She looked at least in her 30s. Either she’s lying, or the guy is creepy. Because if I remember correctly, he said they’ve been together for 12 years. That would put her at 16 and him at 22-23 when they started dating. Ew.
Speaking of ages, you could just see Adam and Cee-lo reigning it in once they found out that girl from Brooklyn was only 17.
eta: speaking of her, I didn’t really care for her voice. Also, she looked like Rachel from Glee.
Hah! Yeah, totally.
The other girl who didn’t get chosen, Agina Whatever, sounded much better to me.
That weirdo with the pubic hair on his face, I really liked what he did with “Stand By Me.” He was too nasal, but barring that, I liked the way he arranged it.
And hey, did you know Christina has boobs? How insecure must she be that she thinks she has to parade those things around all the time?
Tonight was kinda meh, for me. No one I’m really rooting for.
The last guy wasn’t bad at all. Mostly, I hope I look as good as he does when I’m 40 (I really thought he was mid-20s at first).
So I watched the last episode through by fastforwarding through all the intro stories and getting to the performances and then judging. I figure I’ll hear plenty of repeats on all that info later during the rest of the competition, and this way it’s closer to the judges’ situation. I don’t have any sob story to influence my perception. We’ll see how it works out, but it did run shorter and still get the good parts.
Once again they had a few also rans that the snippets didn’t sound great. It was looking like Cee Lo was going to be the last one trying to fill spots, but now that may go to Blake. He has the best angle on the country wanna-bes - surprised one of them went to Christina. Sounds like Blake wasn’t interested.
I can see how Soul-man wanted Cee Lo, but if it were me, I’d have to pick Adam as the best fit, assuming I (a) got an audition on the show with my karaoke, and (b) he turned around. 
Stand By Me guy had an original variation of the song, so I have to give him that. I wasn’t enamored with his voice, but he did have creativity.
You know, given the talent we’ve seen this year, if some of these folks had been around the first season, there’s no way Beverly would have done that well. Javier Colon would have had a tough fight. Jermaine Paul doesn’t count, Juleitte Simms should have won last season. Both Sera Hill and Jesse Campbell were better vocalists who got axed by Christina in favor of novelty acts.
That’s a hard 28.
You mean big hair? Hey, on just the audition, I might have picked her. She didn’t really turn me off till she did the crowd interaction stuff. Though I did have a inkling with her dancing down the hallway…
If I were on this show and I had any pick of judges, I’d avoid Cee-Lo like the plague.
1: He screwed over Sandwich Shop guy last season. There was no way SSG would have been able to sing that song well in the battle. None. He was dead before he started.
2: Freebird? He had Simms sing Freebird? Does anyone other than drunk rednecks like that song?
eta: Blake is easily my favorite judge. He cracks me up.
All of the judges made some awful song choices last year, but Blake’s taste is music is horrifyingly pedestrian. I enjoy watching him, but I wouldn’t want him as a coach.
I love hearing the auditions but man does the production on this show irritate me. Okay, yeah, background stories, sure. Investment of interest in the performer. What has chapped me more and more strongly is the full performance coupled with no coaches turning around. This is just underlined for me by a few brief clips later in the show of singers who were chosen, but we’re not treated to their performance. I feel bad for the rejected ones, and cheated by the lack of auditions I can see for some who made it. Not viewing experiences that make me want to keep watching.
I think I read (earlier in this thread?) that the teasing of will-they-push-the-button-or-won’t-they is popular, but it’s another thing that I find to be annoying at best.
Yeah, I could do with less backstory, less looking at the family during the audition (come on, just show us the performance, not the tension-filled “Somebody push the button” dance in back), and I definitely despise the “also rans”, especially for ones who are chosen. I realize it is more dramatic if you show a few who try and don’t make it, but I hate when you also-ran people who actually do make it. We don’t know anything about them going into the battle rounds. And I don’t mean backstory, I mean nothing to judge their performance potential.
And I agree on Cee Lo. I don’t like his overproduction, I don’t like his song choices.
Blake is fun to watch, and he does commit to his teammembers, but first season he picked the lesser-developed Xenia over the two guys for weak reasons. Last season he really surprised me when he didn’t pick the blonde country girl he was so enamored with.
Christina is a bit tiresome with her sales pitch and her “I mean” all the time, but she does have amazing vocal talent and the ability to coach that.
I mostly like Adam, but was a bit soured by the Tony Lucca situation last season. Christina did seem to have an unexplained axe to grind, but the song choice for an FU to her was tacky and tasteless.
