The Voice, Season 3

Cafe Society
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Melanie’s “Too Close” performance is where I first got the idea. She does an admirable 10-second cymbal stomp (we get a helpful close up of it), but doesn’t play the guitar she’s holding, and it’s mostly cropped out of the frame.

It made me wonder why there aren’t close-ups of Nicholas’ hands tickling piano keys or Cassadee strumming guitar strings. In “Criminal” we mostly get Nicholas wiggling behind the piano, barely looking at it. At around 1:35 his hands aren’t moving at all, though the piano track continues to play. If I’m wrong, and he did play this complicated piano piece live, from memory, perfectly, with less than a weeks practice – I’m impressed.

In Cassadee’s “Behind These Hazel Eyes”, she gives up on the guitar about halfway through the song, without any change to the music. When she is playing, it doesn’t look very convincing to me.

Again, not saying they can’t play these instruments outside of the show – just that the instruments are used as props within the show. Do you have evidence that we’re hearing them play?

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No, and you make a good case for it. I was looking to see if they were playing more back up than lead or something, but it doesn’t feel like it. In both Melanie and Cassadee’s cases, they spend most if not all of the song with hands up in the air or on the mike, so there’s little they actually could be doing.

I guess it is a bit cheesy. I know we’ve seen people playing their instruments, but maybe it is a challenge to come up with 1 or 2 songs in less than a week and prep the instrument with the vocals, when it’s not one they already know. I guess the justification is something like “this is the kind of performance they might give if this was their song on their tour, where they actually would play the music, but we’ll fake it because of the nature of the competition” or something. Still, kinda like a singer lipsynching to their own work so they can dance and groove through the show, rather than giving a live vocal performance.

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Strange show for me tonight.

Oddly, I was really touched by Blake’s rendition of White Christmas tonight.

I’m a huge Trevin fan, but I wasn’t excited about his performance tonight. What I like about Trevin is that sense of humility and vulnerability that he continues to convey. I also like that he’s very masterful at creating a theme for each of his songs. ‘Take a look at me now’ was to his eighth grade teacher. ‘I’m telling you’ was to America as a message that he’s staying in the music field. I hope he gets pushed through this week. Hopefully, other people heard things in the song that I didn’t.

Of the four, I like Nicholas’ performance the best. Why was he sitting after the song to hear the coaches?

Of the four of them, judging from the clips, it looks like Nicholas’ life has changed the most. I remember when he won the battle rounds, he told his kids that it was pizza night. I thought that was so cute. In the clip, he just bought a new house and his attitude looks vastly different. While I didn’t want him to be poor or anything, it was a little sad to see how stardom changes people so quickly. The humility I found so endearing in the beginning seems to have left (not because of the house but just an indication of it), judging from that clip and some of the little things on the show.

I’m not a Cassadee fan. I’m not exactly sure why. I loved her rendition of ‘Over You’. I listened to it over a dozen times. But beyond that one song, she seems like she wants to be a punk rocker, but her voice doesn’t have the edge to pull off those songs, so they end up all sounding the same. I thought it was an odd song choice tonight. Saying ‘stupid’ over and over to an audience you’re trying to appeal to, didn’t make sense to me. (I realize she wasn’t calling anyone stupid.) But her voice was nice, as usual.

I did a quick google of Cassadee a couple weeks ago. From what I saw, she has a $50M lawsuit against her from the Hey Monday band. I didn’t look much more into it. Something about that struck me the wrong way. It would seem like that would make her a more sympathetic character, but there’s something about it that leaves many unanswered questions for me. That might taint my view of her as a singer.

Terry was Terry. I liked the reunion clip with his aunt and uncle. The song was OK.

I’m not sure how to choose who will get eliminated. Nicholas did well. Cassadee has a lot of fans. Terry did his usual that has kept him in the competition. I’m hoping that Trevin will make it to the final, but he’d have to knock out Terry. At this point though, it seems like a toss-up with all four. None of them are standing out that clearly to me, but I’m still a Trevin fan.

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I thought Trevin’s song choice was fine, but for once I heard what seemed to be tonal issues from him. So what could have been a good performance was instead hard to listen to.

