Our Voice recaps of Sanford’s own Britton Buchanan have typically been blow-by-blow recaps of the young man’s impressive performances on the hit NBC reality show — but this week, in his all-important Knockout Round, we won’t be recapping the show.
As you know by now, Buchanan won tonight. His performance of “New York State of Mind” by Billy Joel was risky and not his strongest showing to date — but it was solid, and he’s been too consistent and too popular to fall by the wayside now. Plus, it was markably stronger than his opponent tonight on Team Alicia Keys, Dallas Caroline.
Was there any doubt?
Buchanan is one of 20 to move on to the live performances, which start next Monday and run through May 22. Five from each team — the judges no longer vote to keep singers on their team … it’s America’s turn to vote from here on out.
The reason tonight’s recap is less about the performance and the show is because we watched The Voice with about 250 other #TeamBritton fans (including his family) on two 75-inch television screens inside Hugger Mugger brewery in Downtown Sanford. The watch party, hosted by the brewery and Sanford Mayor Chet Mann, drew a standing room-only crowd. Those on hand didn’t have to wait long once the show began, and Buchanan and Caroline’s battle led off the two-hour program.
The show began with clips of Buchanan’s interviews at home with his parents and in Sanford. What was actually said is a blur, as the sound in Hugger Mugger Monday night was muffled by the chatter of the crowd, which only died down when Buchanan opened the Billy Joel tune sitting behind a keyboard.
The crowd cheered the end of his performance, and erupted five minutes later when Keys declared him the winner. His mother, Shannon Buchanan, spoke to the crowd, thanking everybody for their support and encouraging everybody to vote and vote often in the upcoming live rounds. The surprise of the night was a short FaceTime appearance by Britton himself, who spoke from Los Angeles — declaring this a busy week of rehearsals for next week.
We’ll advance next week’s live rounds with a full list of performers and any insights the Internet can afford us between now and then. Until then, enjoy video of the crowd watching Buchanan’s performance and their reaction to his win.
