The Voice Knockout Results, Recap — CeeLo Green Returns In Season 29

The March 30 episode of “The Voice” kicked off the Season 29 Knockouts Round, with OG coach Cee-Lo Green returning to the show to mentor Adam Levine and John Legend’s teams. Not to be outdone, Kelly Clarkson pulled Michael Bublé back into the fray to help her team members. 

The night’s eclectic setlist included everything from Whitney Houston to Sabrina Carpenter, as a dozen of the season’s top performers — Lucas West, Moses G., Houston Kelly, JW Griffin, Alexia Jayy, Bay Simpson, Abigayle Oakley, Liv Ciara, Natasha Blaine, Syd Millevoi, Jeremy Keith, and Mike Steele — returned to the stage. And only six remained in the competition by the end of the night.

Read on for a breakdown of this week’s “Voice” results, including the one coach’s decision we can’t help but question. When you’re finished, vote for your favorite singers of the night, then drop a comment with your thoughts on the “Battle of Champions” thus far.

Talk about a saucy way to kick off this season’s knockouts: Moses G. got the party started with Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On,” which became an entirely different performance once the contestant freed himself from the confines of the mic stand. The moves, the gesturing, the swagger — Moses G.’s inner showman fully jumped out. And while we’ll admit that it was borderline cheesy at times, it fit the vocal performance he was giving us, so it worked overall. That “let’s get it OH-oh-OH-oh-OH-on” was also a killer ending to leave us on.

The seduction continued with Lucas West’s performance of Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind,” which was just as soulful as (and surprisingly sexier than) we’d expect from West at this point. Lucas was totally in his zone at that keyboard, pulling us into his world with each passing verse. There’s something nice about feeling like you’re in capable hands, and West’s laid-back, confident vibe made us feel right at home. Falsetto, rasp, runs, belting — this performance proved he can do it all without breaking a sweat. And as John Legend pointed out, “He can play!”

WINNER: Lucas West (TVLine’s grade: “A”)ELIMINATED: Moses G. (TVLine’s grade: “A-“)

Then came a showdown between Kelly Clarkson’s country kings. JW Griffin was first, eliciting an “I love him!” from John Legend about three seconds into his performance of The SteelDrivers’ “If it Hadn’t Been For Love,” and we echo the sentiment. You could already tell that this seasoned storyteller was about to take us on a journey, and we’d follow that voice anywhere. We got so many colors in this performance, which Clarkson jumping out of her seat to exclaim, “You better sing, JW!” (Come to think of it, there quite a bit of coach participation this week.)

Houston Kelly also put forth a solid effort on Luke Combs’ “Love You Anyway,” albeit with a totally different vibe than what Griffin gave us. We weren’t quite as locked in to this performance, but he really turned a corner after that first emotional chorus. He let loose as the song progressed, injecting rock energy and plenty of growling, but it felt like too little too late.

WINNER: JW Griffin (TVLine’s grade: “A-“)ELIMINATED: Houston Kelly (TVLine’s grade: “B+”)

Adam Levine gave us one of the most mismatched pairings of the night, though the winner was clear almost immediately. 

“You Give Good Love” isn’t one of the Whitney Houston songs we’re used to hearing on singing competition shows, but maybe they should work it into their rotations more, because it served Alexia Jayy very well. Then again, Jayy gets the credit for that. The presence, the confidence, the energy, those chilling low runs — she infused so much emotion in this one, and it only grew as she barelled through the power ballad like she was born to do it. “She’s going to win,” Kelly Clarkson surmised after that explosive finish.

We also loved Levine’s song choice for Bay Simpson, The Wallflowers’ “One Headlight,” which he performed well… but we didn’t feel like he was truly competing. It felt like he was just having some fun and playing one of his favorite songs, which is great, but it’s not enough for “The Voice.” The verses didn’t give him much to work with, but he made up for that in the chorus. It was pretty good overall, but it paled in comparison to what we had just heard.

