S09.E18: Live Top 12 Performances

[Nedsdag]

Hoo-boy! Let's start:

 

• If "rock" is Braiden's forte, why have him sing a song from the year his parents were born? Maybe if Gwen had left him alone with the curly hair and glasses singing "If You Could Only See" by Tonic, it might have worked (putting a big emphasis on the words "might have").
• Emily Ann looked like Miranda Lambert sans pink ombre. Sure, Blake! You're over her!
• So Gwen chose Korin to make her into a Gwen mini me? It didn't work and neither did the David Guetta/Sia song.
• I hate "Hotline Bling" with the passion of a thousand fires, but Amy did the best she could with that arrangement. I wish she would choose songs in her genre.
• Barrett was on key, but he still looks like the dads you see at Walmart and Costco on the weekend buying things in bulk. I must say that Blake is a great BSer by convincing Barrett his song would be played on radio today. Are you selling the Brooklyn Bridge next, Blake?
• Mark, can you say "cheesy"?
• Is the reason why Pharrell kept saying that Madi is sixteen because she is dressed like a middle aged suburbanite on a Friday night? Good vocals, bad styling.
• Zach will make a great living as a Chippendale dancer because he sure isn't much of a singer. 
• Evan? Who?
• The best female country singer in this competition is Shelby, hands down! 
• Which leads us two the epic battle. I truly believe Jordan/Jeffrey can be a Ruben/Clay battle down the stretch if Jeffrey continues to choose the right songs. Jordan is the hare in this race, but I can see Jeffrey coming pretty close to him. There's not much to comment on Jordan except he forgot his pew and his robes for the sermon after he sang.
• I miss Viktor.

Edited November 17, 2015 by Nedsdag

[PepperMonkey]

OMFG ONLY ONE PERSON IS LEAVING?????

 

I may die of old age before this "season" ends!

[Wings]

There is so much filler that I would not mind some of that to be a focused on styling the contestants.  I would like to see a professional do this job, of course.  It would add a another dimension.   

 

Who wants to see them rehearsing the song they are going to sing?  I FF through that.   And the mentors are just star studding to draw viewers.  Missy Elliot?  Really?   Rihanna did a poor job, too.  She focused on the voice and with no regard to the entire package, leading Gwen to make a poor decision.  Ya gotta have the x factor no matter how good your voice. 

 

Jordan seems destined to win and it will not be about his new hair style so their are exceptions.  I doubt we will see or hear much of him after this concludes.  

[beaker73]

OMFG ONLY ONE PERSON IS LEAVING?????

 

I may die of old age before this "season" ends!

I swear Carson said that last night and I had the same thought. 

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

Started From The Bottom, Now There's 12
Team Adam has a great night, but Blake's too busy embarrassing Gwen to even make fun of him for it…

[Dots And Stripes]

I swear Carson said that last night and I had the same thought. 

I think someone said in another thread they're actually cutting a week out of the live rounds. If one leaves tonight, I think we'll have more weeks of 2-3 leaving later on. At least that's my hope.

[jjjmoss]

No.

[meep.meep]

 

I'll use this opportunity to reiterate how much I disliked that performance. It was dull and I didn't like Amy's vocals. America bought it itunes (it's in the top 10 and one spot below Drake's version) so now I'm not too thrilled with America's taste.

 

 

What a bizarre choice.  It's monotonic and boring with no hook at all.  Why give it to someone who has range?

 

I haven't been watching much this year, but there's really a contestant named Even Keel?  Is he always in the middle?

[DarkRaichu]

I watched the performances on youtube.  Wow, were there problems with the earpieces?  The contestants were either way sharp, screeching, or out of pocket

[loveoutloud]

Can we pretty please retire Kenny Loggins songs forever from this show? Or can Pharrell STAHP with these song choices. Josh Kaufman sang it S6 and I felt the same way about it back then lol. Evan's my favorite on his team because of how gorgeous his tone is, and he's not going to last much longer if he doesn't speak up about what kind of music he wants to make. *sigh*

 

Poor Korin. :( She's selling her soul to this show, and I hope she also tells Gwen to stop trying to make her over. It's always a beauty pageant with her, and people who vote on this show don't give a shit (for the most part). 

 

I'd like Jeffery to take it all the way, give Jordan a run for his money. 

Edited November 17, 2015 by loveoutloud

[MaryPatShelby]

Carson Daly is omg bad

I am genuinely curious about what makes Carson bad. I have come to the conclusion that he is almost perfect for this show--kind of bland, doesn't make the show about him, yet engaged in the show and the process. But this is the only reality show I watch, so I may be missing something about what the host should/should not be doing.

