Cramps

Pharrell might not have been tweeting during the "save" because he had both his people competing against each other and didn't want to play favorites. And I checked his account, and Blake didn't actually tweet to save anyone then. I was stunned that when Pharrell was in danger of losing his entire team, they still had Adam's contestant sing last. I can't remember--Did they have Danica and Luke both sing before the first commercial and then Chris and Ryan sing after it? I thought breaking the four save yourself performances up was really unfair. And then to give the final slot, the one that everyone who was voting would definitely see, to the team member of the one coach who still had all three singers left was really telling. What kind of diva fit did Adam pull or deal does Adam have with the show that they keep going out of their way to protect his contestants at the expense of everyone else?

Hey Danica's stylists- my Chrissie doll called from 1975-- she wants her hair back. Seriously, The Voice is NBC's number one show, couldn't they spring for some real hair for Danica's weave? All the brushing in the world was not going to refresh it. Those ends looked so fried from hair spray I bet they were flammable. Usually I just hate the clothing stylists on this show, but I guess Danica's hair could count as an accessory. (Note-I like Danica and thought she looked pretty--but the fake hair had seen better days and needs to be replaced).

For all the Adam trashing on these forums, his contestants have been doing well--iTunes Charts tonight were really interesting to watch right after the show. Whereas Danica probably technically has the best voice on the show and Luke has one of the most unique (in a good way, I love his voice) and yet Pharrell's coaching and arrangements have not been good-esp for Luke. On the plus side, neither of them were subjected to performing a disaster like his and Gwen's duet.

Yes, yes, yes! Pivot you are on fire tonight!

Gwen and Pharrell's song made me feel like an old lady going,"Huh, you call this music? And what the hell is she wearing?" But then I remembered that she and I are the same age and grew up listening to many of the same alternative bands and being inspired by the same new wave fashions. And Then I decided that Gwen probably didn't like her onesie or song either. She just probably thought they were cool.

I think initially Blake was a much bigger fan of James David than he was of Craig Wayne--but Craig got stronger with each performance and James David got less impressive. So he shifted his allegiance. I don't blame him. As for the women, Blake is never as good a coach of his non-country singers and obviously neither of his two female contestants ever won the majority of the audience over. Personally Jesse's vocal affectations were like fingernails on a blackboard to me and I always felt like I was being told how great Reagan was, but then never heard it when she'd actually perform. I'm really sorry to see Anita go, but her performances last week just weren't good.

Her "publicity guy" on The Comeback is Lisa's Producing partner in real life.

I didn't catch the credits, but I'm pretty sure the older woman in the crew whom they showed laughing, is the brilliant Winnie Holzman, who created My So Called Life and wrote the play for Wicked. And considering that Seth did two TV shows before he became a movie star, a few appearances on this aren't such a strange thing.

Was BJ Novak awful or was the character just badly written? I lean more towards the former.

As amazing as this episode was, (and I was a wreck watching it), this felt awfully similar to two seasons ago. The terrorist created a diversion to distract from their real target...

Judging from iTunes and message boards, Sugar has about one fan, fortunately for her, that fan is Pharrell. Danica has a perfect voice. Probably the best voice on a technical level and she has a great tone. But she doesn't seem to have any emotional connection to her songs or her audience. I wonder if it's because she doesn't have as much experience as some if the others, and if that could change, or if it's just her. I suspect if Gwen was her coach she'd be working with her on it.

Cole is wonderful. I'm a huge fan. But damn, what about his grandmother (shown above)? Praised by Elvis and Les Paul! I wish they'd have let her play with him on The Voice. So cool!

Gwen should have saved that song for an Anita performance. Or at least let her sing more of it. In other news I liked Gwen's sequin top.

Paul Westernerg is still cuter than Matt, I'd love for Matt to cover Unsatisfied on the show (won't happen). As long as he didn't start slapping hands in the audience. (Another Replacementa fan, surprisingly addicted to the Voice!)

Thanks for the update dBell. RockStar INXS is definitely the father of this show- loved seeing Jordis make the transition. The Voice Stylists must be stopped! What was the point of Gwen luring contestants with her LAMB line when they were just going to get stuck with Kohls and the Voice Stylists making them look like people who were doing karaoke after work?