I thought Terry did better tonight, with much fewer tonal issues. I was thinking how much better he was doing and not having any problems, then something tweaked my ear. But it was still one of his best in a while.

Nicholas had a very good performance. He still has tempo (or is it rhythm? he’s late/long on some of the notes, rushing others to catch up) issues, but his tone was great and the emotion was good. I think it’s his style.

I think he was sitting down because he had a heart attack. :wink: Either that, or the emotion of singing to his family overwhelmed him a bit.

Cassadee had another stellar performance. The song was different, not being a rocker girl song, but it was delivered excellently - I watched it twice. She really had the emotion and power.

I can’t call what America is going to do. They sent home Amanda Brown. Off those four performances, I’d have to send Trevin packing. Off overall ability and performance, I’d send Terry home.

So America will probably give Cassadee the boot.

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I have never been a Trevin fan–he bores me silly–but last night was worse than usual.

I have not liked Cassadee at all, but Stupid Boy was great. Those who don’t think Blake is a good coach should take note, as I am sure he picked that Keith Urban song for her.

Terry’s Let It Be was his best ever. I have been on the fence about him, but this was really impressive.

Ah, my man Nicholas. I love him, and loved last night’s performance, but I think he needs to find some contemporary songs that he can sing like he can the classics.

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I guess the outcome was expected, but it was still sad for me. I would have liked to see Trevin perform again.

Watching Raelynn again. Ugh. I was hoping to have seen the last of her last season.

I had watched Juliett Simms’ song on Hulu in the web clips. I was a fan of hers, and I liked the song.

I was anti-Chris Mann last season because Christina picked him over Jesse Campbell, but his song was OK. He looks very different.

Of the three left, I’m expecting Cassadee Pope to win.

I just need to go back and complain about the bad editing this season. We didn’t see most of Cassadee’s earlier stuff. That’s not very fair. If she had done really badly in the earlier rounds, that could have left people with a worse impression. People might say that everyone is voting for current stuff, but I think that the earlier stuff does leave an impression. . . like first impressions. Trevin had to live up to his expectations because we saw everything he did. Cassadee should have had the same treatment. That was only partial sour grapes since I noted it earlier as well.

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Aw, Trevin. I’d just like to commend him for leaving with the same smile he came in with. In addition to being tremendously talented, he seems like a remarkably sweet and grounded and genuine kid. I hope to see him again.

I’m also expecting Cassadee to win. Meh. Of course, Terry is equally meh and Nicholas is only slightly less meh (I really like Nicholas, but I wouldn’t expect him to have any particularly notable commercial success).

With Cody and Amanda gone, there’s just nothing to be excited about. We know exactly what we’re going to get from each of these people. Meh.

128

Missed the edit window: You know, I really loved Cassadee’s audition, but it’s been all downhill from there descending into near-contempt for me, mostly due to her (and, to be fair, Blake’s) song choices. Ultimately, I think she has a pretty but unremarkable voice and horrifyingly banal and sophomoric taste.

I might have blamed her age for that, but I have a daughter a couple of years younger who not only could vocally curbstomp her, but has some musical awareness that extends beyond post-2000 Clear Channel. Also, see Melanie, who has clearly heard and appreciated some damned music in her life, despite being five years younger than Cassadee.

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Wonder what the deal was that they happened to have a rocking chair handy. Or did they hurriedly place it there when they saw him with shakey legs?

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It was set dressing, part of the props to set the tone for the song. He sat there because it was convenient when he needed to sit down. Thus Carson asking if he was okay, and his response to do the talk from there.

It was good to see Juliette again. I wasn’t thrilled with the start of that song, but it was okay overall. Chris Mann had a good voice and good to see he’s doing something, but he’s not in my taste range. I pretty much predicted that Blake was still backing Raelynn. She had a gig in Houston not long ago. That song wasn’t horrible - better than some other stuff she’s done. Still had her harsh accent, but I listened to it. But “Boyfriend” - my first thought was why is she singing a Justin Beiber song?

