When the eliminated contestants were announced on this week’s results episode of The Voice and Bryan Keith was ousted from his place in the competition, I almost fell out of my chair. Bryan has been a frontrunner in the competition ever since he had all four coaches vying for him after his blind audition in the season premiere! America messed up here big time.

I’ll admit that I have been a little hard on Bryan in some of my recaps regarding his song choices. He seemed to stick a little too closely to a tepid soft-rock sound early on, but in the last two weeks, he’d begun to step out of his comfort zone. Regardless of song choice, though, his voice was always perfection.

There are a few contestants who made it through to the top eight this week — namely Dez Duron and Cody Belew — who don’t have the vocal chops to come anywhere near what Bryan can do. But it seems, as always, that when it came down to America’s vote, it became more of a personality contest than a singing competition.

Bryan is a superb talent, one who shouldn’t have any difficulties find success now that America has been exposed to him. It’s just a great shame that he wasn’t able to compete further in this season. Based on voice alone, I think he should’ve been there at the very end.

Do you think Bryan was eliminated way too early, HollywoodLifers?

– Billy Nilles

More Bryan Keith on The Voice:

1. ‘The Voice’ Recap: Bryan Keith Shines As The Top 10 Perform
2. ‘The Voice’ Season Premiere Recap: Bryan Keith Wows The Coaches
3. ‘The Voice’ Recap: Christina Aguilera Performs As Two Artists Go Home

Things went all topsy-turvy tonight on The Voice as the top eight were revealed. An artist once considered a frontrunner in the game was sent home, shocking host Carson Daly and coaches Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, and Cee Lo Green! Let’s jump right into it.

Record Voting

Carson informed us that this week was another week of record-breaking voting. Every artist charted on iTunes, and at the close of voting, Melanie Martinez had hit number eight and Cassadee Pope hit number one! Both of them had their iTunes votes multiplied by 10 for being in the top 10, which is quite a nifty price.

The Music

Christina performed “Let There Be Love” with her team, Sylvia Yacoub and Dez Duron. They mimicked a blind audition, judging their coach. It was pretty cheesy, but Christina sounded great. Should we place bets on how many more songs off Lotus, her new album, available in stores now, will be performed on the show?

Carson then told us that tonight, a new interactive feature was being introduced. The audience at home got to choose which song the teams would be performing later in the show, making this show more convoluted than ever before.

Team Blake and Team Christina won the weird tweet-off and sang “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” by Pat Benetar. Dez further proved why he doesn’t deserve to continue in this competition, with his inability to sing any note that isn’t mid-range.

Rascal Flatts also stopped by to sing, joined by Cassadee Pope and Cody Belew on “Change,” the title track off their new album. I’ve never been much of a Rascal Flatts fan, and I can’t say I liked that song very much, but yay for Cassadee and Cody? I guess. Blake loved it because Blake loves country. Duh.

Adam also hit the stage with his team to sing Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”. The performance was a bit low-energy, but it sounded great. I just think that Amanda Brown, Bryan Keith, and Melanie Martinez are three artists who would never perform together if they weren’t forced to — and it showed.

The Results

The first two saved were Cassadee and Nicholas David. Considering Cassadee’s iTunes success, this was no surprise. More surprising is that Nick continues to earn America’s love, regardless of how different he may be. I mean, could you imagine someone like Nick making it past auditions on American Idol? I don’t think so.

The next two saved were Dez and Cody. I was so glad that Cody was announced safe earlier this week, so I didn’t have to chew my fingernails off again. (I like him a lot! Sue me.) Dez slid on through yet again because he has dimples and clear skin — boo.

The next artist saved was Melanie, followed shortly by Terry McDermott. This left Sylvia, Amanda, Bryan, and Trevin Hunte to sweat it out for the final two spots. Carson announced Trevin first. As he began to announce the final name, I felt a little bad for Sylvia when he led with “From Team Adam,” because she knew she had no chance, yet still had to stand there and wait for him to pause dramatically before announcing the safe name.

But all of that was forgotten when Amanda was announced as safe, as shock took over. Bryan was eliminated? Huh? What happened there, America? Let’s get real — Sylvia and Dez should’ve gone home tonight. I know I’ve ragged on Bryan’s song choices before, but he can sing circles around Dez, and no one can fight me on that.

‘The Voice’ Eliminations Reveal Top 4 — Another Shocking Results Show

What did you think of tonight’s elimination, HollywoodLifers? Did Bryan deserve to go home this soon? Am I too hard on Dez? Let me know in the comments below!

