The Voice: Season 6 thread

Cafe Society
121

Agreed.

Interesting. On the one hand, it makes Blake slightly less of a dick. On the other hand, it makes me annoyed at both of them.

And WTF does “a million perfect planned” mean?

Go for it.

Melanie Marinez had a very clear vision of who she was as an artist and what kind of music she wanted to do. She did better when she picked the song than when Adam picked the song. She had a quirky style, but it worked pretty well. If her pitch control had been better, she would have been a contender. As it was, her artistry pulled her further than her voice.

So was it that she reworked the song, was it the song choice itself, or was it the style she reworked to? Or was it the staging with the trumpet guys? I wasn’t thrilled with the song choice myself.

Yes, people do like versions of the song they know. Reworking the style of a song is one thing, but something that often is less enjoyable for me is when they take the song generally as it but deviate too much from the existing melody with their attempts to add originality.

Basically, despite all the experience that Blake and Adam have, it’s still really just a guessing game at how to find success. Pure talent isn’t the key, or Jermaine Paul wouldn’t have won season 2 (Juliet Simms would have). Likeability isn’t the only point, though it does carry more weight than the premise of the show would claim.

For the performances last night, I was less impressed with Sisaundra and Delvin. I realize Delvin really felt the song, but it just didn’t work as well for me. I thought Christina, Josh, and Kristin were superb.

Jake gave one of his best performances, I didn’t notice any pitch issues. But on the flipside, it was my least favorite song choice of the night. Audra was good, but somebody had to be at the bottom of the pile.

And then there’s Kat. On the one hand, this was precisely the kind of risky big move she needed to make, do something different to stand out and not be karaoke. On the other hand, I wasn’t thrilled with the song choice. At the start of the song, I didn’t like her sound, but by the end I was pulled in. She had an awesome stage presence and performance that really worked up the crowd, but it will be interesting to see if that translates to the home viewers.

I think we’re actually in agreement here. But I think Jake will pull the country vote and be safe. I honestly don’t know who is going to be the third out. Possibly Delvin on song choice.

122

No idea. I wondered about that too.

About Judith Hill, I just watched it again. I don’t think it was any of those things. Back in the earlier seasons, the mantra of the coaches was to try to show as much versatility and range as possible. So the artists would do one tender song and one aggressive song and one happy song, etc. My guess is that the strategy was to gain as wide a following as possible from as many groups as possible. In that performance, Judith was showing a big departure from her earlier success of singing classic songs beautifully with a crystal clear voice by doing a rearranged rap song.

Just like Bria this season, when Judith jumped styles so abruptly, her fans that had been following all along got confused and jumped off the train. I think she lost too many fans doing that. Now that the show is so big and has enough people to vote for one style, trying to get a diverse following is less important than trying to get a following for that style and getting people to stay engaged in it. IIRC, it was Judith’s idea for the song. I think her idea of showing her range and her unique style backfired on her. I was bummed because I was her fan until that song also.

Thankfully, that happened a lot less this season. Changing the melody to something worse generally has me looking up the original song to see who would write something so awful. I’ve never heard an original song be as awful as the reworked rendition when the melody doesn’t work.

It’s a guessing game for everyone. That’s why I’m surprised that Usher and Shakira aren’t more successful at it. They’re both obviously great at knowing what will make them popular. It’s interesting that they don’t seem to know what makes the contestants popular.

One thing I do notice about Shakira and Usher that’s different from Adam and Blake is that when a contestant doesn’t make it, Shakira and Usher talk about how much effort they (Usher and Shakira) put in it. When a contestant on Adam or Blake’s team doesn’t make it, Adam and Blake talk about how much effort the contestant put in it. It may seem like a small thing, but it makes a big difference to me viewing it as an audience member, and it’s possible that it might translate into votes.
As to last night’s show, I looked up the iTunes downloads again. I’m not even going to link it. I’ll just say that the results so far this season have generally been a surprise for me.

123

[Exclamation!*]

The bulk of my favorites gone in one fell swoop. How does it work that Jake is still there and Sisaundra is gone? I like Jake, but really?!

I’m still cheering for Christina, but this was a deflating night for me.
*I thought of so many that I couldn’t decide on one.

124

I’m shocked that Sisaundra and Delvin were in the bottom 4. Even more shocked Sisaundra went home. I thought for sure she had a lock on the finals.

Oh well, anyway, my ranking of the final performances:

Sisaundra “You Make me Feel Like a Natural Woman”
Audra “some country song” and Kat “Barracuda” - Oh my gosh, she didn’t shout. She totally could have, several times. Adam must have forced her to tone it down. This is a giant step for Kat. :cool:
Delvin “Young Girls” - Wasn’t his best. Generally he’s really good so this performance was disappointing.

