I want an answer to that one, too. James has zero appeal to me.
Finally caught up this week.
For me, Juliett Sims just blew it away. She didn’t do another Rod Stewart or similar song that you would think from her style, she took something different. She took on an iconic song, she did it very different from The Police, and she sang the hell out of it, with not a missed note or wrong inflection. She had power and emotion, and she worked the stage well. Her edgy voice fit the song the way it was arranged. It was just amazing.
Jamar killed it pretty hard, even with the dancing-on-stilts girls.
I thought Tony Lucca did a great job with In Your Eyes. He had to take on Peter Gabriel, so I think he found a great way to work around the falsetto he was struggling with and not sound like he was trying to imitate Peter, but make it his own. And still draw out the emotion.
Christina was harsh, I think she was trying too hard to to seem favorative. Otherwise I can’t explain that comment.
I thought Tony Vincent did pretty good, but can see a little of what people don’t like.
Pip wants to be a rocker, but dresses like he does? A leather jacket ('cause it’s so harsh) combined with a bowtie? Adam was right, if he wants to be the rocker he claims, he’s got to really bring out the “unsafe”. He could probably do a Justin Timberlake kinda boyband pop, but he’s going to really have to shake up to do rock.
Karla Davis was right on with the rhythm, but soft and breathy, not strong enough. And her last chance performance was good, but just not winning.
I though Kim Yarbrough did a fine job with *Rolling in the Deep, *but can see how maybe America is just tired of it, and she was too similar to Adele.
Katrina Parker was okay, but not exceptional. I can’t complain with her win on the last chance song, but she’s not one of my faves.
Mathai - really? She’s still in it? America saved her? Well, at least they didn’t save clown voice.
Erin “Clown Voice” Martin - unfucking believable. How the fuck did she get this far in this show? There were better singers who didn’t get a chair turned around on the blind auditions. And Walk Like an Egyptian? You want to be taken seriously as a singer, that’s not the song. Okay, she was the least sucky she’s ever been on that song, but still. At least she didn’t have Clown Hair on Tuesday, but still had Clown Voice.
I thought James Massone did a good job on Monday. It’s not my fave style, but he seemed to do it well. Playing a little hard to the audience, but still stayed on top of the song.
Cheesa - I have a hard time liking Cheesa because every time I see her I think how Angie was better. But her last performance was pretty good.
In the end I’m not too unhappy, with one reservation in Mathai over Kim or Katrina.
Not bad tonight. Although I’m surprised that Blake eliminated Jordis. I thought she gave the best performance, in my personal opinion. But obviously not his.
I think Blake should have cut Rae or Jermaine and Christina should have cut Lindsey or Ashley.
I’m shocked. After both Adam and Cee Lo said that Jesse was the one to beat, Christina cut him. And they all agreed that Lindsay had pitch problems. I really didn’t see that one coming. Adam’s mouth was still hanging open when the show was fading out.
It’s funny, I liked Chris’s performance, but to me he sounded like he was from Southern Europe, like either Spain or Italy.
Out the three remaining members on Christina’s team, I like him the best.
Out the three remaining on Blake’s team… I guess it’s Erin. I would have liked her performance better if she held some of the notes longer and sung with a little more power in her voice. But I am glad that she covered an Adel song that wasn’t “Rolling in the Deep” 
I’m still pissed about Christina cutting Jesse. He was her best singer by a country mile. Unless they’re pulling some sort of Melanie Amaro trick where they bring him back next week, this was maybe the dumbest move ever.
Holy Shit, that was a shocker. Christina, what the fuck were you smoking? Adam agrees with me. She eliminated Jesse Campbell. Hey, I didn’t like the guy much, but he has an amazing voice. I guess he was the most conventional of her choices, and she’s going for the eclectic angle.
Ashley de la Rosa did an amazing job. She is so much better than her first couple of performances. And this time the arrangement was new and different - definitely not “karaoke”. Lindsay did the best she’s done, and still can’t sing. Chris Mann did pretty good, but it’s a fine line trying to bring operatic training to pop music. I would have eliminated Lindsay, and was expecting Xtina to pick between her and Chris. Just shows you these folks can’t be outguessed.