[Duke Silver]

That was awful.

[Grandma Saracen]

I am genuinely curious about what makes Carson bad. I have come to the conclusion that he is almost perfect for this show--kind of bland, doesn't make the show about him, yet engaged in the show and the process. But this is the only reality show I watch, so I may be missing something about what the host should/should not be doing.

 

No, you're absolutely right. I'm just tired of vanilla. 

[Padma]

Well, that wasn't very good at all, was it?

 

The good for me was that I finally listened to and appreciated Madi and Jeffrey. They can handle whatever is thrown at them, unlike most of the others tonight.   (Confession: I didn't actually mind "Hotline Bling".  Maybe it was relief that Adam didn't go even -further- out of Amy's comfort zone--we know he loves to do that--and she made it into something that was okay, still reflecting her style. I still like what she brings and maybe he'll let her choose for herself next time. One can hope.)

 

I agree about a lot of the tired song choices, but was still impressed by how game the singers were. Mark dutifully dialed it down and it was nice to see he was capable of restraint even though Pharrell kind of sandbagged him with that choice, as he did to Evan as well. 

 

I enjoyed watching Blake coach his team, but he would have been better off giving Zach "Footloose" than the song he chose. Blake, even Elvis couldn't have saved "My Love". There's a reason that no one in Zach's generation, or mine, or any generation in between, doesn't know that song. It's a dud. But I thought Zach, like Mark and Evan, dutifully did his best with it.  (I appreciated Adam saying "I was hoping for some of the energy from last week"--and I hope Blake is listening.)

 

Emily Ann.  Actually, I'd never heard that song before and I liked it.  Too bad that when he asked her, "Do you understand it?" she said "Yes". Because she hadn't a clue (and not just her age, I think maybe Siaha would have gotten it, even Danielle B., or Madi). Emily Ann reminds me of a pageant girl--she's got her "I'm cute blonde and smiley" thing and its annoyingly one dimensional. [ Here's the Patty Loveless version, if anyone's interested:  https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AjjlNGccrRYEqrTeQ1HPl6GbvZx4?fr=yfp-t-901-s&toggle=1&fp=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&p=patty%20loveless%20blame%20it%20on%20my%20heart

 

Gwen's coaching remains horrible. What is wrong with her? Poor Korin. Nothing says "I respect who you are, a cool, geeky-hipster-type" like first taking away her glasses, then giving them back, plus a mannish white jacket, plus glammed up ultra curled platinum blonde hair!  (Also, note to Gwen, rather than ruining the poor girl's hair, why not just have her try out the look with a wig?)  Korin wasn't a waif without a style of her own, waiting to be recreated to look facially like Gwen Stefani. She HAD a style, it wasn't fake and clichéd, and a lot of us liked it.  Gwen's message--unlike Blake, Pharrell or Adam's--seems like, "Who you are, the way you present yourself, isn't good enough."  Too bad that's how she's interpreted "being the only woman coaching", that she has to impose her makeover "expertise". It's annoying! 

 

My choice to go home?  Barrett. Listen without looking. He was awful throughout.  Probably going home instead?  Mark.

[yamashinaryu]

If the digital sales is of any indication, Jordan will be the winner. He sold 70k + last night, followed by Amy 14k+.

[Koffee Kup]

I fell asleep last night before the end of the show but I did see Amy and could understand a word she was mumbling.   There was no one that held my interest.

[Dancingjaneway]

The Voice has turned into American Idol 2.0. Between the "She's 16" and the "you look so good" comments the judges have become a fucking joke. Pretty much all the contestants sucked last night. Nobody made it through their songs without an error and that's ridiculous! I think Blake lost his hearing during the rehearsals for Zach because how in the hell did he think any of that sounded good?!  I wanted to barf when the judges were thanking Jordan for singing that song. BFD he sang a religious song and didn't fuck up 90% of it. The cynical side of me wonders if he(or the producers) changed his song after what happened in Paris. This show needs to go back to the basics because it is slowly killing itself. 

 

ETA: I always chuckle when the contestants talk about how they simply cannot go back to being a wedding singer, waitress, teacher etc. because little do they know that's exactly what fate befalls them after this show. It's like have you not seen what happens after the show? The winner and others go NOWHERE. 

Edited November 18, 2015 by Dancingjaneway

[Jextella]

This is a very bland season.  My interst is waning and I don't make it a point to tune in anymore. The judges comments after each and every performance each and every show gets beyond tiresome.  As do the song choices.  I agree about retiring Kenny Loggins .. add Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and just about every other song choices they are allowed to sing.  So boring.

