the Voice
"The Voice" Season 9 contestant Evan McKeel, pictured here during the top 11 live eliminations, was voted off the show on Tuesday after he failed to capture votes during the live save round. NBC

It was a tense night of eliminations on “The Voice” on Tuesday as one unlucky artist narrowly missed cracking the Season 9 top 10 crop of performers. After the remaining 11 singers showcased their best talent live, the eliminations round forced America to choose one of the contestants to go home for Thanksgiving, permanently.

It was an emotionally unfriendly night as coaches Adam Levine, Pharrell Williams, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani all knew that one of their prized artists was going home. The episode kicked off with a performance from country singer Brad Paisley before host Carson Daly brought the remaining artists onstage to reveal the first two saved by America’s votes.

After proving that she can arrange and sing a cover better than anyone else on the show, Team Adam’s Amy Vachal was the first member of the 2015/2016 season’s top 10. Following her was Team Gwen’s 15-year-old prodigy Braiden Sunshine. As Entertainment Weekly notes, while Sunshine wasn’t the worst performer of the night, it’s surprising to see him advance first given that Jeffery Austin is clearly the audience favorite of the competition thus far. However, his save didn’t come until the final round of announcements from the host. Still, the Team Gwen superstar advanced along with Barrett Baber, Shelby Brown, Zach Seabaugh, Jordan Smith, Madi Davis and Emily Ann Roberts.

This left singers Evan McKeel and, for the second week in a row, Korin Bukowski, vying for a spot in the coveted top 10. They each had one chance to perform a song to help them stay in the competition while America voted live during the commercial break.

McKeel took the stage first singing a version of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.” As Yahoo Music notes, it was an unusual choice for the artist as it relied on sex appeal, which isn’t necessarily his strong suit compared to vocal control and impressive runs. He was soon followed by Bukowski singing Maroon 5’s “She Will Be Loved.” While her performance wasn’t miles above McKeel’s awkward showing, it was enough to get America to rescue her once again from elimination -- meaning McKeel was sent packing.

With the sad elimination sending yet another member of Team Pharrell’s group home, the top 10 artists for Season 9 are as follows:

  • Amy Vachal

  • Braiden Sunshine

  • Zach Seabaugh

  • Jordan Smith

  • Madi Davis

  • Emily Ann Roberts

  • Jeffery Austin

  • Barrett Baber

  • Shelby Brown

  • Korin Bukowski

Together, they’ll take “The Voice” stage live once again next week to compete for a shot at making it to the final rounds.

Were you sad to see McKeel go home this week? Comment below or tweet your thoughts to @TylerMcCarthy.

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