S09.E15: The Live Playoffs, Part 1

[Tara Ariano]

The playoffs kick off with the Top 20 performing.

[Mreid]

Adam has his hair back thank goodness!

[roamyn]

As a Keith fan, I was wildly underwhelmed. His song choice was so bland. He definitely knows how to play the crowd, but coming after Regina has to hurt him.

[Diana Berry]

First hour in, I've been underwhelmed with everyone.

[Mreid]

I agree Diana. I am just ready to hear Jordan and Viktor sing they are my top 2 favorites of this season anyway

[dbell1]

The audience still can't do the 'hands in the air wave' in unison, and I swear some are having seizures.

Gwen is looking gorgeous tonight.

Edited November 10, 2015 by dbell1

[Mreid]

Wow Amy Vachal has a beautiful voice right now she is probably my favorite singer out of the female artists this season

[Mreid]

Adam bought back Chance Pena? I wish he had picked someone else....

[MaryPatShelby]

Adam bought back Chance Pena? I wish he had picked someone else....

I'm not familiar with the song he sang but, um, was it in English? I might have pulled a "save my soul" out of that mess, and maybe "father" was in there somewhere. Why do these kids think that weird pronunciations is the way to go?

[dbell1]

Victor reminds me of every smarmy pick up guy cruising the bars. Dude leaves a trail of slime when he sings.

Amy was great. Glad she went with Adam.

[Diana Berry]

Missed Jordan. What did he sing, please ?

[Latsmile]

Jordan sang Beyoncé's Halo.

[blueray]

I really liked the girl with the blue hair on Gwen's team. She totally nailed her performance. By far the best of the night. There are were other few that were also good such as the other girl who sang right before the multi-haired girl and maybe Jordan. I honestly lost interested in between them and dozed off. And I don't really know most of their names.

Edited November 10, 2015 by blueray

[beaker73]

Very happy to see Ellie back--she was one of my favorites. I thought Regina was...not good. She'll be gone Wednesday. I have a hard time getting behind Braiden. He has a good voice and all, but I can't seem to get past the fact that he looks like he's 12 years old. I co-sign the post that Viktor looks like he oozes slime. I do not dig him.

Anyone wanna take bets as to how many pimp spots Jordan gets between now and the finals? I'm going with 4.

[Branchop]

Regina should not have done the Adele song. Unless you sing it exactly like Adele and don't "make it your own", it's going to be terrible. And it was.

I didn't like Jordan's for the same reason. Some songs you should just leave alone.

I agreed with the judges the Bread song was not right for this competition and Braiden.

[Dots And Stripes]

Way to go Gwen! I think she did well with a lot of her team tonight. I looooove Adia, Something was off about Korin's arrangement. Gwen was right about telling her to go into her lower register in rehearsals. I get the feeling Korin wasn't behind the song choice completely. I think it was clever.

 

Brayden didn't seem to be behind his song either. I still think he's too green.

 

I didn't remember Ellie, or at least not enough to really tell her apart from the 2 other girls with blue/pink hair. She did well enough. Cool song, but her voice cracked a little too much.

 

I don't get the Hungarian pop star. Maybe he just looks too much like Robin Thicke?

 

Team Adam didn't have such a great night. A little surprised Adam did revive the twins. The cynic in me thinks maybe he didn't want to bring back someone who would challenge Shelby, Jordan, and whoever his other chosen one is. Jordan was the only stand out from Team Adam tonight, at least for me.

[roamyn]

Hubby and I thought Regina was great.

Jordan was good, Korrin was boring, Viktor was...even Nick the Lounge singer was better.

Chance? WTF? Why did Adam bring this kud back?

Amy was by far the best if the night.

[jjjmoss]

Will Jordan be the new Sawyer and dominate the whole way?

 

He's at #14 on iTunes already; next highest are 56 and 63...

[Dots And Stripes]

I forgot to mention Jeffrey! I gave him the max number of votes. He reminds me of Clay Aiken...and I love Clay Aiken. He's a real underdog and I like that.

 

Edited because I forgot Jeffrey's name. Oops!

Edited November 10, 2015 by Dots And Stripes

[nextian]

I really hope Jordan doesn't dominate the whole season. No one ever coming close to Sawyer made it so boring last season!

[jjjmoss]

Well, one round (out of 10) he was only in 2nd place for the night cuz of Koryn's Make it Rain, though still miles ahead of the rest of the pack. 

