Unlike previous seasons I’m agreeing with most of the judges choices not to turn around. There’s only one person I thought they should have turned for yesterday, Delvin Choice, the guy with the “lobster” style hairdo.
Anyway, the judges seem to be having fun, I like most of the singers I’m hearing, and I think this will be a great season. Hopefully Christina will be nicer than she was two seasons ago.
One thing that hit me while watching. They edit a lot of things out. I wonder if there are any singers that when they hit the stage get a huge case of stage fright and leave without performing.
Also, what is it with Blake waiting for someone else to hit their buzzer before he’ll hit his? I saw him do it twice, and for one person he didn’t turn around for he said he was waiting for someone else to hit their button so he could follow their lead.
I love this show… but really only the blind auditions. The thing is, these performers walk in the door with their best, most polished performance. They’ve worked on the song for weeks, months, even years (for example, the guy who sang Simple Man last night), and it’s rare that any of them sound as good as this again. I will continue to watch until the everyone I’m interested in is eliminated.
Also, I’m glad the show is edited to avoid airing embarrassing performances. I’m sure there are some, although since the vast majority of contestants have performance experience, probably not too many who freeze and run off. More of the off-key, forget the words, trip and fall type embarrassment.
I think it kind of sucks that before contestants of one team compete against another they have to knock off a teammate first. I understand why, but I feel bad for someone who got picked by, or picked, their coach in the blind auditions, getting sent home by that very same coach in the battle or knock out rounds.
I think it’s strategy for him. It’s risk diversification. He knows that you can’t really tell enough from a snippet of a voice to know if someone is going to win. It takes personality, a good story, a good voice and a good work ethic. When he turns around and sees something he doesn’t like, if someone else turns around, he can make his interest lukewarm and hope the person goes with the other coach. If he doesn’t really like someone and it’s a guy, he’ll concentrate on his appearance instead of his voice. It also makes it more fun for the audience if the coaches are fighting.
I watch this show hoping to see amazing new talent. I’ve rooted for certain voices all the way to the end. Sure, it’s a reality show, but the premise doesn’t really lend itself to the drama most other reality shows wallow in.
There are two things I hate about the production. The first is when they show us a singer’s backstory, taking several minutes to do so, then have that person fail to turn any chairs around. Even if I think the person in question doesn’t have what it takes to win the contest, I end up feeling bad for that person. That’s the emotion that the show’s chosen production engenders in me. Why would they do that? Why would they show us someone who aaaaaaalmost made it, then boom failure. How does the choice to show us a person’s failure enhance the show? Just the opposite for me.
The second is when they sometimes show us quick montages of singers who were selected. Huh? I’m watching to see talent that makes it onto the show. I want to be awed, and I want to know about that successful blind auditioneer. Why spend 8 minutes to showcase someone’s humiliating failure, then tell us in less than a minute about three successes?
As I said, I like the premise, I like hearing new talent, but these production choices baffle me and sour my view of the show. As much as I like The Voice, dunno if I’ll even finish out the season. And if I drop this show, it’ll be because of the producers, not the coaches or the contestants, and I won’t be back.
I’ve always liked The Voice better than any of the other singing competitions. Glad to see it back.
One of the singers last night was Josh Logan, who was on Rock Star Supernova years ago. He was excellent on there, and he’s got a few more years of experience now so hopefully he’ll be great.
I was pleasantly surprised to see E.G. Daily. I remember her from early '80s movies, and her video for Say It, Say It from 1986. Hope she goes all the way, if only for sentimentality reasons, but she’s also one of my favorite contestants (so far).
I’ve been meaning to get to this. The Voice is back. Cee Lo and Christina are back. Good, Bad, Indifferent?
I noticed Christina lost weight and looks good.
I decided this year to skip the long intros and jump to the songs and coaches. I want to see if it affects my impressions. Plus, the show is so damn repetitive anything important will be restated numerous times. So far, it has shortened my watch time and I don’t feel I’m missing much.
I’m generally in agreement on the no turns. I don’t think Blake screwed the pooch on not picking Jake Worthington, the La Porte, Texas, country guy. Donna Allen’s You Are So Beautiful was amazing.
Strategy sounds right. He turned around almost immediately in one or two cases, without waiting for someone else. But for merely good singers, he’s likely trying to see if someone else will pop so he can decide how hard to fight. And I think one case might have been trying to feign non-interest for a last minute pop around to keep someone else from following his lead, then got miffed when Christina hit her button.
Yes, that is one element of the structure of the show that always bugged me. They claim that the coaches are competing against each other, but then for several rounds the coaches take turns eliminating one of their own players. The first season was worse, because that lasted all the way to the semifinals. Last season they stopped after the knockouts, and any team’s players could be eliminated.
Right, like they aren’t going to repeat the bios a dozen times. No, the showcase of a non-selected person is intended to keep drama in the mix. If they never showed any not make it, then you’d always know everyone was going to be picked, it would just be by whom. By showing some fails, it keeps one more question mark.
But I hate the unfairness of the montages. Especially when they run past the Blind Auditions. 2 seasons ago, Cassadee Pope was montaged out of all three rounds through the knock-outs. She subsequently went on to win, but when we were first shown her whole performance, and the judges were surprised by her quality that round, we had nothing to compare against to know how good or bad she had been previously.
Thrilled and surprised to see E.G. Daily on The Voice. I was a big fan of hers in the 80’s. No Small Affair with Demi Moore and Jon Cryer. Valley Girl, and of course Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. I used to rent a bunch of her movies.
Not sure how long she’ll last on The Voice, but it’s great seeing her still working.
I far preferred Shakira to Christina last season, and I gained a lot of respect for Urshur as well. I would probably have been happier had they come back but I can live with it for now.
I agree with you about the majority of contestants. The rare people who get better have generally been the winners, IMO. I think that’s what separates the winners from the rest, their ability to continue to improve while taking on new music. If you look at Cassadee Pope (season 3 winner) in her blind audition singing Torn, there’s great improvement in her performance of Over You toward the end of the competition. Same thing with Danielle Bradbery (season 4 winner). Her blind audition was cute and sweet but her winning songs were much better.
Many of the other contestants either didn’t get better or as you say, got worse when given music they weren’t familiar with. They started out with great promise but didn’t get as far in the competition.
The blind auditions let the singers perform songs they are comfortable with.
The battle rounds are harder because they sometimes have to stretch their vocal range and even change their style of singing. It really exposes the singers that have limited experience or training.
Because the judges are all working, touring musicians, I think the Voice has gone with a rotating lineup of regulars. If Adam Levine needs to go on tour, maybe next year it will be Usher replacing him and the other three remaining. Then maybe Adam will come back and someone else will be gone.
I don’t mind that at all, especially since I think all the judges they’ve had so far have been excellent choices. Christina is probably my least favorite of all of them, but even she is better than any of the judges on any of the other current singing competition shows.
