Well, I think the show is off to a good start. I thought that Dennis Bell, the country singer, deserved a chair turn, but then I don’t listen to country so what do I know?
I was kind of annoyed with Gwen either, “You’re a girl and so am I so choose me,” or “You’re a guy, and I’m a girl, but I can still be a good coach for you.”
Oh, and the ad for Kohls clothing based on Bryana Salza’s outfit was eye rolling.
I didn’t see the show yet, but I did catch the last two acts. The second to the last girl didn’t make it, and I thought she was pretty good. The last guy James David Carter was showered with praise. I completely didn’t get it. His song didn’t have a big moment or much dynamics as far as I could tell. His voice wasn’t all that original. And yet, the coaches all thought he was amazing. What was I missing?
(I went to watch the clip on Hulu again. I still don’t see it.)
Bianca Espinal, “Foolish Games” - She was second to the last. I thought she was inconsistent. To me she started bad, then started to get good, then bad again, then good…etc…
And I thought James sang really well (for a country artist:D). I thought he gave a strong performance and didn’t have any technical issues.
I can’t disagree with that. He didn’t have any technical issues. But a 4 chair turn with heaps of praise seems like it would be for something more than a lack of technical issues. When you say ‘strong performance’, what made you feel that?
Normally, I look for a smooth voice or a unique voice or a great range or great emotion or great story-telling ability or even something quirky. He just seemed very ordinary to me.
But I did just watch his interview on Hulu and he really sounds like he has honed his craft. He was talking about phrasing and nuance and all that stuff. I don’t doubt he’s good, but I still didn’t see what the coaches saw. It will be interesting to see how he does with a different song.
I got a chance to watch the show. Maybe it’s because I’ve been looking forward to the start of it for so long, I was pretty disappointed by the level of talent this season. I’m hoping that they changed their format and didn’t put the best talent on the premiere. But other than the TSA guy, there weren’t that many memorable people or voices, IMO.
Luke Wade - he was good. I liked how he performed to the audience instead of for the coaches.
Allison Bray - she looked so familiar. She sang that old classic country song last season and didn’t get in. I think it was Nobody who thought she should have gotten in last season. I heard Blake say something about pitch issues last season. Her interview had her using the word ‘obviously’ so many times, I started wondering if she knew what that meant.
James David Carter - from the bio, he sounds like he’s the professional of the group. I don’t get the appeal, but he got rave reviews from the coaches.
Clara Hong - she started out beautifully with a really nice tone. But her accent is pretty evident. I’m not sure if that will affect her. It would be nice to see her go a ways, but image counts and she seems so reserved at this point.
Elyjuh Rene - I liked his tone also. He seems pretty young and brash. That hasn’t always played out well on the show, but his interview was pretty good, so maybe that will change behind the scenes.
Taylor John Williams - he was OK, but I don’t get the sense that he has much range or technical ability, judging from his own interview. He’d have to be pretty quirky or new to get far without a better range.
Bryana Salaz - she was cute and could belt it out. I agree with Nobody that the Kohl’s commercial was over the edge.
Damien - I liked his tone and of course, his crying at the end made it memorable.
After seeing it again, I see what you’re saying about Bianca, Nobody. I heard mostly the belting parts. But after hearing it again, the other parts weren’t done well.
I have a hard time being articulate some times, which is why when I do comment on a singer I don’t say much. I really liked his performance. As to why… I’m racking my brain… OK, to use your words, I thought his voice was smooth and I felt emotion in his singing. I thought his voice was rich and full, if that makes any sense.
Could be. I have crap memory so I don’t remember. As for this performance I wrote down (I take notes each season to remember each performance) that I only liked her singing at the end, so if I did want her in last season then it’s funny, because to the judges she improved, but to me she got worse. 
Tonight was pretty entertaining. A few quick notes.
I thought that Jimi Mulligan has a good voice, but had a bad song choice. For a song like “Get Ready” I wanted a rougher, gravelier voice. It was too soft for me. I think a different song might have turned a chair.
Taylor Phelan - The judges loved him, but I didn’t like his singing style and his voice was a tad too high for me.
Sugar Jones - Sounded slightly country. To me she was powering through the whole song. She needs to know when to use power and when to be soft. I think Gwen can help with that.
Maiya Sykes - Again, another one the judges loved, but to me her voice was so weak.
Yes! Ok, now we’re talking. I liked the second round of blind auditions much better than the first round.
The two people Nobody didn’t like were my favorites.
