The Voice - Season 7

Cafe Society
41

Damien vs Kelli, “Knock on Wood” - Kelli was good but Damien was better. He played with it more and made it his.

Jessie vs Ryan, “I Need Your Love” - This was a good duet. They sold the romance. I agree about Jessie’s tone and preferring Ryan, but hers wasn’t that bad as some we’ve seen previously. Blake picking her is totally expected. He goes for that sound.

She was a tad breathy, I think it’s from trying to be more powerful than she is.

Blessing vs Katriz, “Do I Do” - I thought they both did well, but I had a slight preference for Katriz. Possibly just because she’s a female vocalist, but I liked her tone better.

Ethan vs Matt, “Yellow” - I loved the arrangement idea, and in rehearsals they seemed even, but the performance clearly goes to Matt for three reasons. Ethan had a rough start (missed the low notes at the beginning), bungled the lines (he sang the chorus “and they were all yellow” even when it was supposed to be “and it was all yellow” or slight variation), and I just liked Matt’s tone a bit better. It may be a case of nerves combined with not quite being his genre, but Ethan didn’t rise to the occassion.

Bree vs Taylor, “You’re No Good” - I was predisposed to prefer smoky over twangy, but Bree’s tone was off, and Taylor fit better with the song. I think a different song might have given Bree more opportunity, but Taylor’s confidence and attack of the lyrics - the way she sold the attitude - combined with her tone to win. And I expect that Blake was predisposed to prefer Taylor because of her authentic, traditional country sound.

Danica vs Toia, “Halo” - This is why the “Steal” was created. Both had great tone and great power and emotion. Both did things to stand out. I kept going back and forth on who was winning. Both had good stage presence. I loved it. And congrats on Adam for winning that battle for the steal. I loved him standing next to Mom and Dad, and Dad and he mirroring the pose.

“You, like, slayed the dragon, and then slapped it in the face to prove it was dead.” :smiley:

As for the preview, NO, don’t tell me the startling first - Ack, save it for the show!

42

Pretty good night. Looking forward to the battle rounds.

Brittany vs Ricky “On Broadway” - Both were really great. I thought that Ricky did better by a hair.

Kensington vs Reagan “Team” - To be honest, I didn’t really care for either of their voices. Not that they’re bad singers, it’s just a personal preference. They seemed to be 50/50 for me, so I couldn’t choose a winner.

Beth vs Mia “I Turn to You” - They both were great, but I think Mia had control issues a couple of times, so I chose Beth. I’m glad that Gwen stole her.

43

Brittany vs Ricky, “On Broadway” - Holy Fuck, what the hell was that transition? Okay, I’ll state my prejudice up front. I don’t care for jazz, and I didn’t like Brittany’s audition, so I come in predisposed against her. But that transition from Ricky - train wreck. I mean, it completely interrupted the flow of the music, the beat, the rhythm of the song, so she can do some woo woo woo lead in to her part? Just fucking terrible. I’ve listened to it a dozen times, and I just can’t make any sense of it. Then after her section, it swaps back for his section with an abrupt transition, it’s almost like they’re not even singing the same song. This is supposed to be a duet, right? I sure didn’t get that from this.

Then there’s her tone and stylings, which I don’t care for. And the “scatting” at the end - meh. All of that would stack up to a solid win for Ricky even if he was merely okay. But he did really well - strong, clean voice, right in pocket. I don’t recall his blind showing that much skill. His variations to be a bit jazzy worked okay. Hands down win for him, no problem.

And Pharrell, no, the world doesn’t need that jazz.
Kensington vs Reagan, “Team” - Both did pretty well. Reagan definitely owned the stage presence. She looked at home and had a very comfortable fit, and worked the stage well. Vocally, her tone is close to Lorde with the smoke or gravel or whatever they want to call it today. There was one place where I think she missed on pitch. Kensington had a strong, clear voice with a nice tone, and I think vocally I favored her performance. But it was close.

Three montages - Alison Bray, the reggae artist Anita, and Briana got picked. Kinda sad we missed out on Gianna and Briana’s match.
Beth vs Mia, “I Turn to You” - Both sang well - clean and on pitch. I think they overdid the embellishments, but it’s a Christina song, so I’m sure there were a lot there already. Some sliding into notes that would have been stronger as clean notes. Very close call, some nice points from Beth, but my gut feel sided with Mia.