125

I know, right? Although with Sisaundra being gone Blake has much less of a chance of wining again. I know the country crowd will vote for Jake just because he’s country, regardless of how good he actually is, but I’m not sure if it will be enough to win the whole thing.

126

With Jake they should have got the hook, that guy is simply terrible. Nice guy, sure but I’d never buy that. How long do we have to put up with a wink and a prayer? Not entertaining.

Audra bored me. I am not a fan of country but I do acknowledge when someone does well. Delvin was better but he got warbly so not his best. Kristen had an off night, I thought she was going to be in the bottom, but glad she’s saved.

Sissaundra, she has a strong voice but there wasn’t anything current about what she did. You could have put her in the chorus on the Celine Dion tour 1991 and you’d hear the same arrangements.

Loved Kat’s performances so far, and thrilled she was saved. Great voice- and an ability to dive in and take risks.with the right songs , maybe give her some Pink songs she’s very capable.

Josh’s song was incredible, this is so technically demanding and he nailed it. Nice to see the early save. Still my top pick

Christina comes to this with a substantial fanbase. I’m not a big fan but I do like how she changes it up. She’ll be the biggest threat to win.

127

So my top three picks were the top three saves, and Jake was saved, which I called.

That put Kat, Sisaundra, Delvin, and Audra in the bottom 4 for last chance performances. I’m not surprised with that lineup, based upon Monday’s performances.

I agree with Adam, all of these competitors are top notch, and it’s crazy to be picking who goes home out of them.

I genuinely liked all 4 performances tonight. Audra was more clear than she’s been. Kat came out with another Heart song, but this time I enjoyed it without any nitpicks.

So the final save was the bit surprise for me tonight. I thought Sisaundra or Delvin would pull the last save based upon past record. When the twitter stats were showing Kat with the slight edge, I was surprised. So Adam’s promise came true - Kat wasn’t the next one booted off. What is it, one more week before the finals?

So Adam has Kat and Christina, Usher has Josh, Shakira has Kristin, and Blake has Jake.

I don’t think Jake can win it. I’m surprised by Kat still making it through. I think the other three have the best chances of pulling the win.

Oh, and Adam mentioned Terry McDermott as the big rocker, but he forgot a little somebody named Juliet Simms. Oh well.

128

She didn’t really do it karaoke style, and she wasn’t loud. Huge improvements.

Yeah, next week is semi-finals, so that and then the finals.

129

I really liked Christina’s newfangled voice changer. I didn’t think I would. I was already rolling my eyes before she started. But I liked it.

Josh’s song was OK for me, but it sounds like the audience loved it.

I thought Jake did exceptionally well in his first song. He was supposedly struggling on his second song, but it wasn’t too bad.

I’m still not a Kristen fan. It’s still too generic for me. I don’t ever get a wow factor. I’m in the minority on that.

I felt like Kat either had some off-key moments or I didn’t like the song she sang.

For the top three:
I’m picking Christina, Josh and Jake

It will probably be:
Christina, Josh and Kristen

It looks like an obvious Josh or Christina win. I’m still rooting for Christina.
On a side note, I just watched a clip with Kristen on hulu called Behind the Scenes. I haven’t ever had an issue with her image and was pretty bewildered when people were making an issue of it. In that clip, they show that she tried out for The Voice in seasons 2 and 4. In the clip, she has a mohawk and a shaved head. Now with that, I might have understood why people were talking about her image. But short blonde hair doesn’t seem very extraordinary. And her voice, style and behavior are all pretty generic to me.

130

Pretty good semi-finals.

tl;dr - Here’s how I rank the final five over-all.

Kristen - I’ve liked her for a while, despite being country.
Josh - Personally not my favorite, but technically sound.
Kat - These last couple of weeks she did a 180 and I like her better than ever.
Christina - Tonight she did a 180 and I didn’t care much for either performance.
Jake - He did great on “Heaven”, but to me, too little, too late.

First, my ranking and opinions of the first five performances.

1 Josh “All of me” - My favorite singing from him. Not familiar with the song, so I don’t know how he compares to the original, but I thought he did a very good job.

2 Kristen “Gunpowder and Lead” - Could have used just a tad bit more pep. Again, don’t know the original, but thought she did a very good job.

3 Christina “Hide and Seek” - Bad start and the vocoder(sp?) did her no favors. I agreed with Usher, the song got good when she sang strong and didn’t use the vocoder. For that, Adam has to take the blame.

4 Jake - Dukes of Hazard theme - Not the best song choice, and his singing to me was mediocre, but it gave me a good laugh.

