It’s a surround problem. HD is usually broadcast in 5.1, and you are probably hearing only the left and right channels without the center, which is where they put the voices. If your provider has SD and HD feeds of the same channel, switch to the SD if you ever have this problem.
All of the remaining contestants on this show are really good. Any one of them could have won ‘American Idol’.
I think the weakest link of the bunch is probably Vicci. Not because she’s bad - I enjoyed her performance - but because she’s not quite as good as the rest of them. But it’s close, and I’d understand anyone who feels differently.
I think Blake Shelton has the right idea - Xenia has more potential than anyone else on the show, because it’s not enough to just have a great voice anymore - you need a great unique voice with some compelling qualities. Being the next Britney or Whitney is not enough - we’ve already filled our quota of those. To become a real star, you have to bring something unique to the table. Either great songwriting, or great musicianship, or a unique voice.
I’ve downloaded a few of the studio performances for the show from iTunes, and Xenia sounds awesome in studio. She’s got a voice that could melt butter. I could listen to her sing the phone book. It’d put me to sleep, but it would be pleasant. Give her great material, and she can be very, very good and unique. The “Price Tag” studio version is great.
When the show started, I hated Beverly. I thought she was just a half-crazy person with a bit of talent and a lot of forced ‘attitude’. But she’s proved me wrong. She really has a wonderful voice and she really expresses the music well. I really, really liked her tonight.
I don’t know what to think about Javier. Yes, he’s got a fantastic voice, but he does a lot of annoying things with it. His mentor almost had to beat him with a club to get him to tone down all the little gimmicky flourishes, and he still loaded up his performances with them. He’s kind of like the ‘Voice’ version of Casey Abrams from American Idol, who despite being told repeatedly that his vocal ‘stylings’ were kind of annoying, grunted himself right out of the competition. Of course, Javier is a much better singer than Casey was, so maybe he’ll get away with that.
Dia Frampton is pretty good, but her voice has a little too much ‘little girl’ in it for my taste. Of course, she’ll probably sell 12 million copies of her live album, so long as she puts a vocoder on it.
What kind of sucks about this competition is that one of each of the judge’s team has to go home. That could easily result in the 2nd and 4th best singers being booted off the show before the 7th and 8th best singers are. I’d keep Dia and Xenia over Vicki and one or two of the others, but one of those two girls has to go home tomorrow no matter what.
I understand that you can’t have one of the celebrity judges eliminated two weeks before the series ends, but it would be nice if there was some way to correct for that without risking having the best singers go home early.
Add me to the “Whooo” head shake hate list. Terrible habit.
Dia was good. Really most everybody except Xenia. She sings too softly. There’s no inflection in her voice at all. I do see potential in her talent. She needs a couple years in a local band while in college. The performing experience would do her a lot of good.
Still not a fan of Frenchie. There’s something too slick and polished about her. She’s more of a musical theater performer than a recording artist.
Nakia got my votes this week. He’s got a lot of potential. Liking Casey Weston more and more each week. I don’t think she’ll win, but I can easily see a big career ahead for her.
I’m not really loving Frenchie, either. I can’t quite put my finger on what’s wrong with her voice - when she sings louder, it’s great. When she sings quieter, she seems to get screechy and uncertain.
I’m going to have to listen to some studio work from Xenia - I hear hints of greatness in her voice, but her tentative stage performance sort of steps on it.
I really like Vicci Martinez, too - if we could blend Xenia’s voice with Vicci’s stage presence…
Xenia - studio version of Falling To Pieces. It’s driving me crazy - who does she sound like?
She sounds like a cross between Norah Jones, Amy Winehouse and Kim Carnes.
I think you’ve nailed it (maybe not quite as raspy as Kim Carnes - give her a few years with cigarettes and whiskey).
By the way, how are you getting a video that’s blocked for me? (The Norah Jones one.) If you’ve got a good US IP spoofer, let me know what it is! 
I don’t know. I just connected through my shaw account. I didn’t do anything special.
Semi-final results tonight.
Couple surprises. At least they were too me.
[spoiler]Javier, Dia, Beverly, Vicci Martinez. By far Beverly was the biggest shocker. I plan to mute her next week. If I hear another damn whooo / head shake the tv is going through a window. Vicci is the one that does the constipated shit stomp every time she sings. Hard to believe that beat Nakia.
Guess I don’t know what America likes. [/spoiler]
Hats off to Blake for going above and beyond to help his 2 semi-finalists. First he included them in his semi-final personal performance. Something none of the other coaches did. Then, he takes them to one of his concerts and lets them perform with him again on that new song. Incredible generosity from the big guy.
Really I don’t think there were any losers tonight. Given this shows ratings, I think all four semi-finalists will be getting various offers from the music people.
I’ve wondered if any of the music companies have a mentoring program? Seems logical to groom new talent. Maybe send them out to perform on a regional tour and get experience before recording them.
I had problems the first couple shows, but not lately.
Well, it’s a bit much, but she wouldn’t be the first musician with some gimmick. Think Michael Jackson. Or Mick Jagger. Steven Tyler.
Plausible. Even musicians can’t follow everything.
