S08.E03: The Blind Auditions, Part 3

[Tara Ariano]

The blind auditions continue.

[NewRadical]

Christina is not my favourite, but I was happy for her to get India. She has a great voice and i think Christina will keep her.

I think my fav was the dude who sang Destiny's Child. I am hoping that Pharrell keeps this guy.

Other than that, no one really blew me away. The episode seemed more "look how much fun the coaches are!" anyway.  I wonder if Adam's "king of the four chair turn" didn't test well with fans, so now the new move of buzzing in at the last minute, and getting a bunch of one chair turns.

I have really only been consistent in watching these past couple of seasons... does the voice have any restrictions regarding age ect.?

[pivot]

I think the last woman tonight, India, was my favorite so far this season. Glad she picked Christina.

Adam is ending up with way too many African-American contestants. How is he going to find that many crappy, old and dated soul songs for them to sing? He has never done right by an AA contestant on his team. He makes them sing these old songs while giving his white contestants current and interesting choices. I may end up fast-forwarding all of Adam's team this season because I can't listen to anymore Stevie Wonder or MJ covers on this show.

Christina has been entertaining, engaged in the contestants and not the slightest bit bitchy and Blake seems engaged this season. We'll see if this holds up during the live shows or if we end up with Blake checked out and Christina being a passive aggressive asshole again.

[Dots And Stripes]

Tonight I heard Adam promise someone safety all the way through the competition for the second time this season. Neither of those artists picked him, so I guess it's not all that effective of a pitch. Still, with the number of cuts the coaches have to make, it's a risky move and one that could make him look like (more of) a jerk.

 

Sonic looked hesitant to chose Chirstina. When a coach is begging that much, you just have to go with it. Adam didn't seem to care one way or the other.

 

I liked the triplet boy. He was adorable and I think Blake will work well with him. Blake is good at nurturing quirky artists.

[mercfan3]

Despite the name, Sonic impressed me. She had some problems but the chorus was awesome. Excited to see where Christina takes that. (And Adam knew better than to try and steal her away from Christina..)

 

India is probably the best pure vocalist this season. Glad she's with Xtina. If you are looking for improvement in vocals, you go there..cause you aren't getting it anywhere else. 

 

Travis is interesting. But I liked him far more in his package than in his actual performance. 

 

I actually really liked Jacob. I don't know how he'll do with Blake though. He probably would have been better off with Adam. 

[jjjmoss]

Travis is cute and the night's top seller so far, but I'm not sure he's talented yet. Maybe when he sings a song straight.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Well, montaged team-making contestants have finally arrived. One of them even has a famous family connection.....and amazing hair. That old cowboy might be Blake's sacrificial lamb for Cody in the battles.

 

India dominated the night, she's definitely someone that Christina could make a deep run with. Also really liked Travis and could see him being one of Pharell's stronger contestants.

 

Sonic went pretty haywire after she got the two turns early on. Some of those high notes she was going after were ROUGH. Really I thought the girl who had all of the part-time jobs was on the whole better and was a little disappointed she didn't get a last second push from Christina who at the time (according the editing) hadn't picked up anyone and had just missed out on Travis.

 

Barry and Michael seem pretty much like cannon fodder for Adam's team....although on second look at Adam's team, he seems to have compiled a ton of cannon fodder contestants (Blaze, the three montaged ones tonight).

 

I never quite know what to do w/ teen country singers who sing the "classics"....Kelsey Mae is a fine singer but a singer that for 15 shouldn't have sounded as dated as what she did. Selfishly, because it seems like a typical Blake battle pairing...I'm worried that I could see her knocking off the non-country teen, Brooke who I think has way more potential....it's been a really long time since Leann Rimes struck it big w/ a traditional sound, I just don't know how viable of a path that is when you think of how current Cassadee (admittedly not all that country at the start of her time on the Voice) and Danielle B. and the Swon Bros sounded relative to country music at-large in 2015.

