The fact that I’m reading this thread despite not having seen the results show yet should be proof of how little I care about the show now that Jesse and Jordis are eliminated. The other six are completely uninteresting except maybe Parvo and she has been doing everything to lose by song choice. Maybe I will care next week with Team Moron5 and Team Pussy-Stroker.
Oh and Nobody, you get my vote for best spoiler.
Thank you.
Thinking back on Jesse’s elimination, now I think that Christina really wanted to take both her girls with her to the semi-finals, and it simply didn’t occur to her that people would actually vote for Chris Mann. I can’t blame her, it didn’t occur to me, either. People like him? Really? Now that Voldemort is gone, Chris Mann is holding down the Dead-Eyed Creepy Dude spot, I guess.
If Christina really was focused on improvement and growth, she should have chosen Ashley. Lindsey will make a good producer one day, but vocally she hasn’t done anything new or different in how many performances now?
I was unsurprised to see Jermaine voted through, and pleasantly shocked to see Blake choose Erin. I guess a “dead dads” bond beats a “you remind me of my wife” bond. There may be hope for the polar bears yet!
Ouch, that’s harsh. He doesn’t seem creepy to me.
I don’t really see much of a future though if he can’t shake off his operatic training while trying to sing pop. There’s only a limited amount of pop songs he can sing like that.
I agree, and honestly (although the dead-eyed thing doesn’t help) I think what bothers me most about him is the constant wondering how he can just go ahead and sing a song like a human with feelings, instead of a machine programmed to project huge notes. I don’t get any sort of a love for music from him, and it’s not really that hard to match your tone and projection to the actual music and lyrics. Oftentimes, those things mean stuff that can be easily understood by pretty much anyone.
In other news, I love how pissy Carson gets with the judges as the clock winds down. “I need a name. Who’s it gonna be? Give me a name!!!”
Well, to be fair though, the judges sometimes seem to take their sweet time making a decision. Also, last night Blake almost made the show run late and he hemmed and hawed through the final seconds.
OK, here’s my take on where we’re at on the Voice.
At first I thought Christina was high for eliminating Jesse. He would have been voted through, guaranteed, so she basically was eliminating him ahead of a successful vote. Crazy. Yet I read some commentary online, and I think what some people said was correct. Although I didn’t watch last season, the winner was Javier, reported to be a very skilled yet rather generic soul/R&B singer. And apparently his record has not sold well (according to what I’ve read–correct me if I’m wrong).
I think that that is a trap that The Voice could easily find itself in each season, and I agree with those commenters that Christina wanted to avoid this–at least as far as her team is concerned.
What is the trap? Having a very good singer with no star power win the thing. The trouble with “belters” of either the soul or pop variety is that their talent can be quite impressive, yet very few of them become real stars. On the other hand, niche/idiosyncratic performers are less likely to win The Voice yet are much more likely to sell records. As the coaches have said, Lindsey Pavao could launch a record right now and be successful. Is she the most versatile of singers, the “best” of singers? No, but she has a unique style, she’s hot, and she can make a distinctive record that will sell.
IOW, The Voice finds itself in the position of not wanting to be what it set out to be: a show that truly rewards “the voice.” The reason is that, ultimately, a great voice is not enough.
In that sense, last night Christina saved the right person. Lindsey has star power. I do think that she will end up with a record deal of some sort. I also doubt that she’ll win the competition. More on that in a second.
I think Blake found himself in a tough position. Erin performed better than RaeLynn. But Erin is another generic belter–and I think she has no chance of winning. I think Blake figures (correctly, I think) that someone as country as RaeLynn is not going to win anyway and he can’t keep saving her without seeming to favor her excessively. And I think Blake figured (again correctly) that RaeLynn is set and is already going to get a record contract. She has star power, she has a great country voice, like Lindsey she is ready to go in her niche. I am a country music fan and would definitely buy a RaeLynn album if the material is strong. Her studio version of “Hell on Heels,” although undoubtedly busted out really quickly, is dynamite.
