By Deja Lee

The first night of the playoffs, Blake Shelton was forced to eliminate two of his team members. First we heard Audra sing "Broken Wing". She sang so well that Blake couldn't even give her any feedback during training. She was able to repeat her good habits on stage giving a successful performance.

Ryan chose a song that was a bit more risky. He sang "Second Chance", due to his personal connection to the song. Blake warned him that this song was difficult and stated that Ryan's performance could either go terribly, or amazingly. Well guess what?

...It was amazing!

Ryan rocked the house with the huge notes he hit, and shocked the judges with his ability to sustain them. Usher even compared Ryan to Adam Levine stating, "There's only one guy I know who can hold notes like that and that's this guy up here." Aww Usher! After Adam was able to get over the flattery, he critiqued Ryan with similar feedback. The man was simply awesome tonight, as he is every night.

 Every time I see the teenage sweetheart Madilyn, I cross reference some mix of Dakota Fanning and Emma Stone. Is it just me? Well anyway, Madilyn has a beautiful voice, but tonight nerves seemed to have got the best of her. She sang "Clarity" by Zed, which was a good song for her vocal style, but in all honesty, she's had better performances. Adam commented telling her she needs to just "let go" when she's on stage.

The country singing boy next door, Jake, dedicated his song to his girlfriend. He performed "Anywhere With You" with poise and the judges loved it; I mean he's quite lovable. However, for some reason, I was less than impressed with him tonight. I felt his performance was played safe, and I think Usher would have agreed. Immediately after, he asked Jake, "How do you think you did?" He continued to say later, "If you don't believe your performance, nobody else will."

Last was Sisuandra performing "New York State of Mind". For those who follow the show, do I even have to say how she did? This woman is unstoppable. She gives a jaw dropping performance each and every episode.

Time for Blake to decide who's moving on in the competition and who's going home. Sisuandra was of course picked first to move on. Then was the country singer from Philly, Audra. Finally there was one spot left. I was praying it would go to Ryan for the simple fact that Ryan is consistently amazing and well-rounded. Blake said "I got to go with my heart," and he chose Jake.

Okay, yes I love Jake. But in all fairness, Ryan was breathing fire tonight with that last performance. That's just the way it goes. I can't wait to see who has to make this nail biting decision on the next episode! Be ready to tune in on Monday.

Photo credit: Tyler Golden/NBC