There were at least a couple of times Shakira let it be known that she did not like a competitor’s performance at all. She was slightly more diplomatic about it than Christina would have been, but not much.
I could be wrong, but I chalked up her problems to nerves. She just seemed very nervous to me.
I thought he had the worse performance of the night.
I rated each performance on a scale of 1 to 10. For me, I had
Found it—Allen. Now I’m trying to work my Youtube-foo to hear tonight’s song again.
A little while ago my son casually asked if I’d heard Shawna P. yet (the woman Sasha beat out last week.) She plays at the beachside bar where he’s sound tech. :smack: well son, if you’da told me, I would have given her a woot woot!
Thnx Heffalump.
Lot of tough calls tonight, for a variety of reasons.
Shakira had Garrett Gardner, Kris Thomas, Karina Iglesias, and Sasha Allen. Blake had Holly Tucker, The Swon Brothers, Justin Rivers, and Danielle Bradbury.
I think the star performance of the night was Sasha Allen. I was thoroughly moved by Danielle, Karina really worked that song, and Holly was remarkable. I enjoyed Garrett’s performance, it was a solid rendition of “Imagine” and it felt like it had the right upbeat take for a song of hope. Kris also had a solid performance, though the tension Adam mentioned showed when he missed “the pocket” and dropped a note he should have held.
Team Shakira:
Sasha Allen was best. I’m torn on the other three, for different reasons. I’d probably rate it Karina with a slight edge, then the two guys equal.
Sasha > Karina > Garrett = Kris
Team Blake:
Danielle always impresses with her strong, clear delivery and tone. I’ve never been a big country fan, especially the twangy kind, but she got me to enjoy that song anyway, so I give her the win. Holly was great as well, with a pop crossover song. The other two were not really in my preference, but both had entertaining and energetic performances and both were solid vocally.
Danielle > Holly > Justin = The Swons
I did enjoy Shakira and Blake’s duet.
I also liked comparing the training methods. Usher had a good point with his “you need to be conditioned” but he also made it a team-building exercise, so it wasn’t just the long term fitness message but also the short term work as a group message. Blake had a different approach to team building, by doing the karoake to relax and be goofy. Adam did the shopping thing to let the ladies work on their individual style while finding the coordinated outfits for the show. Shakira coached them through “We Are The Champions” and gave them coaching on stage presence, which is useful short and long term.
He’s got this stupid smirk he throws a lot. And I’m not fond of crooners.
Damn skippy!
She’s got that quirky voice thing. I don’t mind her voice as bad as some of the prior quirky voices. She does hit notes better than Melanie, who I agree had some off points that were mitigated by the overall presence and style she presented.
I think he’s trying to individualize his approach. For Michelle, she really needed confidence to recognize her own talent, so making her sing to the mirror was a creative way to make her sing to herself, but also it shakes up the fear. After singing to yourself in a mirror, it’s easier to sing to a crowd of strangers who are scrutinizing you less. The kickboxing ring was a point about fitness to train breath control, but it also had a team-building dynamic. The group activity and physical duress and cooperative effort aspects. That pays off short term as well as the long term lesson.
I don’t mind the coaches expressing an opinion about what they like and dislike, even if I disagree. That particular comment struck me wrong. Maybe because I didn’t hear the problems she seemed to, so it seemed left field to me.
That’s fine, but doesn’t change the results of this performance.
We’re still in the middle of the show on the west coast. While I’m waiting for the show to end before posting my opinions on the contestants, I just have to say, I’m tired of, and have been tired of, Blake and Adam taking jabs at each other.
Yeah they’re joking around and it’s all in good fun, but it’s gotten boring, and sometimes feels fake and forced. It started out amusing, but has gotten old quick.
Oh, and on a different note, a question for you Irishman. Do you have any biases you find yourself having to fight when determining how good or bad a singer is? I have two. One, women who sing, in my opinion, too softly. And two, singers who don’t do the high notes when it’s sung that way in the original.
Irishman, that’s exactly it! You nailed it. Josiah has a smirk that’s condescending and disingenuous. He seems to think it’s cool or something. But why would anyone want someone smirking at them? Maybe if I didn’t watch him but just listened to the song, it might be better. But I don’t like his voice all that much either. He seems to have a smirk in his voice too.