Edited March 3, 2015 by PhD-Purgatory15

[Donny Ketchum]

Current team roster/cheat sheet:

 

Team Adam
Tonya Boyd-Cannon (3)
Blaze Johnson (2)
Deanna Johnson (4)
Michael Leier (2)
Bren’nae DeBarge (1)*
James McNeiece (1)*
Barry Minniefield (1)
Nicolette Maré (1)*

 

Team Pharrell
Lowell Oakley (2)
Meghan Linsey (3)
Sawyer Fredericks (4)
Anthony Riley (4)
Mia Z (2)
Kimberly Nichole (2)
Travis Ewing (3)
Noelle Bybee (1)*

 

Team Christina
Rob Taylor (3)
Treeva Gibson (2)
Gabriel Wolfchild (3)
Joe Tolo (2)
Sonic (2)
Clinton Washington (1)*
India Carney (4)

 

Team Blake
Sarah Potenza (4)
Cody Wickline (4)
Joshua Davis (2)
Brooke Adee (2)
Kelsie May (3)
Jacob Rummell (2)
Matt Snook (1)*

 

Bolded names indicate tonight's new additions.  Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of chair turns.  Asterisks mean that the artist was montaged.

 

Kind of sad that we had montages again tonight, especially after the first two episodes avoided any unnecessary ones.  But at least one of the montages were of contestants who got no chair turns.  But I'm kind of miffed that one montage was just to make room for Adam's totally unnecessary attempt at attention-whoring with his own "blind audition."  (Though at the same time, I kind of tittered when Carson included him in Christina's roster near the end of the show.)  Nonetheless, I'm wondering if the montaged contestants who made teams were montaged because they either had no real tragic backstory, only had one chair turn, or both.  Because a good number of the montaged survivors only seemed to get a single turn.

 

Shocked that Adam's team is so black-heavy thus far.  I don't see Barry or Bren'nae having much of a chance since the only black contestant Adam's had for the long-term has been Damien, and even his survival was questionable (to me, anyway).

 

I was actually bummed that Hannah Ellis didn't make a team.  She did sound a bit nervous, but I didn't think that should've barred her a chair turn.

 

Loved India, the last singer.  I'm glad she picked Christina, if only because it meant she didn't get onto Adam's team.  Also, Christina finally got a four-chair turn!

 

Actually, that's something that's surprised me.  This blind audition round has been pretty light on four-chair turns, which is refreshing after last season was so heavy on them.  We've only had six so far.

 

Good episode, though discouraging to see Adam picking up steam in his rosters now.

Edited March 3, 2015 by Donny Ketchum

[ennui]

I enjoyed Adam's blind audition more than any of the contestants. I think it's good to be reminded of why the judges are successful. Even when they're horsing around, the talent shows.

[Padma]

I actually really liked Jacob. I don't know how he'll do with Blake though. He probably would have been better off with Adam. 

Noooo! I liked him, too, such a nice, pure tone. But I had forgotten how I hate Adam's song choices for African American men. Then I remembered because sure enough, Jacob gives them an idea of who he wants to be musically-- "I love Bruno" --and what does Adam say? "I'd love to give you a Michael Jackson song."   Really, what he does to these guys is criminal. Damian, remember Damian. I was so happy when Jacob chose Blake instead. Blake may not have an idea of song selection (and I hope he asks Xtina, not Adam or Pharrell), but whatever he chooses I'm confident that he'll be more respectful of who this guy wants to be than Adam.

[pivot]

I enjoyed Adam's blind audition more than any of the contestants. I think it's good to be reminded of why the judges are successful. Even when they're horsing around, the talent shows.

Man, that just pissed me off. It went on and on and then we got montaged contestants. Adam has more than enough TV exposure. Let one of the contestants sing instead. Adam's ego is out of control already this season.

[Padma]

Adam's "audition" seemed to serve no purpose except take time from others--especially as it looked a great deal like he was lip-syncing.

[ennui]

From the summary, it looks like Adam's audition served to take a spot on Christina's team.

[Donny Ketchum]

From the summary, it looks like Adam's audition served to take a spot on Christina's team.

He . . . didn't really do that.  It was just a joke.  And only a very, very, very, very slightly funny one.  But mostly bad.

[Sentient Meat]

I don't know... I never had that much respect for Adam just from listening to him front his lightweight band... but recently I heard him do some celebrity impressions on Jimmy Fallon (Christina also killed it doing the same spot)... and that combined with a decent cover of Elton John has convinced me that he's a pretty good singer.  Even though I've always been a fan of American Idol, the main reason I have a problem with it now is mostly because J-Lo lacks credibility compared to Christina.  Seeing how Adam's in the middle of a slump or popularity backlash... it wasn't a bad idea to remind people that he knows what he's doing.

[TheGreenKnight]

I think India will be my favorite this year. I would love to see Christina win with her, if that's even possible.

