Aguilera pressing their steal buttons even before Cee Lo made his decision. "I don't even care who he picks because whoever he doesn't, I am committing to right now," Adam declared after climbing down from atop his big red chair. After Cee Lo lamented his battle choice one more time, telling Amanda, "I really didn't realize initially how accomplished you were," he picked Trevin. After Adam, Christina and Blake officially pushed their buttons and made their best pleas to win Amanda, she went with her instinct and joined Team Adam. As Adam said, "I'm a good thief."
The Voice renewed for two more seasons
However, seeing the steal in action also showed that there's a big downside to the show's new second chance — namely for those who don't get stolen. In the first battle of the night, Blake picked Terry McDermott over Casey Muessigmann, but even after Carson Daly reminded the coaches they could press their buttons to steal, the stage was dead silent and Casey moped off stage. Sad! You know what's worse than getting rejected by one coach? Getting rejected by four coaches! The Voice is truly not for the faint of heart, or should we say, faint of ego.
Among those other singers that did not warrant a steal: YouTube sensation JR Aquino, Nigerian-born Nelly's Echo and 2 Steel Girls.
Are you glad Collin and Amanda were stolen? What other singers should have been saved? What do you think of the steal so far?
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