NBCIt's time for the Knockout Round on The Voice! You know what that means? With 32 singers still standing and only 20 making it to the next round, there are going to be some fierce battles before we even get to the live shows.
Luckily, as the field of incredible talent grows smaller and smaller, frontrunners of season nine's competition have been making themselves known. Each coach—Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams—has a few team members clearly poised to make it to the end. Below, we rank the top contestants heading into the Knockouts, which begin tonight at 8 p.m. on NBC (with help from this season's mentor, Rihanna!).
And yes, this is purely objective. There are clearly way more than ten awesome contestants left in the game.
10. Sianha Im, Team Pharrell
This cute-as-a-button 15-year-old possesses an instrument matured far beyond her years—but the problem is, she doesn't have the emotional heft to put behind the songs she's choosing. She's managed to stand out throughout the early rounds, but the Knockouts could be the true test of whether or not she's ready for a competition like this.
9. Amy Vachal, Team Pharrell
Not to pick on Pharrell, but the other judges seem to have deeper, showier benches than the 10-time Grammy winner. Vachal is by far one of the best musicians in the competition, but if she makes it through, is she going to capture people's attentions once the voting rounds begin?
8. Barrett Baber, Team Blake
Blake knows what he's doing, and this Arkansas plane crash survivor is the right amount of relatable with a solid country voice. Is he the best country singer the competition has ever seen? Maybe not, but he is reliable and should make it through to the voting rounds.
7. Darius Scott, Team Pharrell
There's no one else in the competition with a voice quite like this powerhouse R&B vocalist (except maybe his fellow Team Pharrell-mate Mark Hood, who's also great but not quite as explosively memorable). It's a nice position to be in as the field thins.
6. Emily Ann Roberts, Team Blake
This blonde teenage country singer has tons of talent—but we've seen blonde teenage country singer on The Voice before. Still, Blake knows what he's doing. She won her Battle for a reason!
5. Korin Bukowski, Team Gwen
Sure, she's a little quirky and could stand to rein in her vocal eccentricities a little bit. But she's young, and therefore totally malleable, meaning she could be molded into a truly unique, of-the-moment pop singer before season's end. Don't count her out.
4. Jordan Smith, Team Adam
Though the "most important contestant ever" is still a dubious claim, there's no doubt that this Kentucky native can do incredible, unnatural things with his gorgeous voice.
3. Andi & Alex, Team Adam
The harmonies from this twin sister duo are chill-inducing every time—they could totally be the first group to finish first.
2. Viktor Kiraly, Team Adam
Cons: Very predictable song choices, sometimes a little too slick. Pros: He's got singing competition and professional pop star experience as a famous singer in Hungary. And damn, dude's handsome as hell. How could you not vote for a face/voice combo like this?
1. Ellie Lawrence, Team Gwen
Controversial choice? Maybe. But hear us out: First of all, it's been a while since we had a female winner of The Voice. Second of all, the ones we have had were country and pop/soul/reggae artists. There hasn't been a new Stefani-inspired, out-there female pop star to hit the scene in a while, and this girl's got the pipes and the spirit to follow in her mentor's footsteps.
Have other singers you're rooting for? Tell us who and why in the comments below!
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