I disagree with Blake that Jermaine has real star power. I think he’s “good” but not really good, if you know what I mean. I don’t think he’ll win, but I’d put him the top four with chances to do so.
I think the people with chances to win are the four J’s: Jamar, Juliet, James, and Jermaine–in that order. And I like the first three of those. I also like Katrina but think she won’t win because of her weight (sad but true). My favorite still left in the competition is James Massone. He has real star power and boy band appeal (but I do love his voice). Everyone else left is missing something and has no chance, I think.
Oh, I forgot to complete my comment about Lindsey. I don’t think she’ll win because she’s not that versatile and does not really have “the voice.” I think she’s mega-cute, but I have not actually liked the material she’s done all that much, so I am on the fence about her. I think if she did good material I could really enjoy what she has to offer.
Maybe it’s just me, but a lot of women on this season of The Voice seem to fall into two categories. Soft and breathy or… I don’t know what you call it, but the way Lindsey sounds.
The guys seem to have more variety in their voices to me.
Chirstina hemmed and hawed for what seemed like an hour on Monday night’s show before picking Jesse. It was excruciating.
Oh, I wasn’t being ironic. It genuinely amuses me to no end and makes me very sympathetic (towards Carson Frikkin’ Daly!!!) when I can tell that it’s all he can do to not scream “DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THAT WE’RE ON A SCHEDULE? THAT WE CAN’T DO THIS ALL NIGHT?!?! SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GIVE ME A NAME!!!”* It’s the event planner/executive assistant in me. 
See, I’d describe Lindsey as soft and breathy, and maybe Mattai. Then we’ve got Katrina and Erin, who are actually pretty similar. Either of them *can *belt, but (to their credit) mostly don’t, both have gorgeous tones to their voices. Erin’s pitch and breath control are better. Cheesa is a belter. Juliet’s voice is dirty in the good way, and again her control is excellent, and she’s far and away the most conventionally attractive of the remaining women. Pretty much hers to lose, I think (among the women anyway).
*By the way, does anyone other than me (and poor Carson) really, reeeeally wish that they’d stop with the random appearances by unrelated acts? It’s annoying to begin with, and inexcusable that it causes Carson to have heart palpitations trying to keep things on schedule and deprives actual contestants of their opportunity for goodbyes.
I’m watching on Hulu and fast-forward through most of that stuff. If it’s someone I’ve never heard of, I give them 90 seconds, but Biebs? Can’t FFW fast enough. I think it’s particularly frustrating during the live shows when, like you said, it’s the actual contestants and coaches who get cut off.
Sorry I haven’t been in the thread all season, but after the Jesse shocker this week, I had to check in and find out how people were responding/making sense of it.
I loved how Adam and Cee Lo struggled to be polite to Christina. It’s like they were saying, “We were like WTF? This is a bat-shit crazy decision. But we won’t judge you on it.”
Oh, and for the two types I hear most of the female contestants fall into. Besides soft and breathy, the other seems to be somewhat high-pitched and wobbly.
I think the trap is in trying to define what it means to have a great voice. It’s not just about the greatest range, or the loudest. If that were all it took, this competition would be over really quickly. Everyone sing scales to show range, and then belt out, say, the National Anthem. Boom, we got our winner.
But the element of the voice that shouldn’t be lost is what it takes to connect to the audience. Think about John Fogerty from Credence Clearwater Revival, or Mick Jagger, or my previous mention, Bob Dylan. Think about Janis Joplin, or Madonna (certainly early days Madonna). These are not people who sounded the cleanest or the best range or even tonally the most refined, but they all had something more going for them, something that worked for them.