I personally didn't mind when Danielle dominated (though not quite as much), but that's cuz she's my fave. 

 

Hopefully Amy can give him a bit of a run for his money, though she might not be able to match his range and power...

 

Contestants who got the last perf of the night, live or not:

Juliet last 3 rounds (runner-up)
Cassadee 4 (winner), Trevin 3 (4th)
Sasha 3 (4th or 5th), Judith 3 (7th or 8th)
Jacquie 4 (runner-up), Tessanne 3 (winner), James 3 (4th or 5th)
Josh 5 (winner), Sisaundra 3 (6th-8th), Bria first 3 rounds (9th or 10th)...Pretty surprised at how hard the producers seemed to fight for Josh. I guess they really wanted a non Adam/Blake win.
Anita 3 (9th or 10th)...Well that was a bust.
Sawyer 4 (winner) as if he needed it, India 3 (5th)

Being producers' fave doesn't give you the win if the base is not there. And you can win even without keep on getting the best placements.

Edited November 10, 2015 by jjjmoss

[Koffee Kup]

Wow Amy Vachal has a beautiful voice right now she is probably my favorite singer out of the female artists this season

I was bored, not anything I would pay for.  

[Swedish Chef]

Since so much of The Voice band is comprised of former members of Our Band: House, I wonder if they were feeling nostalgic playing "Never Tear Us Apart". I was feeling nostalgic hearing it...

And I also thought how much better some of these contestants (Blaine, Keith, the late lamented Manny) would have been on Rock Star.

[Noreaster]

Just listened to the Youtube videos.  A lot of boring/bad performances tonight.  I liked Chance and Viktor the most.  Chance has such an interesting voice.  Viktor looked like he was having a blast and was technically very strong.  Ellie was not bad.  Jordan and Jeffrey gave technically strong performances but I found them boring.  I wouldn't mind losing everyone else.  

[LakeGal]

I understand that Jordan is a good singer.  But I find him boring.  I hate to think he will get the pimp spot week after week.

[kathyk24]

I love Amy she's  been my favorite since the blinds. I don't understand why Braiden and Shelby were  given songs from the seventies. Their peers won't know those songs and won't vote for them I would have given them something current.

[Sharpie66]

Loved Jordan's performance as well as Ellie's. Thought that Braiden suffered from poor song choice as did Korin and Amy.

[Wings]

Boring for me, too.  Gwen is gorgeous without the harsh red lipstick and extreme hair.  I never realized how pretty she really is. 

 

I like Amy but she sounded flat several times and the mix was wrong or something.  Adam did say he was not going to address the technical issues before he praised her.  He heard something off, as well.  

Edited November 10, 2015 by wings707

[Ketzel]

Will they never get the lighting right on this show? I am tired of peering at singers through darkness, especially when they are just starting to sing. I prefer to see people singing in their natural colors, so I wish whoever the lighting director is would stop painting them blue and orange at random moments. And aside from the terrible lighting, I could do without the spinning camera effects and the loooong zoom-ins that start from ten rows behind the judges chairs and make the singers look like little ants in the distance.

[hks]

Jordan is pretty much it for me. I'm really never disappointed in his performances, and I really don't care if he gets the pimp spot over and over again. He deserves it.  And while I liked a lot of other people before tonight, I don't think anyone else came close this time. Maybe Ellie - she kicked ass in comparison to her knocked out performance. And I think Blaine was good - but it might have been because I love that song so much.  (That's how I know how much I like Jordan - I'm actually not a huge fan of the songs he picks, but I love his performances regardless). 

[waving feather]

I've always liked Jordan. Not wowed by him but I enjoy watching him sing. I can't say that for a majority of the contestants. The only thing is... I don't think he has the x factor to be a star. But he's kicking ass on iTunes right now so what do I know.

[jjjmoss]

Luckily, if he has a single just hit #100 after the show, he'd have the most successful non-country post-show song ever.

