mercfan3

Yea. I think she's actually a good coach. In terms of vocal training, staging, song picks..the actual coaching part. She's bad at getting people to know her contestants (like Adam is.) And she's just not as popular as Adam and Blake so she doesn't have their buffer. If Kimberly was on Blake or Adam's team, she'd still be in the competition. If Joshua was on Christina's, he wouldn't. Sawyer's different though. Sawyer was an automatic win from his audition. So long as she or anyone else kept him, he was going to win.

Michelle Chamuel is also Middle Eastern and Jewish (parents were refugees from Egypt.) She didn't talk about it much and it's not as visible of a minority difference.

Yes it is. She tries very hard to be nice, she just can't do it. :P

It seems like sales for the show were trending in that direction. I wonder if we'll see a difference when school is out (Both college and high school) as I think one of the bigger purposes to bringing Darren in was to try and get a younger crowd and that's where his fans are.

Idol has been terrible for a few seasons now. Candice Glover was excellent, but the talent really ended in Season 11. The Voice got popular and the best amateurs started going there..plus, if you are female..there's no reason to go to Idol. You won't win. Jax can have good performances. She's nothing special. She's not technically great. But occasionally she can be good. Sarina was the only real vocal talent the show had, but of course she was eliminated like..13th or something.

I think Christina struggles with trying to be nice. She wants to give her honest critique, but she knows that makes her unlikable and hurts her team so she tries to say something nice. But it probably hurts her on the inside. (Especially because she knows she's only got this handicap because she's a woman.) That night where she was dropping accidental shade all over the place was the most I've been entertained by any coach not named Shakira. I hope we get honest Christina for the finale. That'll be fun.

I will say, in Pharrell's defense, apparently Koryn is actually extremely religious. I know she puts limits on clothing because of it.

Pivot speaks some truth here. Honestly, this week was the first time I liked India. I know she's a very good technical singer. I just don't like the sound of her voice. Kimberly was the contestant that didn't have a huge fanbase and was only doing well because she was the best every week. Similar to Schuler. The second she wasn't..she was gone. (Matt at least got a second chance thanks to twitter save. Although Carson had said that he was gone without it.) She deserved to be in the finale. This show isn't as bad as Idol because the coach's bring a lot of fans in..minorities on Blake and Adam's team do fine. (Tessanne, Javier, Jermaine). But there's an advantage to being white and male..

The problem is, if Christina doesn't do that with her team, then they go home early. She doesn't have the buffer that Adam and Blake have. I mean, that happened with Pharrell this season too..early front runner Mia went early, didn't have a great song pick..went home. So she's a little stuck.

Christina looked at Pharrell after Sawyer performed in the playoffs and said "You won." She's known.

They say the same thing every time, so I don't mind Adam being goofy.

I don't like it at all. Top half of the dress is pretty..but bottom half isn't..and they don't go together.

Also, another note on Sawyer. A lot of guts to sing "For What It's Worth." He got away with it, and no one really mentioned it..but that's clearly applicable to today. And his original songs suggest to me he knew damn well what he was doing.

I thought Sawyer sounded beautiful on both of his songs, but the staging was a little much for him. They should have kept it simple for one. And stop having him go over to the audience to take their hand. It's cute..but stop. That's not what Sawyer is. Joshua was boring. Doesn't have any range. Doesn't change the phrasing of his songs. Doesn't change dynamics. And has a tendency to sing songs I don't know. At least I knew the first one..and it was pretty..just..as Xtina said..like a lullaby. India deserves to be in the finale. She had to great performances. Good for her. I don't know if she will, but she absolutely deserves it. Meghan..second song was great. That's her style. But she took a bulldozer to Sam Smith's pretty ballad. Let's just keep her in southern rock and blues. Koryn..her first song might have been the worst of the night, and her second might have been the best.

Sawyer's going to dominate more than usual.

It's just incredibly frustrating to be on the other side of it. Yes, people are allowed to like what they like, and assuming it's for cougar reasons isn't fair. But when lesser talented (and that is primarily objective) contestants continuously beat out more talented contestants. And the lesser talented happens to be white and male, and the more talented happens to be either female a minority or both..questioning of what's going on is fair. Now, that really hasn't been a problem with The Voice. (It was clearly an issue with American Idol.) Kim and Mia's elimination was really unfortunate and they went before they should have. And of course we can talk about a few contestants where that might have been the case with (maybe Judith and Sarah, although personally I wouldn't have had them going much further.) Last season, the three white guys happened to be deserving. This season, Sawyer's a wunderkind in the same way that Danielle was. But that's not really a pattern, and we've had two black winners, a mixed winner, three women to four men (relatively even) and plenty of gay contestants in the finale. The show has shown itself to be accepting of diversity and until that changes, I won't get nervous.

That particular song is very difficult to sing, and for whatever reason, the Voice band sped it up. (The difficult part of the song is the breath control so speeding it up made it worse.) I thought she was good once she got to the bridge, but the verses were a problem. My thing with Jacquie is I'm not sure the music she's getting is what she should be singing. She sounds phenomenal on her slowed down acoustic version of Sia's "Chandelier" or Beyonce's "Pretty Hurts"..I think she needs a little more soul and blues and a little less electronic pop rock. But they seem to be marketing her towards the disney fanbase, and that's probably what they'll eat up.