 

Mostly I think its the song choices. They are same old, same old.  Doesn't matter who sings them.

[jjjmoss]

To keep track of dominance by one measure, songs which re-entered iTunes in subsequent rounds just from the memory of the performances and again became one of the T10 downloaded Voice songs.

 

S9 Jordan: Halo 5th, Chandelier 10th [i.e. today Halo was the 5th highest Voice song on iTunes; Chandelier was the 10th highest Voice song on iTunes.]

 

S8 Sawyer: Imagine 7th
Iris 9th
Simple Man, Trouble 10th
(Meghan’s Girl Crush 10th)

 

S7 Craig’s I Walk the Line 6th
Matt’s Take Me to Church 8th
Matt’s Blower’s Daughter 10th

 

S6 Christina’s Hold On We’re Going Home 5th
Jake’s Heaven 8th
Josh’s Stay with Me 10th
Josh’s I Can’t Make You Love Me 10th

 

S5 Matthew's Hallelujah: 1st place one week (That was funny.), 8th place another week, 6th place another week, 10th place another week. Alas that his 2nd highest song only ever got as far as #18 overall.
Cole’s Let Her Go 7th
Tessanne’s Bridge Over Troubled Water 8th
James’s A Case of You 10th

 

S4 Danielle's Who I Am 10th

 

So Sawyer with 4 has the most slaying re-entries. Jordan's 2 ties him for runner-up with Matt and Josh, but 5th/10th is better than 8th/10th and 10th/10th. 

 

I'm unsure about S1-S3 because only T10s are fully archived on itunescharts.net pre-2013. But using piecemeal data from, it looks like S3: Cassadee's Over You was 4th the following week. And none of her other competition songs lasted more than 4 days in total...

 

S2 Juliet’s Roxanne 8th & It’s A Man’s World 8th. But I dunno if these were really feats cuz that just put these ahead of 1 competitive song each…

 

S1 Javier’s Time After Time 5th then 10th
Dia’s Heartless 5th

Javier’s Angel 6th
Vicci’s Jolene 9th

Edited November 18, 2015 by jjjmoss

[waving feather]

I wonder how much of the judges' souls die everytime they have to blatantly lie that a performance is good enough when it isn't. That's one thing American Idol does better than the Voice. Judges can more or less comment freely. Here, they are so scared of 1) offending the coach of the contestant and 2) not wanting to be negative to their own contestant.

I rewatch the coaching session of Emily and Zach and I realised when Blake demo the song, I finally know how the song is supposed to sound like (not familiar with the originals for both). Come on, Blake is a solid but not a world class singer... so if Zach and Emily can't even manage average, they are really bad. This is coming from someone who thought Zach sang well last week.

It also seems like this season it's not the coach nor the contestant choosing the song but the producers. Cos I can't feel enthusiasm for song choice from both the coach or the contestant. And if it is indeed the producers... why are their tastes so bad?

Edited November 18, 2015 by waving feather

[Kromm]

Only seeing this tonight.

 

Oh look. Once again Gwen equates helping one of her artists in terms of changing something about their appearance.

 

Argh. I've had it up to here Gwen. You're so fucking clueless. You'd think even a shallow idiot like you would twig to how bad this looks by now and make the show not air this advice (even if you're still giving it).

[Noreaster]

Itunes as of 12pm voting close

http://headlineplanet.com/home/2015/11/17/the-voices-jordan-smith-reaches-1-on-itunes-chart-amy-vachal-also-pacing-for-bonus/

 

1) Jordan Smith – Team Adam – Great Is Thy Faithfulness
6) Amy Vachal – Team Adam – Hotline Bling
9) Jeffery Austin – Team Gwen – Let It Go
11) Barrett Baber – Team Blake – Right Here Waiting
20) Emily Ann Roberts – Team Blake – Blame It On Your Heart
26) Zach Seabaugh – Team Blake – My Love
34) Madi Davis – Team Pharrell – Who Will Save Your Soul?
35) Shelby Brown – Team Adam – In Color
55) Korin Bukowski – Team Gwen – Titanium
56) Evan McKeel – Team Pharrell – This Is It
62) Mark Hood – Team Pharrell – Against All Odds
76) Braiden Sunshine – Team Gwen – Renegade

 

Wasn't a great night.  I'm not sure why the contestants sold so well on itunes.  I guess Jordan's song probably got a bump because of recent events and I did enjoy Jeffrey's performance.  But to have Amy break top 10 and Barrett come close?  And Zach charting in the 20s?  I don't know.  Are overall itunes sales just depressed, making it easier for these contestants to chart higher?  