The key premise for The Voice is to get past the “must look like Britney Spears” or whomever mindset that keeps talented people from getting a chance. So that’s the point of making the first stage blind - so appearance is not the primary factor. And we see that with folks like Erin Willett and Cheesa, or that bearded guy last year. And we see it in the elimination of Erin Martin - she had that slender, sexy cuteness that is pretty conventional for pop music. But she isn’t there any more, because her performances just didn’t pop.
But at the same time, appearance can’t be neglected. Sarah whatshername didn’t need to deck out in a frilly pink dress, but wearing a nice slacks and vest combo helped her convey an element of respect to the audience.
Similarly, I think you may have a point about the sound. It’s not enough to be musically talented, but also something that audiences will buy. That may be why the judges are so concerned with finding something vocally “unique” this year. It’s not just do they sing well, but they don’t want cookie-cutter voices. In the end, Jesse was cookie cutter conventional, as was the big black lady. Most of the female contestants fit into the category of having something strange and odd with their pronunciations and intonations. That oddness is what makes them unique.
The trick is to find a set of oddness that is not offputting in the process. I find most of the oddness offputting. YMMV.
And I just don’t see it. I haven’t connected with a single performance of hers. The best I saw was the one that got her eliminated, and even then I wasn’t emotionally moved. I don’t know if it was lack of familiarity of the song, or not liking the style, or what, but it just didn’t do anything, even though for once I could hear something that wasn’t “Gaahh, run away!”
I don’t know about the first part, but I think you are correct on the second part, Raelynn has made a name for herself, she’s stirred up a lot of buzz in the Country music scene - at least from what was said on the show (I don’t follow Country, so I don’t know). I think he feels he can still set her up and get her a recording contract with where she is now, so she doesn’t have to win to get a career going. Whereas Erin might need another round or two for him to be able to establish she can headline, so he chose to continue supporting her to see if that will help her more.
If that’s the case, I can respect that. He’s trying to support all his contestants to the best he can. If that means that one gets eliminated because she already has a shot, in order to give someone else another opportunity, well, there’s some merit there. (And I say that being on the opposite end of one of those situations with respect to college scholarships. I lost out on one in part because the judges wanted it to go to someone who it would make a bigger difference to. I was going to college, it was just a matter of how to pay for it. Someone else might not have the ability without that scholarship.)
Yeah, I don’t really care for them. They’re unnecessary from our standpoint. They put them in to fill out the hour and to give the studio audience more reward for showing up. But squeezing competitor performances and judges’ evaluation time for fluff like that is not catering to the TV viewers.
I call it “funny voice”. It’s what I’ve been describing by intonation oddities. The worst offender was Erin “Clown Voice” Martin. I gave her that nickname for a reason. Lindsay isn’t much better.
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Yeah, I don’t really care for them. They’re unnecessary from our standpoint. They put them in to fill out the hour and to give the studio audience more reward for showing up. But squeezing competitor performances and judges’ evaluation time for fluff like that is not catering to the TV viewers.
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Oh, on the contrary… the hour doesn’t need filling, and the studio audience doesn’t need any extra incentive to show up. Having those acts on is all about selling songs/artists to the TV audience. At least the random chick last week is a judge on The Voice UK. The guys this week (and Justin Bieber) have no connection to the show that I’m aware of, except that they’re on whatever label sponsors it. I’d be inclined to never buy their music just for spite, except that I was never going to buy their music anyway. Principle!!! 
The thing about this year’s crop of “funny” voices is that they do not compare favorably to last year’s crop of “funny” voices. Xenia’s shyness is not compelling in Lindsey, because Lindsey isn’t a teenager. Dia’s arrangement of Heartless was a showstopper, all of Lindsey’s “reinterpretations” have all done the exact same thing; make the arrangements slower and more monotonous. It was cool once, at the blind audition. As a schtick, it leaves something to be desired.
That said, Lindsey does have some talent. Erin Martin sang “funny” because she can’t carry a tune in a basket.
You are right, but I don’t think they chose their “brand name” all that carefully. People are likely to infer that “The Voice” should reward, well, a great voice. And this is further emphasized by the blind auditions–don’t look, just listen! All as you say.