And what is with Cee Lo and his pets? Last season it was his cat, this season it’s a bird. What’s next, a ferret? A hamster? A python? (Yeah, I saw the announcement that he and Christina won’t be doing next season.)
The thing that bugs me most about the ones who made it whose auditions we didn’t see is that they might as well just tattoo “cannon fodder” on their foreheads.
I think the Voice is making a mistake by having back to back seasons. Its going to get over exposed quick. I rather see it on once a year. The coaches would be fresher and they could get better amateur talent.
This season there seems to be a lot of high school kids auditioning. Why aren’t they in school? They aren’t ready for the pressure and attention a show like this brings.
If it was up to me, all of the reality talent shows would have a lower age limit of 18. I don’t think any kids are ready to deal with what comes along with being on these shows.
That’s how they do it on So You Think You Can Dance. Which makes sense, as that show can be really brutal.
This is my first season watching, and I’m watching X-Factor where there’s also an astonishing number of young teens so I was thinking along these very lines last night. That spun into also thinking about elite athletes with careers that peak or end before the age of 20, and then the young girl who was the youngest to attempt a solo sail around the world. What if there parents told them to wait, to pursue these dreams more gradually?
Sometimes I worry that my son doesn’t seem to have drive or ambition in any particular direction, but watching these kids I’m starting to be a little relieved. At least in sports the requisite skills are quantifiable.
What happens to the 16 year old that does well in one of these shows but is eliminated halfway through and never has another professional singing opportunity? It’s one thing to have your dreams dashed at 32, but something else entirely at half that.
When did a solo in All-county chorus stop being enough for a 9th grader?
Once in a while I’ve seen cases where judges have said “you’re clearly very talented, but it’s not the right time. Come back when you’re older.” I wish there was more of that.
Or really, after all this rambling, what Cat Whisperer said, that kids under 18 wouldn’t be included.
Except one of the judges benefitted from having a career before being 18 years old, so it would be a bit hypocritical to enforce that rule on everyone else.
They’re down to one last episode for blind auditions, it seems, with everyone needing just 2 more competitors (IIRC). I feel sorry for the old cruise lady, who sang really well and didn’t get picked at all, for no real reason. The judges are down to their last slots, so there’s less room for average or experimental picks, and now it’s down to “I gotta have this”. With the level of competition we’ve seen this season, it’s tight.
Right now everyone is a bit of a blur. I’m looking forward to the battle rounds. And I want to see how this new twist plays out.
And, I suppose that teens with big dreams are a large part of their target audience. I agree that cruise lady deserved a spot already taken by one of half a dozen singers barely distinguishable from each other.
Eh, she’d be part of the blur to me, too. Too many contestants in too short of a time, they will stand out better as we get more exposure.
Another contestant who deserved a spot was the French teacher with the guitar who sang “Crazy.” I thought he took some interesting risks with the syncopation, and his voice was clear and strong. He was oodles better than a lot of people who were picked earlier. I think the format really discriminates against later auditioners.
I think the judges do know the sob stories beforehand. Ever notice how they always seem to ask the right questions to bring the sob story out after the audition?
CeeLo: Who’s your inspiration?
Singer: My uncle, who died 4 years ago…
As far as mentors go, I would pick Blake in a heartbeat. He really works at being a good mentor.
Meh, Cee Lo asks that question all the time. It’s part of his schtick for trying to connect to the artists so they will pick him.
Adam has his “I want you, I need you, you’re the best, you’re crazy good, I have to have you, I’ll just die if you don’t pick me.”
Blake has his “I’m the only country music professional, you’re southern and so am I, we have a connection, we both wear vests.”
Christina goes with “I mean, I want to get to know you and find out what you’re like and share with you.”
And Cee Lo goes with either flirting hard or “Who’s your inspiration? Who did you listen to growing up? Who is your favorite artist? Favorite music style? Yeah, I do that.”
It’s a generic enough question that is bound to draw out anyone who was inspired by a parent/relative who was a performer. Generally asking about the contestant’s past or why they tried out will elicit those sob stories even without knowing there is a sob story, much less what it is.
The contestants who drop those in are generally already primed to be thinking about that because they were previously asked all about it by Carson Daly for the interview segment.
I watched Monday’s 2 hr episode last night. They didn’t bother to explain the steal thing, but used it, and from what was shown I was able to piece together that each coach as two “steals”. After a coach eliminates one of the contestants, and that contestant leaves, Carson reminds the coaches that the remaining person is available for a steal. That is apparently the official start of the steal clock, which apparently lasts until the contestant completes their goodbye and walks off.
