The new round in the NBC singing competition sees each singer batlling another singer from different team instead of fellow teammate in previous Battle Rounds.
- Apr 16, 2019
AceShowbiz - The Monday, April 15 episode of "The Voice" season 16 marked the first night of Cross Battles. The new round saw each singer batlling another singer from different team instead of fellow teammate in previous Battle Rounds.
Kicking out the night was Kim Cherry (Team Blake Shelton), who sang Bell Biv DeVoe's "Poison". Blake, meanwhile, challenged Kelly Clarkson, who sent out Betsy Ade for the first battle. Betsy took the stage to perform a powerful rendition of Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know". Adam Levine raved about Betsy's performance, saying that she "really, really killed" the performance.
Adam later picked Mari for the next singer to perform in the Cross Battle after he challenged Blake, who chose Selkii. Mari nailed her performance of "My, My, My!" by Troye Sivan. Selkii, meanwhile, sang Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn". Both John Legend and Kelly loved it, though the latter thought that Mari had the best performance.
John sent Lisa Ramey to go against Team Kelly's Karen Galera. Lisa opted to sing Lauryn Hill's "When It Hurts So Bad" while Karen hit the stage to belt out Rihanna's "Unfaithful". Adam praised Lisa over her best performance. Blake also agreed as he thought that Lisa performed better in the battle.
For the next battle, Kelly chose Matthew Johnson. He would face off Domenic Haynes from Team Adam. Matthew offered an epic performance of "Who's Lovin' You", while Domenic flaunted his incredibly raw and beyond powerful vocals with Etta James' "Damn Your Eyes". Adam loved Domenic's performance, saying, "You are one of the most honest, raw, emotional, and powerful singers this show has ever seen." John said that his voice was "emotionally pure," while praising Matthew, whom singing he dubbed "just flawless."
Presley Tennant from Team Kelly took the stage to sing "Love on the Brain" by Rihanna. She went against Team John's Kayslin Victoria, who performed a powerful rendition of Alessia Cara's "Stay".
The next battle was between Celia Babini (Team Adam) and Oliv Blu (Team Blake). Celia chose to belt out Vanessa Carlton's "A Thousand Years", though it seemingly wasn't her best performance. Olive then sang "Gravity", which completely blew Blake's mind away. "You literally just charmed America," he gushed. John, on the other hand, noted that Celia's song choice "didn't take advantage of all your strengths."
Team Blake's Dexter Robert later faced off fellow country singer Andrew Jannakos (Team Adam). Dexter sang Brooks & Dunn's "Believe" and it was flawless. Andrew responded with a performance of "Yours" by Russell Dickerson. John loved Andrew's performance as he said that he "wowed me tonight and nailed it."
Before the episode concluded, Team John's Maelyn Jarmon hit the stage to sing "Mad World". Going against her was Team Adam's Rod Stokes, who performed "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" by Michael Bolton. Both were fantastic in their own.
"The Voice" will reveal its Top 24 in the Tuesday, April 16 episode.
