The Voice Battle Rounds: Shock! Will.i.am chooses Sophie Griffin over J Marie Cooper – Agree? (VIDEO)
J Marie Cooper and Sophie Griffin had quite the showdown on tonight’s episode of The Voice and we have to admit, that we probably found the result of their sing off the most shocking yet.
J Marie stunned the coaches and was offered places in all four teams, when she delivered an astounding rendition of ‘Mama Knows Best’ for her blind audition piece. However, she chose to join Team Will, believing he could offer her the most in terms of mentoring and industry experience. Perhaps she regrets that decision now.
Sophie was also a hit when she tried out for the BBC show but was only offered a place in Team Will, after her rendition of ‘American Boy’, which he co-wrote with Estelle.
Tonight the ladies were paired up and told they would be singing Katy Perry’s ‘Firework’ for their battle duet and explaining his decision to pair them together, Will said:
‘J Marie is a power-house and Sophie, I want to challenge her and pit her up against somebody who she feels is impossible and that will bring the best out in her.’
The Black Eyed Peas star made the ladies rehearse face to face and though Griffin was terrfied at first she soon rose the challenge, with Cooper admitting:
‘I was surprised by how well Sophie did it, for 17 she has got an amazing voice.’
Afterwards, Will confessed:
‘I really thought J Marie had it all sewed up and I felt bad for pairing them but now…I don’t know…’
‘It’s going to be close on the night, J Marie is going to come full of energy and because she has experience she will keep in key and it will throw little Sophie off. She doesn’t have the experience and she will probably hit some flat notes.’
Taking to the ring, J Marie kicked things off with her perfect balanced, however when Sophie joined her we could see why Will had been shocked. They were much better balanced than we would have expected. The two girls worked the stage perfectly too and interacted wonderfully with each other, constantly sparking off one another’s energy. It was one of the best battles of the night.
Sophie did make a few mistakes and there were one or two tiny flat notes but she held up brilliantly against the perfection that is J Marie. It was a battle in every sense of the word….
Afterwards Jessie J said:
‘I know how hard that song is to sing. Sophie, you’re 17 right? This programme is a wonderful thing because it’s giving you guys the chance to showcase your talent but if I was Will right now, purely because of the fact that you are 17 and just did that….I would take you through.’
Tom Jones added:
‘It would be very hard and I’m glad it’s on Will to make the decision, but I would say J myself.’
Danny O’Donoghue said:
‘There really wasn’t much difference in the talent, so for me I would say J Marie.’
Deliberating over his choice, Will said:
‘Sophie, when you came on this stage, I forgot you were 17 and I thank you for that and J Marie Cooper super-duper… you know, 27, that’s the age I was when I met Fergie, 17 is the age I was when I started the Peas. This is hard, it’s kind of like a nightmare, because now I have to choose which version of myself to move forward with. This is hard, this is very hard.’
He added:
‘Okay, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the person I was when I was 17, so I’m going to go with Sophie.’
Taking the news well and very gracefully, J Marie said:
‘I try not to think too far ahead, because life can shock you as it has tonight. I couldn’t have imagined it, it was fantastic.’
Did you agree with Will.i.am’s decision? Would you have let J Marie go? Leave your comments below…
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No way! Sophie was great for a 17 year old, but the show, the auditions, and the battles are about vocal talent, not just upcoming youngsters with potential. He shouldn’t have paired them, cos then he was doomed to choose between them. J marie did everything right and still lost out – where’s the justice in that??
She’s 17 and she’s brilliant.I agree with Will.
No way looks like its being pitched as an age thing now. J.Marie was brilliant and should definitely have gone through to the live shows.
Nope – J Marie was flawless. Sophie was great for 17, but can you really say that she’ll close that gap in 10 years? How great was J Marie when she was 17? Who knows?
I love will.i.am – he’s awesome, but to give judgement based on who he was @17 and @27 makes no sense at all.
I also think that J Marie could have won the who show, but Sophie, IMO, can’t.
I thought that she’d be the last one standing. Alright, now I’m on board to Danny’s team. Bye Will.
