‘The Voice’ recap: Knockouts bring tough calls, sad goodbyes

A bit of useless advice: If you ever happen to meet up with Rihanna, don’t pay her a compliment. It makes her edgy.

The R&B star has been doing a bang-up job as “key advisor” to all the coaches during the knockout rounds of “The Voice” this season. On Tuesday’s show, she managed to hold it together when Adam Levine told her she was a “great coach.” But when her pal Pharrell Williams called her a “natural,” for a second time, RiRi really couldn’t take it.

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“Stop saying that because I get real uncomfortable when people tell me nice things,” she said.

Now you know.

Also of note: Blake Shelton is getting bored with Levine’s clean-shaven head and he’d like his fellow coach and partner in perpetually amusing sparring to grow back his lush, manly locks. I guess the country coach is running out of famous bald people to reference (though you’d never know that from Shelton’s Twitter feed, where he juxtaposes Levine’s image with everyone from Casper the Friendly Ghost to Lord Voldemort).

But back to the vocal competition. Here’s what happened in Tuesday’s knockouts:

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Korin Bukowski vs. Summer Schappell (Team Gwen): Gwen Stefani said she was pitting charmingly awkward Bukowski against Schappell, a country singer with a punk vibe, because they were both left-of-center storytellers. Bukowski, whom Stefani had persuaded to perform sans her geeky eyeglasses, brought her usual compelling emotionality and round, warm tone to Kodaline’s “All I Want.” Schappell showed off her stomp and sass with Little Big Town’s “Little White Church.” The coaches agreed that, while Schappell was a “firecracker,” Bukowski’s internal fire was no less bright and engaging. Stefani said she connected to each singer for entirely different reasons and felt “sick” about having to choose, but ultimately, she managed to declare Bukowski the winner, saying she thought she could do more with her. When Levine (rightly) reassured Stefani, who was as sad to see Schappell go as she was delighted to see Bukowski stay, that she had “made the right choice, 100%,” she seemed relieved.

Dustin Christensen vs. Keith Semple (Team Adam): Levine faced a tough choice of his own after matching up Christensen and Semple, each of whom had, he said, a “rock-and-roll spirit.” Christensen showed off his grit and friendly, low-key charisma on Zac Brown Band’s “Free,” while Semple dug in and swung for the rafters with Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is.” “Do you go with the stylist or do you go with the fighter?” Williams wondered, of Christensen and Semple, respectively. Levine went with the fighter. Even though both singers had shown “growth,” the Maroon 5 singer said, Semple’s song choice was a “ballsy move,” like Babe Ruth calling his spot for his home run. Levine said he hated to see Christensen go home – and he surely wasn’t the only one.

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Darius Scott vs. Morgan Frazier (Team Pharrell): On the face of it, R&B vocalist Scott and country singer Frazier, whom Williams had stolen from Shelton in the battles, would seem to have little in common, but Williams said they were both such “powerhouse vocalists” that it “wouldn’t be fair to put them with anyone else.” Scott did his own remarkable thing with George Benson’s “On Broadway,” singing so many runs the coaches compared his sound to that of two saxophones “with extra notes.” Frazier, though, really connected to Eli Young Band’s “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” turning it into an anthem for hard work, ambition and elusive dreams. Both singers received standing ovations and lots of coach praise, but only one of them – Scott – got to stay on Williams’ team. It all worked out in the end for Frazier, though. Shelton stole her back for his team. “I knew the moment I let Morgan go [in the battles] I was going to regret it,” her old/new coach said, “so I’m so glad it worked out.” Frazier seemed pretty pleased it had worked out, too.

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Next week, the final batch of knockouts. Man, this season is flying.