'The Voice' Knockout Rounds, Pt. 1: A Triple Threat

For the first time ever, there was a three-way on The Voice this Monday. Oh, that’s not as scandalous as it sounds. This is a family show, people! What I mean by that is, during Monday’s Knockout Rounds episode, three contestants, not the usual two, competed against each other. And the reason for this odd-numbered grouping was the mysterious, abrupt, and still-unexplained departure of onetime frontrunner and charismatic street performer Anthony Riley.

The gossip on the Interweb was that Anthony quit because he refused to sing in the Knockouts against powerhouse Mia Z. A few fans on Twitter actually speculated that he was kicked off for controversially dedicating his Battle Rounds victory to imprisoned activist Mumia Abu-Jamal. But a source close to the show shot both of these rumors down, telling Yahoo Music that Anthony had to leave for “personal reasons” — the same vague line uttered by Anthony’s coach, Pharrell Williams, on Monday’s show. (A man claiming to be a friend of Anthony’s, singer-songwriter Jett Prescott, also tweeted about situation, saying Anthony is ”indeed working through very personal life matters affecting his ability to commit to The Voice” and this had “nothing to do with ‘his ego’ or refusing to compete,” but he didn’t elaborate after that.)

Whatever the reason for Anthony’s exit (he hasn’t tweeted since March 17 or otherwise publicly addressed the issue; hopefully he is OK), this forced three of Pharrell’s team members — Sawyer Fredericks, Paul Pfau, and the above-mentioned Mia Z — into a trio-format Knockout, with two contestants advancing. This definitely put Paul, the weakest performer of the three, at a disadvantage, but the whole situation put Pharrell at an even bigger disadvantage. Anthony was the faster four-chair-turner in Voice history (he beat Matthew Schuler’s record from Season 5!) and one of Team Pharrell’s strongest players. After losing standout singers like Meghan Linsey and Kimberly Nichole in the Battle Rounds, Pharrell really needed Anthony on his side.

Anyway, the Sawyer/Mia/Paul showdown wasn’t the first performance of Monday night, but since it was historical and all, I’m going to start my recap with that one. All of the singers chose their own songs and received some sage advice from guest mentor Nate Ruess of fun., and on occasion, fun ensued — and least for those who made it through. Here’s what happened…

Mia went first, and she was giving me some Juliet Simms realness on her cover of Sam & Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Comin’.” Her verses oddly packed much more power than her choruses (usually it’s the other way around), but there was no denying the greatness of her super-high, could-be-heard-from-outer-space falsetto notes. Seriously, those notes were so high, Mia made Adam Levine seem like that dude from the Crash Test Dummies. Blake Shelton made it clear that he wanted to steal Mia, but with Mia’s two-out-of-three odds and a solid performance like this, it seemed pretty unlikely that Blake would get that opportunity.

It seemed unlikely, on the other hand, that any rival coach would want to steal Paul. He didn’t even seem to be trying this Monday. He may as well have just quit along with Anthony and called it a day. I’d enjoyed Paul’s past performances, but his “I Don’t Need No Doctor” lacked energy and oomph. Paul may not need a doctor, but he needs a band; this was not a solo-star moment, and he completely ignored Nate’s advice to rely less on his guitar. Christina Aguilera told Paul he left the competition “wide open” for the other two, and she was right. I bet at this point, Pharrell was really regretting picking Paul over Kimberly Nichole in last week’s Battle Rounds. That was a major mistake.

Sawyer, unlike Paul, actually set aside his guitar for his cover of Howie Day’s “Collide,” and it was a risk that paid off. Sawyer’s warm and inviting voice was front-and-center, allowing for a vulnerable, sensitive, and just downright gorgeous performance. I liked this a lot more than Howie’s original, actually. Even when Sawyer was just standing there, solitary and stationary behind his mic stand, I was riveted. He drew me in. Christina called Sawyer a “genetic genius.” I just called him the clear victor of this sing-off. Sawyer had to share that honor with the also-worthy Mia, due to the unusual circumstances, but at least Pharrell made two sound decisions here, for once.