During the duet with Shakira and Blake, I noticed that Blake was sweating a lot. At first, I thought it might be from the fire in the background, but Shakira wasn’t sweating and she was moving around a lot. I’ve watched Blake sing several times and never seen him sweat. It was only a 2 1/2 minute song, and he went from cool to sweating profusely in that time. Toward the end, I started to wonder if he was going to pass out. Maybe I’m the only one who noticed it because there was someone who almost passed out in front of me the other day, so maybe that was on my mind.
When I was checking the spelling on Sasha’s last name, I saw her wiki. She has an extensive and impressive background. The wiki says that she performed with Usher in the past. So maybe that’s why she didn’t pick him twice. Maybe she wanted a new experience. Her pictures in the wiki look a lot more wild than she looks now. The wiki also said she had a record contract in the past and sang background for people like Christina Aguilera.
Sasha was fabulous tonight, as mentioned.
Danielle was impressive also. I liked her from the very beginning. I couldn’t put my finger on why I liked her, just thinking that I liked her tone. I thought she might get washed out when she would have to learn songs she was unfamiliar with, but she’s been incredible. When she performed “Jesus Take the Wheel”, she conveyed desperation so incredibly. I wondered how she did it since she’s only 16 years old, and wouldn’t seem to have the experience of that. She didn’t just copy the original since the original didn’t sound like that. In the last round, Blake was telling her how only a few people had natural talent like that. I wondered why he was telling her that. It’s not like she can do anything with that information. They also seem to be overplaying the inexperience part a lot. When I googled her name, she has a youtube channel with a bunch of videos of her singing all kinds of songs, including “Jesus Take the Wheel.” So she sings a lot, just not in front of large audiences. That’s hardly surprising for a 16 year old.
I’m not sure if this means anything, but Hulu usually shows the clips of all the contestants after a show. But they’re not showing Judith, Danielle and Sasha. They seem to be the popular ones.
Excellent question and good thing to keep in mind.
I know I am biased against certain song styles and genre’s. I’m not a big country fan, especially the twangy kind, though I have enjoyed many of the performances on this show. I’m not a big hiphop fan, or whatever it is that Chris Brown does. “Crooners” are not my thing (Michael [del]Bubble[/del] Buble bores me). Additionally, I’m not fond of religiously themed materials, especially praising or proselytizing songs. That grinds my personal buttons. Any of those are automatic deductions that I have to work around.
So when Danielle sang “Jesus Take the Wheel” I was frustrated by having to sit through the atrocious song choice but listen to a golden voice, with a country edge I’d normally find off-putting but strangely don’t mind from her. She’s a local girl to me (she’s from Cypress, an incorporated neighborhood of Houston), so there’s that. I try to listen to all the performances, even one’s I wouldn’t otherwise enjoy, so I can fairly evaluate them, but I know I have biases against some of them.
Additionally, if I don’t know a song it’s sometimes harder for me to judge. And conversely, if it’s a song I love then I get hung up when they edit it to run in the time and cut a line or a lilt. A couple seasons ago, Jordis Unga was singing a Heart song, and I was grooving along, and then they skipped a line. It was such an interruption in my mind, I had to stop and rewatch the performance to be able to evaluate it on its own merits - the mental hiccup stopped my ability to process what was happening.
I’m beginning to appreciate when they deviate from the performance I’m familiar with. I’m learning to appreciate nuance changes to make it original vs true melody/tune breaks that mess it up.
If I were to do a show like this (fat chance), I would be Mr. Karaoke. I’m doing Amy Lee’s parts in Evanescence songs, I’d be Kris Thomas doing Whitney Houston in her key. Not that I have the power to do those notes. Nor the vocal training to consistently hit all the notes. A capella I suck rocks. But I’m very wedded to sing-along, vs creative rendition. So it’s new to try to appreciate singers giving different takes, alterations to show their own personality/style/originality in something that’s otherwise a classic.
It’s like I said about one of the model chicks one of the previous seasons, as a singer, she looks pretty. Ditto. Except he looks pretty but condescending.