Once Cassadee was safe, I wasn’t torn up either way on Trevin or Nicholas. His was the weakest of those four performances. I do appreciate that Trevin still seems such a humble and cheerful guy. I wish him well.

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Just had a strange thought.

I was thinking about how happy Trevin looked when he didn’t win and how he looked so lukewarm when he was on the Carson Daly show when Carson asked about winning The Voice.

And I remembered what DianaG posted earlier in the knock-out rounds about Trevin:

I’ve always thought that Trevin was really pretty manipulative, but in a good way. I think he’s been very strategic about many of the choices and alliances he’s made. I didn’t think it was coincidence that both Amanda and Terisa both felt like he was like their baby brother, and how they both walked away feeling OK that they lost to him.

Then having seen that Christina offered him a chance to go on tour with her if he didn’t win a record deal, I wonder if he didn’t decide that not winning The Voice was more advantageous to his career than winning it.

Winning The Voice locks the winner into a record deal that hasn’t gone very well for the winners in previous years. The runners-up have done much better with more creative freedom and more support from the coaches.

Adam Levine mentioned in one of his interviews that the winners have had less success than some of the other contestants and that there were “failures on behalf of the people who have controlled the careers of the winners post-Voice” and that “we” (I don’t know who “we” is) were trying to fix that.

I also just read this in an interview with Amanda about how the iTunes recordings are created:

That gives the sense that creative freedom is limited in the iTunes recording and may have some bearing on how the recording contract works as well.

It may have been amazingly bad timing for Trevin to sing off-key for the first time in the entire competition in the semi-final round, but it makes me wonder if there wasn’t another reason.

I’m probably reading too much into it. It was just a thought that struck me tonight.

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Amusing speculation.

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I take this back. Nicholas looked as humble as he has been, on tonight’s show. I must have been reading into some of the things I saw in that clip.

As far as who will win, it’s hard to say.

From what Adam pointed out, Terry had some technical difficulties. Blake’s face looked concerned. But I liked it, especially at the end.

I didn’t like Cassadee’s performance. I watched it again on Hulu. Her low notes disappeared.

I liked Nicholas’ performance the best. He brought it. Lots of energy and sounded good to me.

If I had to rank them, I’d rank them Nicholas, Terry, then Cassadee.

But I suspect that Cassadee will win because of her fan base.

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Cassadee reminds me of David Cook from American Idol. As soon as she was selected I knew she was going to win just like I knew David Cook would win. They just have that thing that even though they are not the best singers in their respective shows America will vote them the winner.

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Nicholas’s first performance was amped up, energetic, and fun. And he hit all his notes.

Terry had mic problems at the beginning, and once again had notes that seemed off to me. Something in the pitch seems not quite where it should be.

Cassadee’s softer stuff sometimes washes out, but her strong stuff is powerful. And she had a lot of emotion.

Their reprise songs, Cassadee’s once again really had the emotion. Sap that I am, it got me. Terry still couldn’t hit the notes. Nicholas’s was similar to what he had done before.

Their duo songs were similar.

I’m still rooting for Cassadee and I think her fan base may edge her.

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Fantastic show tonight. Predictable result.

Amanda Brown showed why she should have gotten further. She stood out in the group songs.

Nicholas got to meet Bill Withers and sing with Smokey Robinson. That’s pretty amazing. He won even if he didn’t win.

I was surprised to hear Cassadee say that she looked up to De’Borah. I think Cassadee won me over tonight. People have been saying how she has this thing that make people like her. I saw that tonight. Right up until this last show, I really wasn’t a fan. I hoped that Nicholas would win. But the way she spoke about the other contestants was really heartwarming. When she did that duet with Avril, I felt like she did really well.

That last song with the coaches was sad, knowing that the team won’t be together again. The clip with next season’s coaches showed a lot of different chemistry. I hope it will be just as entertaining.

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Wow, two hours of that shit. My FFW got a workout. I did give the performances a chance before skipping.

I enjoyed Cassadee’s group song, and her duet with Avril. And I agree that all of them are winners just from the experiences gained.

Cassadee was on Leno last night, sang “Over You” again, still got to me.