'The Voice' Season 18: Joei Fulco and Michael Todd Hall tackle Tina Turner's 'The Best' in a tight battle
Blake Shelton's first battle round featured contestants Joei Fulco and Michael Todd Hall. And for this battle, he brought on singer Bebe Rexha on board as a guest coach.
Both Joei and Michael have demonstrated remarkable range and control and each has a rock edge that makes them unique as well as allows them to complement one another. Blake wants to get them to do something closer to '80s rock, which seemed like it would be a lot more to do with Michael's element than Joei's, whose style is closer to country-rock or pop-rock.
During coaching, the two revealed they would be singing 'The Best' by Tina Turner. It really is the perfect song choice since it works beautifully for Joei's rich, husky voice and controlled lower notes, as well as for Michael's crystal clear tone and high notes. Together, they created something that is as classic as rock can be.
Bebe's only critique for them was that they needed to work on blending their voices more and told them to be careful with their pitch.
During the performance, Michael began on a very clear and light tone, hitting higher notes and layering in distortion, while Joei's lower notes really shone through as she layered in some rasp. Both appeared to be in full control of their voices and demonstrated an amazing ability to kick it up a notch with their perfect harmonies.
Joei has some amazing control which she already showed off in her blind auditions, but Michael has definitely stepped up his game this time around. They ended their performance on a high, with perfect harmony and received a standing ovation.
Both of them gave an amazing performance, so the coaches had a tough choice. After the coaches voted, Joei was the one that got picked, but it is not long before Blake saved Michael with his only 'steal'.
Joei and Michael are both extremely unique in this competition. Joei's vocals are powerful and her control of her lower range is hard to match, while Michael's classic rock skills and ability to hit high notes are unparalleled. It would be a big loss to the show for either of them to be eliminated at this point, so it is definitely the right choice to keep them both in the running.
'The Voice' airs Monday nights at 8 pm ET on NBC.