'The Voice' recap: Cheesa, Mathai reign

Week Two of “The Voice” Live Rounds featuring the two more risk-taking mentors and their teams. The results, though, were a bit more uneven than expected.

At this stage, each mentor's team continues to do battle within its own ranks. The six singers on the team perform and the top three vote-getters automatically advance. Each mentor then picks one of the bottom three to advance.

TEAM ADAM

Adam Levine may have the easiest decision of all the coaches to move to his final four, as two members of his team fell unfortunately short with their performances.

It's hard to tell who thought Karla Davis' decision to sing B.o.B.'s “Airplanes” was a good idea. She tried to rap-sing. Her whispery voice wasn't really suited to belting out the chorus. It was an all-out mess.

Pip's version of The Killers' “When You Were Young” was equally ill-advised. The Broadway-ish singer tried to rough up his squeaky-clean, bow-tied image by tackling a rock track, but his phrasing and his overall delivery gave him away. Why wouldn't he play to his strengths? It's not like operatic pop is burning down the charts, but Chris Mann is still sticking to his guns.

While the rest of Team Adam didn't outright fail, they didn't quite live up to their advance billing either. Only Mathai – whose effortless, gorgeous version of John Legend's “Ordinary People” was a standout on both teams – became a positive surprise.

Kim Yarbrough's “Rolling in the Deep” was overblown early on, while Tony Lucca's “In Your Eyes” show how uncomfortable he felt with approximating Peter Gabriel's upper register. And Katrina Parker's unusually slick take on Smashing Pumpkins' “Tonight, Tonight” fell flat, leading Levine to say, “You might have gone too far in the direction of no frills, but overall you killed it.”

THE RANKINGS

Mathai, “Ordinary People”
Kim Yarbrough, “Rolling in the Deep”
Tony Lucca, “In Your Eyes”
Katrina Parker, “Tonight, Tonight”
Pip, “When You Were Young”
Karla Davis, “Airplanes”

TOP 3: Mathai, Tony, Kim
JUDGE SAVE: Katrina
SHOULD BE SAVED: Katrina

ACTUAL SAVE: Katrina

ACTUAL TOP 3: Mathai, Tony, Pip

TEAM CEE LO

If there's one thing Cee Lo Green understands, it's the power of performance. And his team reflected that knowledge.

“That was like watching 'Solid Gold',” said Blake Shelton, after Cheesa's diva-riffic performance of “Don't Leave Me This Way.” Luckily, that's what she was going for.

Juliet Simms got Cee Lo and Christina Aguilera to their feet following her powerful version of The Police's “Roxanne.” Jamar Rogers got mentors to their feet after his raucous “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” though Blake questioned why he needed guitarists on stilts as part of the staging. Um, Cee Lo is his coach?

No one was helped by Cee Lo's coaching more, though, than James Massone, who worked the crowd like a pro, trading on his boy-band-ready good looks. His vocals had some issues during “Don't Know Why,” but he certainly played to his likable strengths.

Unfortunately, two early front-runners struggled a bit. Broadway veteran Tony Vincent couldn't quite tap into the power of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” while Erin Martin couldn't wrap her quirkiness around “Walk Like an Egyptian.”

To be truthful, Vincent and Martin were still better than everyone on Adam's team except for Mathai. It's not really fair that they should have to go home ahead of lesser contestants on another team, but that's part of the drama of “The Voice.”

THE RANKINGS

Cheesa, “Don't Leave Me This Way”
Juliet Simms, “Roxanne”
Jamar Rogers, “Are You Gonna Go My Way?”
Tony Vincent, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”
James Massone, “Don't Know Why”
Erin Martin, “Walk Like an Egyptian”

TOP 3: Juliet, Jamar, James
JUDGE SAVE: Cheesa
SHOULD BE SAVED: Cheesa

ACTUAL SAVE: Cheesa