'The Voice': The Top Eight Perform Live

"The Voice" can cram a lot into two hours, and that's not counting the 36 minutes of commercials. In addition to the finalist showcases, last night's "Top 8 Perform Live" episode had 50 Cent doing his new single "My Life" (featuring judge Adam Levine), two group sing-alongs (Journey? Seriously?) and Christina Aguilera in leopard-print arm-warmers, silver rings, giant earrings, bright-pink lipstick, highlights and black leather. Fan votes for the Final Four will be announced tonight — the smart money is on bearded, suave Trevin Hunte and bespectacled weirdo Nicholas David, both part of savvy Cee Lo's surviving three.

NAME: Amanda Brown
TEAM: Adam
SONG: Adele's "Someone Like You"
PERFORMANCE: In rehearsal, Amanda started to sing the world's most familiar song in straight Adele style, until Adam stopped her and suggested "independence." It worked, mostly. Amanda, a backup singer who knows how to rock, wore her snakeskin pants and made the adjustment from pop crooner to gruff rocker. The judges raved: "You guys made an Adele song an Amanda Brown song," Blake Shelton declared. Brown actually did start to sound like Adele, especially on the high parts, but overall her performance was strong.

NAME: Cody Belew
TEAM: Cee Lo
SONG: Queen's "Somebody to Love"
PERFORMANCE: The Arkansas country singer with the easygoing falsetto channeled Freddie Mercury, whom he declared a hero, on this Queen rock classic. Wearing a teal shirt, a beard and an Elvis-style pompadour, Belew went high, then higher, then higher, delighting all the judges, except perhaps Xtina, who noticed unspecified "little things." Maybe one of those was a soft feeling to his voice, lacking Mercury's crucial aggression.

NAME: Terry McDermott
TEAM: Blake
SONG: Blake Shelton's "Over"
PERFORMANCE: Everybody's rocking tonight, especially the Scottish rocker with the "Clockwork Orange" hair, during a U2-ish version of Shelton's big country hit. He's dynamic on the high, soaring choruses, but he's muted and a little dull on the low, near-spoken-word verses. The judges seem trained to give only effusive compliments during this phase of the "Voice," but Xtina seems like she's repressing an inner Simon Cowell. She mentions the thing about the high parts versus the low parts. Cee Lo says, "You sing in straight lines — like a highway that's going places." He asks if McDermott knows what he means and McDermott nods vigorously. Maybe he can explain it to us later.

NAME: Melanie Martinez
TEAM: Adam
SONG: Alex Clare's "Too Close"
PERFORMANCE: The 17-year-old from Baldwin with the two-toned hairstyle takes a novel approach, not just for this season but for "The Voice" in general — she barely bothers to show off on the high parts. Other than Nicholas David, Melanie has the most unique voice in the Final Eight, a conversational, spooky, Dusty Springfield kind of thing. She sits on a chair, which helps her 1) tap a foot-tambourine; and 2) not stalk around the stage, distracting us with gyrations. The judges are unified in justified praise. "I love seeing an artist up there that is concerned with everything," Adam says.

NAME: Dez Duron
TEAM: Christina
SONG: Justin Bieber's "U Smile"
PERFORMANCE: It's weird to say this, but the finalist who most resembles Channing Tatum has to figure out how to overcome his conspicuous good looks to show off a distinctive, gravely voice. The Biebs is a strange pick for that goal. Dez almost makes it work, but he seems concerned with his hunky stage-strutting and loses concentration. The judges compliment him -- "You killed it, killed it, killed it, killed it," Xtina says — but we have trouble paying attention at this point due to Dez' mesmerizing chest hair.

NAME: Trevin Hunte
TEAM: Cee Lo
SONG: Whitney Houston's "The Greatest Love of All"
PERFORMANCE: Like Javier Colon in the first season, Queens’ Trevin has to be the favorite — he hits high notes with no trouble, he has a certain hefty stage presence, the large backup choir and all-white set suit his style and he seems like a pop star. Adam compares the performance to waking up in heaven. "You can sing anything you want," he said.

NAME: Nicholas David
TEAM: CeeLo
SONG: Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On"
PERFORMANCE: Until now, all the song choices have been annoyingly lightweight, but Nicholas has a thing for great old soul — his version of Bill Withers' "Lean On Me" inspired Mr. Withers himself to show up at rehearsal, surprising Nicholas. (Maybe it was more publicity than inspiration, but who's quibbling?) Mr. Withers' solid advice is to not "go crazy" with the phrasing. Looking sharp and more like Dr. John than the Grateful Dead, Nicholas wears a brown leather jacket, braids and sunglasses, locking down a difficult song that has tricky expectations. It's the night's most impressive performance.

NAME: Cassadee Pope
TEAM: Blake
SONG: Michelle Branch's "Are You Happy Now?"
PERFORMANCE: It's too bad about Cassadee's perfunctory pop choice, because she seems on the edge of elimination given tough competition from Trevin and Nicholas. Her performance is flawless — she wears a bizarre, brownish-purple minidress-train combination, but it's OK, and she teases out all conceivable drama from the song. "You just sang the crap out of that song," Blake says. True. But it's a boring song. Afterward, Adam recalls Maroon 5 opening for Michelle Branch at Los Angeles' legendary Roxy Theatre and complains about not getting a dressing room. "I hate the Roxy," he says. "Don't even go there." Dear "Voice": More grumpy music-business anecdotes, please!

Photo: Baldwin's Melanie Martinez performed Alex Clare's "Too Close" on last night's episode of "The Voice."