The Voice Season 10

Cafe Society
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I can’t imagine having to learn Lady Marmalade in only two or three days. All those French words are tongue twisters to me. Seems like a terrible song choice under the circumstances. I’ve noticed Christina always gives her teams ridiculously hard songs. That puts them at a disadvantage because it won’t influence the average viewers vote.

Tamar Davis’ experience made all the difference.

Pharrell gave his team a unbelievably hard song too. Congrats to Hannah Huston and Maya Smith for even learning it. It makes me wonder just how much private rehearsal time the Voice singers get (without their coach).

Blake did the smart thing. Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man is a classic country hit that also lets the singers show their range. But its not nearly as difficult. I really like Mary Sarah and hope she makes the finals.

geez the two ladys butchered Melissa Etheridge’s I’m the Only One. They were literally screaming. I didn’t like either of them.

22

I’ve read that in some cases Pharrell picks the weaker singer because he knows the other one will get stolen. A win win since neither goes home. Watch Pharrell’s battle round decisions and you’ll probably see him do this once in awhile…

I’d guess it depends on how hard they worked in rehearsal. How much they improve day by day. I think Pharrell likes to keep people that are working hard and improving.

May not be the best game strategy but he may not care. Coaching these young artists may mean more to him.

23

Makes sense. Still doesn’t explain Christina’s choice though.

24

I noticed that after rewatching also. Thanks for the correction. I was about to do the same.

My only explanation is that the coaches might go for singers who are more colorful because they think that the contestant will be more remembered in the minds of the audience. IMO though, Kata is remembered for the wrong reasons, and that will probably play against her. Then again, early in her career, Christina was remembered for the wrong reasons, and it played in her favor at times.

I liked Hannah better. She had much more subtlety. From what I’ve read, it’s much harder to hit those high notes in a soft and subtle voice. Hannah did that in a couple places. Maya was mostly blasting the high notes. She did them really well, but it’s much harder to create those subtle moments as Hannah did, I think.

Aside from the show, I was looking up old contestants and found this youtube channel by Trevin Hunte. It looks like he’s still at it. He recorded a bunch of stuff 4 months ago. His version of Adele’s “Hello” is pretty nice. I still love his tone. I’m still rooting for his success. I’d really like them more if he could inject more emotions in his songs.

25

I agree about Chelsea. I remember watching it and thinking, “I don’t know much about music, but Chelsea has this in the bag.”

I didn’t care for Kata’s singing. It didn’t even seem like singing, more like screeching. Maybe I will like her better on a different song.

26

I haven’t watched the whole show, but I was so shocked by this, I have to post it. Adam picked Caroline over Mike Schiavo. I thought she did better. Mike was stiff and tentative and Caroline looked like she was just coming into her own. That’s not why I’m shocked. I’m shocked because of the duet that Mike and Adam had together in the blinds. I thought Adam might go with Mike and leave Caroline to be stolen. But Adam knows that adorable little girls have a good chance of winning the public vote, so he probably couldn’t resist picking her. But still, I’m shocked.

27

I kind of wondered if some of the song choices were fair. For example, Adam vs Jared, “Can’t You See,” the song seemed perfect for Adam, but not so much for Jared.

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I think that Adam had the advantage just because he had the rasp and style that Blake probably likes.

Alisan Porter defeats Lacy Mandigo - For reasons I can’t identify, I don’t like Alisan. Maybe it’s the whole Curly Sue thing or that so many people are already predicting her win or that she’s being compared to Jordan Smith so early. Maybe I’ll see it later like I did eventually with Jordan, but so far, I don’t really like Alisan. She acts like a diva even before she’s even gotten started. The one good thing about Jordan was that he was so humble and really had a great message. I’m glad that Blake picked Lacy.

Adam Wakefield defeats Jared Harder - As Nobody noted, that song was tailor made for Adam, and he did great with it. He might have been struggling more with a ballad.

Abby Celso defeats Brian Nhira - I don’t care for it when Pharrell sacrifices the winner, hoping that another coach will steal, because what if they don’t. Then someone who should have won will be gone. To me, that’s what happened in his first season with him not picking Maiya Sykes. I felt like she definitely won that one. But he was either hoping that someone else would save her or he just didn’t think he could make a big difference in the person who was already so good. It was a loss of a great talent on the show. In this battle, I felt like Brian won this one. It would have been tragic if he wasn’t stolen.

Emily Keener defeats Jonathan Bach - This was a tough one. I’m an Emily fan, but she didn’t shine in this. Jonathan overpowered her, so she got lost in it. Still, I wanted her to win, so I’m glad that Pharrell picked her.

Daniel Passino defeats Kristen Marie - This one was no contest. Daniel won by a long shot. He had the drama and the style. She was struggling to keep up.

Caroline Burns defeats Mike Schiavo - Caroline won this one, but I was still surprised. I thought Adam would save Mike out of loyalty.

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I slightly liked Lacy better, but I thought that Alison did great. Yeah, half the stuff she says makes me roll my eyes. She acts like she’s a nobody who’s finally getting noticed, when in fact she’s already had more success than most of us will have in our lifetimes.