See, I think she’s better than several others, especially Nakia. Not that he hasn’t done well - he keeps impressing me. But I keep hearing things from him that just aren’t right - like the soft part at the beginning of his song seemed flat or something.
Yes, his last performance he was finally able to sing the melody simply, hitting the notes of the song. It was his best performance yet. If he can tame his instincts to show off, he’s the best one out there.
Yeah, there’s something in her tone that is just… I don’t know how to describe it. That, and every once in while she enunciates something weird. She’s clearly a more developed artist than any of the others. It shows in the way she takes and reworks the songs she’s performing. She has a clear vision of who she is and her musical style.
That’s true. You have to hope that it washes out in the end - the best of Team Christina will be up against the best of Team Adam, against the Best of Team Cee Lo, against the best of Team Blake. When those 4 go head to head, the best one there wins. If that happens, does it really matter that the one who beat Xenia was Dia and not Javier?
Yes, some experience in some form of public performance - whether in a local band or a choir group or whatever. It’s all confidence. When she opens up, it’s amazing.
I had these 4 pegged. I was a little worried for Beverly over Frenchie, but after hearing the comment about the trending online, and her being #1, I totally expected her win.
Yeah, he’s a class act, and is definitely doing his best for his team.
That would be a great outcome.
Dang it! I forgot to watch! Oh well - the outcome doesn’t surprise me too much, either. I have to say, I’m a little disappointed in Frenchie - when I saw her audition for American Idol, I thought she was a major talent, but I’m backing off a little on that.
I watched for a couple of minutes to see what Javier was doing. A decade ago he spent a couple of years as the singer for my favorite band. He left because he got offered a solo record contract, and as they said on the show, it didn’t work out and he was dropped from the label. He’s very Stevie Wonder-y and can really sing, although I’d like to see him marry that to something with more substance.
Actually, I think if he would just put his hat on straight…
Just watched the Finale episode tonight. Final Results voting on now, results tomorrow night.
Some really good performances tonight, both the individual original songs and the duets. Glad I don’t have to vote on the duets.
On the duets, I really liked Adam and Javier doing “Man in the Mirror”. Vicci and Cee Lo doing “Love is a Battlefield” rocked hard. Where did they get those kids? They were excellent dancers. I liked the “warrior” theme and the punk look. I also liked Beverly and Christian doing “Beautiful”, though perhaps they suffered a bit from the Javier Colon syndrome. Dia and Blake were fine.
From the individual performances, they were all excellent. It was probably Dia’s best yet, though she still had her tonal thing a bit. Javier really managed to dial it in and not overdo the flair. Beverly’s was really good, too, but I really think Vicci’s was best. She didn’t do a thing wrong, was spot on, and really sold the emotion and feel. So she’s my pick.
I see they’ve taken the suggestion (if they didn’t have it already) and will have the top 8 finalists touring the country - dates announced were Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, New York City, and a couple other places. Nothing near Texas, though. (Vegas isn’t near Texas).
Whoever wins, all 4 are excellent, and there may be other opportunities out of this. Comments before about how unfair they competed within their teams up till this week, so conceivably the 13th and 14th best were in longer than the 3rd and 4th best. But I have to say I mostly agree with the outcomes. Perhaps we didn’t see enough of Tje and Nikki, who were both eliminated in the battle rounds and were really close calls, to see if they could have won. But other than that, I’m not disappointed at all.
When I saw the line up on stage (what - five guitars?), I was reminded of the Austin City Limits tribute to Walter Hyatt. Which is to say - if you have five freaking guitars on stage, maybe you ought to, I dunno, hear some guitars. Performance from the singers didn’t matter to me, I wanted to hear some guitars.
You know the show is called The Voice, right? Maybe you should check out The Guitar.
Dia is my favorite. I really like her singing style. I predict either she or Javier will win.
Beverly and Christina - that started out okay, but it turned into one of the biggest oversinging-fests I’ve seen in a long, long time.
Adam and Javier - that was good - my only reservation was that their voices are perhaps too similar to make an effective duet.
ETA: Oh yeah, Dia - I still have reservations about her. I actually really liked her original song, but she has some pitch problems. I guess that would all be straightened out in the studio.
Beverly is really good, but I think her key to success is to be very entertaining between songs during her live shows. That’s going to be the thing that makes people think ‘great show’ rather than ‘OK show’.
I can think of a couple of examples that I experienced that help explain what I mean. Way back in college, a roommate invited me to go see Loretta Lynn. Not my cup of tea, but a free show so what the hell. Turns out Loretta can really entertain a crowd between song.
Other example was at a Johnny Cash show, it was near the end of his career and he took ill after about 4 songs into the show. He went backstage, and June Carter took over - same as Loretta, June was a consummate performer on her own and while I did miss Johnny Cash, I didn’t feel like I didn’t get my money’s worth.
If Beverly can entertain like that, she’ll do fine.
That was one of the best things I’ve seen on television in a LONG time! Good job, Cee Lo and Vicci - that was straight out of the 80’s and immensely enjoyable.
I hope they get a host with a pulse next year.
My mom went to see Johnny Cash much earlier in his career, and her experience similar - he showed up very late, mumbled a couple of songs, and took off. I’m sure he gave a few good shows at some point in his career, though.