[marketdoctor]

 

I was actually bummed that Hannah Ellis didn't make a team.  She did sound a bit nervous, but I didn't think that should've barred her a chair turn.

 

If you want to see her closer to her potential, check on YouTube for her singing "Here Right Now."  She' much more talented than you saw last night, but sometimes it goes that way.

[Vandy10]

I was so distracted during Kelsie's intro package because her speaking voice sounds exactly like Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse. It was just throwing me off. I was impressed by that Gordian knot of braiding on the side of her head, though.

 

Ultimately, I wasn't surprised that Kimberly Nicole went with Pharrell, because it seemed like the most natural match. However, after his pitch, I wouldn't have been surprised if she had picked Blake instead. No, he's not a blues/soul singer, but he tends to let his more mature (in terms of knowing themselves) artists take the lead on what songs they want to do each week, and that ability to steer her own direction on the show seemed to be important to her.

 

Adam's blind audition didn't bother me. Yes, it took time away from airing legitimate auditions, but really a good 50% of my enjoyment with this show is due to the coaches--as opposed to the contestants. If they were enough to keep my attention, I'd still be watching Idol. So no, I didn't mind listening to him attention-whore it up again, especially since it's a song I like, and he did it well.

 

Did anyone else see Sonic's shoes? Just me? She did have a good voice, but her phrasing annoyed. And she lives in a collective? So many questions...

[rollerblade]

I'm wondering about something.... exactly how many people the producers have lined-up for the Blinds?

 

Each coach will end up with 12. That's a minimum of 48 singers. Add a few for the "reject pile" - you know they have to have those No-Chairs for good TV. How do they figure out how many people they need for the pile? What if all coaches filled out their teams before the last couple singers even sang their Blinds? Are they automatically sent home or be given guaranteed spots next season?

 

This whole thing is rigged. :S

Edited March 3, 2015 by rollerblade

[Cramps]

On the UK Voice this season- which you can find on YouTube - two of the coaches waited so long to fill their teams that they were informed that there were only two contestants left and they'd each have to end up with one of them. Neither turned out to be very good-and it was obvious that the coaches were not pleased.

In the US Voice, I believe in previous seasons (after the first one) it was said that there has been a large pool of contestants and once the teams are filled up, the ones who haven't auditioned just go home. Not sure how many --if any--get to return the next season.

Edited March 3, 2015 by Cramps

[Primetimer]

Adam's an idiot, Pharrell's a dum dum, and all the performers pick the most obvious coach.

Read the story

[Sharpie66]

In Season 1, they had to go through a second round with the rejects to fill out their teams. They haven't had that problem since, so I'm sure the producers bring tons of extra singers.

[Noreaster]

Comments about Adam and black contestants again?  Yeah, I guess he really sucked taking Damien to the finals last season.  And did horribly bringing other people to lives like Javier, Amanda Brown, Judith Hill, Tessanne, Delvin, etc.  Look at what Blake, Christina and the others have done.  Not really that great.  Cee Lo is the other coach that has done a good job with black contestants. 

 

Interesting that almost all 1-chair turns were montaged. I guess the show feels like they're not compelling TV. Happy there aren't many 4-chair turns this season. I think Christina is the key. She's far more selective than the Usher/Shakira/Pharrell/Gwen bunch. 

 

I thought the blinds in this episode were lackluster overall. The standouts for me were Jacob and Michael Leier.  Adam's pitches were weirdly all over the place.  Michael does sound like Eddie Vedder. What the hell is Adam talking about?  And Jacob is the one where Adam made up that odd back-and-forth between him and Pharrell, right?  So weird.  

 

Other things I'm noticing about the coach pitches (I only watched the Hulu videos this ep): Blake is pitching how he has had great success with contestants outside his genre. Really? Maybe with the experienced people, but not the youngsters. Pharrell is much more animated this season.  He's joking more and trying to be more playful like Blake/Adam.  

 

Did anyone else notice how Blake mentioned Craig Wayne Boyd's name in one of his pitches?  So clearly dubbed in. 

[Noreaster]

From one of the interviews that I linked to in the media thread, in season 3, the show started off with about 150 people in the blinds. Roughly 138 people auditioned before the teams filled up with 16 apiece.  

 

I imagine the coaches are told how many people the producers have lined up for the blinds each season.  And can therefore adjust their expectations accordingly to fill up their teams (i.e. lowering their standards if the talent seems weak overall).  

