The Voice - Season 7

Cafe Society
81

Wow, we are in such a different place on tonight’s show. For me, it was a dreadful night of horrible song choices and song styles.

Matt McAndrew started out the night, and it wasn’t bad, but it was missing something. I wanted it to kick up tempo and energy. The louder part was still slow, and it just didn’t excite me. It’s a shame, because I like him, but haven’t been happy the last few weeks with the songs he’s doing.

Then Anita - reggae, ugh. Okay, objectively, there were a couple of notes that sounded flat, and she missed the lyrics. She kept singing “you only miss the road when you’re missing home”. That doesn’t even make sense. The right word is “hate”.

Then was Damien. Gah, that was dreadful. I think he sang fine, but the song style was horrid. I mean, I was so tempted to fast forward. I kept listening, but I tuned out and couldn’t pay attention. My worst performance for the night for that reason.

Then was Reagan James doing “I’m So Fancy”. Meh. Her breathy voice didn’t work at all in the rap portion. Yeah, she kept on tempo and beat, but not particularly what I care for.

It’s ironic, the first performance I really liked was the country song. I thought Craig Wayne Boyd really delivered.

Then it was Luke Wade, who I still don’t want to listen to. He had a good performance, but meh for me.

Finally we get to the part of the show that was better.

Danica Shirey was just about perfect. I put hers tops for me.

Ryan Sills was the surprise of the night. He found a song that worked with his voice - Muse makes sense for him. This was clearly his best performance, and pretty good for the night.

Tyler John Williams did “Come Together”, which is a kinda weird song and not my fave, but it worked for him and he had a solid performance.

Rounding out the night was Chris Jamison, again a song that was meh but a great performance.

I don’t know what America’s going to do, because the audience enjoyed stuff that made me gag. For these performaces, I’d put the bottom two as Damien and then Anita, but on overall performance record, I’d swap out Damien for either Reagan James or Luke Wade.

82

Craig Wayne Boyd and Danica Shirley were the only two performances I could stomach. The rest butchered their songs or had bad song choices to go with their voice. Trying to turn Fancy into a ballad was asinine.

83

Only reality show I watch, but ironically when the best voice (Jessie) on The Voice was eliminated, I will probably wait until next season to tune in again. I like the voice because, for me that’s what it is all about, the singing. I really don’t care for the “showmanship” like squinting as though you are suffering a migraine to hit a high note or squatting like you are constipated in order to relate your feelings to the audience.

The “reality” of Jessie’s elimination demonstrates the power of the teen and pre-teen vote. Reagan James by most other accounts, was ranked as one of poorer contentestants. Abysmal was one comment that may have been over the top, but she and Jones I felt were among the poorer performers throughout the contest.

84

If you mean Jessie Pitts, I’m a little surprised. What did you like about her voice? I wasn’t seeing what you were seeing.

As for last night’s show, I ran out of time to watch the whole thing. I watched the second half live and the rest via clips. Based on that, I loved Craig’s performance. Danica was OK.

I’ll split the difference between Nobody and Irishman. I thought a few good performers were excellent and a few performers were pretty ugh.

I’m voting for Reagan, Ryan and then Anita/Taylor (tied) for the bottom three. I’m OK with Reagan and Ryan going home.

85

I was unfamiliar with most of the songs, so the fact that some of them got changed to different genres didn’t bother me, because I didn’t know how they were supposed to sound in the first place.

86

The save me songs were just finished on the west coast. My opinions.

Regan James - Singing seems hard for her. She was breathy, using vibrato to try and hide the fact that she can’t hold any notes. That was awful.

Anita Antoinette - Definitely better than Regan. And hey, she didn’t do reggae, a definite plus for me. And boy can she hold a note. But I’ve never been that crazy about her, and this performance didn’t make me feel any different.

Ryan Sills - Did way better than the other two. Although I think that overall he’s not a great singer, just based solely on this performance he should be saved over Regan and Anita.

87

That instant save was pretty unavoidable. I don’t get why Reagan has been breathy in the last few songs. I don’t remember her doing that in the beginning. But now she makes me want to breathe for her because she sounds like she can’t. I liked her as a personality, but that breathing thing got weird. Anita hit a note that was so bad I heard it from the next room and cringed. I was hoping she’d take it, but not with that performance. That left Ryan. I liked his song choice, and he did a decent job. He didn’t win it more than the other two lost it.