I got the two steal limit by looking at the status blocks at the end of the night, where they showed two steal squares for each coach, thus forming one more competition in addition to the eight they start with.
By the way, “steal” is the wrong word for this. Stealing implies taking something from somebody else that they want. But these contestants are the ones that their coaches didn’t keep, so these should more accurately be called “Saves” or “Rescues”.
Anyway, the competitions…
Blake paired up Scottish Rocker (Terry McDerrmott) and Country Ass-slapper (Casey Muessigman). He gave them Kansas’ Carry On Wayward Son. It was a good competition, and they had fun singing it. In the end, I liked Terry’s performance better. Blake once again surprised and impressed me, by agreeing with me. Even though his personal preference is the country angle, he thought Terry had a bit better idea of his own voice, and so kept Terry. Yea!
Next, Adam pairs Bryan Keith (hat guy) with Collin McLoughlin (?). He gives them Santeria, by Sublime. Ugh, horrible song - I hate it. I hate the prancy sound, I hate the lyrics, with their subject matter and racist tone. It’s horrid. Anyway, I came out of the blind auditions thinking Bryan Keith did really well, and didn’t remember Collin. When they got into this song, though, Collin impressed a lot more. They got to the competition, and I felt the same way. Bryan had a few issues with tone on the song, and Collin rushed the tempo on the opening line, but overall, I thought Collin was both more on pitch and better overall, but Adam went with Bryan. Thus we encountered the first Steal. Collin starts to thank Adam, and then Blake intones with “Blah blah blah” as he leisurely smacks his button, but Cee Lo saw it coming and smacked his own. So then they both had to make a case for Collin to pick them.
Blake points out that Cee Lo just said that Bryan did a better job on that song, whereas Blake picked him. Cee Lo mentions that he picked Collin twice (blind auditions and here), and that he thinks he’s better than that song. Collin has to side with Blake.
Cee Lo puts Peruvian heartthrob Diego Val against youtube guy JR Aquino, singing Rick Springfield’s Jessie’s Girl. Good song choice, JR had the avantage given that Deigo is Peruvian and didn’t know the song. Diego struggles with the melody and notes, but busts his ass to learn the song. The competition performance is very good, both do well, but Cee Lo keeps Diego.
Christina puts De’borah up against Nelly’s Echo singing Message in a Bottle. Nice choice, interesting pairing. I have to say, as an aside, De’borah looked better dressed for the rehearsal day than she did pimped out for the stage performance. What kind of person thinks the height of fashion is Urkel?
Anyway, this song is another great performance. They trade lines back and forth. Nelly plays around with the melody a bit, De’borah starts off kinda soft and then slowly builds power through the whole song, till she’s screaming it out at the end and blowing it away. Both sing well, but Christina thinks De’borah played the stage better with the exchanges, and so she stays. I agree with the choice.
Next, Blake is back pairing Gracia Harrison (the yodeler) against 2Steel Girls (the mom-daughter duo), doing Sin Wagon by the Dixie Chicks. Gracia starts out incredibly nervous and isn’t getting it right, while the other two work on their harmonizing. For the competition, though, Gracia really finds her confidence and her performance is stronger than the other two. Blake keeps her.
The final battle of the night is Cee Lo’s, and he pairs Trevin Hunte vs Amanda Brown. Amanda was the woman who finally got Cee Lo to turn at the end of the song, where Adam said he wished she’d done the thing at the end earlier. Cee Lo gave them Mariah Carey’s Vision of Love, and immediately Amanda is blasting it out and nailing it. Trevin has to work hard to keep up, suddenly he’s the underdog in the song. Suddenly Cee Lo regrets pairing them, as they are both so amazing he’s going to lose an amazing singer one way or another.
Their competition is stellar. They both are awesome. Everybody is standing and clapping, and Adam is standing in his chair. Adam actually declares in his comments that he is ready to steal whichever one Cee Lo doesn’t keep. Cee Lo has to ponder, and in the end decides to stay with Trevin. It may have been the confidence thing, or the connection from the blind audition, but whatever reason, he picked. Then the other three coaches immediately hit their buttons. Everybody makes a case, but Adam’s passion wins over Amanda, so she picks him.
One night down, some amazing battle rounds.
One more comment, I’m liking this steal thing because it gives a second chance for when I disagree with a coach, and it kept the Awesome Amanda around for another chance.