I guess I’m the only one who thinks Tess is OK. I mean, looking at what I posted she seems to jump around in regards to how much I like her performances but lately I think she’s OK. It seems lately to me she’s plateaued. She’s not getting any better, but I don’t think she’s getting any worse.
OK, this time I listened more carefully and took more detailed notes to try and articulate better what I thought of the performances. Having limited musical terminology, and still not able to tell when someone is flat, high, or “pitchy”, my descriptions will probably still leave a lot to be desired.
First, my over-all rankings based only on tonight’s performances.
[ol]
[li]Will - Great all around singer. His voice is powerful and versatile.[/li][li]Tess - Still over all inconsistent. Only second on this list due to her awesome first performance.[/li][li]James - His voice is very adaptable. And if this is him when he’s sick…[/li][li]Jacquie - Great singer for her age. Great singer over all. Just seemed slightly off tonight.[/li][li]Cole - Good singer, but I can’t get over the fact that he sounds like he’s either singing through clenched teeth or has cotton in him mouth.[/li][li]Matt - Just like last week I think he is the weakest of all singers. He doesn’t emotionally connect or “pop” in my opinion.[/li][/ol]
Now my opinions on the songs. Unless otherwise noted, I was happy with most of the song choices. Also, except for “Rich Girl”, “When a Man Loves a Woman”, Fell in Love with a Girl", and “I’d Do Anything for Love”, the rest of the songs are unfamiliar to me.
Will “A Change is Gonna Come” - His voice was very soulful. I liked the gravelieness in his voice and he did a good falsetto. I liked the range he showed.
Will “Hey Brother” - Also never heard this. He did just as great a job singing this song as the last. He and James seem to be very versatile.
Tess “Redemption song” - I thought she gave a good, solid performance. Her voice was smooth, powerful, and beautiful.
Tess “Unconditionally” - Never heard this either. When she sang softly she sang lower than I would have liked. Over all not as good a performance.
James “Fell in Love with a Girl” - I was worried about changing the style, but it pretty much worked. And I enjoyed understanding all of the lyrics for once. I thought his voice was perfect for the song.
James “I’d Do Anything for Love” - I wasn’t that thrilled with this song choice, although, once again, he adapted his voice to it and sang it well.
Jacquie “Crybaby” - I thought she over did it with the power in her voice. It was kind of overwhelming. In past weeks the coaches would tell their contestants to not constantly sing will full power, but to pick when to do that. I wish Christina would have given that advice.
Jacquie “The Voice Within” - I thought she did a much better job and showed better range.
Cole “Rich Girl” - Sounds like he’s singing through clenched teeth or has cotton in his mouth. Also, I thought this song was supposed to show off his range. I didn’t really get any range from his singing.
Cole “Better Man” - His singing was soft, low, and soulful. It was a better performance, but I still can’t get passed his clenched teeth sound.
Matt “Story of my Life” - I’m not familiar with the song, didn’t think this was a good choice, and I hated the background vocals. I’m not crazy about his high range singing and for the most part he seemed to just be going through the motions instead of truly performing.
Matt “When a Man Loves a Woman” - His pronunciation of those words seemed a little weird to me. When he was singing I kind of thought, “Go away kid. The grownups are singing.” Or maybe, “Amateur hour is over. This is for the pros.” And I am very much aware that he could sing circles around me.
Nobody, your descriptions are wonderful. You did a really thorough job.
I like Tessanne less than you do, but that’s just personal taste. There’s something about her singing that I don’t like.
My pick for the contestant leaving tomorrow is Matthew. But then, I’ve been hoping that he would leave for several weeks now. I don’t remember doing this before, but his singing bored me so much that I walked out of the room in the middle of his song.
IIRC, Christina pretty much gave that advice in the beginning of the clip of coaching.
When Jacquie came out so strong in the beginning, I was pretty disappointed.
I’m liking James and Will as the frontrunners.
ETA: When I was reading Nobody’s description of Matthew’s second song about leaving it to the pros, I was reminded that it was Matthew who knocked out Will in the knock-outs. Adam saved Will, and now Will is doing better than Matthew so far. Adam said that he thought Matthew would wipe the floor with Will. It’s amazing how quickly things turned.