[Dancingjaneway]

Tonight was a mixed bag. My favorites were: Jordan, and Viktor. Gwen needs to do better with her song choices or she is going to find herself in some serious trouble. Bread was a horrible choice for Braiden. The kid has a good voice but it's not made for that type of music. Regina murdered "Hello". I wanted to slap Gwen when she mentioned that Regina was like Anita Baker. No she isn't!!! Anita Baker has WAY more talent and control than Regina. Ugh.   It would be nice if the judges would fucking be honest with these contestants. Also I've noticed that the judges are starting to use freaking Idol "go to" phrases and that makes me want to vomit. Jordan needs to learn how to go from his head voice to his chest voice. Same goes for the girl who sang "Aidia". Adam's "I don't want to talk about your voice" comment to Jordan make me laugh and roll my eyes. I thought this was a vocal/singing competition. I'm hoping that the artist Pharrell brings back is Celeste Betton. She was great in her "Ain't no Mountain High Enough" duet.  Adams comeback choice was horrible and I can't tell whether the producers made him pick him or if Adam picked him because he knows how well young boys do on these types of shows. Maybe Adam was hoping this kid would bomb so that he could make sure his current team stayed in the game and didn't knock one of his faves out. If its the last then the plan backfired because there is a LOT of love for that kid.  

 

ETA: I was SOOO happy to hear a Lisa Stansfield song on the show tonight. I just love her and have always wanted someone to sing one of her songs. 

Edited November 10, 2015 by Dancingjaneway

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Count me in the camp that says Adam's bring back decision was either producer manipulated or just his way of guaranteeing that one of his two or three chosen ones weren't unexpectedly knocked out of the two America voted for slots. I was already resigned to the fact that Jordan was going to get one of those slots....and the excessive slurping/pimp spot did nothing to change that perspective. Chance is toast and I think Keith will end up rueing that song choice. Amy and Shelby both were solid and should round out Adam's team moving on to top 12, although Blaine gave a pretty great performance to open the show. He won't get voted in by America, but he has to at least be in Adam's thought process (only remotely rock guy left) for the judges save.

 

Normally, I love Gwen's willingness to go out the box w/ song choices. Song's like Sampson and Sweater Weather have been nice refreshers from the playbook of Blake and Pharrell (and Adam to a slightly lesser degree). However, her choice for Braiden was really really not good.....and I think that decision is basically going to place his fate in her hands with the judges save. I'd say Jeffery and Viktor probably earned spots tonight, while Regina and Elli will be out. Could leave Gwen an impossible choice having to decide between Braiden and Korin for her save. Adia was uneven, but I still get 15 to 20 second snippets in every performance from Korin that leaves me thinking she's one of the very few from this season who could navigate the pop music landscape as it exists in 2015 and make something of an impact. YMMV of course.

Edited November 10, 2015 by PhD-Purgatory15

[oakgal]

Since so much of The Voice band is comprised of former members of Our Band: House, I wonder if they were feeling nostalgic playing "Never Tear Us Apart". I was feeling nostalgic hearing it...

You are reading my mind Swedish Chef. Exactly what I was thinking. I was drifting off thinking about those velvet draped days of Rock Star. Good times... 

 

I'll admit, I nodded off during the show. I had to rewind to see what happened to the red-headed guy on Gwen's team. I slept through him. Oops. Amy was good, if a bit expected. Brandon was good, but it's not my thing. Doing "Hello" was a massive mistake. I quite like Regina but she was out of her depth on that one.

 

Adia was painful to experience. I wish I'd slept through it.

 

Please, Gwen I'm begging---stop straightening that kid's hair. It looks ridiculous. 

Edited November 10, 2015 by oakgal

[Wings]

I've always liked Jordan. Not wowed by him but I enjoy watching him sing. I can't say that for a majority of the contestants. The only thing is... I don't think he has the x factor to be a star. But he's kicking ass on iTunes right now so what do I know.

 

I agree.  Good that they gave him a current hair cut but not sure that will help in the long run.  

[waving feather]

My favorite performance of the night is from Ellie. She's just a natural on stage wih the right stage presence. Not a stiff board but not a try-hard either. Her vocals are good without too much polish. Everything about her sits right with me right now and I hope she can keep it up.

[MaryPatShelby]

During the opening credit montage (which, by the way, is too long) Adam said - paraphrasing - "We have more talent this season than we've ever had".  IMHO, no.  I played my Voice playlist just yesterday, and realized that it's been two seasons since I bought a song.  YMMV, but I think the talent is going downhill, not up.  Is it all the youngsters?  I don't know.......

[adhoc]

I thought Ellie was underwhelming. I flipped channels halfway through.

 

Ditto Amy--I thought she was mostly going through the motions but not really connecting to the warmth of the song at all. 

 

Same with Braiden, except when he got to the part where the song went into a higher--what, key, octave, whatever you call it?--and he could relate to the lyrics. That part was okay. 

 

Korin bored me. There was something missing from her performance for me, possibly the lack of good eye contact? There really was a lot of "dead eye" going on among the contestants tonight.