Edited March 3, 2015 by Noreaster

[basiltherat]

I was really pissed that Adam and His Incredibly Needy Ego took away time from contestants who were montaged.  Take the 5 minutes it took for that schtick, and some of the coach bloviating, and of course the sob stories, and you have time for every contestant to be heard.

 

I laughed so hard, however, that when Adam said to Jacob that he wanted to give him Michael Jackson to sing -- I knew from looking at how straight-laced that family was, and how Jacob seemed to be himself, that that was the kiss of death for Adam!

[Noreaster]

I'm guessing the producers were the ones who decided Adam's audition was more compelling than the montaged auditions.  

[anonymiss]

He . . . didn't really do that.  It was just a joke.  And only a very, very, very, very slightly funny one.  But mostly bad.

The best thing about it was Christina trying not to roll her eyes but then begrudgingly pushing her button with her foot and then taking that time to stretch out her legs and arms.

Edited March 3, 2015 by anonymiss

[ProudMary]

I think India will be my favorite this year. I would love to see Christina win with her, if that's even possible.

I don't see why it wouldn't be possible. Christina coached Jacquie Lee all the way to the runner up slot and IMO India is much more talented than JL is. What JL had going for her was that unlike many contestants, she listened to what Christina told her to do. She was completely coachable. Whether India, who is already well trained musically will listen to and act on Christina's advice remains to be seen. While I'm not a big Aguilera fan, I do respect her talent and her years of experience in the business. I can't believe I'm saying this after living through her previous seasons of bitchiness and phoniness on The Voice, but I'd be pleased to see her join the winner's circle.

[anonymiss]

I actually wasn't impressed with India or any of the contestants this episode. There are already better in the first two episodes.

[jjjmoss]

Christina's 4-chair turns:

India, S8 - New York State of Mind

Matthew, S5 - Cough Syrup

Adriana, S3 - Domino

The Line AND Jesse, S2 - American Girl and A Song for You

So exactly an average of 1 per season so far.

 

And Gwen and Shakira in their seasons each got exactly 1. How...consistent.

[ennui]

The best thing about it was Christina trying not to roll her eyes but then begrudgingly pushing her button with her foot and then taking that time to stretch out her legs and arms.

I thought she was showing off her shoes.

[Donny Ketchum]

Comments about Adam and black contestants again?  Yeah, I guess he really sucked taking Damien to the finals last season.  And did horribly bringing other people to lives like Javier, Amanda Brown, Judith Hill, Tessanne, Delvin, etc.  Look at what Blake, Christina and the others have done.  Not really that great.  Cee Lo is the other coach that has done a good job with black contestants.

 

Adam's pitches were weirdly all over the place.  Michael does sound like Eddie Vedder. What the hell is Adam talking about?  And Jacob is the one where Adam made up that odd back-and-forth between him and Pharrell, right?  So weird.

@Noreaster, Damien is, like, Adam's only black success story.  Nearly every other one he's dumped at the first opportunity.  Kelli, Toia, and Ethan all say hi, in fact.  As for those others you mentioned, I'm pretty sure everyone was referring to his past black contestants, not minorities, in general.  And no, the other coaches haven't been stellar with black contestants, either, save for, well, the other black coaches, but that doesn't give Adam a pass for the exactly ONE African-American contestant he has gotten to a finale.

 

Also, "weirdly?"  His pitches are always all over the place.  It's like he's so desperate just to beat out another coach that he'll say anything, and so far, I've seen more contestants cottoning to him and choosing anyone else who turns for them.

[hincandenza]

I'm guessing the producers were the ones who decided Adam's audition was more compelling than the montaged auditions.  

Yeah, these shows were taped months ago, so it's not necessarily some grand conspiracy when certain things are shown or omitted; they're trying to make an entertaining show first and foremost, and sometimes that means excessive montages if they think another song or backstory will be more enjoyable, or that someone's performance/coach selection was just not that interesting.  The only thing we can really ding them on is when, with the benefit of hindsight, they montage someone who makes it through multiple rounds in favor of someone who doesn't even get picked, or doesn't make it as far, like they did to poor Rebekah Samarin last year.