And I have to wonder if Lacy really had those dreams. The first one I can believe, but two of them… :dubious:

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Alisan Porter / Lacy Mandigo, California Dreamin I’ve loved this song since I first heard it in elementary school. It was already an oldies classic in 1970 :wink: What made it so beautiful is the blended harmonies. I didn’t hear much of that in Christina’s arrangement. It was more like two separate parts. Alisan’s experience easily won this for her.

Abby Celso / Brian Nhira Sugar, I thought Brian easily won this one. Didn’t all the other coaches say so too? I think Pharrell saved Abby knowing Brian would get stolen. So, neither would go home.

Mike Schiavo / Caroline Burns, Like I’m Gonna Lose You A big shocker for me. I expected Mike to at least make the top 5 this season. He didn’t do great on this song but neither did Caroline . I still think Mike had more potential to go further. I doubt Caroline will get much further.

Adam Wakefield / Jared Harder, Can’t You See, my favorite performance of the night. obviously it fit Adam Wakefield style better and he easily won. Jared sort of got setup to lose this one.

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One quibble about Can’t You See, this arrangement was lacking the rocking kick ass arrangement Marshall Tucker band gives it.

Can’t You See is not country. Its Southern rock and strongly in the blues style too. Blended Harmonies too and I didn’t hear much of that in Blake’s arrangement. Labeling and arranging it as country really diluted the impact of this song. But even this version was better than the other songs I sat through last night.

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Caity Peters defeats Joe Vivona on Billy Joel’s “Honesty” - Joe Vivona was robbed! I felt like Joe was the clear winner when I watched the youtube performance without seeing the show. Then when I saw the show, I started to understand why Pharrell would choose Caity instead. Joe was so nervous that he couldn’t perform. But at the actual performance, Joe was great, so Pharrell’s objection of his nerves really didn’t hold much weight. I think that Pharrell didn’t want to take the chance, but I think the decision should have been made on the actual performance. I didn’t like Caity’s performance at all. There’s a youtube video floating around that Joe created about fear and features a bunch of people on this season of The Voice.

Laith Al-Saadi defeats Matt Tedder on The Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women” - This was a slam dunk. Laith took it easily. For a second, I thought that Adam would choose Matt because there isn’t much to teach Laith. Adam even admitted he was tempted. But in the end, Adam made the right decision and chose Laith.

Brittany Kennell defeats Trey O’Dell on Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” - I didn’t care for either of these performers. I was surprised that Christina saved Trey. I wonder if it came down to not having anyone left to steal. I don’t know if the show is really taped in order like that. But she didn’t look too entirely excited about picking him.

33

Glad the battle rounds are over. I prefer the knockouts where each singer picks their own song and performs it. That allows each one to sing in a style they excel in. But they still need to pick something challenging enougth to convince their coach to pick them as the winner.

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I agree that Joe should have won and that Pharrell probably didn’t pick him because of his nerves even though he overcame them. :frowning:

I couldn’t decide who I wanted to win because their voices and singing styles are like apples and oranges. And to be honest the very beginning where Laith took over singing from Matt it sounded terrible to me, but then from there I liked his singing and went back and forth between who I thought should win. I kind of thought Adam would choose Matt because Matt sounds a little more mainstream.

I’ve been wondering too if the order we see on TV is the actual order they were in.
As for this battle round, I actually did love both of their performances, so again I found it hard to choose. Trey had more range, but I thought that Brittany did a great job with what little range she used.

And a general question about the show; Why do the coaches love vibrato so much? I’ve always admired singers who can hold out long notes without vibrato, like Steve Perry did in his heyday. Outside of The Voice when I’ve heard about vibrato it’s been about how some singers use it to try and hide flaws in their singing. Even Christina mentioned that it could be used for that.
I have nothing against it, and if properly used sounds great, but the judges, especially Christina, seem to be making it mandatory.

35

I ran across this really good behind the scenes article from a season 6 singer. I had wondered if there were professional vocal coaches helping these singers for the blind auditions, battle rounds etc. That explains why so many of the inexperienced singers improve dramatically throughout the course of the show. They are getting excellent vocal training and valuable experience performing live. A youtube artist may have little live experience. So they really benefit by being on this show.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2014/05/20/the-voice-star-ddendyl-on-life-after-reality-tv-and-how-the-nbc-singing-show-really-operates/?tid=a_inl

36

I figured that they practiced a lot more than was shown on TV, but I kind of thought that they did it on their own, or with their team-mates. It makes sense though that there is a lot of staff devoted to coaching though. They want the show as well polished as possible.

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It seems to add an additional feature to the performance, but in the case where they mentioned it this season, it was a vibrato like Shakira’s, that really does sound like a goat to me. I think it’s one more skill that people can talk about. But I’ve also heard coaches mention several times how skillful it is to hold a note beautifully without vibrato. Blake especially has noted that.

