Team Adam is Coming for That 'Voice' Crown

The Voice Playoffs continues with a two hour showcase. Team Shakira versus Team Adam. Whose performers will kill their performances? Can any of them even hold a candle to Sisaundra Lewis? Maybe it's better that they didn't try. In fact, if there's one thing that this week lacked, it was any real sense of suspense. As soon as each performer got on stage, it was pretty easy to tell which three should be moving on and which three should be heading home. I guess they packed a lot of suspense into which order they'd call the names in, but I don't consider that on-the-edge-of-your-seat action. Everyone knows you tune in to The Voice for the on-the-edge-of-your-seat action. Singing? Performances? Adam Levine's new hair? Are we watching the same show? I'm here for the goosebumps Shakira kept getting.

But, right, the performances. Christina Grimmie knocked it out of the park. She knocked it so far out of the park it's in orbit right now. She was Adam's first pick to move on to the Live Shows and she damn well should have been. She took "I Won't Give Up" by Jason Mraz and made Mraz weep into his guitar that he can't sing it like she can. She hit those high notes. She dropped to her knees in raw emotion. She was the last performer of the night, so you pretty much knew she was going to be amazing.

If that doesn't take the sting out of Jake Barker's performance of "She Will Be Loved", then nothing will. (Newsflash: The fastest way to make me hate you is to try and curry favor with a judge by performing their own song to them. Look what comparison you're opening yourself up to, Barker. Look at your life choices.)

Of course, Team Shakira had a standout performance of their own in the form of underdog Tess Boyer. She did a rendition of Christina Perri's "Human" that was so haunting I can still hear it. Don't get me wrong. Kristen Merlen did an amazing cover of "Two Black Cadillacs" by Carrie Underwood, but Boyer's performance caused a fight to break out between the judges. I imagine that if they hadn't had the rest of the show to get through, they might still be arguing amongst themselves about who made the biggest error in letting Boyer go.

Now that Team Shakira has shaved down to a girls' only club and Team Adam is carried on the shoulders of Christina Grimmie, it's time for Team Usher to get their head in the game.

TUESDAY NIGHT: THE FINAL PLAYOFFS! THE COMPETITION GETS STEEPER THAN ADAM LEVINE'S HAIRLINE!

Image: Trae Patton/NBC