 

My only beef is that for years I've been saying that the show should try something like this at the tail end of the blinds: have a famous singer/friend of the coaches audition normally.  Like, have Pink come out singing Janis Joplin- possibly in disguise- and see how long before the judges turn, and how they comment or how long before they figure out it's friggin' Pink.  The downside is if there isn't a four-chair turn... but unless they pick a famous singer who can't sing w/o Autotune, that won't happen.  My inspiration for this is when one-time contestant turned choreographer Travis Wall faux-auditioned for SYTYCD while dressed in drag.  It was hilarious watching the judges start to figure out that it was a guy, and then that this wasn't in fact "Danielle Chorizo" (aka, Danny Sausage) auditioning. :)

 

I think Adam "auditioning" last night was like their attempt at this sort of light-hearted merriment, but they screwed it up: it's not funny when the coaches all know who it is, and then it just goes on too long while getting more uncomfortable.  There was, basically, no "punchline", and it just looked like a pointless bone thrown to Adam's ego.

 

 

I'm really enjoying Christina this season, she's got more fire and passion, and isn't sounding rambling or unfocused in her pitches like she used to: she's going after people with vigor and toning down the "woman to woman" thing more than usual.  It's a nice balance, because now it feels like all four coaches have an equal chance at winning over a given contestant during the blinds, and thus getting balanced rosters.  I could not right now remotely say which coach seems to have the "strongest" team, although I'm still blown away by Deanna Johnson from last week who is my early favorite so far.

 

Not much to remember of last night, but I remember thinking Sonic looked to me a lot like 90's singer "Ani DiFranco", for those who like me are old enough to remember. :) She's obviously a hippie type, but she can sing and did some neat and interesting vocal work, so I liked her.

 

Michael Leier should have gotten no chair turns; that was awful, and I say that as a Seattleite who enjoys and even karaokes PJ tunes (better than this guy).  Maybe it was nerves, but he had no real power or "bellows" behind his singing, and it felt lacking in dynamics or passion.  Ah well, every team needs cannon fodder, and now Adam has some for his team.

 

Travis Ewing was awesome, both for obviously being a good singer and musician- working with loops like he does is fantastic training at orchestration and songwriting- and being confident enough to give and take (although he wasn't calling Adam an idiot, it was just a happy and funny coincidence).  There was some pitch issues at times, but eh... I can recognize and respect a musician versus a mere glorified karaoke singer, and I generally favor people who can compose/write over people who just sing.

[viajero]

A very mediocre episode with mostly mediocre talent.  The only two who I see having some potential to become contenders were India and Kimberly.  The rest were far below what we saw last week.

 

I don't think I´ve ever seen Team Adam with so little talent this far into the blinds.  I don't think he has even one strong contestant, let alone a contender.  He better hope he picks up someone really good tonight or that one of the other coaches makes a mistake and let's someone really strong go in the battles or KO round.  Otherwise he could be out of this very early in the live rounds.

 

Damien is, like, Adam's only black success story.

Adam did win this show with Javier Colon who is black, unless you don't count black Puerto Ricans for some reason.  Plus his other win was with Tessanne Chin, who is half black.

Edited March 3, 2015 by viajero

[Amy Beth]

In Season 1, they had to go through a second round with the rejects to fill out their teams. They haven't had that problem since, so I'm sure the producers bring tons of extra singers.

Flashback to Sonia Rao, the only singer to get rejected twice during the Blinds.

[blueray]

This is the first I saw this season, I forgot it was back on. I agreed with most of what happened. I wonder was I the only one who was hoping Adam would go "I pick Me!" when he was "auditioning".

[Noreaster]

@Noreaster, Damien is, like, Adam's only black success story.  Nearly every other one he's dumped at the first opportunity.  Kelli, Toia, and Ethan all say hi, in fact.  As for those others you mentioned, I'm pretty sure everyone was referring to his past black contestants, not minorities, in general.  And no, the other coaches haven't been stellar with black contestants, either, save for, well, the other black coaches, but that doesn't give Adam a pass for the exactly ONE African-American contestant he has gotten to a finale.

 

Also, "weirdly?"  His pitches are always all over the place.  It's like he's so desperate just to beat out another coach that he'll say anything, and so far, I've seen more contestants cottoning to him and choosing anyone else who turns for them.

Wait a second. Javier isn't black? The other contestants I listed aren't black?  (Tessanne is mixed.) What do you think I'm giving Adam a pass for exactly?  There are generalizations being made here about how he supposedly dealt with black contestants in the past.  Again, look at my list. He has brought more black contestants to lives than any other coach.  He has employed a variety of song strategies. His black contestants have made it further (in many cases, much further) on average than other team's black contestants.  