Well the boards may not have liked Adam's choice for Damien, but America did--it's at 15 on iTunes at 9AM. Craig's at 13 and Matt's at 7. I think Chris is next in the 30s. So Adam's choices worked. I was surprised that Danica picked Creep for herself. But not surprised that she didn't put any of the angst into it that the song needs. I wonder if she would have put more emotion into it if Pharrell hadn't Al Green-ified it. Her voice is perfect, but there is always an emotional disconnect. PS- the Marty Casey references make me smile. Is he still recording?

Matt just broke the top 20 on iTunes and it's not even midnight on the east coast. Sugar is the only one not in the top 200.

Been thinking about Danica's song choice. She's going to hit every note, but I question whether she'll convey any of the emotions that are NEEDED with that song. It could be a very odd rendition. Pivot- I actually really liked the bit I heard of Damien's, but it will be hard for him to sell because it's so overdone. I didn't know Matt's song, but thought the preview sounded great. Taylor's song is such an elevator/dentist's office type song. I'm fascinated to see how it goes over. Craig's country song is fairly dated sounding, but not in a good classic country type way. Sugar and Jesse -- they annoy me each week and continue to do so. Looking forward to tonight!

Padma- yes a million times on Jesse! She and Jean both completely abandoned the melodies of their songs. I was more disappointed with Jean because I actually like the Brenda Russell song and don't like that Bonnie Tyler song. Also I like Jean's voice, whereas every time I start liking Jesse she adds that weird pretentious twee girl affectation to her vocals that sounds kind of like someone pretending they have an underbite, and she completely loses me.

Noreaster. I just mentioned that on the thread for tonight. Having just checked iTunes I don't think PIVOT is going to be very happy with Adam tonight!

Tonight's songs are now up on iTunes. I don't know how to spoiler it on my phone, so I'll just say the most surprising choices are probably Danica's (I'm guessing she didn't know this one either) and Taylor John's -- although both sound good in their previews. Actually most of the previews sound good, with a couple of the usual suspects annoying me as I expected they would.

My problem with Chris's song was that it didn't actually give him much of a chance to show off his vocal skills because it was more rap/talky. I don't know the original song, so I don't know if that's intrinsic to the song itself, or a performance choice. But as Chris was singing, I wondered if Adam had given him that song to purposefully sabotage him (which we later learned was not the case, since he saved him). Adam's song choices are spotty, but all the coaches are. It's just that he tends to be more high profile because he gets so many four chair turns, and some of them go home early. Blake's knowledge of non-country music is usually stuck in boring generic 80s hits. Cee-Lo took a lot of interesting chances too- some worked, some didn't. Gwen and Pharrell have definitely both proved surprising. Pharrell talks a great game, but his artists have disappointed. (Although I liked the Joni Mitchell choice). Whereas Gwen has trouble selling herself and giving feedback on the panel, but she has generally been a phenomenal coach, pulling great performances out of contestants I wasn't previously interested in.

The bridesmaids thing just felt like bad writing - done for a "quirky" bit, and not really in character with the show or for a bride her age. Aside from that, I thought this episode was great-- much better than I expected. The show is at it's best when it stays away from star crossed lovers.

Twistygirl- interesting you should mention the choice of Life in a Northern Town. My husband and I were discussing it during the show. The original song was by Dream Academy, who were English. So the original version probably wouldn't have been about Reagan if there was a political element, it probably would have been about Thatcher. But you just got me curious, so I googled it. Looks like they remade the video for America back then, (after the brilliant Tim Pope had done a UK version). And the US version had footage of a Pennsylvania steel town in it. Which might make it seem like it was about Reagan. Also it seems that Sugartown had a hit with it a few years ago- which is why team Blake probably covered it. Of course aside from knowing that the band were British (which I know for a fact, as a friend of a friend used to be married to one of them), the rest I learned on wiki--so I could be totally wrong!

Definitely some surprises tonight. Wasn't sure what would happen with Blake's team. A few weeks ago, John David seemed a lock for the finals, but he never lived up to the promise of his blinds. Craig is my favorite this season and Jesse is one of my least. Blake looked much happier about CWB than Reagan. Pharrell- Danica getting voted in was definitely a shocker - and Pharrell didn't even clap for her. Way to show support Pharrell. He was probably upset because it meant he couldn't take through his chosen ones. Now that Sugar has been chosen Mrs. Pharrell is probably not singing "Happy" tonight. Gwen's twin's (cause that really can't be her with that face, right ?) ended up with predictable songs. Had no idea who her third choice would be. Not sure I care. Adam. WTF? Chris? He gave up Taylor who sold more music than anyone else this season for someone who did so poorly?