Battle Rounds I in-game thread (after the game is over):

I've been watching these episodes late due to all of the other good shows on right now. :(

Elyjuh vs Maiya:
Can Elyjuh be more flamboyant? It was annoyingly bad, almost as bad as the way he spells his name. Both singers have good range but they have loooooots of vibrato in their voices (at least in the first practice). This song can hide it in some parts, but it will show up in the held notes (not a fan of lots of vibrato). Elyjuh is doing too many vocal gymnastics but is extremely into the song visually. Damn, his holding that high note while Maiya did runs was pretty sweet and very unexpected due to his theatrics during the song.

Pharrell goes with Elyjuh and no one steals Maiya.

Gwen wants a country artist?? Interdasting...

Chris vs Jonathan:
4-Chair turn vs. 4-Chair turn. This one should be good. We didn't get to hear the first practice, but the second one sounded like shite. I'm hoping the producers did that on purpose. They both are doing good jobs on the song, I just don't care for the song. Either it doesn't have spots for them to really shine or neither really took advantage of them because I couldn't find a standout point for either performance.

Adam picks Chris. No one steals Jonathan.

Jean vs. Sugar:
I have to say, Gwen hasn't been what I was expecting and I'm thrilled with that. She seems much more focused than Shakira (she always seemed lost) and no Xtina bitchiness. The song choice seems like a good one for these two artists. Both have really good voices, so I think it will come down to just who fits this song the best. Coming out of the practices my choice is Jean because Sugar seemed like she was trying to force a bit too much feeling into the song instead of just letting it happen. Sugar sounds great but she seemed a little ahead during her first set of lyrics. Both had really good standout moments and did extremely well. Sugar seemed to improve throughout the song while Jean started off strong and just maintained. I might have to go with Sugar just because of the improvement.

Gwen picks Sugar, thus denying Pharrell his intended steal. Adam for the steal, then Pharrell for the surprise steal competition. If I were here I would probably go with Adam just because I liked his pitch better and he pushed first. Pharrell with the win.

James vs. Craig:
James sounded stupid good in the first practice, Craig sounds good but not nearly on James' level. Craig sounded better for the second practice. They sound good together so if both lose the competition they may want to form a duo.

James came out of the box on-fricking-point. Craig was a bit hard to understand at the beginning. Craig eventually came out of his shell, but James was just ultra smooth throughout. If Blake had picked a Bob Seger song, I think Craig would have taken it though.

James gets the win, no one picks Craig. I guess he was not the Country singer Gwen wanted.

Amanda vs. Taylor:
This is an interesting song choice for a male/female duet. One either started late or one started early. Going into the song I thought Amanda would end up doing a markedly better job on this song, but Taylor is really impressing me. I expected more from Amanda during her power moment. One thing I noticed was that Amanda put more emotion into it, while Taylor just sang it (but did so well).

Gwen goes with Taylor. Amanda is good, but I think Taylor has more cross-over potential to do well in more genres.

vs. Luke:
During the first practice Luke did some crazy good and crazy bad stuff. How the hell does someone get into music and to the point of getting on The Voice but have heard "I'm Amazed" only once??? Fail, Griffin, fail. DAMN!!! They put the Aretha spin on it and the whole tenor changed. Can't wait for the actual battle, good practice to end on.

I got fricking chills on Luke's intro. Griffin has a good voice, but he doesn't have as much soul as Luke. He has some, but just not on Luke's level. Great performance by both though! I would have to go with Luke, no question about it for me.

Pharrell made the right call. Blake with the steal, Gwen with the competition.