 

So Adam also has not brought some black contestants to lives. Whoopee. Same could be said of all the other coaches. I like to talk actual trends, not cherry pick examples to make someone look exceptionally good or bad.  

 

Sorry, I know that people like to have villains to hate on reality shows.  And Adam is that guy for many viewers. We can all have different opinions, no problem. But if there are inaccurate statements being made, I'm going to jump in. This topic came up last season time and time again about how Adam always deals with black contestants a certain way. That's just factually off base.  Don't like Adam's strategy for Damien? No problem. But to say that Adam always does this or always does that? Nope.  

[Padma]

Wait a second. Javier isn't black? The other contestants I listed aren't black?  (Tessanne is mixed.) What do you think I'm giving Adam a pass for exactly?  There are generalizations being made here about how he supposedly dealt with black contestants in the past.  Again, look at my list. He has brought more black contestants to lives than any other coach.  He has employed a variety of song strategies. His black contestants have made it further (in many cases, much further) on average than other team's black contestants.  

 

So Adam also has not brought some black contestants to lives. Whoopee. Same could be said of all the other coaches. I like to talk actual trends, not cherry pick examples to make someone look exceptionally good or bad.  

 

Sorry, I know that people like to have villains to hate on reality shows.  And Adam is that guy for many viewers. We can all have different opinions, no problem. But if there are inaccurate statements being made, I'm going to jump in. This topic came up last season time and time again about how Adam always deals with black contestants a certain way. That's just factually off base.  Don't like Adam's strategy for Damien? No problem. But to say that Adam always does this or always does that? Nope.  

I'm not making Adam into a villain. If I were a singer, I'd hate the way he throws a potpourri  songs at you, usually with complete disregard for your genre of choice. However, from the point of view of the audience, I find his song selection often more interesting than the others. But I would never choose him, if I could pick Blake or Christina instead.

 

The exception to the idea of "Adam = interesting song choices" is, imo, when he is coaching African American men.  I don't actually think "Adam got Damian to the finals" as much as "Damian got to the final in spite of Adam's lousy song choices--because he did a beautiful job with them anyway.")  The songs he chose for Damian were one old chestnut recorded by some decades' old black artist after another. Poor Damian, because he made it clear his taste was far more contemporary than what Adam kept giving him (old, overly familiar black artist-song.)

 

He does it all the time. I was actually happy that he got the black chef from the Improv because he'll have at least one opportunity to give someone a Marvin Gaye or Barry White song and have it actually be what -they- want, too.

 

I was so happy for Jacob that he's not going to have to perform weeks of Michael Jackson...Stevie Wonder....etc. etc.

 

(And Javier was a long time ago. I was a big Javier fan and wish Adam had done more for him, at least post-show.)

Edited March 3, 2015 by Padma

[ProudMary]

@Noreaster, Damien is, like, Adam's only black success story.  Nearly every other one he's dumped at the first opportunity.  Kelli, Toia, and Ethan all say hi, in fact.  As for those others you mentioned, I'm pretty sure everyone was referring to his past black contestants, not minorities, in general.  And no, the other coaches haven't been stellar with black contestants, either, save for, well, the other black coaches, but that doesn't give Adam a pass for the exactly ONE African-American contestant he has gotten to a finale.

 

Also, "weirdly?"  His pitches are always all over the place.  It's like he's so desperate just to beat out another coach that he'll say anything, and so far, I've seen more contestants cottoning to him and choosing anyone else who turns for them

I'll have to disagree with you here.  In S2, Jamar Rogers was lined up to win the whole thing--the voting results sure seemed to be heading in that direction--until CeeLo shockingly threw him under the bus to advance Juliet Sims.  That wasn't even a sneaky busing a la Adam consistently giving people poor songs to sing; this was back when the judges had to give a specific percentage of their vote to a contestant in the semi-finals!  That awful move may well have changed the entire tenor of the show as Blake probably doesn't get the first of his three consecutive wins that season.  Also, while not quite as glaring, CeeLo should never have pitted Amanda Brown against Trevin Hunte in the Battle Rounds.  (I'm completely biased here.  Amanda is my absolute favorite Voice contestant ever.)  Thank goodness that the steal was in effect then as all three of the remaining coaches pushed their button for her.  Then, moving to last season, Pharrell saved Sugar Joans over Elijuh Rene!  That move can't be defended, made no sense at all!  I'm not sure which coach I'd guide black contestants to choose.  Off the top of my head, I'm not recalling any blatant mishandling on Usher's teams during his two Voice seasons.  I thought he did a great job with all of his contestants and he was a quick study.  He learned how to play the game well enough to win it all in his second attempt after coming in at #2 on his very first try.  When are we going to get another Usher season anyway?  I'd sign up for that!

