VOICE OVER: Week 3 Turns Out to Be a Night of Surprises!

On NBC's The Voice tonight, coaches Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, and Blake Shelton were especially competitive as lots of worthy singers essentially said to them, "Let me be your star!"

Sylvia Yacoub, the first vocalist of the night, sang a rockin' version of "Only Girl in the World" by Rhianna. Though the coaches took their sweet time turning around, Christina led the way, followed by Blake, then Cee Lo pushed the red button at the last minute. Sylvia had a hard time deciding among the amazing coaches who really wanted to add her to their teams. But she said, "I have to go with my heart," and chose Team Christina.

A 25-year-old hog farmer from North Carolina, IJ Quinn was a guy with a voice like no other, and he knew that. He admitted to realizing that his voice was higher than that of most guys, but that did not shake his confidence. When asked by Carson Daly, IJ said he was not nervous, "I have the voice! I'm ready!" He sang an energetic "Virtual Insanity," but as has happened to so many other performers, his energy did not equal button-pushes from the coaches.

Carson Daly delivered a ticket to The Voice to Charlie Rey at his workplace, a smog shop in Long Beach California. A surprised Charlie eagerly accepted, as he should. He said, "To have all four of the coaches turn around is the goal. I'm totally nervous! Now I'm at this stage. It's what I've dreamed of." Charlie sang a heartfelt, slightly country version of Michael Buble's "Home." Because of the country quality to his voice, it was not a surprise that Blake was the first to turn around, followed by Adam. The former said, "You don't sound just like Buble, but I think you've got something special. I want you!" Adam, concerned that he may not win this one, tried to go after Blake saying, "I think it's obvious that I'm a better coach than Blake." They went back and forth while Charlie was obviously torn. In the middle of this drama, the show cut to a commercial break! When it came back, Charlie said, "This feels like a dream, I just can't believe it's real. But Blake's holding his arms out to me, so I gotta pick him."

Amanda Brown grew up listening to church music, but when she heard mainstream music, she loved it. So she sang background for a few artists (including Adele) with which she said she had an amazing experience. "It helped me to realize that I wanted to be my own artist." Showing that she could indeed sing for herself, she performed "Valerie." Before he pushed the button, Cee Lo was sitting in his chair singing along. Adam was pretty upset though, saying Amanda saved the best part of her song for the end, at which point he couldn't push the red button. But, as Adam knows, that's the way it goes sometimes. So Amanda joined Team Cee Lo.

Tonight, the coaches saw possibly the most experienced performer this show has ever had. Having been singing for forty years, 55-year-old Yolanda told Carson Daly, "This is The Most Amazing thing that's happened to me in years... I worked on cruise ships until a few years ago when I was let go. Then I started school bus driving." She brought everything she had when she sang a powerhouse rendition of "Get Here." There was so much emotion in that song; it was amazing. Christina kept looking like she was going to push the button to take Yolanda onto her team, but she pulled her hand away, looking regretful as the song ended. Adam told a disappointed Yolanda, "You're amazing," Christina said, "There were numerous times when I almost kind of pushed the button... With that voice, you should not be driving a bus!" and Cee Lo called her a "seasoned vocalist." With all of that, Yolanda went home having showed America that you can never be too old to audition for The Voice.

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