 

Gwen's styling of everyone was great, except Victor. She failed him there. (Or maybe he insisted on doing his own styling. If so, bad move.) He needed to ditch the lounge lizard look, especially for that song.

 

Only memorable songs for me tonight? Jordan and Jeffrey. Jordan often starts of kind of "meh" for me, but in the end he delivers.

[PepperMonkey]

Bread was so wrong for Braiden. That's the kind of song that you remember fondly from your young teen years - yes! I had the album - but you really never have the need to hear a new version of it ever again.

 

I agree with the poster above who said Jordan is good but boring and it has nothing to do with his looks.

 

I guess we're all just oversaturated with so. many. singers. There used to be a billion singing contests and AGT loves to bring on as many singers as possible, too. I mean, there are a lot of people out there in America et. al. who can sing well, but not really that many I would consider a real voice. Viktor has a beautiful voice, but he is kinda cruise shippy.

 

I was so disappointed in Korin last night because she really kind of blew me away her last performance. I wasn't over the moon with Ellie's performance, but she made more sense to bring back (to ME, I have to add) than Chance. And Shelby, who I loved in the knockout (is that what we just finished?) was wrong for "You're No Good" as well. She looked pained while singing it and didn't seem to connect with it at all, much like Braiden with "Everything I Own."

 

Interested to see how Blake and Pharrell's teams do tonight. I still don't have a horse in this race.

[Primetimer]

O-N L-I-V-E T-V.

Read the story

[Cementhead]

Yes, Gwen, we beg of you to please stop straightening Braiden's hair & taking his glasses off.  That kid is as cute as a bug in a rug and you are doing him no favours by trying to tween hearthrob him all up.  Leave him alone!  Terrible song choice for him.  Contrast it with his Buble song choice.  Like night & day.

 

Amy is a beauty and has a beautiful voice to match, no doubt but I find her to be lacking in stage presence.  Last night, I don't know if I was more bored watching her or if she was more bored singing that song.  Not a smile or a smirk or an expression to be had. 

 

Gwen looks 20 years younger and 10x better with the lighter lip vs. her signature red.  Again.  Like night & day.

 

Also not a fan of Mr. Hungarian Pop Star.  I agree with the posters who find him slimy and smarmy.  Thinks he's too cool for school and all that and a bag of Doritos.  Dude, no.  But since this show is about the singing (is it?) he is really good and did a good job on that song last night even though it was a very weird choice.  I haven't heard that song in 20 years.

 

I have loved Keith since the beginning of the show, but have hated the last 2 of his performances.  Song choice last night was so bizarre.  When the first long pause without him singing happened, I thought my audio was cutting out on my tv.  Then it happened again and I realized it was the way they styled the song.  Really bad idea, I bet.  Too bad because I love his vibe.  Would love to see him sing Madness by Muse.

 

Oh, and Korin looked horrified last night.  Was it her nerves over the song?  Was it her styling that took her out of her comfort zone?  She looked like she wanted to cry.  Wasn't helpful when Gwen proclaimed how beautiful she looked as she is standing there with a new-do and no glasses and in a dress that she probably didn't pick or like and told her that she was blossoming into such a beauty.  It's so amusing how Gwen treats her contestants like barbie dolls and gets so excited about their hair and their clothes, etc.  Last night she referred to one of the guy's clothes as "his outfit," lol, too funny. 

Edited November 10, 2015 by Cementhead

[ChicksDigScars]

Can Adam PLEASE just shut. the. fuck. up. Every time Blake opens his mouth. Even when Blake is COMPLIMENTING a singer of Adam's, Douche Boy has to interrupt and be a total asshole. It gets worse every season. It's not cute anymore. The rivalry schtick is fine a couple times a show, but not ALL the time.

 

Blake has definitely lost a few pounds. His face is less full.

Edited November 10, 2015 by ChicksDigScars

[Cramps]

Since so much of The Voice band is comprised of former members of Our Band: House, I wonder if they were feeling nostalgic playing "Never Tear Us Apart". I was feeling nostalgic hearing it...

And I also thought how much better some of these contestants (Blaine, Keith, the late lamented Manny) would have been on Rock Star.

I was saying the same thing to my husband! And JD has had so many issues that if they ever got back together again (and if Tim is able to play post accident), perhaps Blaine could get a call...

