The Voice Season 5 Battle Round Power Rankings

As we enter the third season of The Steal, they were one again hit or miss. I thought Juhi, Will, Monika, and Stephanie all deserved their Steals. The other four were really head-scratching. I was with Blake in that Cee-Lo should have stolen Barry Black, but then again Cee-Lo was the only one that ended up using both Steals wisely. Maybe had Blake not wasted both of his Steals on Knockout Round fodder, he would have had one to use himself on someone much more worthy like Barry. Donna Allen was the only other singer that we saw that stood out to me as Save-worthy. I did like Lupe Carroll’s Blind Audition so I do wish he would have gotten a Steal, or they should have at least shown him singing Africa which I am guessing had to be better than some of the Battles they actually showed. Oh well, here is my updated ranking of those that did move on to the Knockout Round.

1. Austin Jenckes (Team Blake): Every season there always is a Battle or two where it sound like less like a duet and more of a Motown group with a single lead singer, this was the case for this Battle where Austin was Smokey Robinson and Brian came off as one of the Miracles.

2. Caroline Pennell (Team Cee-Lo): When Cee-Lo said she had to sing Justin Beiber I feared for Caroline because Beiber (and teen pop in general) has been a curse to anyone who sings him because there is just a cheesiness to him and teen pop in general. But wow, Caroline took this corny pop song and found a beautiful darkness in it. I do not know who did the arrangement for the song, be it Caroline, Anthony, Cee-Lo, or the band, but kudos to them.

3. Holly Henry (Team Blake): I will not complain anymore about how and why Holly was montoged, I did enough of that yesterday. The five seconds we got to hear her sing Torn on the show were solid and the studio version is really good (click Holly’s name, or any contestant’s name, to buy it on iTunes). I did have to put Austin and Caroline above her because theirs were the only great Battle Round performances, but Holly’s performance of The Scientist remains the best performance so far this season.

4. Preston Pohl (Team Adam): Dude can sing MGMT, then follow that up with The Temptations, and he did them both justice. Make you wonder what else Preston has in his musical quiver.

5. Ray Boudreaux (Team Blake): There really is not much to Ray, but he is just clean and smooth and could be a dark horse when people start voting.

6. Destinee Quinn (Team Christina): Destinee has a glaring flaw during her Blind Audition with a lack of consistency. She definitely ironed that out by her, if her future performances are as good as her Battle Round performance, she could end up as Christina’s last person standing.

7. Jacquie Lee (Team Christina): When Jacquie started out, I could not help but think to last season when Amy Whitcomb sang the song and Blake said (badly paraphrasing because I am too lazy to get the direct quote), “The song ended a whole lot better than it started.” It was a rough start and it seemed like House of the Rising Sun is just a very hard song to start (especially for the ladies that cannot reach the bottom as well as Eric Burdon can) and it looks like Jacquie drew the short straw have to start off the song. But like Amy, Jacquie ended the song a lot better than it started. Briana may have been more consistent, but Jacquie at her best was definitely better than Briana at her best during the song.

8. Matthew Schuler (Team Christina): A silly song choice, but I would take it over the well worn songs that many of the coaches forced on their singers.

9. Olivia Henken (Team Christina): Well that was fun. I found her audition a little too mediocre Carrie-oke, but Done. was much more entertaining. Hopefully she sticks to more fun upbeat songs otherwise I give the edge to Destinee for Christina’s token absurdly attractive country singer.

10. Monika Leigh (Team Cee-Lo Cee-Lo): I was a little surprised that Blake paired Monika and Ray together, more than any other coach, Blake pairs his favorites with ones he is ready to dump. I thought bother were destined to at least make it to the Knockout Rounds on his team, if not the Live Shows. This ended up being Blake’s best Battle (granted half of his were montaged) and though Ray was slightly better, Monika got one of the few well deserved saved this season.

11. Juhi (Team Cee-Lo Adam): I was ready for Juhi to leave the show after her screeching during the rehearsal, but by the time she hit the stage, she was much better and definitely deserved to win her battle. She does need a little more fine tuning and I definitely trust Adam to do that better than Cee-Lo. So how the battle ended may be the best for her in the long run. I also have to say I have long thought that Twitter was the internet for stupid people. That thawed a little when Prince joined the site and it thawed a little more when Juhi tweeted this after her Battle:

@CeeLoGreen And although there's pain in my chest I still wish you the best! I'm like Forget you <3
— Juhi (@Juhix3) October 22, 2013

12. Cole Vosbury (Team Cee-Lo): I am having trouble to believe that the dude who sang The Theme to the Jefferson’s in the Blind Auditions and then sang Toto’s Africa was any worse than half of the Battles we had to sit through this season.

13. Jonny Gray (Team Cee-Lo): After his Blind Audition, I was hoping Cee-Lo would find a great song that suited him, and a little Tom Petty did the trick.