Thank you.
Which one? And I really hope he goes home. With one exception I haven’t ranked him high for any of his performances, and the last two weeks he’s been the worse.
Oh, she probably did. To be honest, I really only paid attention to the actual performances. I wonder if ignoring that advice will land her in the bottom.
First off, I bungled my DVR and missed the first two performances, Cole and Tessanne.
Second, from what I saw I’m in pretty good agreement with Nobody.
I like Tessanne overall as a singer, but don’t care for Jamaican accent and Reggae stuff. But that’s personal taste. As a vocalist I think she’s pretty good, though on “Unconditionally” last night I agree the lower parts were a little rough.
I like Will, I think he’s the most improved out of this lot, he’s the one making the new double Saves worth it. He was beat in both the Battles and the Knockouts, but got “stolen” both times, and I’m glad. I didn’t really like “Hey Brother” - it was weird and I didn’t connect with the song itself. But he’s a good singer, and he’s having fewer note misses.
I thought “I Would Do Anything For Love” worked very well for James, with his voice and his style. The production fit his personality. And that was James sick?
Jacquie did very well dumping her heart into “Crybaby”, though I agree she didn’t have much down in that song. Her voice in the softer parts has some tonal issues for me - I’m not sure what it is, but it doesn’t sound right.
I liked Cole’s doing “Better Man” even if I didn’t know the song.
Matt’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” was a better performance from him in a while, less of the tone issues I have with him, but still not exceptional. I hope it’s he that is booted.
TBH, it was the first Matthew song I walked out on and heard the second one from another room. Aaaaand. . . he’s gone.
That last part was a nail-biter. I didn’t realize that there would be an instant save. And I didn’t realize how invested I was in the outcome. But I’m glad that James was saved. I’m really surprised he was that far down.
Adam had a good speech for the save, talking about what they would do next. Christina’s speech didn’t make sense. She was talking about the past and how good Matthew was. I was just thinking to myself that there were several people who seemed to have gotten worse as time went on, not better. Caroline, Kat and Matthew spring to mind. They all had impressive performances in the beginning that showed their uniqueness. But all of them lost their uniqueness during the competition and melted into the background.
Watching Tessanne in the group song tonight, I think maybe I’ve figured out why I don’t like her note choices. Does she sing harmony sometimes in her songs? I know she sang backup before. Her note choices just don’t seem to follow the melody always for me. It seems especially apparent in the group songs that everyone else is singing melody and she’s singing something else.
It was time for Matthew to go.
I liked the performance of More Than Words. James and Cole, in particular, were impressive.
I am so glad Matthew got voted off. This means Adam has the best chance of winning. Yeah, it would be cool for Christina to have a win, but I think it would be cooler for Adam to have two. Then next season Adam and Blake will be off so Christina can win then.
I loved that rendition of “More than Words”. And the right guy went home. So I’m happy.
I caught up on the two performances I missed using On Demand. Yep, Redemption song was as annoying as I feared. 1. Reggae, 2. religious theme. Cole’s first song was very good.
Last night I did enjoy “More Than Words”, and somebody really missed out on an opportunity to have James sing that as one of his competition songs. His voice really worked, and it was very different than the big stage productions he’s been giving. Haunting.
I’m happy with the outcome. I was watching something else waiting for the show to be over and the watch it on the DVR, so I kept what I was watching running a minute late so I wouldn’t catch a spoiler, then flipped over to the station and they’re running closing credits with James hugging Adam. I was pissed that even though I tried to miss spoilers, I still got one. Of course, it worked out that what I saw was Adam congratulating James on his save, so that makes me feel a bit better.
I’m excited to see what Adam has in store for James. I’m hoping Will has something cool and not something weird. I want Jacquie to find a way to moderate her power more, still deliver the emotion, and not annoy me with her softer tones.
I’m disappointed with the majority of song choices in the last couple of episodes.