[Cramps]

Agreed that Korin seemed incredibly uncomfortable last night. Miserable in fact. She obviously didn't want to sing that song and was having trouble with it. Also the styling didn't seem right for her at all.

Other off song choices- Hello and Bread. (Was that the same Bread song Gwen gave a team member on her last season?)

Thrilled to see her back, but Ellie was basically a little Gwen last night. Dressed in A LAMB top, moving like Gwen, phrasing her words like Gwen. It was odd.

Last time Gwen coached I was really impressed with her. I'm not this week. Starting to wonder if Gavin's input affected things. I hate to give him any credit , because I love her and did not like Bush. But this week was not good.

Also, I think it's safe to say that Blake will now never say anything critical about Gwen's team---and that her top makeover of the week was Blake. He looked the best he ever has! Loved the suit with white shirt!

As for Adam's team, Shelby has a big voice, but needs to gain more control of it.

Blaine has been slowly growing on me.

I've always disliked that Mr. Big song, but thought that was a good rendition of it.

This was the first time I really liked Amy.

And...can someone tell me what to say to my husband every time he asks "why does everyone get so excited about Jordan? Does he sound a lot better in the room?"

[adhoc]

I was reminiscing last night about RS: INXS and Our Band: House too!  I wonder if they realize that many of us still think of them as OB:H.

Edited November 10, 2015 by adhoc

[waving feather]

Agreed that Korin seemed incredibly uncomfortable last night. Miserable in fact. She obviously didn't want to sing that song and was having trouble with it. Also the styling didn't seem right for her at all.

.....

Also, I think it's safe to say that Blake will now never say anything critical about Gwen's team---and that her top makeover of the week was Blake. He looked the best he ever has! Loved the suit with white shirt!"

Korin seriously looked like she was about to burst into tears. I don't like this makeover. I liked her previous hipster chick look. It suited her better instead of this long cloth thingy. Lol.

It's cute that they are dating but last night Blake seemed like he was tip-toeing around commenting anything real about Gwen or her team because he was uncomfortable with the scrutiny. I prefer Blake when he's at his most comfortable making fun of everyone and every situation. Come on, that's why he's on the show. Heh. Thank goodness Christina is back next season, so Blake can be his snarky self again.

Adam is always more annoying during lives than the taped episodes.

[Cementhead]

And...can someone tell me what to say to my husband every time he asks "why does everyone get so excited about Jordan? Does he sound a lot better in the room?"

I enjoy Jordan; probably because he always sings songs that I love (Chandelier, Halo) but can I piggyback off of your hubby's question and also ask why Adam proclaimed Jordan to be "the most important contestant we have ever had on this show" way back when?  Remember that?  It was seeemingly such a profound statement to make at the time.  What qualified him to say that?  Is it his weight?  His weight combined with his voice? 

[Dots And Stripes]

Agreed that Korin seemed incredibly uncomfortable last night. Miserable in fact. She obviously didn't want to sing that song and was having trouble with it. Also the styling didn't seem right for her at all.

I was kind of irked by Korin because I got the sense she didn't embrace the song choice. I thought she got into it more on the second verse and made some good choices for where to deviate from the original. I feel like maybe she wasn't a fan of the song or wasn't familiar with it. Maybe that was the best she could do, but I got the sense she was fighting the song more than trying to make the best of it.

 

It's cute that they are dating but last night Blake seemed like he was tip-toeing around commenting anything real about Gwen or her team because he was uncomfortable with the scrutiny. I prefer Blake when he's at his most comfortable making fun of everyone and every situation. Come on, that's why he's on the show. Heh. Thank goodness Christina is back next season, so Blake can be his snarky self again.

Adam is always more annoying during lives than the taped episodes.

Blake always sides with whoever is against Adam. To me, that's not new. Aside from Blake and Adam taking shots at each other, the coaches tend to have difficulty coming up with criticism in the live rounds. Adam had the most uncomfortable moment of any coach when he tried to say he didn't like the song for Braiden.

[waving feather]

Aside from Blake and Adam taking shots at each other, the coaches tend to have difficulty coming up with criticism in the live rounds. Adam had the most uncomfortable moment of any coach when he tried to say he didn't like the song for Braiden.

Probably why the lives are ironically lifeless for me. Sometimes it pains me to see Adam and Blake (and Christina when she's there) bend over backwards to find positive things to say. They must be dying a little inside each time. I thought the most awkward moment was when Blake tried to think of a compliment for Chance. In the end all he could muster up was basically "No one can say you didn't try".