I’m disappointed but not surprised that Blake eliminated Jordis. Jermaine Paul did fabulous, Erin Willett did pretty good and she’s got that “her father died” thing going on (and Blake’s dad died days later, so he feels some connection over that). And there’s no way Blake was eliminating Raelynn. To him, she’s the future of country music, the best thing since sliced pie and apple bread. Apparently a lot of people in the audience like her, too. I guess different genre’s have different aesthetics.
Out of these six, I like Ashley and Jermaine the best. But I suspect everyone else on Blake’s team is going to come in second to Raelynn. It’s going to take the audience vote to eliminate her, because he never will.
I found that I didn’t love any of the performances last night, but for me it was probably that I didn’t care for the song choices (again, some more). Halo? I retch. And that was *before *they plastered the stage with pictures of his daughter. Ew.
That said, he certainly exceeded all possible expectations for such schlock, and Christina sending him home was a shocker. Ashley was okay. Lindsey bores me more with every performance. But personally I’d have sent Chris home, over and over again if possible. He just plain doesn’t belong in this competition. It’s meant to be for humans.
Poor Jordis. She seems like a nice and certainly talented person, and I have not enjoyed her televised slide into despair. Also, whoever decided to put her in a pink prom dress needs to be smacked upside the head.
Jermaine bored me (I have to assume, based on the continued horrible songs, that Blake really, really hates him). Erin did well and I’m a little tired of people acting like Adele (who I like very much) is untouchable for talent. She’s not. The reason people shouldn’t do Adele songs is fatigue, not reverence. I liked her performance, and it did bring the most hilariously WTF moment of the evening, in Adam’s “I get really Jewish about the fire.”
I accept RaeLynn as an inevitability, like cancer and the extinction of polar bears.
Team Xtina
Jesse - Not his best performance. In fact it may have been his worst but it is a testament to his singing that it was still pretty damn good. Definately the one to beat.
Chrisman - I’m torn. He’s got a great voice and is making it work as best as he can but there is something a little off. If it were truly "The Voice’ and he sang opera then he’d be a favorite but the show is de facto “The Pop Voice” and so I don’t think he can get to the finals
Lindsey Parvo - I really like her voice. It’s something different and a little sexy. That being said, the only performance of hers that I really liked was her audition. She does herself no favors with her song choices and if she were to be eliminated on that basis, I’d have no problems with that.
Ashley - Easily the most boring on Team Xtina, but look at the three competitors above. She is the only one with a “normal” singing voice. If the fans want someone with a great voice that sounds like 95% of everyone in the industry (think American Idol) then she may win. If not then she’ll be gone.
Outcome - Xtina eliminates Jesse. Producers drug test Christina. Federal probe started to see if she is deliberate throwing the contest. Adam & Cee-Lo excited that they now have a chance.
Team Blake
Jermaine - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Erin - zzzzzzzzzzzzz … wait wah? Her father died and so did Blake’s? She’s safe another week.
Jordis - Nothing really about her voice but I never thought I’d see her in a dress like that. Good but not great but on this night it was the best on her team.
Raelyn - Does it creep anyone else out with Blake having unnatural wifing (wife + ing) thoughts about a 17 year old that reminds him of his first wife. Any of you watch “Game of Thrones”? That guy letting the Black Watch stay at his farm? Same vibe.
Enough about Blake. Now about Raelyn. Any of you watch “SNL”? That “Miley Cyrus” showthey do? If you havn’t seen it you should because they actually sound the same - but one is a satire.
Outcome - The one person that should go is guarantied to stay since Blake is picking the elimination. 31,763 Americans were diagnosed with narcolepsy until the CDC realized they were watching Jermaine and Erin sing. Out of a mediocre night, Blake eliminate Jordis to keep his string of “WTF!” choices going. Lorne Michaels sues Raelyn for some sort of infringement lawsuit. Blake, Miranda and Maelyn (note that she now has an “M” in front of her name) are spotted looking for homes in the conservative section of Utah.
Quick someone call 9-1-1 cause I think Christina just had a stroke because that would clearly be the only reason she would eliminate Jesse. WTF. Was this a publicity stunt? Did the producers tell her to boot him? I mean they did suddenly decide they were going to do this sudden elimination thing…seems fishy to me. This may have pushed me away as a viewer actually.
