S08.E26: Live Semifinal Results

[DeLurker]

You don't have to worry. There is no way anyone but Sawyer is going to win this season. He's running away with it. And Joshua is a 100% more talented and better looking than Lee, but he still should have been eliminated about 3 weeks ago.

Sawyer is probably going to be named winner of American Idol too.  Guy's an avalanche, one that mystifies me but...

[kj4ever]

I've been away for most of this season.  My honeymoon with The Voice has definitely been over since the middle of last season when I would watch it a few days later rather then after a half hour or so from airing to be able to skip commercials.  It is way worse this season, with me skipping most of the battles and knockouts.

 

Xtina being back doesn't help things as I really, really can't stand her.  Her team is also always full of Diva type singers which are my least favorite, so there's that.  I'd rather listen to country singers and I HATE country.

 

The final four does spark my interest this season because at least we have a little diversity.  I really don't know what the show could do to bring me back into the fold.  I mean at one time I could barely wait for my half hour to watch and usually ended up watching after the 15 minute mark because I loved this show so much.

[waving feather]

It doesn't help that the the judges seem not into it during the live rounds. I have a feeling they don't have much input during lives compared to the battle rounds so they seem removed from it all and just sitting back and watching contestants perform. And I understood what Blake meant by not even knowing what to comment on Sawyer anymore because what is the point.

I agree about Christina. I don't know if it's insincerity or she's just a bad public speaker. Even when she may be sincere she sounds fake. That's sad for her. Comparing her to the other 2 ladies Gwen and Shakira are naturally sincere sounding women. Christina has to try so hard and still fail in that aspect. As for her not doing well in the competition, it's also because she chooses the same type of singers during the blinds so her team has little variety.

[ProudMary]

Is one of Sawyer's cows named Sara Lee? Haha, so cruel.

Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee!

[rollerblade]

It depends on what the musicians want out of a record deal. Christina Aguilera and Pink for example, didn't have much creative control in their first albums, but the "molded" albums launched them into superstars... and the girls used the stardom and sing the songs they want in their sophomore albums. Who knows how successful these two would have been without the initial propellant, molded or not.

 

What was the reason behind Big Machine dropping CWB?

[mercfan3]

When Christina is dropping shade, it is not accidental. She does it quite often. 

 

Yes it is. 

She tries very hard to be nice, she just can't do it. :P 

[yourpointis]

What was the reason behind Big Machine dropping CWB?

 

 

http://www.mjsbigblog.com/voice-7-winner-craig-wayne-boyd-no-longer-signed-to-dot-recordsbig-machine-label-group.htm

 

Craig Wayne Boyd was removed from the Big Machine Label Group website in mid-March, shortly after Big Machine Label Group head Scott Borchetta interviewed with San Jose country station KRTY and talked about how sometimes, you find that an artist is “unteachable, that they’re not going to get it, and you have to terminate the relationship, which is very hard to do”

 

 

 

Craig Wayne Boyd tweeted this morning claiming he “ask[ed] off the label”

 

 

 

Make of that what you can.  : )

[Padma]

Having seen a lot of Borchetta this season on Idol, I'd be inclined to think CWB was trying to get back his identity as an artist.

 

But after seeing his dated, generic presentation and performance on The Voice, maybe Borchetta's right, hard to say.

[viajero]

That went down pretty much the way I expected, though It might have gotten interesting if India had out-sung Koryn for her save-me song.  But she didn't.. 

 

The fact that Joshua outlasted both Kimberly and India is a bit of a travesty, but not an unexpected one.  That making a Bob Dylan/The Band song sound like it was being sung by a smooth voiced crooner got him more votes than the two women who gave the show stopping vocal performances of the night is disappointing. But it's also completely in line with what usually happens on these shows.

 

It wasn't just Pharrell. Meghan had her pandering moment singing Amazing Grace to her mom. Give me a break. And Adam made that girl who couldn't sing do at least 3 Jesus songs. At this point, they either need to get the praise Jesus stuff off the show or move the show to one of the Jesus channels. The country is becoming less and less religious. I don't know why they feel they have to pander like this.