14. Will Champlin (Team Adam Christina): The most evenly matched Battle this season, maybe ever. I would have given the slight edge to Will because he has a little more something to his voice…

15. James Wolpert (Team Adam): …where James’s voice, though good, can be as bland as his look. If he is going to rock the accountant look, hopefully he just embarrasses the look and starts singing some Weezer, Ben Folds, or Barenaked Ladies.

16. Grey (Team Adam): Kind of the female version of Ray, it is hard to pinpoint what is good about her voice other it is the kind of voice you can sit back and soak in. But after two bland pop songs, I do hope she does something a little more interesting in the Knockout Round.

17. Stephanie Anne Johnson (Team Christina Cee-Lo): Every Blind Auditions there are a couple contestants who have to choose between two or more coaches and after they pick, I sit that and shake my head thinking they should have went with the other one. Then inevitably they are paired with someone during the Battles who the coach likes much better to the point they give them a song that is much more suited to the other singer and once again I shake my head thinking, you really should have picked that other coach. Stephanie was on of those contents who thought would have been much better off choosing Cee-Lo over Christina. Luckily for Stephanie, she eventually found her way to Cee-Lo’s team.

18. Briana Cuoco (Team Christina Blake): Wins the award for most improved. Although for someone whose reasoning for going with Blake because he won three straight year, I would think someone who knows the show this well would know Blake only uses his Steals as fodder I the next round. Lucky for Briana, the show has added a Steal to the Knockout Rounds. So maybe she may find her way back to Team Christina because I would be shocked if she made it to the Live Shows with Blake.

19. Amber Nicole (Team Christina): There is always a montage contestant that wins a Battle or two every season, but Amber winning was still a bit shocking because I thought the producers were setting up Timya as one of the frontrunners this season and not only did she lose, she did not get a Steal. But Amber definitely deserved to win this Battle.

20. Tamara Chauniece (Team Cee-Lo): Montage win. Yawn.

21. Lina Gaudenzi (Team Christina Adam): Lina was all over the place during her Blind Audition, she was a bit better this round, but I am not sure it was worth a steal.

22. Shelbie Z. (Team Blake): For the first three seasons, Blake only took one country artist to the Live Rounds, and only one of them advanced one round when they got there. Last season there were five country singers better than any of those in the first three seasons including Savannah Berry who did not even make the Live Shows. Shelbie reminds me of those in the first three seasons who will likely be one round and done unless Blake saves her. I would even venture to say one of Christina’s country singers may actually go further.

23. James Irwin (Team Adam): Maybe the second most even Battle of the season, but I could not help but thinking who ever won would end up being Knockout Round fodder on Adam’s team.

24. Tessanne Chin (Team Adam): I liked her Battle Round performance more than her Blind Audition, but her beating Donna was one of the most egregious decisions of the round.

25. Kat Robichaud (Team Cee-Lo): During the Blind Auditions, I feared that with Cee-Lo Kat would easily go over the top with her performances and that came to fruition with a cringeworthy performance of the severely overused karaoke staple I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing. I could not help thinking during the performance that the montages could not have been as bad as this. Seriously, they skipped of Africa for this performance?

26. Ashley DuBose (Team Adam): You have to wonder just how bad a performance of a song that featured not one but two coaches had to be to get the montage treatment. And judging by Adam’s stinkface when Ashley told him what she will be singing in the Knockout Rounds, she will probably not make the Live Shows without a Steal.

27. Anthony Paul (Team Cee-Lo Christina): I am not entirely sure what Christina saw in this guy, when I think back to his Battle, my only memories are of Caroline who just dominated the song.

28. Josh Logan (Team Christina): During his Blind Audition, Josh sounded a lot like Alex Clare, and during the Battle Rounds it sounded like he was trying to sound like Adam Levine too, but this time around he failed massively. I really have no interest in listening to copy cats. Michael not winning this battle was the second biggest mistake made by any coach made this round.

29. E.G. Daily (Team Blake): Montage win. Yawn.

30. Brandon Chase (Team Blake): Montage win. Yawn.

31. George Horga Jr. (Team Cee-Lo): It is really never a good sign when half the coaches spend most of their time talking about a bum note (that first “Best I ever had” was really bad) and after you are gone the other three coaches talk about how shocked they were when you were picked. Cee-Lo has made some of the dumbest decision on the show and nothing will probably ever beat Erin Martin over The Sheilds Brothers, but this may very well be number two.

32. Nic Hawk (Team Adam Blake): One of the most entertaining people this season, but his voice is just too musical theater for a singing competition. Blake likes to waste his Steals on Knockout Round fodder, but Nic was the most unworthy Steal in the series history.

Now it is time to see who has the strongest team coming out of the Battle Rounds (going in I had Cee-Lo followed by Adam, Christina, and Blake pulling up the rear). I gave the person last one point and firs 32 points and added the points up by teams and here is how they stack up:

Christina – 146
Cee-Lo – 134
Blake – 124
Adam – 124

So Christina leapfrogs Adam and Cee-Lo while Adam sinks all the way to last. But who cares what I think, here is how high each singer reached during the Battle Round (I also included any Blind Auditions italics that made the charts over the past two weeks to give you a sense about who the iTunes population is most enthusiastic about). Those that are not on this list did not make the top 1500 Overall chart (at least i never saw them on it).