Poor Jordis, given a crappy song by Blake under his guidance, and cut by him as a result of it. She had to compete against dead-father bonding and a Lolita country-burlesque fetish, no contest 
The judges cutting a member of their team must be because this season will be shorter than last. Of course I could be wrong and maybe they plant to add something, like maybe a second chance round, but they needed to speed up the eliminations first. At any rate, what I’m saying is, I think there’s a reason for this beyond ratings. I think it has to do with how many episodes will be shown.
And usually I seem to like the singers other people in this thread hate, or vice-versa, so I’m glad that for the most part I’m in agreement with who should and shouldn’t have got cut.
Last night, I was in shock over Christina cutting Jesse. Now I’m just annoyed.
Last night, I hurried home to watch the show. I just found the show a few weeks ago and really got into it. Now I’m just meh about it.
Given all the buzz about Jesse on the internet, I’m curious to see what happens with that. But it’s hard to make sense of the rest of the competition for me when the decisions are so far out of left field.
I was reflecting on Christina’s choice a bit.
Okay, over lunch I was at the infamous Potbelly’s, where sandwich guy worked (not that specific one, but one of the same chain), listening to live music. A guy there was performing with guitar a number of songs, including Jim Croce’s Bad Bad Leroy Brown. Listening to him sing, I was thinking about Jim Croce, and how he had a certain unique quality to his singing that some people don’t like. Then there’s someone like Bob Dylan who at least was somewhat intelligible when he began his career, but was never as much a singer as he was a songwriter.
And I got to thinking how someone like that might do starting their career now, and how that is the stated premise behind “The Voice” - trying to get stars based upon how they sing, not look.
And so I can kinda see Christina having some jusitification in thinking that maybe the purpose of the show, or at least her goal, should be to cultivate talent that wouldn’t otherwise have a shot. In that, the idea of finding the most unique sound, the ones that are least conventional, makes some sense. So if the goal is to sponsor someone who has something unique and different to give them a shot, then I can at least see rationale for cutting Jesse in favor of keeping Lindsay and Chris. Because as much as I hate Lindsay’s singing, it is different than mainstream sound. Ditto for Chris, for taking his classic opera training into pop music. Whereas Jesse, as good a voice as he has, is a very conventional singer. And given his talent, and the exposure he just had, it’s possible he can still work this into something without actually winning the guaranteed record deal.
Anyway, I look at these WTF moments as guarantees that the coaches are not being forced to make any decisions, that they are exercising their own opinions. Because I can’t think any sane music exec is going to tell her to off something they know they can sell (Mr Conventional with a great voice) for something that has much greater risk (like operatic pop). Whereas I can totally see an artiste making decisions based off such things as gut and whimsy and “I’ve never heard anything like that before, so it must be good”. Or from last season, dropping the two better male performers for the two females because “I can have more influence over their development”*.
Okay, so a TV exec might not be a sane music exec. What plays for TV might not care what the ultimate musical outcome is, as long as the show gets good ratings. Right? Well, I would think these coaches would have to be hell of actors to pull off the confusion and indecision so convincingly if they were scripted in their decisions. “I mean”, miss Xtina over there can’t start a reply without “I mean”. (Pay attention sometime. I dare you.) And Blake just doesn’t strike me as the type that could be insincere convincingly. And Adam - he compliments other team competitors and criticises his own members when they don’t get what he wants, despite how that might throw off any cross-team drama.
Season 1 had 12 episodes. Season two has had 12 episodes so far, not counting the three 1 hr results nights. Including those makes tonight Ep 15. There’s at least 3 more weeks of show. Objectively, this season is in no way shorter.
They seem to be shaking things up from season 1 on the elements that didn’t work that well, trying new things. Season 1 had a round of voting that began with the coaches assigning points between two competitors, then the audience voting. That didn’t work well, because most of the coaches just split their vote 50:50. Then the end of the quarterfinal rounds, 4 contestants for each team, the audience saved 1 and then the coach saved 1 and eliminated 2. They’re trying to up the drama by making the coach do the dirty work. Instead of “Who do you save?”, it’s “Who do you eliminate?”
- Blake’s justification for keeping Xenia and Dia.
An OK episode (Tuesday).