I just saw the results. Sounds like Nobody called it right.

88

I have noticed her going downhill for the last few shows. Her “taking chances” was not working for her. MUCH better when she started out, and her song choices were better for her. Not sure how much of this was her fault, and how much was Blake’s.

Ryan was far better than the other two. Anita sang well on earlier nights, but I have not thought she was up to par a few times now. Hit a bad note last night!

Ryan needs experience, but he has something! Thought he sang Collide very well, and deserved the save.

Craig Wayne Boyd was tremendous. Expect to see him near or at the end, but they love Matt so much, that it might be a fist fight!! Danika has a great voice, but I just don’t think I would pay to see a concert of hers. Nice lady though. The rest are very good, and it will be close. Song choice is so important. Adam is good at promoting Chris, but some nights, he is not that great at all! Luke and Taylor are different, and can surely sing. Damien sings so well, but, he is so much like so many out there already.

89

I think she’s been doing it all along.

Amen.

I thought that song worked really well for Ryan. Another good choice. My mom didn’t like it because she didn’t think it was big enough.

90

I propose a collective “WTF?” for the Pharrell/Gwen number and we never speak of it again.

91

Yeah, that and the opening number were pretty repetitive and sucky.

Actually, the whole show to me was pretty meh. It was so lackluster. The only two artists I liked were Chris Jamison and Luke Wade.

Ryan Sills “Open Arms” - OK, but needed more passion.

Craig Wayne Boyd “Take it Easy” - OK. Was his voice off? Something seemed different.

DaNica Shirey “These Dreams” - OK, but I wasn’t crazy about the arrangement.

Damien “Someone Like You” - Meh.

Chris Jamison “Sexual Healing” - First song of the night I liked.

Luke Wade “Holding Back the Years” - Good singing except for the chorus, which was pretty weak.

Taylor John Williams “Royals” - OK.

Matt McAndrew “The Blower’s Daughter” - First, lame title. Kind of sounds like a porno. Second, to me, it started out bad, got better, then got bad again.

I feel like with all these song choices and arrangements tonight was for the ladies. Soft, sensitive songs, sung in soft, sensitive ways.

92

I was going to ask if we could vote them off the show.

My opinion is a bit different than Nobody’s.

Ryan Sills, “Open Arms” - I was just thinking about getting some Journey, except I was thinking Matt McAndrew. Ryan did okay, though a couple notes were off.

Craig Wayne Boyd, “Take it Easy” - Craig doing a very country version of the song, but basically doing his thing. It’s hard to root against him when he is so consistent.

DaNica Shirey, “These Dreams” - I get nervous whenever anyone does a Heart song. I’m just too connected with the originals. I did not like that arrangement at all. I give it to DaNica for the chorus, but the verses just didn’t work for me. To be fair, much of that falls on Pharrell for the song choice and arrangement. Maybe America will give her more credit.

Damien, “Someone Like You” - I really did not like his pacing or his flourishes. My mom is rooting for him, but that performance wasn’t great. Too bad, the song was worthy.

Chris Jamison, “Sexual Healing” - Dreck lyrics, but good performance and great sound.

Luke Wade, “Holding Back the Years” - That arrangement might have been interesting is performed by someone who can sing. More Luke Wade voice. Bleh.

Taylor John Williams, “Royals” - I enjoyed it. He redid it to his style and it worked.

Matt McAndrew, “The Blower’s Daughter” - Best performance of the night, IMO. Didn’t know the song, had to look it up. Still don’t know what “the blower’s daughter” means. Finally got a song that wasn’t dreadful.

Tonight, three go home. I’d pick Luke Wade, Ryan Sills, and Damien.

Ryan’s performance was better than Danica’s, but overall she’s been better, that was just a lousy arrangement and song choice. Damien has some talent, but I think I’m tired of his thing. Chris Jamison is coming on strong. He’s a dark horse for the win, but he’s found his groove. Craig Wayne Boyd has strong chances.

Danica may fall into the trap that’s hit a number of early leaders in previous years. They get trapped up by one odd choice relatively late in the game and get booted by people who eek out a decent set. Be a shame for her to go home over this.