 

 

Perhaps because The Voice gets its best ratings in the Bible Belt?  In any case, as someone else mentioned, Koryn is very religious with a strong gospel influence.  I don't see the fact that Pharrell tends to emphasize this as all that different than the way the show bangs us over the head with Joshua's struggles to support his cute wife and kids, or all the tough breaks poor Meghan has managed to overcome.  Craig Wayne Boyd doing a hymn, on the other hand …

 

Because I truly can't remember, but has a female minority made it to the finale on this show? (Not counting Tessanne)

 

 

In Season 1 we got both Vicci Martinez (Hispanic) and Dia Frampton (Asian-American) in the final, but I suspect that the audience for this show was quite different back then.

[mercfan3]

Michelle Chamuel is also Middle Eastern and Jewish (parents were refugees from Egypt.) She didn't talk about it much and it's not as visible of a minority difference. 

[Noreaster]

Male minorities who make it to the finals are few and far between as well. Javier and Jermaine but in the old show format. Damien last season made it to the finals but only because it was top 4. (Same goes for Koryn this season.) Since season 3, Tessanne has been the only minority to make top 3.

I pulled together some data last week because I was curious about these contestant demographic trends. I don't really know what to make of these stats but I'll post them below in case anyone has any ideas. Regarding the minorities, my initial read is that they (or perhaps it's really the genres they sing) get voting support up until a certain point. So voters do appreciate and enjoy these contestants early on. Maybe when it gets later in the game, viewers start voting only for their absolute favorites (while they might be voting for multiple contestants earlier) and they're usually not the minority contestants? I'm just thinking out loud.

Note in the data below, I chose Top 6 as a midway point. For seasons 6&7 when there was no Top 6, I used Top 5.

White : Non-White (non-whites in parentheses)

S3: 7:5 (Trevin, Amanda, Melanie, Bryan, Sylvia)

S4: 8:4 (Sasha, Judith, Kris, VEDO)

S5: 10:2 (Tessanne, Matthew)

S6: 9:3 (Delvin, Sisaundra, TJ)

S7: 10:2 (Damien, Anita)

S8: 8:4 (Koryn, India, Kimberly, Rob)

Top 12 (S3-S8): 53/72 or 73.6% white

Top 6 (S3-S8): 24/34 or 70.6% white

Finalists (S3-S8): 17/20 or 85% white

Professionals (people who had a record deal or do music as a living)

S3: 5 (Cassadee, Terry, Nicholas, Amanda, Cody)

S4: 7 (Michelle, The Swon Brothers, Sasha, Judith, Josiah, Kris, VEDO)

S5: 6 (Tessanne, Will, Austin, Kat, Jonny, Josh)

S6: 5 (Josh, Christina, Kristen, Kat, Sisaundra)

S7: 2 (Craig, Luke)

S8: 3 (Meghan, Joshua, Kimberly)

Top 12 (S3-S8): 28/72 or 38.9% professionals

Top 6 (S3-S8): 17/34 or 50% professionals

Finalists (S3-S8): 12/20 or 60% professionals

Country artists

S3: 1 (Cassadee)

S4: 3 (Danielle, The Swon Brothers, Holly Tucker). Not including Amber.

S5: 0

S6: 3 (Jake, Audra, Kristen)

S7: 1 (Craig)

S8: 1 (Corey)

Top 12 (S3-S8): 9/72 or 12.5% country

Top 6 (S3-S8): 7/34 or 20.6% country

Finalists (S3-S8): 5/20 or 25% country

Male:Female

S3: 6:6

S4: 5:7

S5: 8:4

S6: 4:8

S7: 7:5

S8: 5:7

Top 12 (S3:S8): 35/72 or 48.6% male

Top 6 (S3-S8): 17/34 or 50% male

Finalists (S3:S8): 12/20 or 60% male

Edited May 14, 2015 by Noreaster

[SunnyBeBe]

 I agree that Christina has issues, but in all fairness, she did try to get a unique performer on her team.  She turned for Sawyer, but he picked Pharrell.  So, she did try to get him on her team and if he had chosen her, she would be looking rather smart this season.  