And the stealth “Steal” by Gwen would have been more convincing if it weren’t the last performance of the night. I’m still not sure what would happen if a coach got to the last battle and still had a steal left they didn’t use. Line up all the eliminated contestants? Force that last one? Sing off? Draw lots?

Not sure we were in that spot here - the editing means they could juggle the montages and save the dramatic steal for the end. Oh well.

Next week we get Knockouts. Yay!

44

Agree 100%. I can’t believe that Pharrell OK-ed that or that none of the other judges commented on it.

45

I thought it was funny tonight that Danica did “Saving All My Love For You” for her fiance. Guess she doesn’t know it’s a song about cheating.

Anyway, my opinions:

Team Gwen
Bryana “Heart Attack” vs Sugar “Love on Top” - I thought that Sugar was far superior myself, but Gwen disagreed. I’m glad Pharrell saved her.

Team Blake
James “You’ve Got a Friend” vs Griffin “As Long as You Love Me” - I thought James was superior and thankfully so did Blake.

Team Pharrell
Danica “Saving All My Love For You” vs Katriz “Superwoman” - Danica was good, but she lacked the gravelly voice I think that song needs, but I still picked her over Katriz, and so did Pharrell.

Team Adam
Damien “How Do I Live” vs Toia “Crazy in Love” - I thought Damien was really good, but I thought Toia was better with her energetic performance. She owned the stage and engaged the audience. For some reason Adam picked Damien, and even worse, no-one saved Toia. I was really surprised about that.

Team Blake
Jessie “Your Song” vs Tanner “Calling All Angels” - When Jessie went from soft to loud she seemed to be doing two different styles, the part where the lyrics go “I’ve forgotten if they’re green, or they’re blue,” sounded so completely different from the rest of the song, and then settled down and sung like had been doing before. Anyeay, Tanner, on the one hand sounded like a kid, but on the other he was very consistent, and so I would have picked him.

Team Pharrell
Luke “Rich Girl” vs Taylor “Rather Be” - I liked Luke’s performance, but I thought he needed more passion, or to sing the song more powerfully to do the song justice. As for Taylor, I didn’t care for his voice or style, but despite that, I thought he sang better, so I would have chosen him, and I’m glad he got stolen.

46

And I forgot to ad, I was impressed with Taylor Swift as a coach. She really knows her stuff. I shouldn’t be surprised, but I was.

47

I’m going to back up to last week. It was a strange week. I felt like the people who won didn’t win the round, but I liked them better for different reasons so I’m glad they won.

Damien/Kelly - I agreed that Damien was better. He has more subtlety and emotion.

Jessie/Ryan - Ryan all the way. Jessie came across badly. I didn’t get why Blake stole her (although I found out later). Ryan’s voice was much stronger.

Blessing/Katriz - For me, Blessing was far better. I felt like Katriz was just on the side playing cheerleader. Yes, she was working hard. . .just to stay in the song. But I like Katriz, so I’m glad Pharrell picked her and Blessing got stolen.

Ethan/Matt - That one seemed unfair to me. Matt sounded more like the original because Adam told him to break his voice like the original. He told Ethan not to break which made it sound too different. But Matt does have something intangible because I would have picked him also.

Bree/Taylor - Bree’s voice got lost. It wasn’t powerful enough to get across next to Taylor. Taylor also has that brassy quality that makes her stand out. Taylor was the win for me.

DaNica/Toia - I thought Toia did better than DaNica in that round. But DaNica has subtlety that Toia doesn’t have. I was so sure that Pharrell was going with the younger and prettier Toia, but I’m glad he went with DaNica.

Brittany/Ricky - That one was so disjointed as others have already pointed out. It was hard to pick a winner on that. Ricky sang it more straight. Brittany tried to put her stamp on it, but against the more traditional version, it just seemed out of place. She was so sad to lose that it was sad. I wasn’t a big fan of hers, but she did have a style of her own.

Kensington/Regan - I felt like Kensington won that battle. But I can see why Blake didn’t want to take a chance on her health. Regan also has a pretty big personality. But Kensington’s voice was bigger and more consistent. It was so weird that they were praising Regan for missing a word. Still, I think I like Regan better as a personality so I was OK with the pick.

