"The Voice" contestants battled it out Monday night for the first of the "Knockout Rounds." With teams being halved, the pressures of song choice and delivery were paramount. Song choice was at the contestant's discretion, while the pairings were decided by their coaches, who were all awarded one more steal.
Coach Christina Aguilera paired Ashley Morgan (26) with Sonic (23). Ashley roared on Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker," but Sonic's rendition of Alicia Keys' "A Woman's Worth" won the knockout with no steal by another coach.
"Doing an r&b song was my breakout moment," Sonic said. "I have always admired Alicia Keys, so it all really meant a lot."
Blake Shelton deemed Sarah Potenza (34) and Brian Johnson (24) a good match, and they were. While Brian's "Nothing Ever Hurt Like You" by James Morrison lost to Sarah's Joplin-esque delivery of "Wasted Love" by Matt McAndrew, Adam wasted no time stealing Brian.
"You should be here 100 percent," Levine said. "Not bad for a former bullied school kid."
"Actually some of the bullies from school have contacted me. They've apologized and said how cool it is to see me on the show. I'm a forgiving guy," Johnson said.
Adam Levine paired artists Clinton Washington (26) and Nathan Hermida (17) to knock it out with "Wanted" by Hunter Hayes and Sam Smith's "Leave Your Lover," respectively. In the end, Nathan's subdued delivery won him the round with no steal for Clinton.
"It could have gone either way," Hermida said. "I respect Clinton so much as he is very capable. I think we both deserved to win but I'm happy Adam chose me."
The night's big surprise came from coach Pharrell Williams, who announced that with contestant Anthony Reilly leaving the show, there'd be a two-winner, three-way knockout between Sawyer Fredericks (15), Mia Zanotti (16) and Paul Pfau (26). Mia Z. delivered with The Sam & Dave classic "Hold On, I'm Coming."
In the end, Pharrell chose Fredericks' version of "Collide" by Howie Day over Pfau's rendition of John Mayer's "I Don't Need No Doctor" and, with no steal, Pfau left.
"I was really happy Pharrell picked me, all my hard work paid off," Fredericks said. "I didn't know Mia made it through and was worried about Paul not getting stolen, so it was a happy and sad moment at the same time."
Coach Blake Shelton finally validated Meghan Lindsay (29), who opened for him on tour many years ago, by choosing her version of Aretha Franklin's "Natural Woman" over fellow team member Travis Ewing's (24) cover of "I Don't Wanna Be" by Gavin DeGraw. With no steal, Ewing was sent home.
Last team of the night came from Christina, who paired Kimberly Nichole (33) against Karyn Hawthorne (16). Kimberly Nichole sang "If You Love Somebody" by Sting while Hawthorne tackled "Try" by Pink. Kimberly Nichole may have won the round, but there were no losers, as Christina pleaded for Karyn to be stolen and Pharrell was "happy" to oblige.
