Tyler Golden/NBCWhere has this season gone?
It feels like we've barely had time to learn the Voice contestants' names, let alone fall in love with them enough to know which one we want to win during next week's finale. That's probably entirely our fault, since we also only just realized it's December and we haven't done a single bit of holiday shopping. Oops!
Tonight's semi-final performances were all over the place: Some good, some bad, some great, and all lady-free, which is a bummer. Of course, tomorrow night's wildcard show could change that, but for now, let's run down tonight's 10 performances from worst to best!
10. Taylor John Williams – "Blank Space"
We so wanted that to be good, and we tried really hard to hear an amazing performance, but that was just underwhelming. It wasn't even an exciting rearrangement of our current favorite song in the entire world. Plus, this guy looks so sleepy all the time, even during his hometown visit when he was opening for Andy Grammer and Christina Perri. Wake up, dude!
9. Taylor John Williams – "Falling Slowly"
Not even the coaches could be bothered to actually comment on the performance itself. Sure, it's a great song choice because it's a great song, but Taylor John Williams isn't really great at singing it, or at showing the emotions required to properly sing it.
8. Chris Jamison – "Sugar"
The judges raved about Chris' falsetto, but it felt unnatural to us. Adam Levine makes it seem so effortless, and this just made our throats hurt a little bit when it went on too long.
7. Craig Wayne Boyd – "The Old Rugged Cross"
Admittedly, we are not really gospel fans. Actually, that's a lie. We're gospel fans in the right context with a badass gospel choir. This felt a little out of place, like we were momentarily watching a country Christmas special instead of The Voice, but it wasn't bad by any means.
6. Craig Wayne Boyd – "Workin' Man Blues"
Craig Wayne Boyd makes us feel like we're stepping back in time or into that Friday Night Lights/Nashville crossover we didn't know we wanted til now, about Riggins' country star cousin. We would absolutely have a blast throwing on a pair of cowboy boots and heading to the bar to dance to this performance all night long.
5. Damien – "I Don't Want To Wait"
We're torn. We want to automatically give an A+ gold star first place prize to anyone who does a beloved TV show theme song – especially when that TV show is Dawson's Creek – but Damien seemed so out of breath throughout most of that Peter Gabriel-ized performance of that it was somewhat hard to watch. We're into that arrangement, though.
4. Matt McAndrew – "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
Everything was fine, unless you were looking for Hipster Harry Potter to bring something new to the classic U2 tune. He sounded exactly like Bono, which is great for anyone looking for a very interesting Bono replacement while the poor guy is still recovering from that bike crash injury.
3. Damien – "She's Out of My Life"
Blake called it the most perfect performance he's ever seen on the Voice stage. While Blake says very similar things about a lot of performances, this one actually was pretty great. Simple, powerful, and a solid way to start off the night's top 5 performances.
2. Matt McAndrew – "Make It Rain"
We may or may not have Sons of Anarchy on the brain due to tomorrow night's finale, but this would have been a great performance even if it hadn't been inspired by the show's use of the Ed Sheeran song.
1. Chris Jamison – "When I Was Your Man"
Loved it. Bruno Mars has spawned some great singing show covers over the past couple years, and this is up there with the best of them.
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
Who are you rooting for? Do you have a favorite potential wild card? Let us know in the comments!