The remaining contestants are paired for duets in addition to singing individually in this week's performance show.
- May 17, 2016
AceShowbiz - A week before the finals, "The Voice" is going to make a brutal cut. Half of the remaining eight contestants are going to be eliminated. Thus, they worked hard to win viewers' votes on the Monday, May 16 performance show with the help of Pink as a guest adviser. Each of them sang individually and performed a duet with fellow contestant.
Shalyah Fearing from Team Adam Levine was up first, singing a cover of Jennifer Hudson's version of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going". Pink advised her not to go too big too quickly or too often. Shalyah followed Pink's advice and the result was an impressive performance which Pharrell Williams said "was so sweet and tender in certain places."
Following Shalyah's performance was a duet of Team Blake Shelton's Adam Wakefield and Team Christina Aguilera's Alisan Porter. They delivered a soulful duet of John Prine's "Angel From Montgomery". While the song seemed to be a better fit for Adam, Alisan proved that she could sing any song and their voices blended very well.
Team Blake's Paxton Ingram was up next, singing "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" by Meat Loaf. Pink said in rehearsals that Paxton made the song his own. Christina said after the performance that he "packed a punch," while Pharrell commented, "You took it to the next step."
Team Adam's Laith Al-Saadi opted for "One and Only" by Adele to show that he could make any song sound like him regardless its genre or era. The result was indeed beautiful. Adam praised Laith for always staying true to himself.
Bryan Bautista of Team Christina and Mary Sarah of Team Blake teamed up for a cover of "Break Free" by Ariana Grande. The song clearly favored Bryan, but they both managed to deliver an engaging performance.
Alisan Porter later returned to sing "Desperado" by The Eagles. While it wasn't her best performance, it was full of emotion and showed her powerful vocals. "You really can do everything," Adam admitted.
Up next were Laith Al-Saadi and Team Pharrell's Hannah Huston who joined forces to sing "Knock on Wood". The unlikely duo sounded good together, though their solo sections didn't match each other's well.
Adam Wakefield returned to the stage to sing his coach's "I'm Sorry". During rehearsals, Pink praised the rasp in his voice. It was soulful and vocally rich as Pharrell commented, "The runs were super clean."
Bryan also chose a song by his own coach Christina, "Hurt". He explained that he connected to the song because his father has not gotten in contact with him for quite some time. His emotion could be felt in his singing and the judges gave him a standing ovation. "That was absolutely beautiful. I want to hear it again," Christina said.
Paxton Ingram and Shalyah Fearing delivered the last duet that night. They sang "Masterpiece" by Jessie J. Shalyah outsang Paxton when they sang together, but they sounded better in their solo parts.
Mary Sarah from Team Blake followed it up with a rendition of "I Told You So" by Randy Travis. She stayed true to her country root. Her coach dubbed it her best performance so far.
Hannah Huston ended the night with "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge. It was an emotional performance that also highlighted her amazing vocals. Adam called her a "stealth assassin" who quietly came up as a frontrunner this season.
