S08.E15: The Live Playoffs, Part 2

[Magic]

The most interesting thing to me right now is how much action Sawyer's songs have gotten and some of the staying power of his songs from previous rounds.

 

Even so, I am not sure how he will stand out against some of the other belters as we go forward.

 

Up to this point we haven't had one show where all the contestants were on at the same time. It makes it a LOT harder to judge how they will stack against each other versus against all the other fodder and contestants that move on.

 

With the way things are going and if I just make two categories laid back or belter, the lives could be

 

Belters

Meghan

Kimberly

Hannah or Sarah

Mia Z

Koryn

Rob

India

 

Laid back

Joshua

Brian

Sawyer

Deanna

Corey

 

Interestingly more of the laid back singers have charted the best e.g. Sawyer, Joshua and Deanna so far but against fewer contestants and not spaced out with so much fodder separating each other I don't know how well they will all stack up week after week against the belters. 

 

It just takes a few bad songs from the coaches (I'm Going Down, or All by myself, lol), or phoning it in, or lack of good performance skills, or singing without connecting to the emotions of the song.  And most of the contestants who are going to go on are going to have those some of those problems week after week.  And it's going to get more boring because of that. 

 

Most of these contestants are good enough singers.  For me their major problem is really connecting with the song and singing it from that connected way versus just singing it well.

[Donny Ketchum]

Is Kimberly the one whose great-grandmother was there?

Yes.  She was shown cheering for her in the audience after she performed.

[Amy Beth]

I like Josh , but I'm surprised that song sold the best. It disappointed me.

OTOH, I now understand the lyrics to Budapest.

I thought the band completely overwhelmed all the "moments" in Brian's song.

[Valny]

So two people from each coach get eliminated tonight? That's rough.  My picks to get cut are:

 

Nathan, Deanna

Sonic, Rob

Brooke, Corey

Caitlin, Lowell

 

The people I want to stay the most are Sarah, India, Kimberly,Sawyer

[viajero]

I enjoyed this episode.  It helps that Kimberly gave us one of those all-time great Voice performances.  That really was perfect.  I also thought India was outstanding, actually doing justice to one of Christina's more difficult songs.  Both Rob and Deanna were very good.  The rest were okay, with good moments mixed in with not so good moments.  The exception was Nathan, who simply got eaten alive by his song.  But then again, Nathan should never have made it this far in the first place.

 

My Top 3 for the night were:

1. Kimberly
2. India
3. Rob

 

My preferences for who goes through are:

Team Xtina: Kimberly, India and Rob
Team Adam: Deanna, Brian and Joshua

 

Blake's comments about how superior Christina's team is unnecessary but what surprised me even more is how Adam didn't even make an effort to disagree or shoot him down, which he's usually very quick to do so in other instances.

 

 

What was Adam going to say?  Performance wise, his team really was lapped several times by Xtina’s team.  I’ve long felt he’s the most “honest” of the coaches in his comments, finding subtle ways of letting us know his true feelings without breaking the overall positivity of this show.

 

 

I think it's very obvious that Kimberly/India/Rob will be moving on. But don't they kind of cancel each other out since they all pretty much occupy the same genre?

 

 

 

Other than the fact that they are all powerful vocalists, I don’t see them even remotely occupying the same genre.  Kimberly is a rocker, India is more the operatic diva type, while Rob is more the smooth pop/r&b performer.

 

Sia looked like Cousin It. After I stopped laughing, I quickly became bored. She's an object lesson in how much stage presence enhances a song. If she really wants to be the definition of "stage absence" I'd prefer she left her songs to be sung by people who are OK with making eye contact with their audience.

 

 

 

Well, I was completely enthralled by Sia's performance.  When you have a voice that is that unique, expressive and powerful, you don’t need anything else.

[hincandenza]

I'm having such a divergent experience, I think I should rerun my sound system's auto-calibration mic as a precaution. I do know from past experience that when I listen on YouTube I find some songs get quite a bit worse, and others much better, when I relisten on my Mac.

Did not like Tonya at all; no sense of rhythm, and the "stripped down" arrangement was *busier* than the original! I love that song, that early era Elton John self-titled album is excellent and very blues/gospel, but Tonya took all the life out of it. Oh, now everyone is clapping, wait why are they clapping?

While I wasn't in love with it, that was a perfect song for Josh, as it was something we haven't heard to death and totally fit his Paul Simon-esque vibe. I don't understand why all the contestants don't stick solely to niche or obscure songs from the last 5 years. The public is less likely to reject it as a tired or bland cover, and more likely to reward it as something new (like Matt with "Take Me To Church" last year).

