Tonightโsย episode ofย The Voice SAย finally revealed which remaining talent will be going through to the grueling Knock-Out stages, commencing next week. There were two last Steals, courtesy of coaches Bobby van Jaarsveld and Lira, as six talent in total edged their way into the Knock-Outs.
It was an even more nail biting episode of the series than usual, as the last 12 singers competed for the coaches to lock down their team selections in the midst of some phenomenal Battle sing-offs. For coach Karen Zoidโs 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 โAinโt No Other Manโ by Christina Aguilera, and coach Bobby van Jaarsveld thought their performance was โflippinโ phenomenal!โ. Coach Karen had a difficult choice to make, and despite having mentored Marissaโs boyfriend Almur Marais into the finals last year, she opted to take Celest through to the Knock-Outs.
โI wanted Celest,โ 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!
The second and final Steal of the Battle rounds came courtesy of a high-energy #TeamLira sing-off. Bryce MacMillan (28) from Johannesburg and Durbanโs 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 Puthโs hit โMarvin Gayeโ. It was a titanic Battle and Lira was ecstatic. โMy pride and joy!โ 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.
With all the Steals gone, the stakes were higher for the remaining performers of the night. #TeamBobbyโs Alex Cavan (23) from Port Elizabeth and Jean Citto (24) from Cape Town performed โMagic!โ by Rude, but unfortunately Karen was critical of Alexโs performance because he had turned his back on the audience during the Battle. โIt bothered me as well, โLira admitted. But Coach Kahn still said that Alex would have been his winner โ โthatโs someone I would want to watch perform,โ he said. Having listened to his colleaguesโ input, Bobby decided to choose Alex after all.
For his final Battle, coach Kahn pitted the unlikely duo โSymphonyโ โ Charl Estherhuizen (21) and Christopher Mabasa (28) from Witbank โ against 23-year-old Freddy Lalendla from Durban, because โFreddie kinda has two voices,โ he pointed out. Kahn assigned his singers Alex Clareโs hit โToo Closeโ and he was very happy with their performances. โIf I was the crying type there would be a tear in my eye!โ he joked. But he could to choose only one act, and that act was Freddie, because his voice is โmoney,โ said Kahn.
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 theyโre both so young he chose a modern ballad for them: Bruno Marsโ โWhen I Was Your Manโ. Coach Bobby pointed out to Chad that his very name, โChadwickโ, means โBattleโ. โYou belong on the battlefield,โ he said. But in the end the final place on #TeamBobby went to John-James, whose sincere performance spoke to his coach.
The very final Battle of the season was between #TeamKarenโs most experienced talent, professional singer Veronique Lalouette (35) from Johannesburg and Durban vocal coach Sam Landers (30). โYouโre the โvocal acrobatsโ on the team,โ Karen told them, so she assigned them the very challenging Mika hit โGrace Kellyโ to perform. Co-coach Emo Adams helped them with some dramatic choreography, resulting in a spectacular ending toย The Voice SAย Season 2 Battles phase. โThis is one of the most difficult songs ever!โ 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 Knock-Outs are a brand new addition to the bigger, better Season 2 ofย The Voice SA, but viewers who have watched the American version of the show will be familiar with this tense round of the competition, which will ultimately determine which 4 singers from each team will be singing for the publicโs vote in the Live shows of the series.
The talent competing in #TeamKarenโs Knock-Outs are:
Lindo Sithole
Samantha Leonard
Emma Ellis
PJ Pretorius
Celest Schoeman
Veronique Lalouette
And her two Steals: Amanda Faku and Richard โRickโ Jansen.
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#TeamLira comprises:
Jacqueline Tolken
Tender Mavundla
Luke Lovemore
Andrew Snyders
Spha Mdlalose
Bubbles Mnomiya
And her Steals: Dylan Pretorius and Marissa Petzer
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#TeamKahnโs Top 8 are:
Zee Gqamana
Mia Pretorius
Fatman
Kirby Jo
Craig Lucas
Freddie Lalendla
And his two Steals: Aston Wylie and Al Petersen.
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And #TeamBobbyโs 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
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The winner of the second season ofย The Voice SAย 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.
The Voice South Africa, sponsored by Dialdirect, is broadcast everyย Sundayย night on M-Net channel 101 atย 17:30ย and everyย Mondayย night at18:00ย on M-Net City channel 115.