Kendall

A song filled with examples of coming up short despite being a person that should obviously succeed, is the closest that Billy has ever come to connecting to a song onstage. If he wasn’t worried about performing and had been in his bathroom or managed to tap into one of the darker days of his life or career, that performance would’ve been perfect on every level: professionally, technically, but especially emotionally. But, it was definitely a glimpse of what he has the potential to do, if he’d just let himself do it. I really could’ve done without Courtney singing “If I Could Turn Back Time,” as there were better songs that would’ve met the criteria of 80s Soft Rock and suited her better. But, what she did much better than Sa’Rayah when she sang Bon Jovi, is that she sang the song like Courtney sings music, not like somebody putting on their rock star costume for three minutes. That’s one of the things that I’ve always liked about Blake as a coach, no matter what genre his singer falls under, he showcases their strengths, not his personal likes or dislikes. Aaron Gibson … Elton John … Dave Matthews … One of these things is not like the others. That Miley cracks me up. Billy could have ten vocal cords removed and still be a much better singer than Christian, but if he can’t connect like Christian did to his song, he’s going to continue to be a very frustrated singer with a frustrating career. Austin was good.

But, that's just it, he's not getting "much support" and it appears that viewers don't think he should be on the show, until he's up against a young woman and then suddenly he's the greatest thing evah! This week he received almost 75% of the vote and last week, I think it was over 66%, so for someone that doesn't get much support, it's resounding when he is the opposite choice to a woman. That's where the "TV Boyfriend" trend started with these types of shows. Not everyone's boyfriend is good looking, not every one is tall, talented, muscular or whatever seems superior or "obvious" on paper, but when it's time you save your guy, you defend your guy, you keep your guy and those that technically should surpass your guy, fall short because they aren't "your guy". They aren't a guy. I've heard as much praise and fanfare, if not more, for Darby as I've heard for Aaron, but when she had to go up against him, she didn't stand a chance. To me, they both stink, but not so much of a 3:1 ratio of stink, but that's what happened. I think SaRayah has a decent to good voice, nothing overwhelming, but up against Aaron, she too lost with an almost 3:1 ratio. There have been much closer Twitter saves that a viewer can say "wow, okay, I can see how that one went." I don't think that has happened over the past two weeks.

Hee! As opposed to many, many, many other people that watch and vote for the people that they believe has "actual talent"? Hilarious.

When a singer that is repeatedly in the bottom two and needs to be saved, is then saved by receiving almost 3/4s of the vote, it's people voting for things other than his voice. Yes, the other night had him looking like a serial killer, but a lot of serial killers still get prison pen pals. Your voting habits may be different from other voting habits, but far too often on shows like The Voice, plenty of subpar males, particularly white males (with or without guitars) have continued on further than their actual talent would suggest. Sorry if you're offended by the accusation, I'm offended by the actual results, tomato, tomahto.

While I will always remember tonight as a win-win situation, I still hate the TV Boyfriend phenomena that occurs with these shows. It's one thing when the guy can actually sing, but when some of the worst singers continue to skate through simply because somebody thinks they are sooooooo cute, it really takes a lot of fun out of watching these types of shows. But, such is life and much like Sanjaya of old, at some point, Aaron will stand next to someone that even Twitter can't bear to see leave before him.

The only thing that Billy's performance did was confirm Courtney's performance. He was supposed to touch and spark an emotion, but proved that he simply isn't capable of it right now. Which makes sense to me since he always looks so suspicious on this show as if there is something else that he thinks will blow up his career and it's only a matter of time before it is revealed. I can't even say that I was a fan of Courtney, but her performance easily ranks as one of the best that I've seen on The Voice and probably Idol, too. The song was great, she didn't oversing it and she actually looked and sounded like someone that belonged on a major stage receiving the usually over the top praise from The Voice coaches. That was impressive and if I actually had iTunes, I would buy it. So baffled by Christian and Alicia thinking that "Rosanna" by Toto would be the way to show a "lighter" side of him. "Rosanna"? He would've done better with "Georgy Peorgy" by Toto. As if the Toyota campaign with "You Don't Own Me" isn't tedious enough, Darby chooses to sing it on the show. That was so ridiculous, I couldn't even attempt to watch it as I lunge for my remote every time the commercial comes on. Ali's song choice is probably one of the things that I hate most about The Voice: it's far too focused on the coach and whether they will win or not. Put aside Miley's mugging for the camera, but every time she talks about Ali, it's all about how she doesn't want her to be seen as just another R&B singer and she wants to see this or that from Ali. This isn't about Miley's (or any coach's) vision, it's about a singer looking for some help as they prove themselves potentially worthy of a career beyond the show. Sure, the coaches can give advice and make suggestions, but Ali will have to establish herself in whatever it is that she would want to sing in her career or she won't sell much of anything when/if she releases music that is completely different from what keeps her on the show. That's held true from the very beginning of Idol. No one has been successful releasing music that was the clear opposite of what they sang on the show. Blake will suggest different vocal techniques, but he won't pull somebody completely out of their genre. Ali was pretty good, but I doubt that she'll want to release an album of country covers, so Miley needs to step aside and support, not dictate.