I didn't like Sonic either; this doesn't feel like her personality to sing this song, her audition was so much cooler and more funky. This felt like the kind of emotionally paint-by-numbers performance that sends you home, so that in a few years Sonic can be on some other singing show, talking about how she learned from past failures to finally be "true to herself". Sadly, kid, Tuesday would have been a good day to start that.

Brian: I was bullied as a kid, but found solace in college music. Adam: Yeah, same thing happened to me.

Uh, bullshit? Adam Levine grew up in a multimillionaire family in LA and went to a prestigious high school, and formed Maroon 5 at 15. He's always been rich, good looking, healthy, and connected to plenty of opportunities. I mean, he could have been bullied... but it seems highly unlikely. Anyway, Brian sang okay, but has little stage presence; I'll be surprised if he makes the next round. Of course the coaches are gushing, like that was some revelation. Again.

No disrespect to the gifted Linda Perry, but there's a reason we've never heard that song before on a singing show: it was a great tune when it came out but at this point it's been ruined by countless drunken secretary renditions at seedy karaoke bars across the country... many, many of whom probably blew Kimberly out of the water. I must be missing something, she was taking weird, loud breaths at the start in the middle of phrases, and while she was really strong in the middle she literally could not find the beat at the end- you could hear the guitarist desperately trying to edit notes out and catch up to whatever passes for the metronome in her head. More tongue bathing, and tears, and clapping.

Lexi wowed me with her previous performance of the Ellie Goulding song, but tonight she overdid the melisma waaaay too oft- oh right, Xtina is her coach now. Sorry, Lexi, and sorry you're too young to know to push back on a poor song choice that is literally twice as old as the contestant singing it. She had some rough spots and didn't look too happy as the song ended, but yes, still got a tongue bath. At this point, anyone who actually gets hard-hitting criticism should just quit on the spot...

... speaking of which, we have a Nathan? Well, I found him boring, and too adolescent to believe him at all, so I'm not too worried I forgot about him. There's a Cargo Cult aspect to young singers who mimic without understanding. The audience somehow loves it, but we got no comments from Blake & Xtina, and Pharrell and Adam were really damning with faint praise. They might as well have shouted "You SUCK!".

Man oh man is India good. She reminds me of Tessane Chin, where she has the whole package and polish already. A total pro, plus she really sells every damn word: more like speaking with beautiful melodies than the rote parroting of syllables and notes we get from the teenagers such as Mia Z.. I don't know the original, but it can't have been much better than that, and this was done live. I rewatched instantly, and noticed that other than one brief cut to a spellbound Xtina, the camera didn't leave her once or cut to the coaches. Even the producer was hypnotized! You see, coaches, when you blow your hyperbole on mediocre performances, you have no hyperbole left in the tank for people like India, so instead Pharrell wouldn't shut up about how they should just roll the credits. Classy, dude.

Rob slayed that, wow. Christina was very right, why go away from the moneymaker just because of some Tumbleristas? That also was a totally confident, professional performance, he never faltered or looked or sounded anything less than in control. Plus, with that flawless skin and cool haircut, he just looks like a star already. Rob and India have finally redeemed this episode for me.

I don't get this new nerves narrative with Deanna, or the "I sung once and was teased" or something. Didn't we learn in her audition that after not making it in season 5, she went on to tour and perform a lot? Because she is a stupendously gorgeous woman with a voice to match, and if all the talent ever gels... well, she's not exactly "unmarketable". Decent performance but not gobsmacking, and at least it wasn't "All By Myself".

I'm still upset by the Idolization of this show to have so many teenagers who admit on camera to never having dated that then go on stage and sing about the heartbreak of losing the one you love. But there are a few decent performers and some promising talent, so I consider it a blessing that we're cutting so many tonight.

[anonymiss]

Man oh man is India good. She reminds me of Tessane Chin, where she has the whole package and polish already. A total pro, plus she really sells every damn word: more like speaking with beautiful melodies than the rote parroting of syllables and notes we get from the teenagers such as Mia Z.. I don't know the original, but it can't have been much better than that, and this was done live. I rewatched instantly, and noticed that other than one brief cut to a spellbound Xtina, the camera didn't leave her once or cut to the coaches. Even the producer was hypnotized! You see, coaches, when you blow your hyperbole on mediocre performances, you have no hyperbole left in the tank for people like India, so instead Pharrell wouldn't shut up about how they should just roll the credits. Classy, dude.

Rob slayed that, wow. Christina was very right, why go away from the moneymaker just because of some Tumbleristas? That also was a totally confident, professional performance, he never faltered or looked or sounded anything less than in control. Plus, with that flawless skin and cool haircut, he just looks like a star already. Rob and India have finally redeemed this episode for me.

