The Voice Review: I Want To Know Who Jamar Is

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Granted, there was no Jesse Campbell vs. Anthony Evans showdown this week. But Part Two of The Voice's Battle Round was filled with a number of good performers taking each other on in the ring.

If there is any reason for concern at this point in the competition, it is definitely that the coaches don't have as much opportunity to shine during the Battle Rounds. There just isn't enough time for Blake to crack a million jokes, and for Adam to gloat about winning season one when there is all this talent to showcase on stage. Let's take a look at said talent in this week's Battle Round...

Geoff McBride and Sera Hill Battle

Sera gives Geoff some attitude on stage.

Team Xtina - Geoff McBride vs. Sera Hill - "Chain of Fools"

The Battle: Surprisingly, Sera was kind of overpowering Geoff from the get go. Also strange, because I remember liking him during his audition, was that Geoff sounded sharp both in his practice and the battle itself. She did miss a pretty big note, though, so it was close to a toss-up for me.
My Choice: Sera
Xtina's Choice: Sera
Battle Grade: C+

Team Blake - Charlotte Sometimes vs. Lex Land - "Pumped Up Kicks"

The Battle: I didn't like Lex at all here. The coaches kept saying it was sultry, but all I heard was whispering. I really enjoyed Charlotte's tone, and her personality was interesting.  Her outgoing behavior could bite her in the live shows, but I enjoyed it here. For as much as I liked Charlotte, the two of them sounded pretty horrendous together.
My Choice: Charlotte
Blake's Choice: Charlotte
Battle Grade: D

Team Cee Lo - Juliet Simms vs. Sarah Golden - "Stay With Me"

The Battle: This was our first extremely strange outfit battle. Juliet had the Xena Warrior Princess look going, and Sarah looked like a 12 year old boy at a wedding. Maybe, Juliet was a female Rod Stewart, but to me she just sounded like an awesome rocker chick. I will take that type of grit in her voice any day of the week, and twice on Sundays. Sarah, meanwhile, was completely overpowered and sounded a bit too Bieberish for my tastes. I thought they mentioned that Sarah was supposed to be country. I didn't hear that at all in this performance.
My Choice: Juliet
Cee Lo's Choice: Juliet
Battle Grade: B-

Juliet Simms and Sarah Golden Battle

Juliet and Sarah battle it out in severely different outfits.

Team Adam - Kim Yarbrough vs. Whitney Myer - "No More Drama"

The Battle: Whitney sounded off at the start, but then started to warm up. She never could compete with Kim on presence and strength of voice though, so she went in at a disadvantage. It seemed like Kim wasn't given much opportunity to showcase her voice in the performance, but when she did, she certainly proved herself worthy. These two, unlike most of the others at this point, sounded good together.
My Choice: Kim
Adam's Choice: Kim
Battle Grade: B

Team Xtina - Lindsey Pavao vs. Lee Koch - "Heart-Shaped Box"

The Battle: These were two contestants I really liked in the Blind Auditions, so I didn't like the fact they were facing off against each other. They both did good things with this Nirvana song. Lee sounded a lot like American Idol's Paul McDonald, which is always a good thing in my book, and Lindsey was doing all kinds of cool things wither the highs and lows in her voice. There wasn't a lot of singing together, which made it easier for both of them to shine in their own moments, but more difficult to choose between them. This was the most difficult decision of the night in my book.
My Choice: Lee
Xtina's Choice: Lindsey
Battle Grade: A-

Team Cee Lo - Jamie Lono vs. Jamar Rogers - "I Want To Know What Love Is"

The Battle: That brings us to probably the biggest blow out of them all. That's not because Jamie isn't ridiculously talented, because he proved to be really good at what he does in the Blind Auditions, but this song was not a good choice for him. As I watched Jamie struggle with the powerful aspects of the song, both in practice and in the battle, I wondered if there wasn't a little sabotaging going on. He could have done well with a more his style. Maybe Cee Lo really wanted Jamar in the live shows, so he chose a song he knew that Jamie would struggle with, so that it would be obvious to pick Jamar. It's not a horrible idea, and it's his decision in the end anyway, so I don't have an issue if that actually was his thought process.

This was the second great duo of outfits, as Jamie sported the spotted sweater, weirdly striped shirt, and bright red glasses, while Jamar had on the tightest jeans you've ever seen, a deep green v, a bright red jacket, and a camo hat. The performance itself was pretty good. While Jamar overpowered Jamie completely, the latter didn't sound bad at all, and added to the success of the whole thing as a duet. He was more of a backup singer to Jamar's solo performance, but it sounded pretty good for that reason.
My Choice: Jamar
Cee Lo's Choice: Jamar
Battle Grade: B+

As always, Christina's team is filling up faster than everyone else's. The one with the flying saucer on her head for the Battle Rounds already has four contestants for the live shows.  Blake and Cee Lo have three after this week, while Adam only has two.

Whose team do you like best thus far? Which was your favorite performance of the night? What about your favorite contestant? And what is with Cee Lo's obsession with cats? Sound off in the comments!

Review

Editor Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
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Dan Forcella is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter.

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