Beth/Mia - That one was tough. Adam told them to strip it down and Beth had too much embellishment, but I still felt like she outdid Mia because she stood out more. But I can see why someone else might say it was distracting. I’m not sure why but I don’t really care for Mia. I think her voice seems plain to me. I’m glad that Beth was stolen.

This season is pretty weird. The matches and the picks are blowing out talent left and right. The steals are evening out the talent level.

48

I almost forgot about Tuesday.

Team Gwen
Troy “Hey Ya” - I thought it started out horrible and then improved to bad.
Taylor “Mad World” - A wonderful job. And I say this as someone who really prefers the original to the remake version Taylor sang. But when Taylor sang it I really enjoyed it. I’m glad he won.

Team Adam
Alessandra “Next to Me” - I thought she did a very good job.
Mia “Human” - Pretty good, but I didn’t think it was as good. Adam obviously preferred it though.

Team Pharrell
Elyjuh “With You” - It was pretty good.
Ricky “Wrecking Ball” - I thought he did a better job and I’m glad that Gwen stole him.

49

On to last night.

Bryanna/Sugar - I’m not a big fan of Bryanna. I didn’t like her in the blinds much at all. But I do have to admit that she did a lot of vocal acrobatics in that song. She did all the things that Taylor was talking about, going from loud to soft and really quickly. I was listening for that because of their session, so I felt like it was great she did all that. I’m not a Sugar fan either. The coaches have been raving about Sugar. I don’t get it. I didn’t get it in this performance either, so I didn’t understand the steal by Pharrell.

James/Griffin - James didn’t win it as much as Griffin lost it. That was a weird song choice and all that hand-waving didn’t help. I wasn’t a big James fan in the blinds. I’m still not seeing what others see in him. But he’s consistent and solid.

DaNica/Katriz - I’m not sure what to say about this one. Putting them together was a heartbreaker to start. It’s obvious that Pharrell really likes DaNica. She’s OK, but I’m not seeing it. Between the two, Katriz shows her youth. But I can’t believe that Maiya and Katriz are out and Elyjuh is in. That’s just crazy to me. Even the Hulu highlights are questioning how Katriz could be out at this point. I’m getting the feeling that the coaches, especially Pharrell, are going to be shocked at America’s choices.

Damien/Toia - Toia won that one, to me. All the coaches agreed except for the coach making the decision. But I can sort of see why. Adam and Taylor really had to work with Toia to get her to where she was. Damien was already set. If Adam picked Toia, he would be taking a big chance that she could pull that off again. All the big ideas came from Taylor. Just like when Griffin did a great performance and all the great ideas came from Alicia, and Griffin bombed in the next round, I think Adam didn’t want to take the chance.

Jessie/Tanner - Jessie was a big surprise. I didn’t think she was good at all in the battles, so I wondered what Blake saw in her. Now I see a little more of what he saw. Tanner is cute but he sounds so young. It’s hard to get over the young voice.

Luke/Taylor - I don’t get why Pharrell puts his superstars together, so one has to get knocked out. Luke did great and so did Taylor, both in their own way. I couldn’t pick one so I’m glad that Adam stole Taylor and they’re both staying.
I’m really enjoying Taylor Swift and Alicia Keys coaching. They’re great at what they do. But I’m starting to notice that although their ideas play out great on the stage, the artist sometimes looks worse in the next round when they have to come with ideas on their own. Sometimes that’s not a great advantage to the contestant because the idea is to get constantly better, not to look worse in the next round without the experts’ help.

On preview: I didn’t see tonight’s (Tuesday) show yet, but I did see a few clips and without seeing it, I’m disagreeing with Nobody about Troy. I felt like Troy’s song was fun and interesting. There hasn’t been enough fun this season. I was shocked when I read that Gwen went with Taylor. His performance was just OK.

50

What does this mean? :confused:

I just noticed, Nobody, that you and I disagreed on most of the people and matches in the last few shows. For me, that just shows how mediocre the talent is this year. People aren’t standing out clearly. At least that’s how it feels to me this season.

51

I just caught the last 2 teams, but I agree with Nobody (hee-hee). I thought both Alessandra and Ricky were the better of their respective pairings. Alessandra has a certain smoky quality to her voice that I like and I’m also glad Ricky was stolen and not let go.

52

That part I agree with both of you.

jimbuff314, thanks for posting. You’re breaking up my would-be triple post here.