[viajero]

I'll have to disagree with you here.  In S2, Jamar Rogers was lined up to win the whole thing--the voting results sure seemed to be heading in that direction--until CeeLo shockingly threw him under the bus to advance Juliet Sims.  That wasn't even a sneaky busing a la Adam consistently giving people poor songs to sing; this was back when the judges had to give a specific percentage of their vote to a contestant in the semi-finals!  That awful move may well have changed the entire tenor of the show as Blake probably doesn't get the first of his three consecutive wins that season.  Also, while not quite as glaring, CeeLo should never have pitted Amanda Brown against Trevin Hunte in the Battle Rounds.  (I'm completely biased here.  Amanda is my absolute favorite Voice contestant ever.)  Thank goodness that the steal was in effect then as all three of the remaining coaches pushed their button for her.  Then, moving to last season, Pharrell saved Sugar Joans over Elijuh Rene!  That move can't be defended, made no sense at all!  I'm not sure which coach I'd guide black contestants to choose.  Off the top of my head, I'm not recalling any blatant mishandling on Usher's teams during his two Voice seasons.  I thought he did a great job with all of his contestants and he was a quick study.  He learned how to play the game well enough to win it all in his second attempt after coming in at #2 on his very first try.  When are we going to get another Usher season anyway?  I'd sign up for that!

 

While I agree with your overall point, I've got some problems with your examples.  Namely:

 

Though I thought Jamar Rogers was the 2nd best contestant in Season 2, I thought Juliet Sims was the best and fully deserved to go to the final.  To me the real travesty that season was that only one of the two of them was allowed to advance (hence the rule change beginning in Season 3).  Needless to say I was also disappointed that Juliet then lost out to Jermaine.  While I don't dispute that he had a better performance in the final itself (in part because she had a bad cold), I thought her body of work over the season was far superior to Jermaine's (as was Jamar's for that matter).

 

Amanda Brown is also one of my all time favorite voice contestants, but I can't really blame CeeLo too much for matching her up with Trevin in the battles given that she showed so little of her potential during her rather lackluster blind audition.

 

I agreed with Pharrell in taking Sugar over Elijah Rene.  He had a decent voice, but I found his performances to be almost unwatchable.  Plus, I guess I'm one of the few who actually liked that growl in Sugar's voice.  I certainly liked her Playoff performance better than Elijah's and felt it well deserved the standing ovation she got from all 4 coaches.

 

I do think that Usher is perhaps the best coach this show has ever had and I really hope he comes back in some future season.

[ProudMary]

While I agree with your overall point, I've got some problems with your examples.  Namely:

 

Though I thought Jamar Rogers was the 2nd best contestant in Season 2, I thought Juliet Sims was the best and fully deserved to go to the final.  To me the real travesty that season was that only one of the two of them was allowed to advance (hence the rule change beginning in Season 3).  Needless to say I was also disappointed that Juliet then lost out to Jermaine.  While I don't dispute that he had a better performance in the final itself (in part because she had a bad cold), I thought her body of work over the season was far superior to Jermaine's (as was Jamar's for that matter).

 

Amanda Brown is also one of my all time favorite voice contestants, but I can't really blame CeeLo too much for matching her up with Trevin in the battles given that she showed so little of her potential during her rather lackluster blind audition.

 

I agreed with Pharrell in taking Sugar over Elijah Rene.  He had a decent voice, but I found his performances to be almost unwatchable.  Plus, I guess I'm one of the few who actually liked that growl in Sugar's voice.  I certainly liked her Playoff performance better than Elijah's and felt it well deserved the standing ovation she got from all 4 coaches.

 

I do think that Usher is perhaps the best coach this show has ever had and I really hope he comes back in some future season.

Then CeeLo should have gone 50/50 on his choice and let America decide.  But in answer to the original post, he threw the African American candidate under the bus.  Edited to add:  I'm not sure that it was his brain that CeeLo was thinking with at the time!