So, I was a little thrown by the "searing off" issue. It looks like they are pre-searing the fish and then what, baking them when time to actually prepare them? Is that correct? And, if so, as often as they prepare fish during this season, how could it even be possible for one side of the kitchen to not pre-sear and it not disrupt the flow prior to this show? I agree that it really can't be anyone other than Ryan that gets this particular job. The rest of them have such major flaws that it's kinda hard to believe that they are even in a position to compete for head chef in a restaurant.

She chose to sing "Rock Steady" and that's the actual problem for R&B singers on The Voice: most of the audience isn't familiar with R&B songs that didn't significantly crossover. The song has words and is a great song to sing for the correct audience, which The Voice would never be for a singer like Sa'Rayah. That's the general problem for R&B singers, the specific problem for Sa'Rayah is that she never trusted her actual talent and thus oversang or killed melodies that didn't deserve death. When she sang Chaka, she tried to sing like Chaka, when she sang Bon Jovi, she got caught up singing a rock song like a rock star that is singing R&B and since she couldn't make sense of how to showcase her talent, the audience couldn't really make sense of how to acknowledge and approve of her talent. She deserved the boot, even before Aaron in favor of other singers, just not standing next to that dude as he shouldn't even be on the show.

While I do find Sa'Rayah to be generic and felt that she never sang like herself, but attempted impressions of the artist she was covering, for her to lose to Aaron is just gut wrenching. Not only can he not sing, his "growl" is so affected and overplayed that I believe it's because he knows that he can't sing and is pretending that his voice is just "different" from what we normally hear.

I was not expecting Blake to go with Courtney over Ethan. I did assume that they would both be on the show as one would be stolen, but he wasn't, so that entire performance was the biggest shock of the episode for me. Other than that, I really dislike the Battle rounds as I feel like it's an opportunity for the coaches to weasel out of going further with "the voice" that they turned around for once they find out that they don't have "the look" needed to win.

So, you're believing Paulie's version of events? The man who claimed his aunt, then his grandmother, when he forgot he originally said it was his aunt, was dying of cancer in an attempt to not get evicted? He's the one spreading the Gospel now?

Doesn't friendship go both ways? Why should Day continue to extend herself out to Zakiyah when it's not reciprocated and especially when she's been pushed aside for Paulie? Zakiyah would be hard pressed to find a better friend than Day.

Paul, Nicole and Corey talking about their triumph over fear.

First, not one person was afraid of Zakiyah when they first moved in. She was considered one of the nicest people in the house, so Nicole is full of it. She wasn't afraid. At all. However, much like when they were ready to evict Da'Vonne, suddenly everyone became very afraid of her. Nicole was afraid to be in a room with her. Corey, a big 6'4" man was afraid of little Da'Vonne. When Zakiyah left, suddenly Corey and Paul never liked her and apparently now, were so afraid of her. Yet, they spent countless hours with her, but I guess Paulie was protecting them. Tiffany was a crying lunatic, but no one feared her. Paulie was physically threatening men and women, but not one person, not even the people he was actually threatening were afraid or him then or now. There's video of Paul mocking Zakiyah while the two hyenas, Nicorey sit there and laugh and lie about her. I'm far from a Zakiyah fan, but I'm tired of seeing this happening and then being glossed over by the viewers. I'll try to find the tweet again and post it, but if you have a dog, be careful, they won't be able to handle all of the dog whistles in the video.

Somehow, both Zakiyah and Da'Vonne terrified Corey and even though Paul couldn't keep his hands off Zakiyah, all he really wanted to do was punch her. But, the obvious behind such statements and sentiments will always be dismissed, so whatever.