I just read the Michael Slezak column. It’s amazing how much I agree with him. He asked the same thing I did. Why did Pharrell put together Luke and Taylor? What kind of strategy is that?!

Anyway, he had a great idea that I really like:

Wouldn’t that be great?! It might get the audience invested much earlier. I’m not sure how it could get done, but an audience save would make the battles and knockouts a bit more engaging. The only thing is that those aren’t done live. I was just thinking that it might give the coaches a clue earlier about what America is thinking.

53

Bryana, “Heart Attack” vs Sugar Joans, “Love on Top” - Something about Bryana’s performance took a bit to engage me. It wasn’t bad, but didn’t draw me in. But by the end there were some nice points. I didn’t care as much for Sugar’s song, and her growling tone was just off-putting. I would have picked Bryana, too.

James, “You’ve Got a Friend” vs Griffin, “As Long as You Love Me” - James had a great sound and great emotion. He made that song really work. Griffin had a curious choice. I don’t think he did as well as his Battle round. I just didn’t connect, and didn’t like the armwaving gesture to the crowd. James was by far better.

Danica, “Saving All My Love For You” vs Katriz, “Superwoman” - I wasn’t as familiar with “Superwoman”, but Katriz sounded good. But Danica is just awesome. She was stellar, and was the winner to me. She’s a strong contender for the winner this season. Katriz was good enough to earn a Steal, but nobody did.

Damien, “How Do I Live” vs Toia, “Crazy in Love” - Damien’s performance was pristine and very emotional. Toia’s was more energetic, and her run was nice, but I liked Damien’s better and I agree with Adam, I think he can go further. Pharrell might have Stolen her if he hadn’t already used his.

Jessie, “Your Song” vs Tanner, “Calling All Angels” - I don’t care for Jessie’s tone, so I didn’t really like that performance. Tanner was pretty good and I would have picked him. I’m not shocked Blake saw it differently.

Luke, “Rich Girl” vs Taylor, “Rather Be” - This was Luke’s best performance IMO. His slow lead in wasn’t great, but his dynamic on stage was good and he sang okay. I enjoyed Taylor better, I think he should have won, I’m glad he was stolen and Adam was the right pick.

To be fair, she didn’t actually choose to sing it for her fiance, that was Pharrell asking her if she has someone in her life, probably trying to give her a focus to pull on the emotion. And she can pull on the emotional connection to her fiance without the whole song meaning that for her.
Troy, “Hey Ya” vs Taylor, “Mad World” - “Hey Ya” isn’t my favorite song, but he had an energetic performance. His theatrics are a bit much, and had some issues with the beginning. (Pitch problems in rehearsals.) Taylor’s “Mad World” was beautiful and elegant and emotional. He’s more developed as a singer. I loved it and agree he won.

Alessandra, “Next to Me” vs Mia, “Human” - Both of these were awesome for different reasons. Hard call here. I liked Alessandra’s run. Mia felt like she fell out of the pocket on the first chorus, but then she broke it up differently with her big note. She gave the payoff with the chorus in the second run. I liked both. Too bad Alessandra wasn’t stolen.

Elyjuh, “With You” vs Ricky, “Wrecking Ball” - I didn’t care for Elyjuh’s song, but he sang well. But there was something lacking in the performance. Ricky was better bringing out a more ballad version of “Wrecking Ball”. I’m not surprised Pharrell went with Elyjuh, thinking he can do better than what he did here. Thanks, Gwen.

I agree that Taylor Swift’s coaching is really good.

And I have to say, it is annoying as hell watching this OnDemand, with the performances separated by a commercial break and you can’t fastforward. It interrupts the flow and comparison.

54

Yeah, Troy was fun, but I thought his singing sucked. Just my opinion.

Even though his voice and singing style weren’t to my personal taste, I thought he was technically good.

Yeah, I have to agree that people aren’t standing out yet. Hopefully that changes.

55

Did you decide not to DVR this season? On Demand is still a tiny bit better than live as far as commercials. They shorten the show down by a few commercials, especially as the show gets older. The play time is less than the air time.

Have you noticed that in the show descriptions, someone likes to use “whom” a lot? It sounds a little stilted. For instance, in the last one, it says something like, the coaches decide on whom to choose instead of the coaches decide who to choose.

It’s just a show description, not Shakespeare.