93

Daughter of a glass blower maybe? :smiley:

94

Just saw the save songs. I like Chris. We’ll see how it goes.

95

A Blazer’s game was played over the first half hour, but I also saw the second half. I totally agreed with the instant save votes for best and worst performances.

Adam has a good chance of winning. If he does, I say him and Blake have to stay off a season or two and give some other coaches a chance (and/or Usher a shot at a second win).

Edit: By the way Heffalump and Roo, what did you think of Monday’s show?

96

Aw, crap, Damien made top 4. I know my mom will be happy, but I coulda done without him. And I thought for sure Chris would be top 4.

I thought DaNica did really well in the sing off, but I’m okay with Chris. At least Luke Wade is finally gone.

[QUOTE=Nobody]
Daughter of a glass blower maybe?
[/QUOTE]

I thought of that, but there’s literally nothing else in the song to give context.

97

Over-all Luke was my least favorite, so I’m not sad to see him go, but starting with the live rounds DaNica surprised me and started growing on me, so I’m a little sad to see her go.

And I’ve gotta say, even though Adam has all three of his contestants Craig looks like a very strong contender to win. I’d be happy for him if he did, but another win would make Blake that much more annoying.

Right now, over-all I have Damien and Craig tied for the two top contestants. I mean in my opinion. I have no idea how America is ranking them. Although to me Damien is starting to be become a one note (no pun intended) singer. I think he needs to change it up a little. A more upbeat song would be nice.

And Craig seems pretty consistent to me, except for last night. It was probably just me, but there seemed something different about his voice. I almost want to say breathy, but I know that’s not right. Kind of hoarse? No. Anyway, he’s pretty good. For a country singer that is. :smiley:

98

I hope that doesn’t happen. I think the show might get really boring if that happens. There really seems to be some kind of art to winning that show that the new coaches don’t seem to get. Pharrell started off with all the talent. I didn’t see how he could lose, but he’s already out of the game before the semifinals. His choices were bad. He blew out his best talent and then picked the wrong choices for the remaining.

I saw an interview with Blake this season (not sure if it was also on the show) where he said that winning isn’t really just a fluke as he usually says. It takes some deliberate choices along the way. He jokes around a lot, but I believe that.

At this point, it can only really be Blake or Adam (unless the wild card changes the game). Pharrell is totally out, and if Taylor wins, that would be beating the odds by a mile.

I really don’t see what America sees in Matt, although I really liked Take me to church. He’s been in the top 10 twice and Craig has been in the top 10 once. That stacks the deck against the others, although it’s still possible, I guess. It would really be incredible if the wild card won the show, but that’s hard to believe at this point. The top 4 get a chance to get better and better each week. Usually, when they bring back the bottom 12 (of the top 20), you can see the difference between them and the top 4. If one of the bottom 8 (of the top 12) wins it, that would be amazing.

Thanks for asking! :slight_smile:

Like you, I thought the show was pretty lackluster. I hope we don’t have to hear that Gwen/Pharrell song all year. Yikes!

Ryan - He takes every song and makes it sound the same - very vanilla. But he seems like a nice guy. I felt his attitude was a little backward. He seemed bummed that he was in the bottom 3. It probably would have been better for him if he was happy to be saved every week because that was amazing all in itself. I would have voted him off weeks ago but everyone else messed up.

Craig - Sounded like he was phoning it in. It was pretty bland, but it wasn’t bad. I’m rooting for him, but he has to keep improving and Walk the Line was tough to beat. But he could have done it, I think. After this close call to get booted off, I hope he kicks into high gear next week.

DaNica - She was right about the song. Pharrell was wrong. It didn’t fit her voice. She said so, but had to appease Pharrell. She paid for it.

Damien - I haven’t been a fan. He’s so sappy. I kept thinking that Adele’s version was much more ballsy. Every song he sings is so angsty, but that’s not an angsty song. She broke up with the guy. There’s some in-your-face in that song that he didn’t capture.

Chris - He did a pretty good job with the melody, but that song is a sexy song that, as Gwen mentioned, is pretty inappropriate if you listen to the words because it’s from a different time.

Taylor- I’m not a Taylor fan, but I thought he did the best of the night. He changed the song up, but it seemed to work.

Luke - I agree with Adam that he’s thinking about it too much. He seemed really stiff and rehearsed. Despite that, he did a decent job with it.