[waving feather]

You're right, she did try to get Sawyer but the difference in ratio of WGWG/indie/folk singers that she turns for vs the diva type singers she turns for is still significant. I mean Blake turns for the diva type contestants all the time but they hardly pick him. Nevertheless, if you turn frequently enough, sooner or later you will land one (like Sisaundra). I can't fault Christina for sticking with what she knows but if she really wants a winner on her team, she needs to pick a variety of contestants to see what sticks.

Edited May 14, 2015 by waving feather

[Padma]

Until I see otherwise, I think Christina's biggest problem is that she wants everyone to oversing. And if they don't do it already, she gives them songs that make them do it. I can't even imagine her and Sawyer together. She'd be the -last- coach I'd choose for him.  As popular as he is, largely left to do his own thing, I think he probably would already be gone if he'd been on Team Xtina.

Edited May 14, 2015 by Padma

[dizzyizzy01]

I don't think that's true about Christina at all.  Off the top of my head, she didn't do it with Mathew Shuler or Lindsay Paveo.  Dude, didn't she pick a rapper in S2?  I think the oversinging thing is true for singers that sort of have a propensity to do it anyway, like India or maybe Jacquie.  Also, I wouldn't say Kimberly oversings at all.  She's got a powerful voice, but she's definitely someone that's got dynamics in her performance.  

 

Also, if there's anyone I think oversings this season, it's Meghan and Koryn.  They've both got good voices, but I always feel like they're turned up to 11.

[mercfan3]

Yea. I think she's actually a good coach. In terms of vocal training, staging, song picks..the actual coaching part. 

 

She's bad at getting people to know her contestants (like Adam is.) And she's just not as popular as Adam and Blake so she doesn't have their buffer. If Kimberly was on Blake or Adam's team, she'd still be in the competition. If Joshua was on Christina's, he wouldn't. 

 

Sawyer's different though. Sawyer was an automatic win from his audition. So long as she or anyone else kept him, he was going to win. 

Edited May 14, 2015 by mercfan3

[dizzyizzy01]

In terms of actual coaching and if you want to be coached to improve as a performer, I think Christina's the best out of the current panel.  For the other panels, Usher and Gwen are the  choices that seem good for that also.

 

If you want to win the show though, I guess you should go with Blake or maybe Adam.

[Noreaster]

Christina has definitely encouraged her contestants in the past to add their own embellishments and runs.  Maybe not all, but many.  This season, I remember her saying it to India and Kimberly in one episode.  India's performance ended up with oversinging (for me) while Kimberly's performance was just fine, making me think Kimberly ignored Christina's advice or just knew how to do it more effectively.

 

I also remember back in season 2 or 3, Christina and her guest adviser (maybe Jewel?) were actually giving conflicting advice about this. Christina wanted the contestant to do more, the guest adviser suggested doing less.  I don't recall Christina ever telling her contestants to show restraint, but we hear that often from Blake and Adam.  Just different stylistic choices.  

 

As far as whether Christina's contestants would have fared better on other teams, I think it's hard to say. I think Kimberly was giving consistently great performances.  Maybe it was getting a bit one-note and predictable and Kimberly should have mixed it up and done something out-of-the-box (the Adam approach), but that's risky.  Also, just looking at the track record of female rockers and blacks on this show, it might not have mattered.  I also think the problem for Kimberly is that even though her performances are exciting, her voice is actually not that pleasant to listen to on a regular basis.  

 

Regarding Sawyer, it appears to me that Pharrell is not doing much coaching with him. Just letting Sawyer do his own thing.  (Correct me if I'm wrong since I've been skipping a lot of episodes.) I think Sawyer on Christina's team may not work out the same. Christina in the past has been pretty hands-on with her team.  

