The Top 9 take the stage on tonight’s The Voice and on Tuesday one more artist will go home as we get closer to the Season 10 finale of the singing competition.
Click here for last week’s recap if you missed it.
The breakdown of teams tonight is as follows:
Team Adam Levine: Shalyah Fearing and Laith Al-Saadi
Team Blake Shelton: Mary Sarah, Adam Wakefield, and Paxton Ingram
Team Christina Aguilera: Alisan Porter, Bryan Bautista and Nick Hagelin, who was saved after being in the bottom two last week.
Team Pharrell Williams: Hannah Huston
The frontrunners to date seem to be Alisan Porter and Adam Wakefield, but that can change at any moment if either of them make the wrong song choice.
“It’s already signed. It’s a done deal,” Adam jokes when asked about the comment that Pharrell made about him being a shoe-in to land a contract with country music behemoth Big Machine. “We will see what happens. If I win the show, Lord willing, they are just going to have to wait because I will be under contract to Republic. For me, honestly, I’ve got a bluegrass band. We just finished a record. I know it’s bluegrass. I am just hoping when we put that out some people will be listening to it.”
Alisan adds, “We realize that nine of us are going to go home and one of us is going to win. Whoever that is, we love them, and we want them to succeed, and we want them to have a career, I think whatever happens at this point, we are happy about it.”
Here is more from the Top 9:
Last week was an emotional performance when you sang a song that reminds you of your struggles with substance abuse: “Let Him Fly” by Patty Griffin. Did you know you were going to have to lay your soul bare in this competition?
Alisan: I’m choosing to. Nobody’s forcing me. Adam [Levine] said it best. When you are being true to yourself as an artist, you have to dig into those things. No incredible song about love or heartbreak was ever written without someone experiencing it, then choosing to sing about it. It is my duty as a performer to dive into those things about me that make me feel and make me vulnerable and make me connect to a song. I think it is so important to connect to a song and I don’t think I have ever had a connection quite like this. This one really tells a story about a time in my life.”
How did it feel to hear Adam say you were becoming his favorite performer?
Laith: That was really, really wonderful to hear. Adam always has been complimentary to me, but to hear those words felt really good because we are on his team. I don’t think he is somebody who would have said it just to say it. I feel as if it is an honest thing, especially because of his willingness to back Alisan as the winner. He had said Adam [Wakefield] was his favorite, so to be becoming his favorite feels real good.
Adam said he would like you to sing Mary. J. Blige next week. Are you up for that?
Shalyah: I actually hadn’t heard that Mary J. Blige song [he mentioned] so I went to listen to it on YouTube and it is a nice song but, for me, I would rather do a Whitney Houston or Christina Aguilera or Fantasia or Jennifer Hudson. Something that really wows the crowd.
He suggested Mary J. because he said you both sing with heart.
Shalyah: Absolutely Mary J. Blige does sing with a lot of heart. I respect her for that, but I feel like I should sing a different song. I am definitely going to talk to my coach about that because it’s a collaborative thing.
Now that you made the Top 9, how are you trying to stay grounded?
Laith: I am trying to stay as clearheaded and focused as possible in terms of not letting the intensity of the competition get to me at all. Nothing is going to change us going out there and being the best version of ourself that we can be in that moment. To worry about what somebody else is doing or how that might affect you is totally superfluous and really does nothing but detract from what we can give to what we do. I think at this point, everybody brings something unique to the table. Whoever is going to be the last one standing in this, isn’t necessarily better but they may resonate more with America. Who knows what the populous is looking for?
Shalyah: I feel like everyone here is unique in their own way. Like Laith said, everybody is going home. At the end of the day, there is going to be one person who wins the show, and even they go home. In the moment, just do your best and do what you do. Don’t try to change it because that’s what they love.
What would you miss the most if this is your last week?
Laith: I think I would miss the people the most, for sure. That is what makes Tuesdays suck the most. We see somebody who we’ve grown close to, that we really love, go home. The thing is, it is just the beginning of real life for them. It is the beginning of life for us when it happens. We have come to love and respect each other like your camp family, at least.
Shalyah: I have come to the conclusion that everyone is going to go home. I am just trying to calm myself, but it is still very hard. It is the worst part of the show. The eliminations are terrible.
What was it like to get a tweet from Kelly Clarkson?
Paxton Ingram: I wouldn’t even dream she would tweet me. Kelly Clarkson tweeted me, not once, but twice. We had a conversation. Last week was such an incredible week for me. To be rewarded by having someone like Kelly Clarkson, who has been through this whole competition game before, was really cool, and such a moment.
How did it feel to have Adam Levine tell you this was your best performance since the Blind Auditions?
Mary Sarah: It felt really good. It also felt really good to get up there and sing “Stand by Your Man.” I have been singing traditional country for a very long time and that is one of them that I have been singing for a couple of years now. It’s been an influence in my life and Tammy Wynette has been such an influence in my life. To get to share that, I think it took on a whole new meaning to have the vets in the audience because you can take it the way the song says it, but to stand by our military men or our vets in this country is a huge thing, so it was a beautiful thing to get to do that.
The Voice airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC with the Top 9 giving it their all to move forward.
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