The Voice 21 Top 11: Paris Winningham Stays Retro With Soulful “Use Me”
Paris Winningham continues down his journey of tackling classic soulful songs on The Voice 21. On Monday, for fan week, his song choice was the late Bill Withers’ “Use Me,” which is a song that is full of soul and rasp (Read our Recap). Artists have performed the song a few times on the show; some versions went for a smoother R&B sound, but Paris went for a version more similar to Withers’ original that is swampy and full of soul.
Paris as always, sounded put together and showcased range I wasn’t aware of. He went low on some of those notes in the opening and hit them very nicely, pleasing the crowd. He let loose at times too, but did lose me a few times on the big notes as he strained more than usual, and sometimes lacked restraint, tossing in a few too many runs. I did like how it came together in the end, as he played nicely off the background vocalists’ adlibs and blended well with them. And then he capped off the performance with a few signature growls.
Paris had “ease and control of the room,” said his coach
His former coach, John Legend, noted the power and soul that Paris puts into all his performances. His coach, Blake Shelton mentioned that Kelly Clarkson stood three times during the performance. She was so in awe over it. Blake remarked that Paris had “ease and control of the room” and went on to say that this was his favorite performance from Paris so far.
This week Paris moved back to a dynamic performance–an improvement over last week. It wasn’t Paris’ best performance compared to his showstoppers of “Tennessee Whiskey” and “I Wish It Would Rain,” but it proved one thing, and that is even when Paris isn’t at his best level, he is still a fierce competitor. Paris could benefit from better song choices. Nevertheless, the singer will still sail through tomorrow when results come.