I wonder if it is due to:
[LIST=a]
[li]The producers don’t want to pay for more famous/better songs (does the royalty actually differ depending on the song, or is there a flat fee?)[/li][li]The coaches are not doing a good job picking songs that will showcase their proteges’ talents [/li][/LIST]
Of course some song choices are indeed good. But IMO the majority are boring or a bad match for the singer.
I’ve heard major hits sang. I think part of the problem is that sometimes the coaches give the singers songs that they (the coaches) want them to be able to sing, instead of dealing with what they actually can sing.
Frankly, the whole musical diversity thing kind of bothers me. To some degree I can understand wanting a well rounded singer. But sometimes a person only has a voice suited to rock, or pop, or country, or whatever, and by having them sing out of their comfort zone, all you’re going to do is have the singer give a bad performance and risk elimination.
Polerius, I really think it is b. As Nobody said, the coaches are picking songs they think their contestants should be able to sing, or songs they want the contestants to be able to sing so they can show range, or personal favorites. There have been big hits, indie songs, classics, all of the above. But none of that means they are picking songs their contestants can actually sing.
Here’s what bugs me - we have some off things come out from some of these performances. The coaches had a week to evaluate and tweak. How did they not realize it wasn’t working?
I think I have seen one case where Adam and his contestant (in a previous season) decided the song choice just wouldn’t work and picked a new song. There just seems to be a lot of “we picked this we’re stuck with it”. Of course, how late in the production cycle can they swap? The band has to get ready, too, and the stage production crew, and the costuming and lights.
Blake kinda annoys me when he wants a rocker to sing a country song. Cassidy Pope actually did well singing country songs, but that doesn’t mean she sang them in the country style. But now he’s got her with a country album out. WTF?
Diversity is good, challenge is good, but you do have to put them in their comfort zone a bit in order to keep them there and keep the audience interested in them.
Caroline is not going to be a pop diva - don’t try to get her to sing Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey. (Okay, Cee Lo didn’t do that.)
I came here to write pretty much this. Why do the coaches continue to try to get their contestants to sing things they can’t sing?
I finally watched Matthew’s performance of “When a man loves a woman” and now I totally get what Nobody was saying about how he felt it was amateurish. The current field of singers are so much better at that blues style than he is that it makes him look unprofessional by comparison. Still, he has good range and he’s proven his ability to hold notes for a long time. Maybe if Christina had picked a song more suited to his abilities, he would have been able to hold on longer. On the other hand, I haven’t liked him in much of anything, so maybe not. But it didn’t help for him to make such a bad showing at the end like that.
Also Nobody, I was wrong about Christina giving Jacquie the instruction to change her dynamic in her song. I heard Christina say something like soulful and I interpreted that to mean not roaring for the whole time. But I don’t think she actually told her outright to start off softer and end in a roaring finish. You’re right that someone should have told her that.
Adam keeps talking about how the show is about growth and win or lose doesn’t matter. But the longer people are on the show, the more exposure they get. Losing early on with an ambitious mistake doesn’t do much.
I’m giving Blake a pass with the whole Cassadee Pope country thing. She wasn’t doing well in her chosen rock style. Then when she did his song, she did really well. And actually, that was Cassadee’s choice to sing Blake’s song. She had to ask him if she could do it. He didn’t choose that one for her. But after that song was a hit, she was a little locked in her style for her career.
I don’t remember Blake doing the country thing with anyone else. Did you have anyone else in mind, Irishman? Last season, Blake made it a point to take country singers to the live shows, so it would probably be before that.
You know, I’m not sure Blake is really pushing anyone to do country when it isn’t really right for them. I mean, Cole and Austin both took country turns this season, but both of them were dual genre singers anyway.
Yes, I know singing Blake’s song was Cassadee’s choice, and it really worked for her. But she didn’t do it in a strong country tone, and I don’t feel she was locked with that. She found the song with heart and brought it out. But now she has a country album coming out. Really? That just seems off to me.
Yes, I get it when he has country singers doing country songs. That makes sense, even if I hate the songs. But there’s a lot of crossover stuff right now where the pop and country are blurred, with less twang, and there’s plenty of stuff like the Eagles. Some of the best performances are when someone revamps a “classic”, if the new arrangement is creative but appropriate. There’s no reason a rocker couldn’t take an appropriate country song and perform it as a rock song.