I’m pretty much with you.
Well, for one thing, she’s incredibly beautiful. That goes a long way. She has a quirky voice. I haven’t been a fan of her specific performances on the show, but I think she’s a fish out of water. I think she really needs to be doing her own quirky material and not belting out big pop songs. Then she might be pretty good. I suspect she is.
Yes, that’s certainly true.
Agreed as well.
I do find her attractive, but that doesn’t go very far in a competition about singing. It’s just like what that guy said to Erin Martin - “You’re cute - lots of girls are cute. But can you sing?”
What kind of quirky performer could you borrow from to give the idea of what she might do well with? A good singer should be able to take a song and rework it to fit their style. Maybe not all songs - some the theme or tone or whatever may not work, but surely there are a few songs that could be retooled. Certainly it is the job of the coach to help find those songs, and it is the job of the coach and the show’s music director to mold the band’s performance to work with the singer.
Forcing the singer into the music the band plays is the wrong approach. In many cases, they do a pretty good job of finding the music to fit the performer. In a few cases, it hasn’t been done well. The Line was one of those, their battle round song was not their style of music, they were being drawn out of their genre.
I don’t say it’s easy for the coaches to take performers they know so little about and shape good performances from them. There is certainly a lot of collaboration that has to occur. If the performer has a strong sense of self and ability, it usually comes off better.
Consider Dia from last year. She was able to rework and retool songs to make unique performances that fit with her style. While I had issues with her voice, her performances were still pretty good, and I was impressed with the creativity and overall composition elements. I never got that kind of integral performance out of Lindsay. I just got her trying to sing songs in her own voice, whether it fit the song or not. The closest she had to draw on was that Gotye song, and even there she was too soft and breathy when she needed to be belting.
I think it’s funny that early on, Cee Lo and Blake were having artists sing songs outside of their chosen genres. They claim that the artists need range to be big stars, but I don’t believe it.
I only know two Cee Lo songs, but looking at Wikipedia it looks like he does have a little bit of variety, but frankly the listed genres aren’t that far apart from each other.
And I don’t follow country, so I’m not that familiar with Blake Shelton, but has he sung anything other than country?
I think it can go pretty far in the marketplace if the performer has some other salable attributes. Like a good voice, songwriting ability, ability to play an instrument, stage presence, etc. I think overall Lindsey is a better performer than Erin and is not merely cute.
I’m thinking like Kate Bush, Lenya Lovitch, people like that.
But I agree that she’s unproven to me as well, so I don’t want to insist on this point too much.
I don’t know about that. I think a lot of great performers fall into narrow bands and are not very versatile. They just do their thing and have their time in the sun. I’m thinking about personal faves like Gary Numan, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Lefty Frizzell, Gary Stewart…
The trouble with The Voice is that they are all these big production numbers, while some of these artists would do 10x better on a bare stage with just an acoustic guitar. That’s where I suspect Lindsay would do best, but we’ll never know.
Yeah, but I don’t see those in Lindsay. Good voice? Her notes are good but the tone is strange. Songwriting? Not demonstrated. Ability to play an instrument? Not demonstrated. Stage presence? I’ll give you that one, but two out of 6 is slim pickings.
My point is for the artist to just do their thing, not try to do what was done before. A soul singer signing Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer? Fine, but don’t do it rock, do it soul. Lindsay’s a soft, mellow singer? Get her a soft mellow song or a soft, mellow arrangement of a song. And I’m not saying that the competitors necessarily have to be the ones to make the musical changes. That’s where the coach and musical director come in, to shape the music to match what the competitor can do. But arguably that is hard in this kind of show, where they know so little about the person going in, and the first round of competition is blending two competitors.
Granted, that’s a problem with the coaching. The coach helps pick the song and the style, and some of the competitors either don’t know themselves what they want or are going along with the coach’s guidance.