1. Caroline Pennell (35)
2. Jacquie Lee (77)
3. Preston Pohl (77)
4. Preston Pohl – Electric Feel (113)
5. Briana Cuoco (218)
6. Holly Henry – The Scientist (257)
7. Destinee Quinn (261)
8. Austin Jenckes (271)
9. Holly Henry (272)
10. Caroline Pennell – Anything Can Happen (273)
11. Juhi (280)
12. Jonny Grey (293)
13. James Wolpert – Love Interrupted (312)
14. Tessanne Chin (324)
15. Matthew Schuler (330)
16. James Irwin (336)
17. Amber Nicole (362)
18. Will Champlin (386)
19. James Wolpert (404)
20. Josh Logan (407)
21. George Horga Jr. (492)
22. Matthew Schuler – Cough Syrup (538)
23. Lina Gaudenzi (539)
24. Grey (569)
25. Jacquie Lee – Back to Black (589)
26. Anthony Paul (620)
27. Ray Boudreaux (628)
28. Shelbie Z. (665)
29. Olivia Henken (687)
30. Jonny Grey – All These Things I’ve Done (942)
31. Tessanne Chin – Try (1050)
32. Kat Robichaud (1090)
33. Cole Vosbury (1295)
34. Austin Jenckes – Simple Man (1346)
35. Brandon Chase (1417)
36. Nic Hawk (1418)

What is striking about this list is that three montaged contestants actually made this list (Holly, Cole and Brandon) and charted higher than three that had their full performance aired (Nic, Monika, and Stephanie). Holly alone did better than 20 other contestants that were show in their entirety. Here is how the teams shake out based on iTunes using the same methodology above:

Adam – 213
Christina – 189
Blake – 145
Cee-Lo – 120

Adam is on the top of the list followed by Christina, it helps when they had one montage Battle between them. If you are counting both the Blinds and Battles, Blake’s contestants were montaged five times, Cee-Lo four times, Christina twice, and only one for Adam. Then Adam’s contestants closed out four episodes, Christina twice, Blake once, and Cee-Lo only once, and that was the final Blind Audition. Gee, I wonder who the producers want to win. Keep in mind aside from winning the first season neither Adam or Christina finished better than third, and if there were no team quotas back in season two, they may not have finished that high. Clearly the producers have their favorites but if you want to know who the real front runners are when the Live Rounds starts, here is how the contestants rank if you average how high each of their songs charted during both rounds.

1. Preston Pohl (49)
2. Caroline Pennell (112.5)
3. Holly Henry (147.5)
4. Matthew Schuler (204.5)
5. James Wolpert (264)
6. Tessanne Chin (271.5)
7. Jonny Grey (277.5)
8. Austin Jenckes (290.5)
9. Jacquie Lee (297)
10. Will Champlin (358)
11. James Irwin (410)
12. Destinee Quinn (450)
13. Josh Logan (436.5)
14. Ray Boudreaux (489)
15. Grey (542)
16. Briana Cuoco (604.5)
17. Lina Gaudenzi (709.5)
18. Juhi (826)
19. Olivia Henken (847.5)
20. Brandon Chase (884.5)
21. Shelbie Z. (989)
22. Nic Hawk (1024.5)
23. Cole Vosbury (1191)

Despite being montage, Holly, is sitting at number three. It makes me wonder just how high she could have gotten if they showed more than five seconds of her singing. As I write this Preston and Holly are the only two that still have both of their songs in the top 1500, so those are your two front runners right now. Then really any of those in the top nine on this list I think have a chance of winning (interestingly enough, the top nine is evenly divided between the four teams with Adam getting the extra singer). Outside the top nine, I think Ray and whichever of Christina token absurdly attractive country singer makes it to the Live Shows could be dark horses. Everyone else I would put their chance of winning somewhere between slim and none. I do know the token absurdly attractive country singers are facing off in the Knockout Round because Entertainment Weekly released all the pairing. Here are who will be going against each other with who I think will win listed first and with the ones I am most confident listed in order of confidence.

Team Adam
Preston Pohl vs. Lina Gaudenzi
Tessanne Chin vs. Ashley Dubose
James Wolpert vs. Juhi
Grey vs. James Irwin

Team Blake
Holly Henry vs. Nic Hawk
Shelbie Z. vs. Briana Cuoco
Austin Jenckes vs. Brandon Chase
Ray Boudreaux vs. E.G. Daily

Team Cee-Lo
Jonny Grey vs. Cole Vosbury
Kat Robichaud vs. Monika Leigh
Caroline Pennell vs. George Horga Jr.
Stephanie Anne Johnson vs. Tamara Chauniece

Team Christina
Matthew Schuler vs. Will Champlin
Jacquie Lee vs. Anthony Paul
Josh Logan vs. Amber Nicole
Olivia Henken vs. Destinee Quinn