 

So far this season, I like the female contestants the most.  Korin and Madi sound interesting and seem to exhibit some artistry in their covers.  I'm not a fan of country but Emily Ann's voice is distinctive.  I'm on the fence on Amy.  This week, I really liked the concept of putting a jazzy spin on the song but she seemed overly tentative and didn't execute well.  Many of her other performances have been kind of boring to me.  

[bluepiano]

I wonder how much of the judges' souls die everytime they have to blatantly lie that a performance is good enough when it isn't. That's one thing American Idol does better than the Voice. Judges can more or less comment freely. Here, they are so scared of 1) offending the coach of the contestant and 2) not wanting to be negative to their own contestant.

 

The coaches don't have any souls. They sold them long ago in exchange for the ridiculously obscene amounts of money they get paid for being on this show. Compared to the work of recording or touring, it's the easiet money they will ever make in their lives, so they are not about to say anything to risk losing this gig.

 

But you're totally right. After Simon left Idol I thought the judging there became a joke, with "you're perfect" being a typical comment. But even on Idol the judges will occasionally say something negative about a performance or song choice, even if it's "that wasn't your best.' On The Voice they won't even question song choice, since that might be seen as criticizing one of the other coaches. I fast forward through the comments because it's the same every time and so boring. "You're amazing," "I couldn't be more proud of you," "How did you do that?"

 

In fact, on this show now I pretty much fast forward through everything except the actual performances. And this season, I even find myself fast forwarding through some of the performances.

Edited November 18, 2015 by bluepiano

[Sammich63]

Itunes as of 12pm voting close

http://headlineplanet.com/home/2015/11/17/the-voices-jordan-smith-reaches-1-on-itunes-chart-amy-vachal-also-pacing-for-bonus/

 

1) Jordan Smith – Team Adam – Great Is Thy Faithfulness

6) Amy Vachal – Team Adam – Hotline Bling

9) Jeffery Austin – Team Gwen – Let It Go

11) Barrett Baber – Team Blake – Right Here Waiting

20) Emily Ann Roberts – Team Blake – Blame It On Your Heart

26) Zach Seabaugh – Team Blake – My Love

34) Madi Davis – Team Pharrell – Who Will Save Your Soul?

35) Shelby Brown – Team Adam – In Color

55) Korin Bukowski – Team Gwen – Titanium

56) Evan McKeel – Team Pharrell – This Is It

62) Mark Hood – Team Pharrell – Against All Odds

76) Braiden Sunshine – Team Gwen – Renegade

 

Wasn't a great night.  I'm not sure why the contestants sold so well on itunes.  I guess Jordan's song probably got a bump because of recent events and I did enjoy Jeffrey's performance.  But to have Amy break top 10 and Barrett come close?  And Zach charting in the 20s?  I don't know.  Are overall itunes sales just depressed, making it easier for these contestants to chart higher?  

 

So far this season, I like the female contestants the most.  Korin and Madi sound interesting and seem to exhibit some artistry in their covers.  I'm not a fan of country but Emily Ann's voice is distinctive.  I'm on the fence on Amy.  This week, I really liked the concept of putting a jazzy spin on the song but she seemed overly tentative and didn't execute well.  Many of her other performances have been kind of boring to me.

Barrett was actually in the top 10 on iTunes in the morning. He peaked at 9 or 10 at that point.

The only song I really enjoyed was Jeffery's song. This group is just so bland and boring. I hope better songs are picked for next week.

Does anybody know why Pharrell was wearing sunglasses during the show?

[Noreaster]

I didn't check iTunes myself (just posted from the link above), but Carson said at the start of the results show that 3 contestants made it into the top 10 of iTunes. So I don't think Barrett made it in time.

[viajero]

It's kind of sad to think this used to be one of my "must watch" shows that I always caught live or as close to live as possible.  This week I couldn't be bothered to watch it until this evening and only because I got home early from work.  My lack of enthusiasm was more than justified.  This could very well have been the worst live show in the history of The Voice.  Many of you have already mentioned some of the reasons, but to enumerate them:

 

1. There was not one single truly memorable exceptional performance of the kind that I'm going to remember next week, let alone a year or two from now.  Jeffery probably came closest.  His "Let it Go" was quite good, but not really more than that.

 

2.  Almost half the performances were just plain bad.  I would even go so far as to argue that Korin, Braiden, Mark, and Zack were all as bad or worse than my least favored Top 12 performance from last season (Deanna's Oceans).  Evan wasn't that much better.

