S07.E21: Live Eliminations

[Noreaster]

I'm sure that all coaches have favorites, because it's only human to like some people/artists better than others. I don't see how not blatantly showing his favoritism makes Blake (or anyone else) any less authentic though. I'm sure he does genuinely like everyone he brought to the live rounds anyway.

 

As for Reagan and Jessie, it's hard to say if Blake did the right thing by essentially giving them free reign, or if he should have guided them into a different direction and perhaps extended their stay on the show. I think he stepped back because he recognized that they both had clear ideas about what kind of artists they wanted to be, so whether they succeeded or failed, at least it would be on their own terms. I think that especially with Reagan, her age played a big part: she's definitely very creative, but not quite ready for the big stage yet.

That is the very definition of being inauthentic.  Not saying what you really think and pretending to be neutral when your actions serve to achieve something else.  Blake probably has good intentions and I'm not really knocking him for it exactly.  It's a game.  He has to play it like all the other coaches.  But it does stand in contrast to some of the views expressed here when somehow he's portrayed as a god and all-caring. (And the suggestion that Jessie and Reagan "let him down"? Seriously?)  And of course when other coaches (especially you know who) act in a similar manner with favorites and don't hide it as well (or at all), they get slammed for it.  

 

And yeah, Blake is really not a great coach for non-country contestants, at least the inexperienced ones.  He kind of sucks at it.  Not that I was crazy about Jessie and Reagan, but he chose to carry them to lives and wasn't able to do much with them.  Consistent with his inexperienced non-country contestants in past seasons. I think the coaches need to strike a balance between giving contestants free reign and offering guidance that will help them improve and extend their stay on the show (I think basically what you're saying as well). I think Blake only does the former because he doesn't know what the hell he's doing.  

 

ETA: Another example of a recent not-so-genuine moment.  "It's the best lives ever".  Really, Blake, really?  Gosh dang, what's in your cup?  For me, so many eye-roll worthy moments with Blake over the seasons.  One of my favorite moments was when Cee Lo called him out on it once. Blake was doing his schtick (for like the 3rd or 4th time) about how one of his contestants was someone that people back home or in Nashville kept on asking him about.  Cee Lo's reaction was basically "really?  People were really asking you that?  Alrighty then".

Edited December 1, 2014 by Noreaster

[Padma]

I'd rather have a coach like Blake who would respect me and my song choice and genre rather than someone who wants to play Svengali at the possible expense of my career.

 

MMV, but what you find "inauthentic" in Blake, I see as having respect for a fellow artist, and not being arrogant about a musical genre he knows he's not an authority in. I'll bet that the song choice process, which we don't get to see, involves a nice, genuine discussion--some ideas from him as well as from the contestant--but if they have a strong feeling about it, he gives them that freedom. Personally, I like that.

 

I also like Gwen's coaching style because I think she's very sincere about trying to figure out "what record you'd like to make" and helping them choose songs in a similar style. Of all of them, she seems most interested in taking a singer "from where they are" and trying to figure out "where they want to go" rather than -just- focusing on getting votes each week. I like that, too.

[dizzyizzy01]

I think Blake is very warm and sincere, but I also think he's not a coach that will help someone improve in their performance ability or technical skills much, especially if you're not country.  Except for Danielle, his winners and successful contestants have been very experienced performers.  Danielle was kind of the exception, but I don't think she ever really improved in her performance ability during the show anyway.  She was also 100% country.

 

He's good at strategy and guiding folks through the show, but he's not a technical instructor and doesn't have a lot of showmanship.  That's just not his wheelhouse.  His knowledge of music outside of country is also severely limited.

[viajero]

I personally was quite impressed with what Reagan tried to do with almost all of her arrangements.  She showed a natural instinct and level of sophistication in her interpretation of those songs that is almost unimaginable in someone so young.  Her problem was that she simply doesn't (yet?) have the vocal chops to pull them off.  She was way too ambitious given her lack of experience as a performer.  For instance, what she tried to do with Fancy is something that most seasoned pros couldn't hope to pull off.  But had Reagan been able to do so, it could have been amazing; the kind of performance that would have become an instant Voice classic.

[Noreaster]

I'd rather have a coach like Blake who would respect me and my song choice and genre rather than someone who wants to play Svengali at the possible expense of my career.

 

MMV, but what you find "inauthentic" in Blake, I see as having respect for a fellow artist, and not being arrogant about a musical genre he knows he's not an authority in. I'll bet that the song choice process, which we don't get to see, involves a nice, genuine discussion--some ideas from him as well as from the contestant--but if they have a strong feeling about it, he gives them that freedom. Personally, I like that.

Just to be clear since you're combining my "inauthentic" comments with song choice, they were two entirely separate points.  This is what I said in my original post: "Basically, Blake is not as sincere, genuine, authentic, or whatever as he appears to be on-screen.  He tries to appear neutral, but really he has favorites and may give advantages to certain folks."

 

What I mean is, you can't always trust the words that come out of Blake's mouth.  He plays strategy just as much as the other coaches. Some of the others are more obvious about their favoritism, more truthful about their feelings and reasons for their actions, and get slammed for it. Blake hides his feelings and thoughts to be nice (or just to appear nice, who knows), but in reality, I think he's a smart strategic guy. I do like him, but let's be a little realistic here. His words often have to be taken with a grain of salt.

