S17.E15: Live Playoffs Top 20

[Guest]

Airs November 11, 2019

Quote

The top 20 artists perform live in front of coaches Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani for their chance at a spot in the top 13.

[adhoc]

I'm confused. Kat Hammock just sang really flat and she got all 4 judges to stand.

What am I missing?

[Valny]

20 minutes ago, adhoc said:

I'm confused. Kat Hammock just sang really flat and she got all 4 judges to stand.

What am I missing?

I thought it was a fine performance but not really worthy of standing up. I think she sounds better when she uses her full voice as opposed to that breathy voice she started with.

Blake has a solid team. He usually does.

[adhoc]

TBH, her song started fine, and then I noticed a little flatness but thought it was a fluke because, like you said, it was a breathy moment. Then--to my ears, anyway--it happened a couple more times, and then again. She has an interesting voice, but that was not a great performance, IMHO.

[Dodginblue]

Kelly Clarkson looks kind of scary tonight.  

[vibeology]

Katie is not a good singer; she's just a loud singer. Khalea picked a very bad song for a competition because it didn't go anywhere. Myracle fell apart in the middle of her song. Shane sounded very weak.

I don't think Kelly has the strongest team, but I do think the song selections there were the smartest and gave each person a chance to have a big moment. Max picking Falling Slowly was the standout for me. That song is reality singing competition gold. 

Blake might have the strongest team but they went so early and there were so many songs that it's faded already.

[DaphneCat]

Maybe it's just me but tonight sounded kind of meh.  I don't know if it was nerves because they were in the lives or what happened.  Many of the singers they were standing for were OK but I didn't think they were all that great.  Hello Sunday sounded really off on that Adele song (or maybe I just think 14 year old little girls shouldn't try to sing certain songs - especially Adele.)  I really liked the low tones of the second guy on John's team (can't remember his name - guess that shows how much I'm not invested this season.)

So are they going back to the format that each team has an equal number of people this week?  I'm assuming so since each judge gets a save.   Otherwise I'm not sure how it would work.

Edited November 12, 2019 by DaphneCat
Wanted to ask about voting.

[Vermicious Knid]

It's not just you. Most of them were poor performances. We are literally decades into competitive singing shows and so many of these contestants still can't figure out you don't pick your Mom's favorite song, or the song your twitter followers like, you need to sing the best song that showcases your voice. Why is that so hard?

[Lily H]

Gwen looked really good tonight (not cartoonish for a change!) but I didn't like Kelly's fluorescent highlighter look at all.

I haven't seen most of the performances yet (the football game was too good) but all I could think of when Kat Hammock sang was "God Only Knows how she got this far".

[Koalagirl]

I also thought that most of them sounded terrible last night. I wonder if there was something going on with their ear pieces - I notices that Myracle kept putting her hands up to each of her ears every so often. And I think it was one of Kelly’s male contestants who started with the wrong lyric but corrected himself mid-line which made me wonder the music cue was wrong.  

[limecoke]

Wow, a lot of bum notes on these initial live performances.  I found myself fast-forwarding through several of them because they were just so boring.

Standout for me was Will Bremen.  I've loved everything he's done and his originality and quirkiness make him one of the most interesting contestants.  Then there's that killer voice.  Why didn't they have him close the show?

Worst, by a mile was Kat Hammock-and I like her.  She slid and scooped her way through one of the most iconic (and untouchable IMHO) Beach Boys songs ever recorded and was off-key through most of it.  I was quite literally cringing.  Mr. Limecoke walked in the room and said, "What's THAT?"  He wasn't being funny either.  So, of course, she gets the standing O from the coaches.  I DO NOT get it.  I don't know, maybe it sounded better in the studio.  I believe she will be voted through so hope she's better next week.

On the fashion front:  Kelly was not looking good but Gwen has never looked better.  She is so much more attractive with the natural, less cartoonish look.  

[Ladyrain]

1 hour ago, limecoke said:

Wow, a lot of bum notes on these initial live performances.  I found myself fast-forwarding through several of them because they were just so boring.

I thought the same thing.   And I did the same thing.    It was somewhat disappointing.   I've only been watching this show for 5 years or so, but so many singers seem to regress as the show goes on.   I never understood that.  At least with Idol, they start out bad and stay bad.

[viajero]

As usual, the first live show was kind of rough.  There were some poor performances (Shane Q), some boring dated performances (Ricky B, Khalea), some okay but disappointing performances from people who had been great up to now (Ricky, Rose, Myracle), some innovative performances that the contestant pulled off to varying degrees (Will mostly did, Cali mostly didn’t), and a few really good performances (Kate, Marybeth, Joanna, Max).

What struck me overall was the unevenness of the teams.  Pretty much all of John’s artists were very good, while none of Blake’s rose above mediocrity.  But if I had to rank them by team:

Team Blake

1.    Gracee Shriver

2.    Ricky Duran

3.    Kat Hammock

4.    Cali Wilson

5.    Ricky Braddy

Team Gwen

1.    Joana Martinez

2.    Rose Short

3.    Kyndal Inkeep

4.    Myracle Holloway

5.    Jake Haldenverg

Team Kelly

1.    Max Boyle

2.    Jake Hoot

3.    Damali

4.    Hello Sunday

5.    Shane Q

Team John

1.    Kate Kaden

2.    Marybeth Bird

3.    Will Brennan

4.    Alex Guthrie

5.    Khalea

(As an example of the disparity between the teams, I would have ranked Gracee no better than fifth place on Gwen’s team, third place on Kelly’s team and at the bottom on John’s team)

[foxfreakinmulder]

1 hour ago, viajero said:

What struck me overall was the unevenness of the teams.  Pretty much all of John’s artists were very good,

I just finished watching and came here to say the exact same thing:-)

The other 3 coaches only had maybe 1 artist on their team that I liked. Kat on Blakes team was horrible. What she did to that song was shameful.

I wish people would stop singing Adele, especially young girls. Why isn't Hello Sunday singing current pop songs? I'm not a county fan but I thought Jake Hoot sounded good.

That 2 different colored jacket John had on was ugly. And Kelly needs to stop wearing those shades of eye shadow and please find someone to dress you. Gwen looked better then she has but lady you are 50 years old stop wearing street walker, hoochie, short dresses. 

[sharifa70]

29 minutes ago, foxfreakinmulder said:

That 2 different colored jacket John had on was ugly. And Kelly needs to stop wearing those shades of eye shadow and please find someone to dress you. Gwen looked better then she has but lady you are 50 years old stop wearing street walker, hoochie, short dresses. 

I agree that Kelly’s eyeshadow needs help but age shouldn’t matter unless the item of clothing is a pair of jeans with a bejeweled butt. Gwen looked gorgeous tonight and as someone who is just a few months from 50 myself, I wish I looked that good! And I’m not even a fan!

I fast-forwarded most of the performances (I can’t even remember their names). I liked Hello Sunday’s arrangement of “Hello” but their harmonies weren’t as tight as I want. Katie actually figured out that dynamics are a crucial part of music, and yeah, that Beach Boys cover was godawful.