I really like Taylor Phelan and Maiya Sykes. I liked them when I had just seen their clips before I saw the show, but after I saw the show and their interviews, I liked them more.
Taylor had a really smooth tone and an interesting style. He seemed like a real entertainer.
I’m a little surprised with Nobody’s comment about Maiya not having a powerful voice. I thought she was a powerhouse singer. I felt like she had a lot of nuance and depth. She mentioned in her interview that she’s worked with a lot of producers in the past, which is why she picked Pharrell.
Both of them are on team Pharrell. His team is looking pretty good. I hope he turns out to be a great coach and doesn’t squander them away like Adam has done in the past or blow them out like Christina often does.
The rest of the singers last night made the first night singers look like it was amateur night. I don’t know what it was, but the pace was slow and the singers were lackluster on the premier. So glad it got better.
I didn’t think the first guy, Luke Wade, was worth all the attention of the 4 chair turn. Maybe early episode upvote?
Taylor John Williams wasn’t very good IMO. He didn’t have good range and slurred his words.
Menlik Zergabachew sings reggae. Great, we’re going to have to put up with that.
It’s “Sugar Joans”, not Jones. Maybe she’ll get better with coaching.
Bryana Salaz has a strong voice, but she had pitchy moments. I think she could be good if she takes coaching.
I thought Bianca Espinal (Foolish Games) sang pretty well and I don’t know why nobody turned for her.
Jimi Milligan did okay, but he didn’t do enough with the song.
Caitlin Lucia - another that was an odd pass. Her rework on that song twisted it a bit too far, and she had some of that ethereal voice stuff I don’t care for as much, but she had some good elements.
As for the judges, Adam sometimes tries too hard, and Pharrell has come up with some good lines. I’m a little put off by Gwen - her go to gig seems to be “you can sing, but I can help you with your look and your wardrobe”. Uh, Gwen, this is The Voice. Shouldn’t you be offering to help them with their talent? At least Blake tried to call her on that once - “I’ve got a credit card, I’ll buy you some clothes”.
One good note about the show - there were no montages this week. Two episodes, no “we also saw so and so perform, and they got picked by Gwen”. Is it too early to hope they continue the trend?
Too early, dude. I think it wasn’t until later that the montages started showing up. But I’ll start to hope with you.
Forget about Menlik’s reggae, although your comment gave me a chuckle. His attitude is insufferable. I hope he tones that down some or he’ll be another of those people I’ll be hoping falls off the show sooner.
For some reason, I’m not holding up much hope for Bryana. I just get the sense that she’s too young to improve on pitch. The young stars came in with good pitch.
On the West Coast, only 30 minutes in, but I just have to say, I’m tired of the judges complaining about singers not showing range. If they cared about range, they wouldn’t turn on the first note for some singers.
Also, I’m going to request a name change to “The Voice Season 7”
I’m so glad CeeLo is gone. He always had this creepy vibe. Pharrell is so much more likeable and I think he’s going to be a very good coach.
I’ve given up even trying to keep up with names this early. Half these people will be gone after the battle rounds anyhow. I’ll learn the names on the teams after the battle rounds.
Lots of great voices this season. I’m enjoying the new series so far.
Tonight Adam was talking over everybody and that was kind of annoying.
As for the performers, I thought the top three was:
John Martin “Sweet Pea” - His voice was smooth and I thought he had good range.
Anita Antoinette “Turn Your Lights Down Low” - I’m not a fan of Reggae, but I love her voice.
**Mia Pfirrman “Unconditionally” - I loved her range.
The ones who got turns, but I didn’t think were that good were:
Ricky Manning “Love Me Again” - Too much vibrato for me. I wish he would have held more of his notes instead of fluctuating so much.
**Troy Ritchie “Out of My League”- I can’t articulate why, but I didn’t care much for his performance.
Tonight was pretty good too. The only bad audition was Roem Baur, and that’s only because he didn’t do more with the song (“Pretty Woman”) and the performance turned out a little bland.
I was surprised that no one turned for Tini Grey. I guess I didn’t hear the problem with his falsetto that the judges did. And going in the opposite direction, I didn’t see as much in Johnathan Wyndham as the judges did. I thought he had a bad start, and then the rest was just OK. I was surprised he got four turns.
Is it just me or is this season of The Voice not as exciting as previous seasons? Maybe it’s just that I was looking forward to this for so long that it almost seems like a letdown.
But I just noticed that other people aren’t posting here either.
