The Voice Season Nine Knockout Round Power Rankings

Scooter Update: Like I wrote a couple posts ago, I wrote this whole post before learning of the Coaches Comeback twist. Since we no nothing (as I write this) other that four singers that did not win their Knockout Round or got Stolen I decided not to update what I had already written other than this addendum up front. Before we go to my Power Rankings I will say I hope the four that are given a reprieve are Andi & Alex, Ellie Lawrence, Sydney Rhame, and Krista Hughes (all of which would be in my top seven below). Now to what I wrote before learning anyone was coming back.

At the start of the Knockout Round, Pharrell said he was looking for "other" to fill his team. Yet now that the Knockouts are over, somehow he ended up with the most boring team. Instead of picking Amy, Siahna, or even country singer Morgan who would have been other to him, Pharrell ended up with two interchangeable RnB dudes, a bland pop-rocker with Madi being the only interesting person left on his team, but still not as interesting as Amy. Then for his Steal where he could have had unique talents like Andi and Alex, Ellie, Blind Joe, Koda, or even the blued hair country singer Summer who may not have been great but was at least interesting, he instead stole back the bland Riley who undoubtedly will be gone by Wednesday.

But I guess boring is better than bad which is what Gwen's team is and is one of the top five worst teams going into the Live Shows in the history of The Voice. Braiden Sunshine is the worst person to ever make the Live Show not named Nic Hawk. Her Steal of Viktor was just as uninspiring as Pharrell's Steal (sadly where the boring but hot chick will be booted Wednesday, the boring but hot dude will probnably still be around by Thanksgiving). Jeffry and Regina are just complete fodder but somehow either one of them or Braiden will have to make the Top 12. To think her team could have been Ellie, Koda, Korrin, stole Andi and Alex instead of Viktor, and stole Lyndsey Rhame instead Riley or Regina in the Battles, those five would have been one of the best teams in the history of The Voice, instead she has one of the worst.

I actually think there is a good chance Blake and Adam will have the top six singers this season. Seriously who on Gwen or Pharrell's teams are getting more votes than Jordan, Amy, Shelby, Barrett, Zach (who rivels Viktor in the model's looks department) and which country blonde chick makes it out of the Live Playoffs. Of course Adam will probably screw up in the Playoffs and saddle one of those front runners with the Preston Pohl Memorial for Worst Song Choice from a Coach. While Blake has yet to save a country singer (not counting the Swon Brother because he had nothing but country singers that season) so he may save Ivonne who seems like fodder. Will will have to wait until Wednesday to find out. Until then, here is my favorite singers coming out of the Knockout Round and shockingly for the first time in five seasons there are multiple singers I am actually rooting for.

1. Amy Vachal (Team Pharrell Adam): There are no five words scarier on The Voice then when Adam says "I know what to do (with that voice)." How many times has Adam said that only for the person he says that to goes home the very next round? I fear Amy is the prime candidate for the Preston Pohl Memorial. Watch Adam try to give Amy something mordern like Ariana Grande's Focus. I am seriously dreading what Adam will do with that voice.

2. Madi Davis (Team Pharrell): Poor Madi, she get montaged in the Battles beating out one of my favorite Blind Auditions Sydney, then she gives one of the best Knockout performances this season, except Adam paired her with the person who gave the best. And if Pharrell gave balladeer a dance version of a Joni Mitchell song a couple years ago, I am kind of worried about what Pharrell will be choosing for her too.

3. Morgan Frazier (Team Blake Pharrell Blake): First off I have to be pretentious music snob and point out Even if it Breaks Your Heart was originally done by (and better by) Will Hoge even though Morgan credited the song to the more popular version by the Eli Young Band. But anyway. Another female sang this song as her Blind Audition a couple seasons ago it is clear that the song starts out way too low for the female voice. But the song hits such a crescendo it all but makes up for the rough start. And Morgan added a layer of vulnerability that the other versions do not have, it is as if you can hear her heart break while singing, you just cannot teach that.

4. Korin Bukowski (Team Gwen): Wait, has that always been the daughter from Nashville this whole time? But anyway. Korin broke the Cardinal Rule of The Voice: If you are going to sing a song that has already been recently sung on the show you best be better or at the very least different. So after the shock of realizing that Korin and the daughter from Nashville are the same person, I spent the most of the time thinking Deanna Johnson did this song much better last season.

5. Barrett Baber (Team Blake): Colder Weather is one of my favorite country songs of the past decade but I was mostly bored by this performance. Barrett may have been the better singer, but I never was bored when Blind Joe was performing. Oh my, top five and I am already complaining, this may get ugly quick.

6. Shelby Brown (Team Adam): Shelby had one of the most buzzed about Blind Auditions (I just thought it was alright) and seems to be on a downward trajectory ever since and that is not the way you want to be headed going into the Live Shows. Much like Morgan, I think Shelby may want to go back to countrifying pop and rock songs.

