Joshua's been living his best life in pop, rock, and Broadway songs, but for Challenge Week, he's doing a soulful Alicia Keys ballad. Team Legend: Joshua Vacanti, "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys Kelly, too, is impressed and thinks Lana brought a "Faith Hill country-meets-pop kind of vibe" to the entire thing. Ariana Grande calls this song "one of the most perfectly written pop songs ever" and is impressed Lana could put her own spin on it. Lana takes that note, and the back half of this song explodes with some major power vocals. Still, Blake tells her not to waste this opportunity to show off something different, and he doesn't want her to avoid leaning into the big pop notes here completely. This Katy Perry song is all about story, so it makes sense that Lana would want to "countrify" it a bit to make it fit her style more because it could easily fit into the country genre. It seems like everyone else is going country this week, but our one full-out country artist is taking on a pop ballad. Team Blake: Lana Scott, "The One That Got Away" by Katy Perry He thinks this performance was unexpected and showed off Jershika's versatility is as an artist. Kelly Clarkson is particularly impressed that, yes, Jershika went with much of the original version of the song, but kept true to herself as well and tossed in some of those intricate runs Jershika is known for. Plus, she looks likes she's having a blast. It's not as impactful as some of Jershika's other performances, but she's such a great (and entertaining!) vocalist she can really do no wrong here. Her coach John Legend knows she's been "polished" and "soulful" up to this point, annihilating gospel and R&B songs, so he wants to see her take on this more upbeat, fun anthem. Jershika's taking on pop/rock for her Challenge Week song. Team Legend: Jershika Maple, "Ain't It Fun" by Paramore She thinks he's getting better and better each week. Kelly loves his vocals on this kind of song and, even more so, loves seeing Jeremy having a good time on stage. It's not his best performance, but it is full of so much joy. He needs to lean into the punchy poppiness of the song. He knows he'll be challenged not just to work on breath control - this song is wordy, plus he'll be using the stage as much as possible - but also to get away from that R&B smoothness he does so well. Kelly Clarkson wants to get Jeremy Rosado away from the ballads he's been coasting on throughout the competition and get his vocals on something a little more uptempo and a little more country. Team Kelly: Jeremy Rosado, "Freedom Was a Highway" by Jimmie Allen and Brad Paisley And, again, doing all that while in two arm casts. Kelly Clarkson praises Wendy's "sorrowful" delivery, calling the whole thing "beautifully sad." And Blake is, as always, proud of his artist - especially this week because she chose to honor this country classic by simply singing it the way it was meant to be sung. Regardless! We haven't seen her go this acoustic up to this point, and it's not surprising that she nails this song. The show tries to nip the whole "Wendy already sings country" debate in the bud by repeatedly telling us that this is more storytelling and less hitting those huge R&B notes, but, come on Wendy has a pretty large country background. So tonight, Wendy's singing with both of her arms in casts. That was only partially true - it turns out she broke her elbow and fractured her wrist on her other arm. Last we saw dear Wendy, she was feeling fine despite taking a big fall onstage. Team Blake: Wendy Moten, "Jolene" by Dolly Parton She especially loves that Holly's tone brought a new "edge" to Donna Summer's song. Holly's coach, Ariana Grande, is floored that she continues to "show us so much more" in every performance. John Legend loves that she could still show her "soul" and "class" with this dance hit. Still, Holly is so compelling to watch I don't think this will be an issue. She never fully commits, and there are also some pitch issues. This song is certainly a challenge for Holly, who seems nervous even while she's ripping off her giant tulle skirt as the song picks up. What a fun choice for Holly! She's going full disco, baby. Team Ariana: Holly Forbes, "Last Dance" by Donna Summer Which risks will pay off? Let's take a look at the performances. Only eight artists will be moving on tomorrow night, and everyone needs to take some sort of risk to earn a spot in the semi-finals. It works better for some than others, but that's the name of the game, people. The coaches will be helping their artists select songs in genres outside of their comfort zones in the hopes of pushing them to show different sides to their vocal performances. Now, you might be thinking, well, shouldn't the artists be challenging themselves every week? And you know what, you're not wrong! But this is the Official Challenge Week.
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