WINNER: Alexia Jayy (TVLine’s grade: “A-“)ELIMINATED: Bay Simpson (TVLine’s grade: “B+”)

Are we crazy for questioning Kelly Clarkson’s ruling on this one?

Liv Ciara went first, delivering a soulful take on Clarkson’s “Breakaway,” maintaining the song’s inspirational message while building a more intimate vibe. As Clarkson pointed out, she turned this into a competition song, one she wielded like a powerful weapon. The audience gobbled up that extended belt, and it ended just as beautifully as it began. She may be 16, but she sold this song — you’d almost believe she really experienced the heartbreak of which she sang.

Then came Abigail Oakley with Sabrina Carpenter’s “Feather,” a song we almost didn’t recognize at first, despite having heard it roughly 10,000 times. That’s how completely Oakley made it her own. Once the chorus kicked in, we were back in familiar territory, but Oakley’s folksy, ethereal sound kept us entranced. She also infused this performance with a lot of personality, giving us a better idea of who she is as a person and an artist. 

This was a very close call, if you ask us, but Clarkson chose to keep Ciara, who impressed her with what she did with “Breakaway.” Personally, we would have kept Oakley for reasons of uniqueness, but we’ve never won “The Voice,” so who are we to argue with Clarkson?

WINNER: Liv Ciara (TVLine’s grade: “A”)ELIMINATED: Abigayle Oakley (TVLine’s grade: “A-“)

When we first heard that these two were facing off in a knockout, it almost didn’t seem fair. (Couldn’t we just keep them both?) But after watching them both perform, there was a clear winner, and John Legend made the right call.

You know who didn’t come to play this week? Syd Millevoli, who came out swinging with a bombastic performance of Demi Lovato’s “Tell Me You Love Me.” Every belted note was like a punch in the face, and we deserved them all. There was so much power and emotion in her voice throughout, and that whistle tone moment at the end was incredible. There’s no need to tell us — we’re happy to say how much we love Millevoi. This was like a rollercoaster of which we never wanted to get off.

Don’t get us wrong, Natasha Blaine certainly held her own with Toni Braxton’s “Another Sad Love Song,” but she just didn’t grab us as quickly as Millevoi did. The vocals were there, but the emotions felt off, like she could have been singing about anything. Sure, Millevoi would have been a tough act for anyone to follow, but there was also only so much Blaine could do with this song. Do we blame it on Legend for choosing it? Was this… sabotage?

WINNER: Syd Millevoi (TVLine’s grade: “A”)ELIMINATED: Natasha Blaine (TVLine’s grade: “B+”)

This week’s episode of “The Voice” ended with the season’s most difficult knockout yet as Adam Levine pit his team’s R&B powerhouses against one another. It was sexy, it was smooth, and it was so close.

There are a lot of “cool” contestants this season, but Mike Steele has to be one of the coolest, kicking off this knockout with a serving of low runs on Tyrese Gibson’s “How You Gonna Act Like That.” There was something effortlessly seductive about his overall performance, which he infused with some fun little moves without ever doing too much. Steele also really connected to the emotion of the song. We felt like we were on trial for a second, and whatever we did, we’re guilty and we’re sorry.

Then came Jeremy Keith, pulling double duty as both Marvin Gaye and Tami Terrell on “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing.” This was the rangier song of the two, and Keith got off to an exciting start as he confidently sauntered about the stage. In addition to showing us a good time, Keith’s powerful pipes were on full display with this one.

WINNER: Jeremy Keith (TVLine’s grade: “A-“)ELIMINATED: Mike Steele (TVLine’s grade: “A-“)

This was a tough call, because both contestants really were performing at the same level, they were just selling us two different products. We would have opted to keep Steele in the competition, but Levine seems to think that Keith’s voice has yet to reach its full potential, so we’ll keep watching — and listening — as the season continues.