I’ve only watched the last bits of the show, but there was a lot packed in it. I saw the Alisan and Daniel round. You knew that Alisan would win that no matter what Daniel did. But you could tell he was cannon fodder. I’ve thought more about why I don’t care for her. I don’t think it’s the Curly Sue thing. I just don’t like her voice. It sounds screechy to me. When she gets to the high notes, it sounds like she’s screaming. In the low notes, it’s whispery. I’m really not a fan so far. But I also saw an interview with her this weekend where she’s talking about being on The Voice. The way they celebrated her, it seemed like she had already won. I really didn’t like that.

Then I saw the Shalya and Emily round. I spent yesterday playing Shalya’s ‘leaked’ performance over and over and over. It was mesmerizing. So yesterday, I predicted that Emily was done on the show and was sad about that. I was shocked! that Pharrell picked Emily. Yesterday, I hadn’t seen Emily’s performance back to back with Shalya’s. After I saw the head to head battle, the first thing that came to mind was whether Shalya’s performance was a fluke. Emily’s performance was consistent with everything she’s done so far, but Shalya’s was amazing beyond her past performances. Since Adam had already pretty much locked that he would save Shalya, it didn’t bother me as much that Pharrell let her go. She really is a risk, after all. And if Emily had gone, that would have been a shame if Shalya’s performance turned out to be a one-time thing.

As for the vocal coaches. On the web clips of the show that I’ve watched over the years, they show a lot of the stuff that happens behind the scenes. They’ve shown ‘a day in the life’ type clips where they follow contestants on what they do every day. There are vocal coaches and choreographers and people who help with the recordings and lots more staff that help the contestants in everything they do, including just knowing what to do and where to go next. It’s sort of like a boot camp for singers. I hear the name of the same voice coach over the course of several seasons, so I think they’re static on the show. The staff doesn’t seem to change like the coaches. The contestants get as much, if not more, from the staff than from the coaches in terms of time and attention, from what I’ve seen in the clips.

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As I’m in the middle of typing this I see Heffalump and Roo got a post in. Hmmm…

Anyway, :smiley:

Team Blake:

**Angie **“Take Your Time” - Not much to say. It was OK.
**Paxton **“Hometown Glory” - He was my pick. He had more range, and even though it’s not fair to compare men’s and women’s voices because they’re different, none the less I thought he had a better voice.

**Katie **“Gypsy” - I thought, on the hand her arrangement was boring, but on the other she sang it well, so she was my choice.
**Lacy **“Zombi” - I loved that she kept it rock, but yet I felt she wasn’t able to pull it off. I’m a little surprised that Pharrell stole her, but I’m glad a rocker is still on the show.

Team Adam:

**Owen **“She’s Always a Woman” - I thought he did a wonder job. His singing was great and he emotionally connected with the song making me feel it too. He was my Pick.
**Ryan **“Drops of Jupiter” - I didn’t think he was as good. And I’ll have to re-watch his performance on Youtube, but did he fumble some lyrics? Anyway, when he got stolen by Christina it reminded me that last season and this season the judges are being a little more forgiving than in past seasons.

Team Pharrell:

**Hannah **“House of the Rising Sun” - I thought she was just OK, but Pharrell thought otherwise.
**Malik **“Isn’t She Lovely” - I thought it was very good performance, and definitely better than Hannah’s. I’m surprised that no one stole him. :frowning:

**Shalyah **“A Broken Wing” - WOW!!! She sounds so much older and mature than her age. I thought she had great power and control. She killed it and was my pick, but I’m guessing that Pharrell was being strategic picking Emily figuring that Shalyah would get stolen.

**Emily **“Big Yellow Parking Lot” - I thought she was great too. She has a good range and the ending was funny and entertaining. But I didn’t think she did as well as Shalyah, but I’m glad she got stolen.

Team Christina:

**Alisan **“River” - I thought she did very well and was my pick.
**Daniel **“Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” - Great physical performance, but not as good a singer. He has a good range, but needs to better learn how to use it.

39

I respected Katie Basden’s choice to subtly change the melody and make Gypsy her own. Blake mentioned how risky it can be. Thats an iconic Fleetwood Mac song. It shows Katie isn’t here to play it safe, middle of the pack. That attitude may backfire or it may get her to the finals. Either way, I like that choice.

I agree Hannah Huston 's House of the Rising Sun was just ok. I’ve heard much, much better and inspired covers.

Emily Keener Big Yellow Taxi seemed like a very odd choice for this show. Yes it was a minor hit for Joni Mitchel (ranked 67 in 1970 and then a live 1974 version reached 24 in the US). Its a quirky fun song. Great choice for a folk gig. But a voice competition needs a song with more dynamic range. Something that makes the singer stand out. I’ve heard the coaches ask contestants “why do that song on a voice competition?”. This season they let it slide.

I liked Owen Danoff’s cover of Billy Joel’s She’s Always a Woman. I think he’ll relax and do better in the next round.

The Voice needs to use more Billy Joel material.

Gypsy was my favorite cover in round 1 of the knockouts.

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Oh crap, I said “Big Yellow Parking Lot” instead of “Big Yellow Taxi” :o

I was obviously thinking about the lyrics as I typed the title. Oops.