S20.E09: The Battles Part 3

[helenamonster]

Quote

The Battle Rounds conclude.

Original airdate: 4/12/21

[Sile]

The only one I really disagreed with was Ainae and Anna.  But I have an inexplicable bias against all of the females (mostly young girls) that use their middle name for their last name.

The main thing I took from this episode is what an amazing artist we lost in Amy Winehouse.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Thoughts from the next morning:

Deion got absolutely hosed. Not only was he better (and better-suited for) Usher's You Make Me Wanna than Victor the victor...he was light years better than Caroline/Rio the battle that ultimately led to John's save. I felt like both Caroline and Rio had off-putting qualities to their voices trying to sing that already annoying Gotye song.

Nick definitely took a page out of Adam L.'s book. Raine was clearly weaker in her battle than Andrew, but she absolutely is the more interesting contestant and probably has more potential (if she "hits" like she did on Electric Feel) to go farther in the contest than Andrew probably will. Meanwhile (speaking of Andrew), Blake continues his tendency of picking mediocre or middling singers from another genre other than country for one of his steals.

The Alinae v. Anna Grace battle was a classic example of "If one of the competitors is a 4 chair turn, and it's close...you go with the 4 chair turn". Now Blake went against Avery in the same scenario earlier this season, but this is generally what has happened over 20 seasons of the Voice

Fishing in the Dark is a quintessential cheesy country song. Of course, Kenzie with his straight from the 80s/90s mullet wasn't going to have any issues singing that song and literally leaning or squatting into the cheese factor. That's just not in JD's DNA as a person or as an artist. So he lost because of that.

I felt bad for Savannah who just couldn't get over looking like a deer in headlights (Blake's already got Emma Caroline for the deer in headlights spot on his team). My only note from this duet was, it really felt like a duet because Pete didn't try to blow Savannah out of the water vocally. Their voices actually complimented each other quite well.

Despite not particularly liking Bradley from his initial audition, I found myself rooting that Nick would pick him over Rachel Mac on Your Song (in vain, of course). I just thought Bradley's voice had a little more unique character to it and his maturity lent itself to song better than what 16 year old Rachel was able to do with it.

Edited April 13, 2021 by PhD-Purgatory15

[Quickbeam]

I thought Bradley was far better than Rachel. I enjoyed his performance a lot ...hers not so much.

[seacliffsal]

I disagreed with almost all of the "winners."  Oh well.  I will say that I am predisposed to not like people who taut how much more quirky they are than anyone else...so I was a bit disappointed she won her round (Rebecca?) especially as I thought her opponent was better.

[realdancemom]

2 hours ago, Quickbeam said:

I thought Bradley was far better than Rachel. I enjoyed his performance a lot ...hers not so much.

I did too.  I also don't get Blake's reasoning for Nick to pick her.  So Rachel is 16 and needs more guidance than Bradley which is true.  Nick started when he was young so he would be a good choice to do that for her.  All this makes sense but do it outside the show.  It's not fair to penalize Bradley just because he's not 16 anymore.

I thought that Raine lost her battle but I'm glad that Nick still chose her since I did love her in the blinds.

[seacliffsal]

It seems like there were a couple of contestants who were chosen based on their auditions as they seemingly lost the battles.  However, I think that strategy is a bit oof as contestants could have a song that they have performed and worked on for years and have made it amazingly theirs.  They may not be able to do that with a short time frame or not having sole decision making powers about what they will be singing.

The battles represent the opportunity for the coaches to hear who actually incorporates advice and who is able to quickly learn songs.  I think the battles should really be considered in who "wins" more so than the original auditions.

[foxfreakinmulder]

7 hours ago, realdancemom said:

So Rachel is 16 and needs more guidance than Bradley which is true.  Nick started when he was young so he would be a good choice to do that for her.  All this makes sense but do it outside the show.  It's not fair to penalize Bradley just because he's not 16 anymore.

I thought she was awful! I could only listen to about 20 seconds of the song before I hit my ff button. Or maybe it's because IMO Elton John is one of the artist I have on my personal list of artist that should be hands off. But the little I heard of Bradley he sounded a lot better then she did.

I noticed with a couple of the contestants we didn't see the rehearsal part.

I can't believe Kelly let that guy play his home-made drum for his battle. She should've advised him to leave it in his hotel room.

I'm glad the battles are over, I thought they were boring. Or maybe it's having to listen to the personal stories all over again that I find boring.

[greyflannel]

Somebody That I Used to Know was the most excruciating performance I think we have been subjected to. It was so incredibly comically horrible we could not look away or hit the mute. I think we were in shock for a good few minutes afterward.

[realdancemom]

4 hours ago, greyflannel said:

Somebody That I Used to Know was the most excruciating performance I think we have been subjected to. It was so incredibly comically horrible we could not look away or hit the mute. I think we were in shock for a good few minutes afterward.

The only thing good that I could say is that both girls were young and had sass.  I can't believe that John even saved one of them since I wouldn't want either one.

16 hours ago, foxfreakinmulder said:

I thought she was awful! I could only listen to about 20 seconds of the song before I hit my ff button. Or maybe it's because IMO Elton John is one of the artist I have on my personal list of artist that should be hands off. But the little I heard of Bradley he sounded a lot better then she did.

I noticed with a couple of the contestants we didn't see the rehearsal part.

I can't believe Kelly let that guy play his home-made drum for his battle. She should've advised him to leave it in his hotel room.

I'm glad the battles are over, I thought they were boring. Or maybe it's having to listen to the personal stories all over again that I find boring.

I didn't think she was awful but nothing remarkable.  At least, I could understand what she was saying.  She was better than the last two young girls on John's team (see above comment).  Bradley had a nice baritone tone.  I also liked how his voice would get raspy when he sang higher.  He had an interesting voice.  He was more musical theater than pop but still interesting.  Maybe, he didn't have the look while the judges thought that the young girl did.  Who knows?

I think Kelly was set to choose the other guy anyway.  But I agree that he should have left his home made drum.  He couldn't move around and was just stuck playing the thing.

[seacliffsal]

I wonder if the judges try to stack their teams with younger artists as the younger ones have gone far/won in past seasons.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

seacliffsal, that's an interesting query regarding the contestants ages.

Blake's remaining contestants are 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 34, & 45.

John's are 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 34, & 37.

Kelly's are 17, 18, 20, 20, 22, 26, & 34.

Nick's are 16, 21, 21, 22, 34, 35, & 41.

I'd say overall this season skews pretty young. We've still got 7 teens in competition (including two 16 year old's in Rachel and Rio), 12 in their twenties (with the overwhelming majority of those between 20-22), 6 in their 30s, & 2 in their 40s (Dana & Pete). One other note that I find interesting is that John L has the second youngest team this season (second only to Kelly). My recollection of a lot of the season's he's been on, he typically would have the oldest/most experienced teams..

 

[rr2911]

I must say that I don't miss Kelly Clarkson at all.  Kelsea Ballerini has been a breathe of fresh air! She does just the right amount of talking to let us know there is a fourth coach. Clarkson talks too much. Tries to be funny and probably tries to be a sort of replacement for Adam Lavine. I won't mind seeing KC leave the show.