5 Kat “Chandelier” - Never heard it before, but from this performance, what a horrible song choice. She did the best she could, but it affected her singing, and overall it was not a good performance. If she goes home I’m blaming Adam.

Second five performances

1 Jake “Heaven” - I begrudgingly really liked his singing. Not happy he countryfied a soft rock song, but I can’t deny he sang it well.

2 Kat “Let it Go” - Not familiar with the song. Anyway, a huge improvement from her first performance. The difference between Adam picking a song for her and her picking her own is day and night.

3 Josh “Love Runs Out” - Never heard it. Pretty good, but not as good as his first. I’m sorry to say, but over-all, I’m not a big fan. It’s not anything technical on his part, it’s just my personal preference.

4 Kristen “Foolish Games” - Bad song choice in my opinion. I actually almost tuned out the song but forced myself to listen. I guess she did good for what she sang, but I wish she would have sang something different.

4 Christina “Some Nights” - Again, not my favorite song choice and it caused me to be more critical than I’d normally be.

131

Except for Josh, looks like our picks are opposite of each other. I’m interested in seeing what Irishman’s picks will be.

132

I laughed when I read your comments because they’re exactly the opposite of mine in almost every performance.

But at this point, I can’t say that I disagree with you either. I’m not really that passionate about the people left. To me, the differences are either small or have to do with taste. I can see why people like Kristen. Her songs are solid. Her pitch is good. I just don’t get the emotion and artistry that I want to see. I’m willing to overlook some technical stuff from other contestants for either more emotion, some innovation or some other intangible.

I can see why people might not like that Christina performance. It was too unorthodox and not keeping with her style. If I wasn’t a fan from the beginning, I probably wouldn’t buy in either.

The reason I thought it would be a Christina and Josh final is because of something technical that I thought was in the rules. I might be wrong about that. Christina and Josh have been in the top 10 in iTunes for two weeks each. When that happens, they multiply the vote by 5. There’s some rule about them accumulating that for the final. But I don’t know if it works on a week by week basis. If Christina goes home this week, maybe those votes don’t count.

133

As long as Jake doesn’t win, I’ll be happy. Looking back at my previous posts, I ranked Christina in the top or middle until tonight, so I guess with (to me) one off night, I’ll be OK if she wins. Actually, as I’ve said before, I’d love team Adam to win and tie things up with Blake. So Kat or Christina.

Edit: Oh, and that dumping of dirt… I’m sorry, “manure”… on Blake’s truck was lame.

134

Okay, going from 5 to 3 is really tough. How to decide?

I think my favorite performer of the night was Kat. Her first song choice was a wide divergence from her normal stuff, and it was a bitch of a song. Ignoring the song meaning, I thought it was great. I had to go look up Sia* to hear her version. Then I got stuck watching the video because of the dancing girl, Maddie Ziegler.

Anyway, “Chandelier” was delivered well, and then she sang “Let It Go” from the movie Frozen. It looks like she did a modified Demi Levato version, but she really rocked it out. She turned it into a rock anthem.

Josh’s first song, “All of Me” was beautiful. I enjoy the song anyway, but his version was spectacular. But his second song, “Love Runs Out” was less impressive. Possibly song choice, I just didn’t get into it until the big part kicked in halfway through. He had a lot of energy and ended well, but I wasn’t as entertained.

Kristen did a good job with both songs. Her “Gunpowder and Lead” was high energy in contrast to her “Foolish Games”, which showed her softer emotional side. Both worked really well, but I did feel the irony of her energetic and happy rendition of singing about shooting the guy when he comes home. She was going for a fun energetic performance, but it didn’t quite fit the mood of the song lyrics.

Jake had two solid country performances. “Good Old Boys” (the Dukes of Hazzard Theme) was an entertaining nostalgic turn (back when I was a kid and that show was cool). He also did a convincing reworking of “Heaven” into a country song and delivered it well. The struggles he was having in rehearsals were not evident in the performance. My complaint is that he’s a country artist, but he did these well and I enjoyed them.

Christina’s songs both were issues for me. I thought she did pretty well considering with “Hide and Seek”, and the vocoder didn’t bother me in the performance, but it was a subdued song. “Some Nights” isn’t a favorite song, but I did look up the lyrics and learn I’ve been hearing part of it wrong, so there is that. I wasn’t as connected to these two performances as I was with some of the others above.

This is a tough call because they all have something to offer. I think I’m most rooting for Kat, Christina, and Josh, but I don’t really want to see Kristen go, either.

Will America be as pleased with the risks Adam took, or will they be turned off and vote his two off?