Edited May 15, 2015 by Noreaster

[Padma]

I don't think that's true about Christina at all.  Off the top of my head, she didn't do it with Mathew Shuler or Lindsay Paveo.  Dude, didn't she pick a rapper in S2?  I think the oversinging thing is true for singers that sort of have a propensity to do it anyway, like India or maybe Jacquie.  Also, I wouldn't say Kimberly oversings at all.  She's got a powerful voice, but she's definitely someone that's got dynamics in her performance.  

 

Also, if there's anyone I think oversings this season, it's Meghan and Koryn.  They've both got good voices, but I always feel like they're turned up to 11.

I thought she -did- have Matthew Shuler oversing. She picked songs that were way out of his comfort zone vocally (compare Hallelujah with his audition song). While he sounded great on them, I think she risked blowing out his voice. He should have made it to the end, imo, but gradually seemed to lose what brought him to the show in the first place, his love of singing. 

 

JMO, but I also thought Christina did the same thing to Jacquie Lee, as one of many examples. Yes, she sounded good on her song choices, but she was pushed to reach too far, embellish too much and it ruined the vocal freshness that she had early on. (Her performance this week showed just how bad it's gotten. She sounded terrible and the style of singing was vintage Xtina.)

 

People say Blake doesn't push his singers to grow enough, but at least he doesn't push them to be copies of himself and in the process destroy their artistry (and sometimes possibly their voice as well). And where they come in with -some- similarities, she urges them to embellish more, not to show restraint. (Noreaster makes a good point about the difference between her advice and, say, Jewell's.)

 

I don't dislike Xtina as a judge at all, but, even though she is the most knowledgable musically, I don't think she's a very good coach for most singers. (Chris Mann lasted well, I think, because he was so different that she let him do more of his own thing without coaching him to be just like her.)

Edited May 15, 2015 by Padma

[dizzyizzy01]

I think people just have their own personal bias on how they perceive coaching.  Christina has had plenty of contestants where she hasn't encouraged "oversinging" whatever one perceives that to be.  Lindsay, Matthew, Josh Logan, Moses, Chris, Bevelry, etc.  This past season she had some pretty big voices on her team.  Christina has quite frequently emphasized dynamics in a performance, highlighting quiet moments and buildup in a song.  She even tried it with Jacquie and Clarity, but that wound up being one of her worst received performances.  In my opinion, what I think Christina discovered is that Jacquie's control over her voice wasn't quite fully there yet.  She was good when she was on full blast, but not so great when she needed more control and reign it in.  I also disagree that Matthew oversang on Hallelujah, not to mention it by far his best received performance.  Matthew started out very quiet on the song and built up very nicely throughout the song for a great performance.  I guess I don't even really understand what is necessarily this definition of "oversinging".

 

In my opinion, Christina is one of the few coaches where we've seen some marked improvement in performance for quite a few of her contestants.  I thought Gwen did a great job with her team, and so did Usher when he was on.  I felt like those three give specific feedback.  Adam and Blake tend to be rather vague in their advice.  Blake does tell you to stay on pitch, which well duh.  What Blake excels at though is humanizing his contestants and allowing the audience to connect with them.  Adam goes out on limb with some interesting song choices, but his general feedback on performance is not very specific.  Honestly though, I don't think performance and staging for what this show requires is necessarily something in his wheelhouse though.  His performance style as a front man of a band is different than what a lot of these singers are trying to do on the show.

[Noreaster]

I thought Christina did a great job with Matthew and Jacquie and I didn't see oversinging myself with these two. Matthew's voice just completely wore out and Jacquie started getting overdone/questionable song choices (much like everyone else though so I don't know how much say the coaches really had that season).

I think this oversinging discussion is mostly personal preference. The coaches have their own preferences and that impacts the advice they provide to their teams. Blake seems to prefer straight covers and focuses on perfect execution. Adam seems to want contestants to "make songs their own" but also often tells them to make sure not to fiddle too much with the melody or certain parts of the songs. I think his advice occasionally can be quite specific at times when he tells them to sing certain notes with more power or elongating or shortening them.

