The Voice 3 – The Top 8 Perform Live

Happy Monday. Tonight we will have performances from the top 8 contestants. In addition, rumor has it Adam will perform with 50 Cent. Watch along and let us know what you think in comments. Other song choice rumors include the Biebs (Dez) and Michelle Branch (Cassadee).

Click to Download The Voice Performances from iTunes

We start with an introduction of the coaches and recap of last week. Adam, Blake or Christina could be eliminated this week. 50 Cent and Adam are up with “My Life.” I’m enjoying this fairly well. Oops. 50 was bleeped. Ha. I’ll give Adam credit. He knows how to work the stage. Time for a break.

Carson chats with the judges. Adam says someone has to go home when asked about Bryan Keith. Cee-lo says it’s about song choice. Christina is rooting for Dez all the way and says he’s a multidimensional. Terry will be singing a Blake song and says it was Terry’s choice.

Amanda Brown starts the show with Adele’s “Someone Like You.” Adam wants her to make it bold and powerful as a declaration of her independence. Starts soft and no doubt will build. She turns it into a rock ballad. The crowd loves it. Blake really loved that she made it an Amanda Brown song. He loves the rock element. Christina says it was a dynamic and powerful vocal. She’s still waiting for the magic of “Dream On.” Cee-lo appreciates her risk-taking. Adam agrees that it was special because she made it hers and performed it well. He says she knocked it out of the park.

Cody Belew from Team Cee-lo is up next. He’s singing “Someone To Love” by Queen. Cee-lo wants him to show off his big beautiful voice. Cody says Freddie is his hero. He had a hard time in Nashville. He has the gospel choir treatment. Bam Bam falls to his knees on top of a piano. I enjoyed that. Nice ending. Adam thought it was great. Adam noticed a couple of places but thought it was wonderful. Blake enjoyed it and impressed that he can handle Cee-lo’s vision. Christina enjoys he’s not afraid to change it up and takes risks. She wants to hang out with him after the show. Cee-lo says it was a wonderful job. He’s proud of his accelerated growth. He says it makes it look easy. He loves their partnership and calls Cody a good friend.

Cassadee, Dez, Melanie and Terry perform the first group number “Move Along.”

They pimp Blake’s Not So Family Christmas special. Might have to tune in.

Terry McDermott is performing “Over” by Blake. Blake thinks this song was meant for Terry. He wants to Terry to make it his own. Terry wants to show diversity. Blake can’t wait to hear the song by a rock star. He has smoke effects of pimpage! This is pretty good, if a little dull of a song. There’s the glory note towards the end. Christina says he’s solid. Not convinced by his lower register. Cee-lo is a big fan, he says. He reminds him of great rock vocalists. Adam digs at Blake and says that’s what the song was supposed to sound like. He admires his precision on the high notes. He loves him. Blake says he wish he could perform it that way. He says he proved himself as the real deal. He calls Terry a star!

Melanie Martinez performs “Too Close.” Adam thinks she needs to express her raw emotion after her break up. She needs to be the Melanie everyone fell in love with. She pulls out the acoustic guitar and the tamborine with the foot pedal. Blake says her voice melts him. He’s happy that the tambourine is back. Really? I find it a bit of a gimmick. Christina loves the set. Says it’s dope. She didn’t think it went anywhere, but thought it was her personal best. She thought the song and arrangement fit her. Cee-lo also liked the set and thought it was a success. Adam loves her, first of all. He thinks she made the person she broke up feel dumb. He loves seeing an artist that is concerned with every aspect of the performance. He says the way she presents herself separates her from the others.

Dez performs next. He’s not just a Yale quarterback jock guy! He’s singing “You Smile” by the Biebs. Christina wants us to know he’s versatile. He wants his performance to reflect what a great coach Christina is. Christina’s song choice definitely smacks of pandering to Biebs legion of fans for votes. I can’t warm up to Dez. The girls will vote for him though. Cee-lo tells Dez he’s cool. He likes him, but doesn’t think it was his best performance. Adam isn’t going to pick it apart and wants to applaud him for walking away from football with tunnel vision. Blake says he has star quality and mentions last week’s performance. Christina says he killed it, killed it, killed it!!! She says nobody can do what he can do it on the stage. Pimp. Pimp. Pimp. She begs America to vote right now!

Trevin Hunte  is singing Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All.” He’s had a lot of adversity. Ceel-lo encourages him. Says he best at big power ballads. This was my high school class song. Heh. He has a choir also. Started off a little shaky to me at first, but I think it’s coming together in the end. Adam says it’s heaven. Tranquil. He says he can sing anything he wants. Calls it excellent. Blake says he’s an amazing singer. He thinks the song was amazing. Christina calls it a wonderful job. She’s not sure he captured the meaning of the song. Cee-lo calls it a wonderful performance and is proud of him. He’s sure Whitney would be proud. Cee-lo loves his humility.

Terry gets surprised by his family.

Amanda, Cody, Nicholas and Trevin perform “Anyway You Want It.” That was entertaining.

Nicholas David will be singing Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.” Cee-lo brings in Bill Withers, the writer of “Lean on Me” which Nicholas sang last week. Bill offers some advice. Nicholas plays the piano again. He has some Willie Nelson braid action going on. He’s grooving. Adam loves his song choices. He’s a fan of Nicholas as a person and an artist. Blake says he didn’t know until this week that he’s blind (Nicholas is wearing sunglasses). Cee-lo loves him and says it’s a very serious time and music shows the humanity he displays in his performances. He tells us to vote for him.

Cassadee Pope  gets the pimp spot. Didn’t she have it last week? She’s singing “Are You Happy Now” by Michelle Branch. Blake wants her to translate her personal life into the song and not worry about the arrangement. She sees him as an uncle. She didn’t say drunk uncle. Heh. Blake thinks she could win the whole thing. She’s holding her guitar. Oh no. Another mullet dress. Make it stop. She’s playing guitar now. Smoke and curtain pimpage. Good. Not as good as last week, though. Cee-lo says he’s not happy because she’s winning. She says she has a great voice. Adam was scared by the smoke machine. He calls her the frontrunner. He says she did a great job. Blake says she dominated. He says last week was vulnerable, but this week she showed how great a singer she is. He thanks her for being on his team.

Who do you think won the night? Will you vote? If so for whom? Who do you think is toast? Who do you want to be toast?