For the saves, I can’t believe Luke lost his song AGAIN! That’s amazing. I hadn’t seen it ever happen before, but he’s done it twice. So he was right out. DaNice’s song was missing something. She missed that one part of the song that’s instantly recognizable. I missed it, so she was right out for me. Ryan was Ryan, another vanilla version. That left Chris.

The bringbacks weren’t very impressive. I was hoping not to see RaeLynn again. It bugged me when she sang, God made (breathe) girls. It was such an odd phrasing for a song she wrote. I was a Christina fan and like her voice, but there were a couple notes in that song that screeched a bit. She also did some online stuff with the contestants this year. They’ve done this for the past 3 years. The alumnist asks whacky stuff to throw off the contestants, then they put it in a clip. It’s not as funny as they seem to think. Still, I’m a Christina fan.

After reading you both asking about The Blower’s Daughter, I had to look it up. I found an explanation on songmeanings.com that looked so incredible that I’m linking it. It’s the first explanation. According to that incredible version, a blower is a telephone. It was a relationship started on the phone by a call center operator (songwriter was one). He was supposed to be talking to the girl’s father to sell him something. He talked to a girl on the phone for over a month on company time. She stopped answering so he went to her house and found out that she was a schoolgirl who had been playing with him during school break.

99

I’ll just jump into my opinions.

Damien “She’s Out of My Life” - I love a sappy love song every now and gain, but he’s doing them way to much. Having said that, I thought it was very well sung.

Craig Wayne Boyd “Working Man Blues” - His attitude was great. He owned the stage. His singing however, I didn’t find so great.

Taylor John Williams “Falling Slowly” - Pretty good, but it sounds like he got caught up in the emotion and his song suffered a little.

Matt McAndrew “Make it Rain” - I thought he did a really good job.

Chris Jaminson “Sugar” - Good song choice, he does a good falsetto. I thought his performance was pretty good. But I didn’t find those guitar girls sexy. In fact, I could have done without them.

Damien “I Don’t Want to Wait” - Hey, got a little energetic. That’s more like it.

Mat McAndrew “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” - Great. He kind of sounded like Bono.

Craig Wayne Boyd “The Old Rugged Cross” - I never heard of it, by my wife said it was her mother’s favorite song. Anyway, I thought this performance as better than the last.

Taylor John Williams “Blank Space” - Not quiet as good as his last performance.

Chris Jasmin “When I Was You Man” - Very good performance.

100

Damien, “She’s Out of My Life” - I thought this was a great song choice and a great performance. This was the Damien I loved and thought could and should win. Second best performance of the night.

Damien, “I Don’t Want to Wait” - I appreciate that he got some upbeat energy going, but for some reason I can’t articulate, I didn’t really care for this performance. I noticed him dropping out words, but that’s not all of it. Not as solid.

Craig Wayne Boyd, “Working Man Blues” - Country song, meh, but excellent performance. He’s very solid.

Craig Wayne Boyd, “The Old Rugged Cross” - Oh God, what the fuck, don’t force this shit on me. :mad: Okay, personal taste aside, another very strong performance. Craig was the most consistent of the night and should be in finals.

And Pharrell, shut the fuck up.

Taylor John Williams, “Falling Slowly” - Overall it wasn’t bad, but it was a bit pitchy in the quiet part at the beginning and a bit gaspy.

Taylor John Williams, “Blank Space” - More of the same - pitchy and gaspy. I’d put his performances on bottom.

Matt McAndrew, “Make it Rain” - Very solid performance.

Matt McAndrew, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” - Great. And yes, he did sound like Bono.

Chris Jamison, “Sugar” - I didn’t care as much for this performance, primarily the normal voice at the beginning. The Maroon 5 version will probably be okay.

Chris Jamison, “When I Was Your Man” - Best performance of the night, IMO.

To me, Craig was most consistently best even though I wasn’t thrilled. Matt was pretty consistent and just below Craig.

Chris had the top performance, but his other was only okay. Damien had second best performance, but his other was also only okay. I’d give the edge to Chris for his overall improvement.

Taylor John Williams had two performances that lacked something.

I don’t know what America is going to do. I suspect they will vote more on personalities than performances at this point.

I’d probably pick Craig, Matt, Chris, but I can see Damien make it.