But I agree that Christina is often much more specific and sometimes she even sings herself to provide examples. I think that's mostly good, but I would suggest that Christina might be putting too much trust in her contestants to execute the way she's advising. Christina can do things with such ease, tastefully, with emotion and nuance, and her contestants are not usually as capable. So the end results by her team can sometimes come across as "oversinging" without sufficient emotion/connection. Of course, all subject to the personal preference of the listener/viewer. (Personally, I find myself liking the performances by Adam's teams the most over the seasons.  I probably just prefer his coaching style.)  

 

ETA: I also agree with the earlier posts that Christina's performance on this show probably has something to do with the teams she puts together for lives. A lot of less experienced singers with big voices.  

Edited May 15, 2015 by Noreaster

[MaryPatShelby]

My Unpopular Opinion:  I don't like when coaches who choose certain songs or make certain comments designed to gain votes (which is, you know, their job) are accused of pandering.  It just seems such a negative way to refer to someone who's trying to get their performer a win.

[jjjmoss]

I wonder if The Voice will go the way of Idol in terms of winners gender-wise.

 

Idol winners started being more female than male (4 of the first 6 seasons). But 7 of the last 8 have been male. 

 

3 of the first 5 Voice winners were female. Will we see a male dominance in the years to come?

Edited May 15, 2015 by jjjmoss

[mercfan3]

Once again, I think The Voice has buffers. 

 

As long as a female singer is on team Blake or team Adam..she is at no less of a disadvantage than a male. Usher could win with a woman too. 

 

When it comes to Christina's coaching..honest..she likes the larger than life performers. She doesn't do anything wrong. If it were the Grammy's it's Xtina's contestants that would make all the highlights the next day (and in fact, reviewers tend to heavily favor her team and their performances). But that's not what a majority of voters want. Voters want the every day person doing great things. Sawyer and Danielle..all american kids performing way over their head with semi-pros. or Josh Kaufman..the good dad who taught for a living...Kimberly and Matthew? They came across as rockstars. They were the best and they got the casual vote..but the second they weren't, they didn't have that fan attachment that others had.

 

Which is why I think Christina did best with Jacquie. Jacquie, like Danielle and Sawyer..had that all american feel too her. She was going up against the best singer the Voice ever had..and Adam has more fans voting for his team than Xtina does for hers..but because she was who she was, she had fans. 

[Noreaster]

Once again, I think The Voice has buffers. 

 

As long as a female singer is on team Blake or team Adam..she is at no less of a disadvantage than a male. Usher could win with a woman too. 

 

When it comes to Christina's coaching..honest..she likes the larger than life performers. She doesn't do anything wrong. If it were the Grammy's it's Xtina's contestants that would make all the highlights the next day (and in fact, reviewers tend to heavily favor her team and their performances). But that's not what a majority of voters want. Voters want the every day person doing great things. Sawyer and Danielle..all american kids performing way over their head with semi-pros. or Josh Kaufman..the good dad who taught for a living...Kimberly and Matthew? They came across as rockstars. They were the best and they got the casual vote..but the second they weren't, they didn't have that fan attachment that others had.

 

Which is why I think Christina did best with Jacquie. Jacquie, like Danielle and Sawyer..had that all american feel too her. She was going up against the best singer the Voice ever had..and Adam has more fans voting for his team than Xtina does for hers..but because she was who she was, she had fans. 

With all due respect, a lot of these generalizations just aren't true. 

 

Females have a disadvantage on Christina's team but don't on other coaches' teams?  No. Just a quick scan of past seasons will show that many female rock and R&B singers did not get any further than Kimberly and India this year.  

 

I agree that some voters are probably attracted to the girl/guy next-door type of contestant.  But Christina's team is usually full of them. Such as her entire team in season 3.  Matthew and Jacquie in season 5 are also young, innocent relatable types.  

