This week's episode of The Voice SA (23 and 24 April) finalised decisions on who will be going through to Knockout stage whihc has been introduced to the South African series for the first time.
If you're familiar with the US series, you'll know the drill, if not - this is how it works:
The Knock-Outs are when each contestant chooses their own song to perform. Each team takes to the stage and their coach tells them then and there who they’ll be competing against.
One person from each Knockout will advance, and one will leave the show. By the end of the Knock-Out rounds, each coach will have FOUR talent left in their teams, going into the Live shows and singing for the public’s vote. (ie: a Top 16.)
Here's a recap of this week's episode by the show:
There were two final Steals, courtesy of coaches Bobby van Jaarsveld and Lira, as six talent in total edged their way into the Knock-Outs.
Marissa vs Celest
For coach Karen Zoid’s first Battle, she pitted Marissa Petzer (22) from Stilfontein against Celest Schoeman (28) from Cape Town, both powerhouse vocalists who received four chair turns from the coaches in the Blind auditions.
She assigned them the power ballad “Ain’t No Other Man” by Christina Aguilera, and coach Bobby van Jaarsveld thought their performance was “flippin’ phenomenal!”.
Coach Karen had a difficult choice to make, and despite having mentored Marissa’s boyfriend Almur Marais into the finals last year, she opted to take Celest through to the Knock-Outs instead.
“I wanted Celest,” Lira quietly confessed to Bobby after Karen had made her decision known, but after a few moments of thinking it over, she implemented her final Steal of the season to secure Marissa for #TeamLira.
Bryce vs Bubbles
The second and final Steal of the Battle rounds came courtesy of a high-energy #TeamLira sing-off.
Bryce MacMillan (28) from Johannesburg and Durban’s effervescent Bubbles Mnomiya (23) were up against each other, because Lira recognised that they both enjoy Soul music. And to exploit that to the fullest she assigned them Charlie Puth’s hit “Marvin Gaye”.
It was a titanic Battle and Lira was ecstatic. “My pride and joy!” she exclaimed. Lira admitted that neither artist was better than the other, so her choice was tough, but she eventually settled on taking Bubbles through to the next rounds.
Fortunately, coach Bobby still had that one last Steal left up his sleeve, and so Bryce became the 7th member of #TeamBobby.
Alex vs Jean
With all the Steals gone, the stakes were higher for the remaining performers of the night. #TeamBobby’s Alex Cavan (23) from Port Elizabeth and Jean Citto (24) from Cape Town performed “Magic!” by Rude, but unfortunately Karen was critical of Alex’s performance because he had turned his back on the audience during the Battle.
“It bothered me as well, “Lira admitted. But Coach Kahn still said that Alex would have been his winner – “that’s someone I would want to watch perform,” he said. Having listened to his colleagues’ input, Bobby decided to choose Alex after all.
Charles vs Christopher
For his final Battle, coach Kahn pitted the unlikely duo “Symphony” – Charl Estherhuizen (21) and Christopher Mabasa (28) from Witbank – against 23-year-old Freddy Lalendla from Durban, because “Freddie kinda has two voices,” he pointed out.
Kahn assigned his singers Alex Clare’s hit “Too Close” and he was very happy with their performances. “If I was the crying type there would be a tear in my eye!” he joked. But he could to choose only one act, and that act was Freddie, because his voice is “money,” said Kahn.
John-James vs Chad
Coach Bobby went into his last Battle with 19-year-old John-James Janse van Rensburg from Carletonville and Chad Jubber (19) from Durban, and because they’re both so young he chose a modern ballad for them: Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man”.
Bobby pointed out to Chad that his very name, “Chadwick”, means “Battle”. “You belong on the battlefield,” he said. But in the end the final place on #TeamBobby went to John-James, whose sincere performance spoke to his coach.
Veronique vs Sam
The very final Battle of the season was between #TeamKaren’s most experienced talent, professional singer Veronique Lalouette (35) from Johannesburg and Durban vocal coach Sam Landers (30). “You’re the ‘vocal acrobats’ on the team,” Karen told them, so she assigned them the very challenging Mika hit “Grace Kelly” to perform.
Co-coach Emo Adams helped them with some dramatic choreography, resulting in a spectacular ending to the
Season 2 Battles phase. “This is one of the most difficult songs ever!” Bobby marveled, which meant that coach Karen had a very difficult choice to make. In the end, the final singer to make it through to the Knock-Outs was Veronique.
The talent competing in #TeamKaren’s Knock-Outs are:
Lindo Sithole
Samantha Leonard
Emma Ellis
PJ Pretorius
Celest Schoeman
Veronique Lalouette
And her two Steals: Amanda Faku and Richard “Rick” Jansen.
#TeamLira comprises:
Jacqueline Tolken
Tender Mavundla
Luke Lovemore
Andrew Snyders
Spha Mdlalose
Bubbles Mnomiya
And her Steals: Dylan Pretorius and Marissa Petzer
#TeamKahn’s Top 8 are:
Zee Gqamana
Mia Pretorius
Fatman
Kirby Jo
Craig Lucas
Freddie Lalendla
And his two Steals: Aston Wylie and Al Petersen.
And #TeamBobby’s Knock-Out singers are:
Dawie de Jager
Caroline Brussow
Josh Ansley
Marco Basson
John-James Janse van Rensburg
Alex Cavan
And his Steals: Armand Joubert and Bryce MacMillan
The winner of the second season of
The Voice SA will take home the following fantastic prizes:
- A recording contract with Universal Music South Africa;
- R250 000 cash from Dialdirect;
- A Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch, a Samsung Galaxy A8 smartphone, a Samsung Gear VR, a Samsung 360 camera, a Samsung iconiX set and a 65 inch KS9500 Samsung SUHD TV;
- A Subaru Impreza 2.0 Premium CVT;
- R100 000 Truworths fashion.