A shocking elimination rocks Team Kelly on ‘The Voice’

Monday night's episode of The Voice (Monday and Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on CTV2) had contestants and coaches Blake Shelton, John Legend, Kelly Clarkson and Gwen Stefani in their feels, but Tuesday’s elimination episode brought a different kind of emotional reaction. More pain, but this time the crying was on the inside as Team Kelly’s Max Boyle, who had become a frontrunner, was sent home with Team Blake’s Cali Wilson. Team Gwen’s 16-year-old pop singer Joana Martinez managed to earn the final spot in the Top 11 with the Instant Save and lives to sing another day on The Voice stage.The issue with Joana Martinez’s Monday night performance of “Get On Your Feet” was that it didn’t show the full range of her voice, which admittedly is massive and tough to do in one song. Joana’s decision to sing “Superwoman” on Tuesday night was a smart choice, allowing her to belt out her highs and dip into her lows, a move that undoubtedly played a big role in securing her a spot in next week’s episode. Team Blake’s Cali Wilson kept her fight song for Tuesday night, with the pop rock singer taking on Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain.” Cali rained down fire on her performance, bringing an energy we’ve yet to see from the singer all season long. She’s still not quite sure how to move on stage and a mic stand may be a helpful anchor, or ‘chain’ if you will, rooting the singer to one spot and letting her focus on her vocals. Still, Cali’s final performance will go down as one of her best all season. As for the goodbye that really hurt, that was Team Kelly’s Max Boyle, with Clarkson continually voicing her shock at his placement in the bottom three. Same, Kelly. Max played it safe on Tuesday night and performed Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud,” a song that everyone knows and one that didn’t allow Max to do what he does best, which is deliver a sucker punch of emotional depth to a song. He threw in a few extra falsetto moments to make it his own, but it felt like a song that Max has likely performed hundreds of times at gigs and didn’t have the intimacy or honesty of his previous performances. It was too early to say goodbye to Max, who was on track to make it to the finale, but thankfully Clarkson has offered him a place on stage of her Las Vegas residency any time he wants it. In addition to the solo performances, Tuesday’s episode also included two team performances. There’s no winner or loser in the team performances, but the clear winner was Team Gwen. Admittedly, four female pop singers finding a track that worked for all of them wasn’t a huge stretch and Lizzo’s “Good As Hell” provided an outlet for the women to give off positive energy without being challenged too much vocally. Team Kelly on the other hand had a much more difficult mountain to climb and didn’t make it past the first summit. While Clarkson is the undisputed queen of covers and possessed the pain and heartache that makes The Cranberries “Linger” one of the greatest songs of the 20th Century, the classic 90s hit wasn’t a fit for any of the members of her team. Maybe Jake Hoot. It would be interesting to hear “Linger” as a country song.