Ashley - “You and I” - Overall her voice didn’t quite work for me. She sounds great when she’s singing strong, but when she sings lower/quieter she doesn’t sound as good to me. But I would have chosen her over Lindsey.
Lindsey - “Please Don’t Go” - I thought she was worse. She kind of reminded me of model Erin (who was on Cee Lo’s team. I can’t think of her last name).
Raelynn - “If I Die Young” - Her singing style is OK, but I just don’t like her voice. It too seems to have the unpleasant qualities of model Erin.
Erin - “Proud Marry” - I thought it was OK. Not great, but OK.
I didn’t see the show last season, but now I know how Adam won last year. He just didn’t cut his biggest talent.*
I’ve read several justifications for Christina’s cutting of Jesse in different online publications today, but none of them mentioned that the reason she did it was because his was the worst performance of the night. That should have been the only acceptable reason. She mentioned tonight that he wasn’t showing the growth that others were. But the show isn’t called The Most Improved Voice. That would be won by the 17 year-olds. And it isn’t called The Quirkiest Voice. That might have been won by that model who did the Egyptian dance. Christina saying that she’s no stranger to controversy didn’t really help either.
*my disappointment with the show earned me a couple snark points, I think 
I thought that Christina saying she’s no stranger to controversy was just a cheep way to get an applause.
Oh, and I think I know what she’s trying to tell us all by the choices that she’s making.
I think she’s saying, “Hey America!”
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This was a tough week on the Voice. I didn’t like the format as well. The Voice has coaches that encourage and develop talent. They save their best from elimination and viewer vote eliminates the less popular.
Making the coaches eliminate people directly seems to change the shows feel. It put the coach back into a judging role like AI.
I’m also watching the UK version. They start their battle rounds next week. I’m really hoping they keep the original vision of the show. I like last season’s supportive coaches format better. That’s what hooked me on this show last year.
Wow, Blake eliminated Raelynn, which I think means he is playing to win. I doubt that Raelynn could do anything but country, and Blake is smart enough to know that that isn’t likely to win.
I hadn’t been that impressed with her, but thought she sang well last night - but, boy howdy, she really leaned on the country vibe.
Holy Shit, twice in a row. I was convinced there was no way Blake would can Raelynn. She’s the combo of the second coming of his wife and the face of the next generation of Country Music. I expected her to have to fall down andforget three lines before he’d consider canning her. I didn’t think Erin Willett had a chance, even with her dead daddy and Blake’s as well.
Ashley didn’t do as well last night as her previous couple performances, which isn’t to say it was bad, just not spectacular. But she was better than Lindsay.
Lindsay finally did something that I could see glimmers of adequacy in. I finally saw an element of her voice that wasn’t off-putting, but intriguing. ButI didn’t connect with that song or performance, even though Christina was in tears. When I saw the tears, I suspected Ashley was in trouble.
Raelynn went softer for a change, but still had her “Raelynn voice” going hard. I loved Adam’s comments that he would have made different choices for her, and had her tone down her vocalisms a bit. TOTAL surprise that Blake picked her to leave.
Erin Willett did reasonably well. The first part, slow, wasn’t working for me, but when she kicked up the tempo it came out better. But overall, I’m just not as impressed with her as Blake appears to be.
Hell, it looks like it’s up to Jermaine and Chris Mann, for my choice on these two teams.
Great call.
Well, I wouldn’t say it is the only acceptable reason, but her reasons do seem pretty silly. Of course Jesse didn’t show the same amount of improvement as the others, he started so much better than they did. Ashley grew by bounds and leaps, but I’m trying to remember her original performance. I know the battle rounds were kinda poor from her. She had a long way to go to be anywhere near where Jesse started. And Lindsay just didn’t do anything for me*, from day one all the way through.
Blake cancelling Jordis still bugs me. He threw her out because she wasn’t America’s pick the previous night. So that whole save her thing was worthless. Gee, thanks Blake. That’s a point where Blake could take a page from Christina, or Blake last year. Pick the one you want, not what you think America wants. America already has their pick. Use yours for your choice. I don’t think her song choice was right, but I’d be rooting for her over Erin Willett or Raelynn, and I’d have a tough call with Jermaine.
Martin. Erin “Clown Voice” Martin.
- Musically. She’s cute, with goofy hair.