Edited March 4, 2015 by ProudMary

[Noreaster]

Usher brought black contestants to lives in both of his seasons but lost them very early on. And like all the other coaches, he has cut some in the pre-live rounds. Off the top of my head, there was 4-chair turn Biff Gore. Last season, Pharrell cut 4-chair turn Maiya Sykes. Basically I don't think any generalizations can be made about race and the coaches. It varies a lot for all the teams.

Edited March 4, 2015 by Noreaster

[ennui]

It's not only about the voice. Look at what Gwen Stefani did with Wayne Craig Boyd. If she hadn't given him a haircut, would he have won?

I think "steals" are going to be a lot more important this season, which may be why Adam isn't trying all that hard.

He . . . didn't really do that.  It was just a joke.  And only a very, very, very, very slightly funny one.  But mostly bad.

I had thought about a longer response, but really ... duh. I'm not that stupid.

[photo fox]

Guys, these episode threads are for the episode. A little history is fine, but if you want to argue about what people have done in past seasons, there are topics where that's appropriate.

[hks]

I think India will be my favorite this year. I would love to see Christina win with her, if that's even possible.

I really really hope that's the case. India is my early favorite, too.  If we're going for the best voice, as indicated by the name of the show, hers is the best I've heard so far. And paired with the best voice on the panel of judges - it would be awesome to see India win with Christina. (I am not the biggest Christina fan, but I don't think anyone can deny she's got an amazing voice).  I hope she gives her good songs, and really packages her in the most winning way.  I have faith. I think Christina sounds the most grounded this season - I think she has a plan.

[Steph619]

India was my favorite of the night. I was hoping she would go with either Pharrell or Christina, but ultimately, I think Christina was the best choice for her. I can see them going all the way to the end.

[dizzyizzy01]

I find Adam incredibly annoying, but to say he's biased against AA contestants is such a reach.  He's kind of all over the place with his coaching strategies, but he's that way with all his contestants.  I don't think his risks and choices are always successful, but I certainly don't buy he's trying to sabotage anyone.  

 

Christina seems to have adapted to more of the guys' sense of humor as the seasons have progressed.  It started a couple of seasons ago, but now it's becoming  more apparent.  I think she's just more comfortable with the show format and also it seems she didn't really enjoy the "guy humor" at first.  Her interview on Fallon seemed to indicate she's much more comfortable with the guys' ridiculousness and jokes now than she was initially.

[Padma]

I find Adam incredibly annoying, but to say he's biased against AA contestants is such a reach.  He's kind of all over the place with his coaching strategies, but he's that way with all his contestants.  I don't think his risks and choices are always successful, but I certainly don't buy he's trying to sabotage anyone.  

 

I don't know why he chooses like he does for his African American men. I don't know if it's sabotage as much as stereotyping. Somehow for Adam "black male contestant" means "song sung by a famous black guy 30-50 years ago."  But I know not everyone agrees that this is what he does. Let's see this season, just watch (no, I won't hold the "oldster battle" against him).

[Noreaster]

Some of the song choices are tied to what the coaches themselves know well. Adam has expressed over the seasons that he is really into some of those artists like Michael Jackson. The other coaches do the same. Blake assigns a lot of songs from the 70s and 80s to non-country contestants because that's what Blake knows.  

[dizzyizzy01]

I don't know why he chooses like he does for his African American men. I don't know if it's sabotage as much as stereotyping. Somehow for Adam "black male contestant" means "song sung by a famous black guy 30-50 years ago."  But I know not everyone agrees that this is what he does. Let's see this season, just watch (no, I won't hold the "oldster battle" against him).

How does the sample of just Damien make this a pattern of stereotyping?  Adam gave Delvin a very recent Aloe Blac song the prior season and he had Javier sing Coldplay.  Damien actually seemed to be in that lane of the songs Adam was giving him.  If you looked at his youtube channel, he's not the most contemporary guy.  I mean he ultimately sang a 70's Motown classic for his very successful audition.  Adam may have just been playing off that strength.

 

Also, I do agree that Adam may just like that era of 70's soul/r&b.  I mean for this episode, Adam's the only guy that turned around for the Improv cook guy, and that guy sang a Billy Paul song.

 

And, I don't even like Adam.  He's pretty much my least favorite coach.  I just think the evidence doesn't support what people are claiming.