But this is all personal annoyance from me. There are other things that are more annoying than country that they do. Religious themes top that list (and is part of what’s wrong with much of country). That was just what popped to my mind from Nobody’s comment.
Actually, nobody this season has really wowed me as some of the previous season contenders.
My memory is crap, so I barely remember previous seasons. Right now the only previous season contestant I can think of is the opera singer who wanted to transition to pop, but was given songs that allowed him to sing operatic anyway. Now he is a proper example of someone who should have been taken out of their comfort zone. He might have actually made a good transition.
Anyway, for this season Will has really impressed me the last two weeks. I think he’s head and shoulders about everyone else this season.
Chris Mann from Christina’s team. He didn’t really seem sure what he wanted to sing other than non-opera, and he was kept singing basically classical type songs instead of given different styles to play with. I think he might have been given a Sinatra type song as his big different style.
Like I said, I think Will is overall doing well and I think he is most improved. But then he’s given stuff like that weird song the other night.
The coaches always drop comments about how great the performances are, how they are the best of any season, but I always roll my eyes at those remarks. I haven’t seen anything this season that wowed me like, say, Juliet Simms, or Michelle Chamuel.
Yeah, I realize that for a lot of reasons the coaches can’t diss their own show, but it is funny when you’re watching a bad or mediocre season and the judges are saying it’s the best. Reminds me of America’s Got Talent two seasons ago. It was absolutely the worse, yet the judges kept saying it was the best.
I was just thinking this the other night. I looked up Judith Hill’s performance clips and thought she was just so much better than any contestant this season. But I think what happened to her influenced this season. Last season, it seemed like America picked those contestants who were the most improved, so the coaches started to pick people who weren’t as good but they thought could be improved.
I think Donna Allen got booted early because there wasn’t much more they could do with her.
Last season, Adam’s team was pretty strong but washed out early because there wasn’t the constant improvement. But there might have been other factors also, so it’s too bad that the coaches don’t seem like they’re picking the best singers anymore. They seem to be picking those people who have room to improve and that they think will connect with America.
This season, it isn’t even just that they aren’t the best singers, but they’re not. It’s that there aren’t really big personalities also. I’m not sure Juliette Simms was the best singer, but she had definite character and style. She stood out as someone to cheer for. Everyone this season is pretty bland.
I just looked up Chris Mann because he was mentioned here. Christina mentioned a couple seasons ago that he had the most commercial success of any The Voice contestant at that point. He had a few things release in 2012 but nothing on wiki in 2013.
OK, tonight was pretty good, but nothing that blew me away. My rankings and justifications are:
Tess “Bridge over Trouble Water” - I thought tonight she brought it. Not as good as last week’s performance of “Redemption song” but better than “Unconditionally”. I liked her tone, her style, knowing when to sing soft and when to add power. I think if she could have sang just a tad bit lower it would have made a big improvement, but saying that doesn’t mean I think she did anything wrong.
Cole “Shameless” - A better performance than last week’s, in my opinion. I have no complaints about anything. I thought he did just about as well as James, maybe just a tiny fraction of a percent better.
James “With or Without You” - Improved over last week and he showed that he deserved to be saved. While I think he didn’t do as good a job as Bono, he did do a very good job with that song. I guess I place him third because he sounded like a pale imitation. Of course maybe Cole did too, but since I don’t listen to country, I’m not familiar with his song and never heard the Garth Brooks version.
Will “Carry on” - He blew me away last week, but not this week, and I can’t really say why. The only thing I can articulate is that, I know he’s singing it like the original, but for some reason, for his voice, I would have preferred he reign it in a little.
Jacquie “Angel” - I told my wife I was sure that song’s about heroin. Sure enough, Googling it, it is. At any rate, I didn’t care for her performance at all. I pretty much disliked everything. Her high tone or pitch; she should have sang softer; I would have preferred less fluctuation. But then, what do I know? I like Tess :D.