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– Billy Nilles

More on The Voice:

1. ‘The Voice’ Season Premiere Recap: Bryan Keith Wows The Coaches
2. Simon Cowell: ‘The X Factor’ Has Better Judges Than ‘The Voice’
3. Britney Spears: I’m ‘Elated’ To Face Off Against Christina Aguilera

As the top 10 competed for America’s votes on tonight’s episode of The Voice, coaches Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton, and Cee Lo Green brought out some heavy artillery in the form of special mentors Ron Fair, Scott Hendricks, and Jennifer Hudson! Coach Adam Levine ignored the trend, which was just fine — his protégé Bryan Keith didn’t need extra help shining bright tonight!

Sylvia Yacoub

Christina brought Ron in to teach her team how to grow as she did in the beginning of her career, or something. Sylvia tackled Alicia Keys‘ new single “Girl on Fire” this week, explaining how she was pre-law, but music set her on fire, which seemed like a strained analogy. For her performance, she sat herself down at the piano, again, to evoke that full Alicia Keys imagery. Her vocals, of course, were no match for Alicia’s, but it was alright.

Terry McDermott

Terry took on “Summer of ’69″ by Bryan Adams, after practicing with Blake and music producer Scott. This song was tailor-made for Terry’s voice. He consistently brings an excellent performance to the stage and tonight was no different. There wasn’t a misstep or bum note throughout. Given the state of rock music, I wonder what level of success Terry would be able to meet, but he’s a frontrunner without a doubt.

Melanie Martinez

Melanie competed with “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes, though as she proved in rehearsals, she brought her signature spin to the song. Adam wisely advised her to bring some power to the song if she wants to win. During her performance, she really found a strength in her voice that I don’t think we’d heard yet — and it was about time. Hopefully it’ll endear her more to America.

Cody Belew

Cee Lo brought in Jennifer to guide Cody through his rehearsals on Beyonce‘s “Crazy In Love.” I haven’t been shy about Cody being one of my favorites in this competition, and tonight only earned him a larger piece of my heart. He brought a little Adam Lambert to the stage and I did not hate it. Cody is just such a blast. His diva ending with that choreographed bit was so much fun. Vote for Cody, everyone! (Okay, stepping off my soapbox.)

Bryan Keith

Bryan continued to evoke that Rat Pack feel that he brought to the stage last week. His performance of Billy Joel‘s “New York State Of Mind” was, unsurprisingly, terrific. His voice was stellar, as usual. And He didn’t return to his cheesy soft-rock from earlier in the competition. So, he did exactly what he needed to do to keep me rooting for him. I don’t doubt he’ll have any trouble keeping the audience’s love this week, either.

Amanda Brown

Amanda admitted she felt pressure after last week’s performance and it’s weak reception among the coaches. This week, she competed with Grace Potter‘s “Stars,” a song that she and Adam hope will bring her back to Earth a little. Her performance was incredible; definitely more emotional and grounded and less theatrical than last week. The coaches were much kinder to Amanda this week, deservedly so.

Nicholas David

When Nicholas met Jennifer, he said, “Holy buckets!” which was probably the cutest thing that happened all night. Tonight, Nick competed with “Lean On Me.” He sang with a full choir, as he played the piano. It was another great performance from Nick. His silky voice shined, and his somewhat awkward stage presence was tempered by keeping him behind the piano. I dont have any doubt that Nick will make it through to another week.

Trevin Hunte

Trevin wanted to bring a more upbeat vibe tonight because he’s only sung beautiful ballads. This week, he wanted to compete with “Scream” by Usher, but Cee Lo was on the fence about whether the audience would want embrace it after what they’ve come to expect. Ultimately, Cee Lo allowed him to perform the song. I think it was a wise decision, reminding the audience that Trevin is as young as is he is. He handled the song well and the audience seemed to eat it up.

Cassadee Pope

Cassadee competed with “Over You,” the song that Blake wrote with wife Miranda Lambert about the loss of his brother. It was a wise song choice because we’ve only heard Cassadee sing power-pop so far, and it was time for her to stretch her ability and show the audience something new. She looked and sounded great on the song, earning herself a standing ovation from the coaches. I didn’t disagree with Adam when he said it was the best we’d seen from Cassadee thus far.

Dez Duron

Eye candy Dez decided to take on “Feeling Good” because Christina wanted him to take on a bit of deeper material, which I think may be a losing battle. Dez is very pleasant, but I don’t know that there is much depth to him. Also, I worship at the altar of this song, so I’m extra judgmental when people try to sing it. During his performance, Dez mainly opted to mimic Michael Bublé’s version of the track, rather than try anything new or innovative. The girls still squealed, so it’s safe to say he won’t be going anywhere.

Who was your favorite tonight, HollywoodLifers? More importantly, which two should be going home? Let me know in the comments below!

– Billy Nilles

More on The Voice:

1. ‘The Voice’ Season Premiere Recap: Bryan Keith Wows The Coaches
2. Simon Cowell: ‘The X Factor’ Has Better Judges Than ‘The Voice’
3. Britney Spears: I’m ‘Elated’ To Face Off Against Christina Aguilera