There have been a couple good singers. Katriz was good. I like Maiya and Taylor. But the picks of coaches has been pretty predictable. The coaches fight for who they want and get them. The competition doesn’t seem to be there.
Maybe things will get more interesting after the blinds.
For me things don’t start getting interesting until the battle rounds.
As for the blind auditions, Pharrell’s attempt to get contestants was really strange, “I’d love to have you on my team, but you can’t go wrong if you choose any of my opponents.” WTF?
I’m just sick of 90 seconds of singing and 3 or 4 minutes of coach egotism. It’s OK the first hundred or so times, but I’m over it.
edit: I’m all for the winning coach staying on the next season, and the losing coaches sit the next season or two out.
Thanks for that. I wrote just a bit too early.
After I posted that, I went to Hulu and found a preview clip of Pharrell’s battle rounds and preparation. It was fabulous. I watched it over and over. Alicia Keys is helping Pharrell this season. She’s so beautiful and really creative. She did something in that clip that was so unexpected for me. They took some people who I thought were pretty mediocre in the blinds and made them shine more than I thought could happen. I’m jazzed again.
Pharrell’s tactics were pretty unorthodox and not very colorful (which made it a bit boring to watch), but I do have to say that he definitely has the strongest team, IMO. He’s got Maiya, Taylor and Katriz. In the blinds, he made it known who he wanted, and for the most part, he got them. If he doesn’t blow them out like Adam did one season, he has a chance to win, I think. After seeing that clip, I might be rooting for him this season. I’ll have to see a bit more.
On the downside, I’m getting a little tired of Gwen. When the season started, I didn’t know what to expect, so I thought she was a bit fun. But she’s giving off glimmers of Christina. She doesn’t stop talking about herself. She’s probably said, ‘I was 17 when I started my band, No Doubt’ about a half dozen times. And she always waits for the applause after she does it. It got incredibly old. It seems to all be about her, too many times. And the tactic she uses of being female and having clothing lines got annoying. She needed to give more concentration on the singer and his/her voice. I’m getting less impressed with her. She’s also reminding me of Shakira who had less concentration on the voice and more on stage gimmicks.
I totally agree with all of that. Of course it didn’t help that Blake kept doing an ad-libbed version of Hella Good every time he got a contestant instead of Gwen.
Okay, I’ll say it. Gwen has a unique voice, but it’s not exactly melodic. She isn’t a particularly impressive vocalist. That they picked her for a show coaching singers how to sing better seems… strange to me.
Couple that with her approach to trying to win contestants. I get the “I’m a girl, you’re a girl” thing - that at least has something plausible behind it regarding singing. Though it’s more convincing coming from Christina, known for her amazing voice. But the “look at my clothes, we can go shopping and have fun” thing is a bit annoying, it sounds like she’s focusing on the antithesis of what the Voice promotes itself as being - all about he singing.
And yes, “I started my band at 17” thing is a go to line and very repetitive, but none of the contestants have the privilege of having already heard her say that, so it’s new/reminder for them. At least that, again, speaks to her singing career and experience comparison.
And I agree, Pharrell’s “I’m a good coach, but we’re all good coaches so you’ll get a good one whomever you choose” is odd. Doesn’t seem to encourage picking him, IMO. Doesn’t sound eager.
I’m strongly avoiding previews - absolutely not looking at clips of what is going to happen later in the Battle rounds and the coaching. I don’t want to see the best lines pulled out and said now, out of context, and blowing any fun/drama from seeing them later develop. God, I hate previews on competition shows.
I’m following the show, but the Battle Rounds are going to do some heavy weeding, and it’s hard to keep everyone straight this early. I did watch the Blind review show just to see some of the heads up and refresh some of the earlier competitors. There are some good competitors, though a couple of them didn’t do for me what they did for the coaches. I’m enthusiastic, just don’t have a lot to say this early (after 6 paragraphs 
).
I did like when Pharrell said he wouldn’t make the contestant do any songs he didn’t want to do, and Blake said to Adam that he probably would, which led to Adam trying to justify his efforts with the detour talking about collaboration. There’s a healthy balance in finding challenges or exploring things the contestant hasn’t considered with keeping in territory they are comfortable and singing songs they connect with. There are some popular songs that I would dread having to sing - I don’t like the lyrics or the message. And doing songs you don’t like is what cratered one of Shakira’s guys, the Venezuelan who didn’t know much American pop and wanted to do his own rock groove, not the latin pop he got slated to do. Meh, I didn’t really care for him anyway.