Omar Jose Cardona The Voice Standout “Knows What Love Is” On Fan Week
Season 22’s Top 10 night was a theme that viewers of The Voice have grown accustomed to at this point, and that is Fan Week. It came with the typical mixture of overdone and out of the box song choices and that make people wonder if fans even picked these songs. Probably not. One of the overdone choices went to the closer of the night, Omar Jose Cardona The Voice pop-rock powerhouse singer from Team John Legend. (Read our Recap)
Omar Jose Cardona The Voice 8th singer to perform Foreigner’s classic
Omar has been known to take on power ballads, so the song choice of Foreigner’s “I Want To Know
What Love Is” made perfect sense. Prior to Omar, the song had been done a whopping 7 times. This
includes Season 2’s Jamar Rogers, Season 3’s Terry McDermott, Season 9’s Keith Semple, Season 12’s
Hunter Plake, Season 13’s Chloe Kohanski, Season 17’s Rose Short, and Season 18’s Toneisha Harris.
Many of these singers had great success with the song with standout moments.
In rehearsal, Omar shared the love he has received from fans including a local barbershop shaving a
V in his head for The Voice. He also shared fanart depicting him riding a dragon–inspired by coach Camila Cabello calling him a “dragon.” John believes the song is right in Omar’s “pocket” and thinks it will “connect emotionally” with the audience. John advised him to be dramatic by holding some big notes out and starting the performance on the keyboard. Omar’s brother and fans at a watch party wish him luck before his performance.
Omar begins the performance soft with the piano. This is where his voice truly shines, as it tones down hi typical all the bells and whistles. The song becomes more theatrical as it builds with booming backing vocals and high notes. Omar brings feeling to the performance through his great stage presence. If I were listening without being able to see him, I would find it lacking dynamics a bit. After the piano intro, it was all full bore, an approach which lacked of emotional commitment. However, besides a few minor pitch issues and a little bit of straining on the high notes, it was a very good vocal though.
The coaches give Omar a standing ovation
All four coaches stand for Omar. Camila told the singer that he is not going home and calls his performance “euphoric” and him a “full-grown fire breathing dragon.” Gwen Stefani admired how he “glides up on those notes” and felt that this was “more emotional than last week.” John feels that Omar “connects with people’s heart, calling the performance “spiritual.”
With Omar closing with this fan-favorite, he should have no concerns about going home, as Camila said.
Others who stood out included Team John’s Kim Cruse’s return to booming soul vocals on Rihanna’s
“Love On The Brain,” Team Camila’s Morgan Myles take on country classic, “Tennessee Whiskey”, and
Team Blake Shelton’s Bodie’s risky song choice “Golden Hour” that included a rare sight of rapping. Honorable mention goes to Team Gwen’s Justin Aaron who continues to have pitch perfect vocals.
