‘The Voice’ recap: The battles reach their end

The Season 10 battles briskly came to a close on Tuesday night, with Christina Aguilera, the only coach with a steal to spare, waiting until the very last minute to use it. (Or so the show’s editors had made it appear. Who can say, for sure?)

As the coaches made their final cuts, we were reminded that, next week, more culling will occur in the knockout rounds, when each coach will have only one steal. Also something to prepare for in the knockouts: Miley Cyrus as key advisor to all the teams. That should be interesting to watch.

So here’s who moved on up and who on out on the final night of battles:

Laith Al-Saadi vs. Matt Tedder (Team Adam): Both these musicians had impressed Levine with their guitar playing during the blinds, and the Maroon 5 singer was determined, as his team members battled with the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women,” to find out which of them could better present himself as a singer who played guitar rather than a guitar player who could sing. Blake Shelton, Aguilera and Pharrell Williams all concluded that Al-Saadi had shown himself to be the better vocalist. Shelton said the hard-gigging musician had sung his “face off.” Aguilera admired his “soul” and “growl.” And Williams sounded wistful that he didn’t have a steal to use on whichever singer got left behind. Levine said he was torn – should he go with the more experienced singer who would challenge him (Al-Saadi) or the younger singer whom he could help mold (Tedder)? He went with the former, saying he believed it was “good to reward the person who genuinely deserves it in this moment.” Aguilera declined to use her steal on Tedder.

Caity Peters vs. Joe Vivona (Team Pharrell): Given that Peters had been a four-chair turn and Vivona has struggled with a crippling case of nerves, you’d think she’d have had this battle clearly in the bag, but the song choice, Billy Joel’s “Honesty,” honestly didn’t do that much for her, and after some touch-and-go moments in rehearsal, Vivona had managed to rise to the occasion. It wasn’t entirely clear which Williams would pick, especially since the other coaches didn’t give him terribly clear direction. Levine said the decision would come down to who Williams felt he could “get the furthest with in the shortest amount of time.” Ultimately, Williams went “with [his] heart” and picked Caity to advance, saying he couldn’t give up on her potential. Again, Aguilera declined to steal. “Joe’s come a long way since the blinds,” she said, but since she had just the one steal left, she was going to be “very picky.”

Then, after a montage in which we saw Shelton pick Peyton Parker over Gina Castanzo, Aguilera select Joe Maye rather than Ayanna Jahnee, and Levine keep Owen Danoff and send John Gilman home, we were shown the final pairing of the night …

Brittany Kennell vs. Trey O’Dell (Team Blake): Shelton gave two-chair turn Kennell and one-chair turn O’Dell Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain,” saying the win would go to the one who gave “the most entertaining but still heartfelt performance.” During rehearsals, Kennell seemed to struggle a bit to connect with the emotions behind the song, but managed to get there by performance time. Aguilera praised O’Dell’s “accurate” falsetto and admired Kennell’s “fast vibrato,” as well as her “power” and “range,” saying that if she and Gwen Stefani had a “vocal baby,” it would be like her. Levine said he had been drawn in by Kennell’s “weird,” “wonderful” and “fluid” tone. When it came down to it, Shelton went with his “gut” and picked Kennell to advance. But O’Dell came out all right in the end: Aguilera snagged him for her team, saying she felt he deserved a “second shot.”

On to the knockouts!

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