“The Voice” kicks off season three with a few new faces and a new option that gives defeated performers a second act.
Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong joined the show as a guest mentor on Monday. Armstrong, who since the show’s taping has had a public meltdown resulting in a stint in rehab, toned down his notoriously rowdy punk rocker personality for the show and provided some surprisingly keen direction and enthusiasm.
“I think this could be the best performance of the show,” Armstrong said after the battle between Team Xtina’s De’Borah and Nelly. The two performed a duet of the Police’s “Message in a Bottle” which was a vocal stretch for both performers. De’Borah pulled it off best, however, choosing to stick within her own vocal range instead of trying to imitate Sting’s unique sound. De’Borah came out the victor in that showdown.
Team Cee Lo provided the most entertainment, however, as Amanda Brown was pitted against Trevin Hunte. Their performance of “Vision of Love” by Mariah Carey got all the judges on their feet for a standing ovation and had Cee rethinking his strategy. “I should not have paired ya’ll…I don’t want to lose either one of you,” he said. It was apparent that the Cee Lo had to struggle to make his decision, especially since his competition was foaming at the mouth to make use of the the Steal for the first time.
“Make your decision Cee Lo, so we can take one of these off your hands, ” urged Aguilaera.
The Steal works like this: When a contestant is cast away by a another team, the other coaches have the choice of scooping up the losing contestant and adding them to their team. It’s like a second life for the losing contestant, who instead of going home, gets more grooming from a new handler and more time to win votes. The Steal gave Brown a new home on team Adam and Collin McLoughlin moved to team Blake.
Other performances for Monday’ show included Terry McDermott and Casey Muessigmann singing “Carry on Wayward Son.” McDermott was the clear winner in this round and Terry went home without benefit of the Steal. Team Adam’s Collin McLoughlin and Bryan Keith sang Sublime’s “Santeria” which really wasn’t a match for either performer. Keith was the victor their, and Collin moved to Team Blake.
A few other new faces joined the mentor ranks along with Armstrong. Mary J. Blige joins the show as mentor for Team Adam; Team Blake gets Michael Bublé; and Rob Thomas joins Team Cee Lo.