*Looking it up, I found out Sia co-wrote a number of big hits - Rhianna’s “Diamonds” in particular. In fact, Rhianna’s sound in that song is a deliberate copying of Sia’s intonations. She’s also the singer of “Titanium”.

135

So I’m not surprised it was Jake and Josh picked through for the finalists. And it looks like Adam’s risks with the song choice didn’t work. :frowning:

That put Kristen, Kat, and Christina up for the final save. Bummer for Adam to have 2 contestants and only one save.

From those performances, Kristen’s seemed pitchy to me, and there was something off about Christina’s performance as well. I thought Kat had the best performance.

But then the numbers went up with Christina’s in the 60s and Kats in the 20s, and Kristen just registering 1. Yeah, something was off with the display, but that’s still pretty definitive. I guess it was too much to ask America for a third save for Kat.

So the finalists will be Josh, Christina, and Jake.

And then there were the other performances by Jacquie Lee, Will Champlin, and Tessanne Chin. Jacquie’s song wasn’t bad, but there was something in the tone of her voice that was off-putting. As for Will’s song, I don’t think there was a thing I liked there. “The eye of the pyramid”? :dubious: “Burn,… dollah dollah, burn dollah dollah, burn.” Tessanne’s song and performance were pretty good, but the other two were not selling me on the Voice tour this summer.

“It’s the eye of the pyramid
it’s the thrill of the fight”

No, that doesn’t work.

“I’ve got the eye of the pyramid”

Nope.

136

I’m West Coast, so Christina making it through is a spoiler, but I just had to know. Tessanne is singing now.

Anyway, I am shocked Jake made it through. I guess he has a good old boy following. I hope Christina wins.

137

OK, my very brief opinions on the final three. The artists are listed in order that I felt they did over-all tonight.

1 Josh
“Signed Sealed Delivered I’m Yours” - While not my favorite voice, I didn’t spot any flaws.
“Set Fire to the Rain” - Not as good a performance as the first, but still good none-the-less.

2 Jake - The reason I placed him second to Josh is because Josh is more consistent.
“Don’t Close Your Eyes” - Wow. Hell of a performance.
“Right Here Waiting” - Noticeable drop in quality in my opinion. Pretty good, but nowhere near as good as his first performance.

3 Christina - She seemed to drop the ball tonight. She did pretty good, but I felt her quality dropped tonight.
“Wrecking Ball” - 9/10 - Very good, but lacking something I can’t place my finger on.
“Can’t Help Falling in Love” - Again, pretty good, but still lacking something.

I pretty much ignored all the other performances except for “Every Breath You Take” with Usher and Josh. Unfortunately I couldn’t enjoy it because the soulful style they used isn’t my cup of tea. Oh, and the same can be said for what little I heard of Usher and Adam. It’s a very popular style, but just not for me.

138

I’m torn about the performances. First, I’ll say that I want Christina to win, then Josh then Jake. I’d really like to see what Christina does with an album and I’d like to hear her sing next season. Her creativity intrigues me. I’m less interested in hearing Josh sing, although hopefully they’ll do the same as last season where the top 3 have a tour and show up next season.

That said, Josh had a great night. Christina had an OK night and Jake had an off night. I didn’t like Josh’s Adele rendition, and I liked Christina’s Elvis rendition better.

139

I guess no-one told Usher and Josh that you’re not supposed to do an Adel song. :smiley:

Or maybe the other judges have finally mellowed on it.

As for order, I’d prefer yours. But only going by tonight’s performances I couldn’t rank Christina on top like I wanted to. Now, going by all of their performances since the beginning, then for me it’s Christina, Josh, Jake.

140

I had to look at the iTunes rankings for the week. I couldn’t resist. At this point, I don’t know if it should be spoilered since the iTunes downloads have been inaccurate in predicting the winners, but I think I will anyway.

[spoiler]iTunes download rank

It looks like someone should have told Usher and Josh not to do an Adele song. It’s the only song last night that didn’t make it to the top 300 of iTunes downloads. That’s gotta hurt.

All three of Jake’s songs and two of Christina’s from last night made it to the top 10. From my understanding those votes get multiplied by 5. Josh’s other songs were 11 and 16 in rank and that Adele song didn’t even make it to the list.

I also thought that the iTunes downloads over the season are accumulated for the final. If so, that makes it a horse race. Josh had a lot of downloads from earlier in the season. But Christina kept pace to some degree. And Jake is making up the difference from last night. It looks to be anyone’s game tonight.

I still want Christina to win, but it would be funny if Jake did. Nothing against Josh, he’s done really well this season and seems like a nice guy. I’m just less interested in seeing his stuff again next season.[/spoiler]