Well I thought this programme was about the Voice maybe it should be called “The Age”
How do they they know J is as good as she can get and how do they know Sophie is going to get any better. It should be about who killed it on the day and that was J “no contest” !!! I mean the girl was practically helping her.
Sophie all the way..she was amazing. Hard song but she nailed it.so much potential and a weee stunner.everything going for her
love love love.<3
I agree with Tippy, J Marie was almost coaching Sophie. J Marie sings naturally like that and in that range, it seemed like Sophie was trying to copy J but she should have just been herself. J Marie is pure raw vocal talent, Sophie was really really good but it should have nothing to do with age! Whats strange is, there is 10 years between them but they look the same age as eachother!
I keep listening to the jingle before the show starts and it keeps chanting “THIS IS THE VOICE”. Okay, so J lost because of her age. Plain stupid.
J Marie Cooper was unfairly cut. It is clear that Jessie J had a problem with J Marie and influenced Will i Am. It should NOT have been about THE AGE but about The Voice. Totally unfair decision. J marie would have brought more vocally in the live shows then the out of pitch chick. my opinion.
I believe no matter what happens with these shows you will always be a winner.
Big all all the performers and sometimes not winning is the best blessings you can get.
I believe there os more out there for J Marie and bigger things will come.
Keep pushing and big up to all on the Voice.
Red Fox xXx
This show had me yelling at the TV! The fact is, there were a LOT of people who were chosen who shouldn’t have been and a LOT of talent that ended up walking out.. in a STUPID ‘Lets sing at the exact same time’ battle. But the one desicion who takes the cake is J Marie!
When some of the judges started to talking about ‘the ability to coach them’ Well, this isn’t about THEM as coaches, its about the SINGERS and THE VOICE! Otherwise we would be watching ‘The Voice Coach’ not ‘The Voice’
In addition, how is Jessie J going to be ALL about J Marie as an artist and then turn her back on her in her second performance. You don’t do that all of the sudden.. SOMETHING happened. And I feel she’s got something to do with it. At first I thought maybe she is Jealous! Jealous Jessie J? Has a good sound to it. But then I thought, she is a bi-sexual.. maybe she is secretly in Love with J Marie and couldn’t stand to see her with anyone else…
In addition, Will.i.Am’s reasoning make good grounds for a lawsuit. You chose someone because they were young? Have you heard of AGE discrimination? Also.. you chose someone because they were young… which makes you sound like a creepy pervert! So you like em’ young Will?
You don’t chose someone in a singing competition because of their age, or their coach-ability, you chose them because they’re a better singer and performer.. which J Marie that contest hands down!
And lets just stir some stuff up a bit more.. what if J Marie had been singing against someone who was black? And he used his same logic.. ‘Well, I gotta go with the one who I relate to.’ Thats racism… Or what if the other singer was a guy ‘well, I gotta chose the one I relate to..’ thats sexism.
End of the day, you don’t chose the one YOU relate to.. you chose the one EVERYONE can relate to. And its obvious people are mad that J Marie is gone, because everyone related to her.. everyone was cheering for her. I refuse to watch this show anymore now.. because its obvious its just a HUGE LIE!
This show should be called The Coaches instead of The Voice! If you care too much bout growth of the youthful singers rather than pure raw talent, the show is no doubt not based on Pure Vocals! It doesn’t make sense in choosing to be with ya past or present! Ya should be there to guide the greatest talents or performers not based your decision on the time you were having difficulties in finding ya career!! Bullshit Will.I.am, if only Jessie didn’t mention about age! J Marie would have been the one goin to the live shows. I have no doubt that Jessie is intimidated by J Marie pure raw vocals, J Marie could slay any of Jessie’s songs for reeals!! The voice just lost their winner!!
I think that because of Wills ill choice of words it’s reflected badly on the show and has automatically set Sophie at a disadvantage before even entering the live shows. J Marie was a phenomenal vocalist and was flawless, however I can understand that Will was surprised by Sophie as he never expected her to be much competition for J, Sophie rose to the challenge. He took a risk and went with “his gut”. I hope Sophie will be able to prove Will right in the live shows and that J Marie gets the success she deserves elsewhere.