Blake seemed exceptionally out of it last night. Usually he’s coherent and somewhat witty. Last night he seemed drunk as a skunk, like he was so nervous for his competitors he started drinking at noon. He was overly effusive, and didn’t seem like he could make coherent observations. I didn’t notice the sweating, but wasn’t looking that closely. Maybe he wasn’t feeling that good, fighting illness and fever, and took some cold medication that effed him up?
That would make sense - has worked with Usher before, so wanted to work with someone new. Looking at that list of connections, it’s surprising she doesn’t already have a deal. Christina Aguilera, Babyface, Ricky Minor (American Idol, Tonight Show Band). That’s certainly industry visibility.
Also amusing that if Christina hadn’t swapped with Shakira, she could have been auditioning for two coaches she had previously worked with.
That kind of information is not really said as a way to improve, it’s just a sheer compliment.
I’ve been wondering about that myself. Surely there had to be something that convinced her to go from never performing to trying out for The Voice. Something that gave her the inkling she could do it. She said her dad is a singer, too, so that kinda helped fill in the gaps. So she’s been performing and showing off her stuff, but hasn’t really been singing in front of large crowds. That certainly is a different dynamic. Even if she’s done a few things for crowds of 50 to 200 people, that’s a huge step up to hitting the Voice from a family get-together or school talent show (she hasn’t said she’s actually done either of those). It is a lot different thing to essentially sing to and for yourself, record it, and post it on youtube versus going in front of a crowd of hundreds to perform live, knowing it will be shown to millions.
I didn’t try handicapping last night’s show as a whole, or both nights as one set. I keep getting a lot of “was that one better, were they the same?”
I’m not a country or hip-hop/rap fan either, and (I hope I’m using the right term) soul, like how Vedo sings, is a hit or miss for me, but I think I’ve gotten pretty good at setting aside the genre and focusing on the singing.
And then there are performances like the Swon Brothers that I loved. It thought it was a great performance, as opposed to a great performance for a country song.
The only performance that made me cringe was when Luke did Teenage Dream. I’m sorry, but to me, some songs don’t translate well across genders.
Same here.
The only problem I have sometimes is comparing the performance to the original. Although unlike the judges, when it happens I know it’s a personal bias and I’ll force myself to focus on the contestant’s singing only, and now how it deviates from the original. Of course, sometimes it’s not a problem if I like the deviation better.
I saw a clip on Danielle’s youtube channel that was labeled Cy Fest (or something similar). Is that a big Festival? It didn’t look that well attended, but it was still a big stage, and it wasn’t just family.
It’s all the same to me. Her singing is great, and I really like her. I just don’t see why they play that experience part up so much. I guess it’s her “hook.” I would expect that Trevin had the same lack of experience but they didn’t play that up as much. They played up his lack of confidence.
When Blake asked how she got to the blind auditions, Danielle said that her mom surprised her and told her she was going to the blind auditions.
On the topic of playing up certain aspects of singers, I happened to google Michelle Chamuel and read on the NBC site that Michelle had auditioned in a previous season of The Voice but couldn’t get a coach to turn. It said that Tony Lucca encouraged her to try again. But they don’t ever mention that Michelle tried out previously like they do with Garrett. I guess that’s not her “hook”.
People who I would least be upset about leaving tonight:
Garrett
Caroline
Swon Brothers
Josiah
My predictions for who will be leaving tonight:
Karina
Caroline
Justin
VEDO
Would it kill Caroline Glazer to pronounce a hard consonant? Her entire performance was a mumbled mess. She has a good style and she’s cute, but if that continues my ears will start bleeding.
Speaking of bleeding ears, Josiah was about a quarter note flat for his entire song. I was shivering in pain by the end.
Danielle sang well, but I don’t think she has the emotional maturity to put enough weight behind a song reminiscing about an long-lost lover.
I’m glad Holly sang “How Do I Live” closer to Trisha Yearwood’s version than LeAnn Rimes. IMHO, it is vastly superior. The Swon Bros took a great song and made it lackluster. Great to hear some Diamond Rio, but I didn’t like moving the chorus to the front.