By unfair, I just mean that I think 99% of the contestants that have ever performed on the show come up short when comparing them to Kim. :) She wasn't my favorite, but she's damn good. If I was ranking the "total package" contestants (Ie..great singers and great performers) she'd be near the top. And I think "good" is an opinion..but at the same time, there's some objective criteria to that. He's not butchering a song every week..to the point where he's taking someone else's spot unfairly.. is really what I mean. Reagan James, for example. That's a young kid who truly butchered a few songs before her exit. I wouldn't want her to stay around just because she was clearly full of potential because she wasn't performing well. And yes, Sawyer reminds me a bit of Hanson, like he's their long lost little brother or something. Totally a fan of there, twenty years later (or whatever it is). They essentially wrote a mo-town record when they were like, ten. That's cool. I actually think Sawyer would do well with a few of their newer, piano driven ballads. (Or even an old one like "Song to Sing.") They've got some truly beautiful songs.

I feel like they do because so few youngsters have been able to. And the only reason why I say that for them is because contestants like Danielle and Sawyer are not only full of potential, but they also are consistent. I wouldn't say that if he was stinking up the place but showed a few signs of potential. But he's not..he's a good performer every week, which really can't be said for everyone. Is Kim better? Yes. Objectively yes. But that's probably a little unfair...how many contestants were as good as Kim?

I don't think Koryn is like Meghan. Meghan's verses are almost full belt, Koryn doesn't start that loud. She builds up to it..(and builds up to it quickly) but she's still capable of subtle. To me, Joshua is kind of vanilla. Sure, he's folk..but he's also not expressive in any sense of the word. Like, there's no emphasis in any of his lyrics. He rarely gets louder or softer in his songs. And..and this is probably why I struggle with him, it's rare that I know his songs. But that's not to say I don't think he's good. I think he's very skilled, but perhaps not the most talented. I just have a preference for other performers. That being said, it's easily foreseeable that I might enjoy a Joshua album more than some of the others. But with Sawyer, I would say it would be tough to say he's not unique. Sure, he's not the best performer in the world. But there are plenty of performers that sit and play the guitar and that's what they do. But his tone is so different, particularly coming from someone so young. Up until this season, we've only had three teens in the finale (and only two that should have been in the finale..) so even if he's not the best contestant (it's hard for a teen to be) the fact that he's always somewhere between really solid to good is impressive in itself. Explosive contenders like Bria Kelly ended up not being able to do that. And then..who he is..he's a homeschooled kid that grew up on a farm. Sure, there are a lot of people that eat that up...but that is an unusual circumstance to find someone like that. In fact, that last person on a singing show in a similar circumstance was Carrie Underwood. That all being said. Kim's elimination still hurts. I'm all in for Sawyer..and the competition is essentially over. But Kimberly was one of the best contestants the show has ever had, and I wanted her around for entertainment purposes.

Ed Sheeran is a WGWG. Not in the negative term people can use..but he literally does what WGWG are supposedly good at. (Singer/songwriter..takes popular songs and makes cool acoustic arrangements of them. I can't tell you how many times I've listened to his arrangement of "Drunk In Love") So any song anyone sings of his counts, IMO. (Especially considering Matt sang that last season.) Now, I think Koryn is best at her pop/rock lane. But if she wanted to be subdued she could. (In a way that I don't think Meghan or India could.)

The same dude threw a "rock" at The Rock last week. My guess is he just likes to be a jerk with puns.

I would actually be willing to bet that Koryn could do what Sawyer and Joshua do. Actually, she has. Her best performance of the Season came on a WGWG style song. Now, she belted the last part of it, but she can clearly sing in a subtle way.

Want another shocker.. I'm about 90% sure that Sawyer's range is bigger than Meghan and Kimberly's. No one would ever guess it, but I'm pretty sure Meghan's range (much smaller than I initially thought..but it's because she's so powerful) is A#3-G5 ...I really can't believe this, but I have yet to find a performance where she sings lower than that A..and Kimberly's is E3-E5. Once again, I figured she was more..but they're both just so powerful I assumed their range was bigger. Meanwhile, Sawyer's range (From performances on the show) seems to be G2-A4. (Confident about the G2..it sure seems like he could sing higher than the A4, but he hasn't on the show.) I will say, in Meghan's defense..Blake doesn't pick songs that show off a singer's range. But even still, she changes notes in a song to avoid singing lower than the A#3, which means, at the very least, she's not confident in singing lower.

Pharrell is letting his contestants chose this season. It's worked for Sawyer and Koryn, but "Miss You" is probably what sent Mia home. That's not a bad way to do things, but he does need to learn to step in. And Pharrell is doing much better than last season. Has this show really ever been about the alternative? People like to wash away the first two seasons, but even if you don't..two very bland guys won. Cassadee and Terry were bland. Interesting contestants like Amanda and Melanie went home the same time as Kimberly. Season 4? Okay..there was Michelle. But Usher and her made sure she was relatable to middle America..and of course Danielle and The Swons..once again not really alternative. Tessanne? She's a diva. A great diva. But she sang diva songs. Jacquie started off cool and different..a bluesy rock flavor..but ended up singing Diva songs. Not alternative. Season 6? Okay, Grimmie was something different. But I really don't know how far she gets without her huge fanbase. And Josh Kaufman and Jake Worthington were very white bread. Last season..The Finale consisted of a WGWG, an old school R&B singer, a guy who wanted to be an old school R&B singer but Adam wouldn't let him, and a country singer. once again..white bread. I thought this season consisted of two eliminations that shouldn't have happened..which is rare..(Mia and Kimberly). Usually the eliminations make sense..even when Schuler or Brown were eliminated it was after a not so great performance. But I think that's actually a reflection of people being really really good this season. Sure, Team Blake stuck around longer than it should (as always..and by Team Blake I mean Corey.) But I also don't think people give Joshua and Sawyer enough credit because of the demographics they appeal too. Meghan..I don't know how I feel about her. Can she sing soft? Like..once? Head voice? does she have that? Koryn is interesting to me..but she needs to stop being so passionate..she shakes..and it's the same emotion every time. India? She's the blandest of the bunch to me...and she should have been the one to leave this week. She starts off good, but then the song just goes south.