7. Regina Love (Team Adam Gwen): She is good and all, but it is going to be hard for older RnB women on a show like this and she certainly is not good as Sisaundra. So she probably will not get America's vote and Gwen will undoubtedly save one of the boys instead (Ryan Sill: never forget).

8. Mark Hood (Team Pharrell): The great thing about Stand By Me is its simplicity, Mark kind of ruined it.

9. Evan McKeel (Team Pharrell): Last round I mentioned how the promos seem to position Evan as Pharrell's front runner but he still needed a breakout performance in the Knockout Round. It did not happen.

10. Ivonne Acero (Team Pharrell Blake): Sometimes the coaches care more about a story than actual talent (or the producers who are manipulating), but it is hard to think Ivonne was one of the five best singers Blake had this season.

11. Emily Ann Roberts (Team Blake): This was fine and all but I actually preferred Nadjah in their head to head match up.

12. Blaine Mitchell (Team BlakeAdam): Oh Adam, why did you dump the best selling act this season for a bland rocker?

13. Keith Semple (Team Adam): Speaking of bland rockers, he is just going to do the Terry McDerrmott playbook every week because I do not think he will go as far especially with Adam's dominant top three.

14. Riley Biederer (Team Pharrell Gwen Pharrell): Sure the Battle Round was not her choice, but she should really stay away from RnB because it just is not a good look for her. But I think at this point there really is not much she can do to advance.

15. Jordan Smith (Team Adam): There is one thing that promo monkeys do better than anything and that is beat something into the ground until you are completely sick of it. I heard Jordan screech "set firrrrrrrrrrrrrre toooooooooo the raaaaaaaaaain so many times; before. every. single. commercial. break. that by the time his Knockout was actually aired in its entirety I was out. I am sick of Jordan. They over promoted him in the Battle Rounds too. I am out. At this point I really hope he gets added to the Preston Pohl Memorial plaque.

16. Darius Scott (Team Pharrell): His vocal gymnastics got old real quick.

17. Viktor Király (Team Adam Gwen): Ugg, it is going to annoying when he continues to advance on his looks rather his talent.

18. Jeffery Austin (Team Gwen): The Voice started at the height of Adele and in those first couple season there was a steady stream of big voiced chicks trying to out-Adele Adele which was always a losing proposition with only one performance I actually liked (Mathai's Rumour Has It). Now that she is back I guess that is going ton start up again (I wish there was somewhere I could bet Hello will close out tonight's show), but how were there two guys who picked an Adele song before the album was even announced (all the pre-Live rounds were taped back in the summer). Neither of them make me update my list of Adele covers that do not suck massively.

19. Zach Seabaugh (Team Blake): How bad do you have to be to get the dreaded lone Knockout Round montage win?

20. Braiden Sunshine (Team Gwen): If he advances, I will riot.

Yeah I started complaining around the top five, but actually four singers I do not hate is rare in recent seasons and one on each team, now if only all of them make the Top 12. This is basically the last time teams matter as anyone can go home starting next week so here is a last look at how strong each team is based on my rankings.

Adam: 58
Blake: 57
Pharrell: 56
Gwen: 39

Wow, it is the tightest ever among the three boys, but Gwen on the other hand is kind of disastrous. Maybe she should not gone with the picking who she thinks is the cutest strategy (and yes, I do realize two of my top three are fairly attractive). But who cares what I think, here is how each artist charted on iTunes since the start of the Knockout Round.

1. Amy Vachal (31)
2. Jordan Smith (42)
3. Madi Davis (46)
4. Braiden Sunshine (54)
5. Korin Bukowski (72)
6. Viktor Kiraly (85)
7. Blaine Mitchell (91)
8. Jeffery Austin (105)
9. Keith Semple (106)
10. Andi and Alex and Chance Pena (125)
11. Evan McKeel (136)
12. Regina Love (154)
13. Barrett Baber (155)
14. Amy Vachal - Dream a Little Dream (158)
15. Ivonne Acero (162)
16. Emily Ann Roberts (174)
17. Riley Biederer (194)
18. Shelby Brown (195)
19. Morgan Frazier (204)
20. Ellie Lawrence - We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off (222)
21. Jordan Smith - Chandelier (235)
22. Darius Scott (282)
23. Mark Hood (303)
24. Zach Seabaugh (373)
25. Jordan Smith and Regina Love (443)
26. Andi and Alex - Thank You (503)
27. Barrett Baber and Dustin Christensen (509)
28. Amy Vachal and Jubal and Amanda (530)
29. Chase Kerby and Korin Bukowski (582)
30. Korin Bukowski - Cecilia and the Satellite (780)
31. Cassandra Robertson and Viktor Kiraly (978)
32. Celeste Betton and Mark Hood (1035)
33. Morgan Frazier - I Want You To Want Me (1302)
34. Blaine Mitchell and Blind Joe (1348)
35. Ellie Lawrence and Tim Atlas (1416)
36. Viktor Kiraly - What's Going On (1431)
37. Barrett Baber - Angel Eyes (1485)
38. Deanna Johnson - All I Want (1489)
39. Jeffery Austin - Lay Me Down (1495)