 

I do think some viewers vote more for the coaches than the contestants.  Especially Blake who comes across as very likable on screen. And in that sense, Christina might be a disadvantage since she's been on the show less often and her tone and mannerisms are sometimes off-putting. Though I'd probably argue that Adam doesn't have that big of an advantage on this front. Plenty of Adam-hate on these boards, and some posters in the past have said they intentionally vote for contestants not on Adam's team in the finals.

[tmelange]

I think the trends in who makes it far on this show have the most to do with the show's audience and the even smaller percentage of the audience that votes. The Voice doesn't seem to me to have a large minority viewership (or even a particularly young minority viewership). While the majority of middle-age white women who watch the show seem expansive enough in what they like in the early rounds when not as much is at stake, eventually, when choices must be made, they tend to vote for what they know and like the most. I think Craig Wayne Boyd winning last season says everything about the real core demographics of the viewership.

[mercfan3]

With all due respect, a lot of these generalizations just aren't true. 

 

Females have a disadvantage on Christina's team but don't on other coaches' teams?  No. Just a quick scan of past seasons will show that many female rock and R&B singers did not get any further than Kimberly and India this year.  

 

I agree that some voters are probably attracted to the girl/guy next-door type of contestant.  But Christina's team is usually full of them. Such as her entire team in season 3.  Matthew and Jacquie in season 5 are also young, innocent relatable types.  

 

I do think some viewers vote more for the coaches than the contestants.  Especially Blake who comes across as very likable on screen. And in that sense, Christina might be a disadvantage since she's been on the show less often and her tone and mannerisms are sometimes off-putting. Though I'd probably argue that Adam doesn't have that big of an advantage on this front. Plenty of Adam-hate on these boards, and some posters in the past have said they intentionally vote for contestants not on Adam's team in the finals.

 

No, what I'm saying is I don't think The Voice will go the way of Idol, where we have 6 or 7 "less talented than the rest of the cast white male winners" because of the coaching setup. People vote with coaches, especially Blake and Adam. Because of that, if Adam or Blake have a female front runner, she won't be at the same disadvantage that women on Idol have. The other coaches? I would guess male contestants have the advantage (they always do), but the Voice really hasn't shown itself to be as sexist as Idol. So essentially, I'm saying I'm not worried that The Voice will go the way of Idol. (I mean, we'll see next season.) Even though Sawyer technically fits that mold..he got people interested in him because of his tone. That's more Scotty McCreery than Phillip Phillips. 

 

I've watched since Season 4. To me, Matthew and Kimberly..Xtina's two front runners that left sixth..were very rock star ish. I'm not saying they were unlikable. I am saying that they put on BIG grande performances. But both times, it seems like the second they weren't the best of the night, they were abandoned. I don't think that's a Team Xtina thing. (Although, once again, had they been on Adam or Blake's team..I think they get a second or third chance.) I think that's a voter preference thing. There's a recognition that they are great. And so casual fans vote for them. But actual fans don't gravitate towards them. They gravitate towards Sawyer, Josh, Jacquie, Danielle..

Edited May 16, 2015 by mercfan3

[Potato511]

"They don't get a record deal at all through this show. "

Hm, where do you get that? They get a deal with Universal Music Group and $100,000.

Edited May 16, 2015 by Potato511

[susannot]

I missed the second half of the show last week. So far,I am really enjoying every performance. I thought Koryn was titanic in her performance of "O Mary." Don't agree that Megan sounded like "I'd rather go blind" in her rendition of Tennessee Whiskey. It was completely amazing.

[viajero]

No, what I'm saying is I don't think The Voice will go the way of Idol, where we have 6 or 7 "less talented than the rest of the cast white male winners" because of the coaching setup. People vote with coaches, especially Blake and Adam. Because of that, if Adam or Blake have a female front runner, she won't be at the same disadvantage that women on Idol have. The other coaches? I would guess male contestants have the advantage (they always do), but the Voice really hasn't shown itself to be as sexist as Idol. So essentially, I'm saying I'm not worried that The Voice will go the way of Idol. (I mean, we'll see next season.) Even though Sawyer technically fits that mold..he got people interested in him because of his tone. That's more Scotty McCreery than Phillip Phillips. 