Sarah Simmons put way too much power behind “Angel.” It’s supposed to be a comforting song, but she just sounded angry.
Did the hair people get too high before making Amber’s hair too high?
Sasha did a great job, and Vedo was also up there. The rest were either forgettable or my recording cut them out (I lost the last few minutes).
I can’t remember who, but a girl who got if-you-can’t-say-something-nice reviews from Blake and Usher was definitely off-pitch far too much.
The results show is over, and I have to say, I agree with who got voted through. Although, except for Adam, I disagreed with the judges picks.
It’s kind of funny, the people who got cut sang back to back. Cathia and Caroline sang back to back on Monday and Karina and Justin sang back to back on Tuesday.
The coaches were very predictable. America’s vote was pleasantly surprising. I knew that Shakira would save Garrett over Karina, so that was completely predictable. She has already said that she thinks he’s star material. I knew that Blake would save the Swon Brothers over Justin. Blake has already said that he has a connection with the Swon Brothers.
I didn’t expect America to save Amber, so that made a harder decision for Adam. I was pleasantly surprised because I don’t ever see what the coaches see in Sarah as much as they say. I wasn’t expecting it, but it looked like if it had been Amber and Caroline, Adam might have saved Caroline instead of Amber. I know that Adam likes that unique sound. But as between Sarah and Caroline, that was a much harder choice.
I was pleasantly surprised that America saved VEDO over Cathia. I like VEDO a lot more but didn’t think he did a great performance. I didn’t think Cathia did a great performance either, but I thought they might save her. I knew that Usher would save Josiah either way. I don’t know what Usher sees in him, but he’s consistent about it. Hopefully, Josiah will only last one more round or hope against hope, he’ll stop smirking and get a lot better.
First off, Blake said he didn’t contemplate having to choose between the two guy groups. WTF? There weren’t that many combinations, how do you not anticipate that possibility?
I’m not surprised with America picking Holly first - she had an amazing performance. I picked Danielle, but that was personal taste factors. But either way, America saved both ladies, and Blake had to pick a male team. I had a feeling he would go with the duo for exactly the reason he stated, they are a duo and that is different.
For Shakira, Sasha was not a surprise. I had Kris and Karina close, so I can see America picking him. That left her choosing between Garrett and Karina, and I kinda thought she’d go with Garrett. She used the same reason Blake did in season 1 about being able to have a bigger influence and help him develop more.
Usher’s team had the big surprise of America picking Vedo. And then he picked Josiah over Cathia. Meh, we get more Smarmy McSmarmypants.
That left Adam for the end. I agree with America on Judith and Amber. That left Adam picking between Sarah and Caroline. If you look at my guess, I said he’d rate Sarah over Caroline, and that’s what he did. It was a tough call for him, though.
That one was an odd choice. I agree about the gender swap just not working. Kinda like a dude singing “I kissed a girl” - just doesn’t work with the song lyrics.
Yeah, Cy Fest is a local festival thing. Not surprised she’s sung there.
You are right, they are playing the angle.
That’s interesting.
Three out of four.
Amber Judith Hill is the one whose hair is everywhere.
Karina was the one with the spiked short hair.
Also, I phrase something wrong in my last post. I disagreed with Shakira and Usher’s picks. I agreed with Adam’s, and if I was in charge then Justin would still be on Blake’s team and Holly would go home.
I’m really shocked that Adam cut Caroline. I thought he loved her quirky voice. I don’t like it, but I thought she made great improvements in her last performance. Her voice almost sounded normal. Maybe that’s why dumped her. She didn’t quite sound as quirky anymore.
I didn’t really agree with Usher’s pick, but Adam’s and Shakira’s picks made sense to me. (Recorder missed the end, so I didn’t know who he cut, but keeping Sarah is not a surprise, really.)
I’m not going to miss anyone on Blake’s team anyway. I can tell Holly Tucker’s good, but the whole team is pretty generic. Admittedly, C&W leaves me cold.
The kickboxing ring was a point about fitness to train breath control, but it also had a team-building dynamic. The group activity and physical duress and cooperative effort aspects. That pays off short term as well as the long term lesson.