So Andi and Alex and Chance Pena, all three who were eliminated this round, still managed to chart higher over the past two weeks than over half, eleven, of the singers that are going to the Live Playoffs. Even worse, Ellie Lawrence's month and a half old Blind Audition song charted higher than three people who are advancing. That is never a good look even though it seems to happen every season. Also looking over this list you have to make Amy and Jordan as all three of there songs are still going strong, followed by Korin, Viktor, and Barrett who also saw all three of their song creep back on the list at some point over the past two weeks, even if barely. If you take each artist and average their highest peak in each round, here is how they stack up:

1. Jodan Smith (58.6)
2. Amy Vachal (82.3)
3. Barrett Baber (93.6)
4. Korin Bukowski (209)
5. Morgan Frazier (218.6)
6. Viktor Kiraly (260)
7. Blaine Mitchell (308.6)
8. Emily Ann Roberts (319.3)
9. Keith Semple (329.3)
10. Mark Hood (388.6)
11. Shelby Brown (433.3)
12. Zach Seabaugh (455.6)
13. Evan McKeel (463)
14. Ivonne Acero (479)
15. Madi Davis (549.6)
(the last four missed the top 1500 once and here is if they ranked the one that charted and use 1500 as the non chart-er)
16. Regina Love (584)
17. Braiden Sunshine (596.3)
18. Jeffery Austin (672.3)
19. Riley Biederer (730)
20. Darius Scott (1091.6)

It should be noted that those bottom three were all montaged once (Regina and Braiden's Blind Auditions did not chart despite being shown in full) but then again so were Madi and Zach but still managed to chart all three rounds. Also it looks like Shelby, Ivonne and Madi were really hurt by their poor song choices in the Battle Round, if you just take the average of the Blind Auditions and Knockout Round numbers, Shelby goes from eleventh to third, Madi goes from last among people who charted every round to sixth followed by Ivonne who jumps seven spots. It should also be noted that Amy, who had the highest charting Blind Audition and Knockout Round songs obviously would jump over Jordan on that list. Lets see if any of those four can overcome bad song selections if their coaches are picking in the Playoffs, personally I would not trust Adam at all. Here is how the teams stack up if you rank each singer based on the iTunes average:

Adam: 75
Blake: 63
Gwen: 44
Pharrell: 28

Oh Pharrell, you let go of the the second highest average in the Knockout Round and replaced her with the second worst. Oh yeah, you already had the worst on your team who you kept instead of the fifth best average. What exactly was this guy thinking? Every member of Team Adam is above every member of Team Pharrell. It may be time to bring back Cee-Lo. Now it is prediction time, here is how I predict what will happen on Wednesday before even one note is sung:

Adam
America Saves: Jordan, Amy
Coach Saves: Keith

Blake
America Saves: Barrett, Zach
Coach Saves: Morgan

Gwen
America Saves: Viktor, Korin
Coach Saves: Braiden Jeffery

Pharrell
America Saves: Mark, Evan
Coach Saves: Madi

Finals: Barrett beats out Jordan and Morgan

Scooter Update: Okay the prediction above is kind of mute depending on who comes back. But really there are very few people that got sent home that I think even have a chance of making the Top 12. It seems obvious if they already got dumped by their coach, they will not you their Coach Save on them so they are going to need America's Save to do so. I do wonder if being the coach Comeback would help or hurt. They could get extra votes for being the underdogs or maybe some people just do not vote for them on principal thinking it is not "fair" to the top 20. Andi and Alex are the only ones that could challenge Jordan and Amy for Adam's spot, but I still think they would fall short. On Gwen I would replace Ellie for Korin (sadly Gwen will probably still save Braiden). I think Blind Joe could easily bumb Zach from the America's Save, maybe Krista with a showstopping performance. Pharrell is the trickiest, sure he has a weak team (look at those iTunes numbers above), but none of his also-rans look very strong (unless of course the coaches can poach other teams' losers). I like Lyndsey the most but I do not see her getting more votes than the RnB dudes or Evan. So in the end, I pretty much stand by my predictions above unless Gwen brings back Ellie (or Pharrell is allowed to poach Andi and Alex or one of Blake's country leftovers), while the other Coach Comebacks will be watching from their couch next week.