 

Regarding song choice, yes, it's a collaborative process.  Even when the contestants get to sing one of his/her preferred songs, it still has to be agreed upon by the producers. When the coaches "pick", who knows if they really had much say or if they just followed the producers' suggestions.  We viewers don't know what's going on behind the scenes and it probably varies by coach and by contestant.  Since we don't know better, the credit/blame has to go to the coach.  Or if we choose not to credit/blame the coach, then we have to be consistent about this toward all the coaches.  

 

Based on what we're shown on screen, Blake occasionally lets his contestants sing their own song choice.  You know what, same for Adam and his contestants. 

Edited December 1, 2014 by Noreaster

[mercfan3]

I always think it's obvious who Blake's favorites are too. But for some reason, some coaches are allowed to have favorites (Blake, Usher) and some aren't (Adam, seems like Gwen is getting that treatment too.)

 

I think part of it is in how they treat their contestants though. For instance, Adam asking Bieber to tweet for Christina..when Kat was also in the twitter save. That's not a good look. Or Adam saying that Will should be proud of himself, and Tessanne is the winner. And I think part of it is the Tony Lucca fiasco. 

 

I think people don't like Gwen having a favorite because it seems she's bonded with Ryan on a personal level. But I also see it as similar to the James/Tessanne situation. I think, even if she likes Ryan as a person more, she knows TJW is her best chance at winning and is being strategic with him. 

 

Personally, I don't care. I find Adam's blunt nature entertaining. He's not a PR guru like Blake and Usher. But you can always tell who everyone's favorite is. Blake flat out clears out paths for his favorites. And yea, he did a terrible job with Reagan. I'm not sure if she was ready for this competition in the first place, but Gwen probably would have been the best coach for her. 

 

And Blake's song choices are beyond boring. Yes they are safe. Yes they do well on itunes because they are safe. But Danielle Bradbery just did a cover series...and she showed she was capable of singing more than just mid tempo 90s country songs. 

Edited December 1, 2014 by mercfan3

[Noreaster]

I always think it's obvious who Blake's favorites are too. But for some reason, some coaches are allowed to have favorites (Blake, Usher) and some aren't (Adam, seems like Gwen is getting that treatment too.)

 

I think part of it is in how they treat their contestants though. For instance, Adam asking Bieber to tweet for Christina..when Kat was also in the twitter save. That's not a good look. Or Adam saying that Will should be proud of himself, and Tessanne is the winner. And I think part of it is the Tony Lucca fiasco. 

 

I think people don't like Gwen having a favorite because it seems she's bonded with Ryan on a personal level. But I also see it as similar to the James/Tessanne situation. I think, even if she likes Ryan as a person more, she knows TJW is her best chance at winning and is being strategic with him. 

Yes, I agree with you.  Adam has crossed the line a couple of times.  Understandable to me in the cases you mentioned because there was a need to minimize vote-splitting at that late stage, with 2 Team Adam contestants and 1 other contestant vying for the public vote.  (And to me, Tessanne was the flat-out winner versus Will whose voice was giving out, and Christina had much better chances in the game against 3rd-consecutive-bottom-three Kat.) Nonetheless, I agree, those were not appealing moves by Adam.

 

Although just to mention, these aren't confined to Adam either.  Other examples include Cee Lo with Kat Robichaud/Jonny Gray, Kat Robichaud/Caroline Pennell, Blake with Audra/Sisaundra.  Like you mention, Gwen's preference for Ryan over Anita last week.  

 

Anyway, more important to me is does the coach have good intentions?  I think all the coaches try their best to help their contestants with performance advice and song choice. There's no deliberate bussing by anyone. Though reading these boards, one would think Blake is a prince and Adam is a comic-book villain.  Ehh, I don't know if I like my Blake analogy.  I'll think of another one...  :)

[dizzyizzy01]

Like you mention, Gwen's preference for Ryan over Anita last week.

 

 

To be fair to Gwen, Anita really stank in her twitter save performance, and I thought you could really see her struggling to give a compliment to Anita.  Gwen is honestly just not particularly articulate with her comments.  As much as I don't think Ryan has a chance in hell to win, his twitter save performance was much better than Anita's.

[realdancemom]

I personally was quite impressed with what Reagan tried to do with almost all of her arrangements.  She showed a natural instinct and level of sophistication in her interpretation of those songs that is almost unimaginable in someone so young.  Her problem was that she simply doesn't (yet?) have the vocal chops to pull them off.  She was way too ambitious given her lack of experience as a performer.  For instance, what she tried to do with Fancy is something that most seasoned pros couldn't hope to pull off.  But had Reagan been able to do so, it could have been amazing; the kind of performance that would have become an instant Voice classic.

I agree with what you wrote.  I was impressed with Reagan's arrangements especially for her age.  But I wasn't impressed with her voice and she did have breathing issues.  However, I think I'm also the only one that thought her Fancy performance wasn't that bad.  I liked and hated some of her other performances.  For example, her Twitter save performance was terribly off-key.  I also thought she and Jessie were terrible in group performances because they tried to do their own thing so they didn't harmonize with the group.

Edited December 1, 2014 by realdancemom

[mercfan3]

Which is funny, because I think when it comes to strategy, Blake is significantly better than Adam. If there's anyone being a fox, it's Blake, not Adam. 

 

I never think Adam busses anyone on purpose simply because his clear favorites tend to get the worst song choices. The only one that didn't really apply to was Grimmie. And he just had Grimmie do covers that she had done previously on youtube. (I honestly think that Adam was a bit in awe of Grimmie's creativity.) But James, Sarah, Melanie, and this year Chris..I think were all clearly his favorites. He just outsmarts himself sometimes.