Ugh I still can't stand India and her shaky one dimensional boring voice (didn't like Tessane, either). However, I agree about Rob. He really did slay that and I chuckled at his Weekend haircut. He sang the hell out of it with total control of the stage and had swagger and conviction. He went from this sweet lil' chubby kid to charismatic and convincing.

[viajero]

No disrespect to the gifted Linda Perry, but there's a reason we've never heard that song before on a singing show: it was a great tune when it came out but at this point it's been ruined by countless drunken secretary renditions at seedy karaoke bars across the country... many, many of whom probably blew Kimberly out of the water. I must be missing something, she was taking weird, loud breaths at the start in the middle of phrases, and while she was really strong in the middle she literally could not find the beat at the end- you could hear the guitarist desperately trying to edit notes out and catch up to whatever passes for the metronome in her head. More tongue bathing, and tears, and clapping.

Man oh man is India good. She reminds me of Tessane Chin, where she has the whole package and polish already. A total pro, plus she really sells every damn word: more like speaking with beautiful melodies than the rote parroting of syllables and notes we get from the teenagers such as Mia Z.. I don't know the original, but it can't have been much better than that, and this was done live. I rewatched instantly, and noticed that other than one brief cut to a spellbound Xtina, the camera didn't leave her once or cut to the coaches. Even the producer was hypnotized! You see, coaches, when you blow your hyperbole on mediocre performances, you have no hyperbole left in the tank for people like India, so instead Pharrell wouldn't shut up about how they should just roll the credits. Classy, dude.

I'm still upset by the Idolization of this show to have so many teenagers who admit on camera to never having dated that then go on stage and sing about the heartbreak of losing the one you love. But there are a few decent performers and some promising talent, so I consider it a blessing that we're cutting so many tonight.

 

You must go to some truly amazing karaoke bars.  Though I kind of agree that What's Up was a song that was done to death in the years following it´s release, it's not one that you hear so much in recent years (unless I guess you spend a lot of time listening to 90's radio stations).  I personally have always thought it was a great song and have no problems with it being reintroduced to some of the younger folk.

 

I do completely agree with you about India, though I would note that she's a college student who is barely out of her teens and may not have all that much life-experience.  But then I have never felt you had to personally live through something to be able to express it well on stage (whether as a singer or an actor).  One of the great things about this season is that we do have teenagers like Sawyer, Mia and Koryn who have shown themselves quite able to really delve in, feel and interpret lyrics that one would expect to be beyond their years.

[selkie]

Linda Perry had a competition reality show about musicians last year, and in the intro to the first episode went off about how her show was going to be about developing musicians properly and not one of those fake cheesy deals like American Idol was. So it must be a pretty good friendship with Christina if Linda was actually willing to clear a song for one of those types of shows she claims to hate.

[Cramps]

The first season of The Voice, Christina and her contestant Beverly dieted to Beautiful, which Linda also wrote and would have had to approve. Although I guess that was less of an issue because it was Christina's song and not one that was identified with Linda as an artist.

All that said, I watched Linda's reality show. While I enjoyed it and some of the music that was made on it, I felt that in it's own way it was way more melodramatic cheesy reality than The Voice.

[viajero]

The first season of The Voice, Christina and her contestant Beverly dieted to Beautiful, which Linda also wrote and would have had to approve. Although I guess that was less of an issue because it was Christina's song and not one that was identified with Linda as an artist.

 

 

Linda actually performed the song with Christina and Beverly, though she only played the guitar.  I still think was one of the best coach-contestant duets in the show's history - or at least one of the best that didn't involve CeeLo.

 

[gingerandcloves]

Having watched the episode finally, my favorite performances of the night were Kimberly, Brian, Joshua, and (surprisingly) Deanna. I'm glad all four of them made it through. Rob was good as well. The others were just meh to me.

[unknown]

Brian: I was bullied as a kid, but found solace in college music. Adam: Yeah, same thing happened to me.

Uh, bullshit? Adam Levine grew up in a multimillionaire family in LA and went to a prestigious high school, and formed Maroon 5 at 15. He's always been rich, good looking, healthy, and connected to plenty of opportunities. I mean, he could have been bullied... but it seems highly unlikely.

He grew up in a divorced household with his aunt, mother and brother; it is his father who has the clothes stores, formed Kara's flowers at around 16; Maroon 5 was formed years later with most of the members of Kara's flowers. Just because you have opportunities doesn't mean you also can't be bullied.

Edited April 10, 2015 by unknown

[burntheflaws]

He's The Voice's equivelant of Chinese food.

 

Agreed about Josh, but Chinese food is amazing (outside of trashy "Chinese"-but-really-American takeout).