Jennifer Nettles and John Glosson Make a Big Climb on ‘Duets’ With ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’

Last week on ‘Duets,’ Jennifer Nettles proved that she was an excellent talent scout with two great duet partner choices. This week, she has to prove that her choices have staying power with the classics. And, in her words, her first partner, John Glosson, “brought a gun to a knife fight” and confirmed her feelings that he’s the best singer in the bunch.

Nettles and Glosson had their work cut out for them, because their song choice for the night is one of the best known duets in music history, Marvin Gaye’s ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.’ Glosson felt the pressure saying, “Everyone in America knows this song. I can’t do anything stupid.” And Nettles added to the pressure by telling Glosson that fellow judge John Legend has recently done a Marvin Gaye tribute show, so he’ll be particularly sensitive to any bad choices.

The two had another terrific performance. Glosson’s voice is truly amazing to listen to, and for a moment, we wished we could just hear him sing solo for a while instead of getting lost behind Nettles’ big voice. Even the clips of his rehearsal were impressive. He also seems very comfortable performing on stage.

The judges’ agreed that Glosson’s voice is a force to be reckoned with. What they also all agreed on is that his movements are not, and sometimes seemed, as Kelly Clarkson put it, “cheesy.” She thought they were smart to choose a song that was completely different, but she felt like his movement wasn’t natural. She did say that she’s sure Glosson will go far in the competition.

Robin Thicke didn’t appreciate the choice of song. He felt Glosson had a lot to stand up to. He complimented Glosson’s voice, but again, he felt like the movement didn’t work for him. He saw him copying Nettles’ moves because he was out of his physical comfort zone and it seemed awkward. John Legend continued that sentiment by telling Glosson that, despite his “phenomenal voice,” he made the song feel “Broadway-ish” with some of his moves and choices.

It’s clear that Glosson will stay in the competition for quite a while, but the slightly negative opinions from the judges kept him from getting any further than third place in the standings after his performance. He’s got a first place voice, but in the next weeks he’ll have to start bringing a first place performance to go with it.