 

I've watched since Season 4. To me, Matthew and Kimberly..Xtina's two front runners that left sixth..were very rock star ish. I'm not saying they were unlikable. I am saying that they put on BIG grande performances. But both times, it seems like the second they weren't the best of the night, they were abandoned. I don't think that's a Team Xtina thing. (Although, once again, had they been on Adam or Blake's team..I think they get a second or third chance.) I think that's a voter preference thing. There's a recognition that they are great. And so casual fans vote for them. But actual fans don't gravitate towards them. They gravitate towards Sawyer, Josh, Jacquie, Danielle..

 

I really don't think it has all that much to do with the coaches.  Women with strong voices who do a lot of rock and/or R&B tend to have a natural ceiling somewhere between Top 8 and the semifinals, irrespective of what team they are on.  This is what happened to the likes Amanda Brown, Judith Hill, Amber Carrington and Sisaundra (just to name a few examples from Team Adam or Team Blake). 

 

I still think that when Tessanne pulled ahead in her season was when she switched from doing recent pop songs to first doing reggae and then diva stuff (or diva like arrangements of classics like Bridge Over Troubled Water).  The problem of course is that while this may have won her The Voice, it made her seem even less relevant when she tried to launch her post-show career. 

[kj4ever]

No, what I'm saying is I don't think The Voice will go the way of Idol, where we have 6 or 7 "less talented than the rest of the cast white male winners" because of the coaching setup. People vote with coaches, especially Blake and Adam. Because of that, if Adam or Blake have a female front runner, she won't be at the same disadvantage that women on Idol have. The other coaches? I would guess male contestants have the advantage (they always do), but the Voice really hasn't shown itself to be as sexist as Idol. So essentially, I'm saying I'm not worried that The Voice will go the way of Idol. (I mean, we'll see next season.) Even though Sawyer technically fits that mold..he got people interested in him because of his tone. That's more Scotty McCreery than Phillip Phillips. 

 

I've watched since Season 4. To me, Matthew and Kimberly..Xtina's two front runners that left sixth..were very rock star ish. I'm not saying they were unlikable. I am saying that they put on BIG grande performances. But both times, it seems like the second they weren't the best of the night, they were abandoned. I don't think that's a Team Xtina thing. (Although, once again, had they been on Adam or Blake's team..I think they get a second or third chance.) I think that's a voter preference thing. There's a recognition that they are great. And so casual fans vote for them. But actual fans don't gravitate towards them. They gravitate towards Sawyer, Josh, Jacquie, Danielle..

I think being on Team Xtina could bring people to a disadvantage.  I know I never watch her working with her team, ever.  I always fast forward through her because she always ends up irking me so bad.  I barely ever "know" anything about her contestants, so if lots of people have a great night, I will "know" more about the other people and the personality side will push me to voting for them rather then some random Team Xtina person.

[Donny Ketchum]

I know I never watch her working with her team, ever.  I always fast forward through her because she always ends up irking me so bad.  I barely ever "know" anything about her contestants, so if lots of people have a great night, I will "know" more about the other people and the personality side will push me to voting for them rather then some random Team Xtina person.

Replace Christina's name with Adam's and all feminine pronouns with masculine ones and you'd pretty much get why I've never voted for an Adam contestant.  I don't see what's so irksome about Christina, while Adam and his huge ego and smugness and tendency to mug for camera time always irk me, and I've only watched since season six!

[kj4ever]

Replace Christina's name with Adam's and all feminine pronouns with masculine ones and you'd pretty much get why I've never voted for an Adam contestant.  I don't see what's so irksome about Christina, while Adam and his huge ego and smugness and tendency to mug for camera time always irk me, and I've only watched since season six!

I am definitely not his biggest fan either, and he has turned me off certain contestants with his behavior too.  He can do the opposite for me though, like I voted like crazy for Amber because of the way he treated her.  I wanted her to win to spite him...lol  Oh, I loved her voice too.