I won’t really disagree with that, but maybe I wouldn’t go so far as “sucked”. But still, I feel like this season is really lacking fun. Remember Cee Lo’s guy who stood on the piano and sang the Queen song?

Yes, we were all rolling our eyes over that guy, but he added some fun. I feel like the fun is lacking this season.

Thanks. I understand now.

I’m trying to put my finger on why this season is so lackluster for me. People not standing out. Coaches choosing people based on potential instead of proven talent. The lack of just pure fun. As much as I like Pharrell, he mediates all the tension out of the show. That probably works better in real life than for entertainment purposes.

I don’t know. There’s just something missing for me this season.
Last night’s performances. Knock-outs night 2.

Troy/Taylor - I pretty much summed up that battle earlier. I would have liked to see Troy win just out of pure fun. I’m not a Taylor fan, but he did OK.

Alessandra/Mia - I don’t care for Mia. She doesn’t do much for me. And in the intros, she always says that she’s doing this for her parents. Not to support them or anything, but just because she wants them to be able to live through her because they couldn’t have a singing career. It doesn’t seem like she wants this. The tough thing with Alessandra is that she gets nervous. Tough call. It was a toss-up for me, but I might have picked Alessandra just because I don’t care for Mia’s background reason.

Elyjuh/Ricky - This one was shocking and pretty annoying to me. Elyjuh already knocked out Maiya. I’m still not over that. Then Ricky does a better performance with no doubt [no pun] by any of the coaches. And Pharrell picked Elyjuh again. He blew out two good people on Elyjuh’s potential that he hasn’t shown yet. Grrrr.

56

Taylor Swift has surprised me. I’ve never been able to sit through her live performances on shows like dwts. I just don’t get her music.

But, she’s giving some very good performance tips to these singers on the voice. She seems very committed to teaching. She’s doing a good job.

I’m still not excited by any one person so far. I still haven’t learned any of their names. I will after theres a reason too.

57

I keep running into the “full DVR” problem. I have to pick what to record and what to look for OnDemand.

I have noticed that. But no FFW, no slow speed, and if I want to turn on captioning, I have to actually exit OnDemand.

I hadn’t noticed. So, someone who actually knows grammar? Cool.

I think it’s more a form of modesty - shift the focus off herself, her reason is for someone else.

58

So far the highlight this season was making Blake help somebody with a Justin Bieber song. LOL priceless

59

Before giving my opinions, I’m getting tired of Parrell saying, “This is so tough, it’s a tie. I’ll have to go with my gut on this one.” And then of course afterwards when talking to the fellow judges, he explains why it wasn’t a tough decision at all. OK, anyway…

Allision “Sin Wagon” vs Taylor “Landslide” - I liked Taylor better because I connected with her performance emotionally, which means I thought she did a great job connecting with the song emotionally.

Ryan “Miss Independent” vs Beth “Too Little Too Late” - I liked Beth better for reasons I can’t articulate.

Jean “Chandelier” vs Menlik “Could You Be Loved?” - I thought it was close, but I chose Jean because, like Taylor, I thought she had a great emotional connection to her song that Menlik lacked.

Blessing “Your Body’s a Wonderland” vs Chris “(Sitting on) The Dock of the Bay” - First, I love how Blessing picked a pop song because he didn’t want to be pigeonholed as an R&B guy, and then he does the song in an R&B arrangement. Anyway, saying that I would have chosen Blessing because I couldn’t stand Chris’s style.

Grant “Apologize” vs Reagan “Hit 'em Up Style” - I thought Reagan needed more power, but I couldn’t stand Grant’s enunciation of words, so I picked Reagan.

Anita “Rude” vs Craig “Can’t You See” - I thought Craig had more power and command in his voice, so I would have picked him. Although I liked his old hair better. :smiley:

60

I saw most of it last night, but I missed the very beginning. I’ll comment more after I see the whole thing.

But I want to make this comment before I watch it again.

I’m glad that Blake stole back Craig. I felt like Craig should have won out over James. It worked out for Blake and Craig because now Blake has both James and Craig, and James would have left if he hadn’t picked him then. But I still think that Craig won that battle.

And I also don’t care much for the new hair. It’s shinier because he cut off the damaged parts but it looks more feminine on a very masculine guy. It would have been more shocking if he cut his hair very short.