 

3. The pimping of Jordan has reached ridiculous almost laughable extremes.  I actually really like Jordan's voice, but I thought this was by far his worst performance of the season.  I don't like them singing hymns to begin with as it seems too much like pandering and is completely irrelevant to any future career these contestants may aspire towards (unless they plan on becoming a gospel singer, like Koryn from last season).  But if he's going to sing a hymn, why pick that one?  Just because he sang it at the Vatican doesn't make it a good choice.  As a song, it's fairly flat and uninteresting. It didn't allow him to show off his great range.  The fact that it sold a truckload of downloads (as intended) doesn't change my opinion.  There are plenty of better songs he could have chosen had he wanted to do something slower that allowed him to emote.

 

4. Unfortunately "Great is Thy Faithfulness" doesn't even come close to being the worst of this week's song selection.  That prize goes to "Against All Odds", followed closely by "This is It", "Renegade", "Titanium" and "Blame it on Your Heart".

 

I guess this week wasn't a complete waste of time.  At least Madi and Amy tried to do something interesting and a little out of the box.  As a result, those were the two performances that most kept me glued to the screen.  While I don't think either of them quite pulled it off, I give them credit for trying.  Amy in particular really needed this.  She had been stuck in a rut and was rapidly losing momentum.  She needed to show at least a little versatility, which I think she did.  Adam had the right idea in assigning that kind of song and the fact that she made it back into the Top 10 on iTunes would seem to indicate that it worked.  I just hope that she doesn't go back to old lifeless crooner stuff for the rest of the season.  She has the looks, voice and a sort of quiet charisma, so lets at least see if she can be remotely relevant.  And please please let her keep her guitar.  Amy performs so much better when its not just her and the mike.  She's never going to be sultry, so it makes no sense to keep trying to force her in that direction.

Edited November 19, 2015 by viajero

[Cramps]

I don't know which made me laugh more -sunshine trying to be a "Rocker" and doing a Styx song, or the fact that it was the "Queen of Ska's" golden boy doing a Styx song. Not exactly the hippest choice.

Just imagine if they'd gone for Mr. Roboto!

Edited November 19, 2015 by Cramps

[ToxicUnicorn]

Amy really only had one play....and that was to flip a song from a totally different genre. She tried, and parts were somewhat enjoyable but she just doesn't seem to have the capacity to command the stage like some of the other softer, singer-songwritery types like Dia Frampton, or Caroline Pennell.

I still love Amy, and find her much more interesting than Dia ever was. Caroline had unusual presence (and she was one of my favorites that season).  I really hope Amy makes it a few more weeks, and I guess I would love to see her continue in the vein of alternating between old songs (which she is reinventing) and new songs (which she is reinventing).  I find her one of the most creative singers and I like her tone.  She just needs to ramp up her performance a little bit.  And not too much, in my opinion.  I usually can't stand it when every single person yells, "Hey!" and runs around the stage, because it comes off as so artificial.  

 

Jeffery finally made it on my radar last night.  His was the only song, besides Jordan's, where I looked up to see what was going on.  However, he suffers from blandness.

 

I guess I'll be the representative person who liked Jordan last night (although I don't buy any songs, so even I am baffled about why he is selling so much).  In fact, that was his most enjoyable performance so far, for me.  Different strokes, I guess.  (And it's not because I like "inspirational singing" ... I get stabby when hearing too many, too - just not this time, for some reason.)

 

Mark was notably dialed down, as someone upthread remarked.  I liked him much better that way.  Korin was a disaster and I wholeheartedly agree that Gwen should have left her look alone.  If anything, I think she'd make a gorgeous redhead - but she was just fine the way she was.  I want both Korin and Madi to stay, but I would like it if they were allowed to take a baseball bat to their coaches, so they could do their own things.  I also like Evan, but not a good night for anyone in this paragraph.

 

Barrett and Zach can go, and I have no comment on the country females.

 

Nedsdag, I miss Victor too.  I think it's ridiculous that he's gone instead of about 3 or 4 of those left.  I would have been happy to have heard him sing about 4 or 5 songs last night instead of what we got.  

[AwesomO4000]

Cole’s Let Her Go 7th

 

I remember how much I loved Cole's version of that song. I liked it even better than the original actually. I preferred the way Cole ended it especially. I have listened to his version of the song multiple times on YouTube since.

 

Although truthfully The Voice performance I find myself seeking out the most even now years later didn't make your list (so I might be in the minority in this), and that was Amanda Brown's version of "Stars." I remember how beautiful it was and am still disappointed that she didn't win that season. (Like many with Jordan this year - who I like - I never understood the Cassadee love. Not my cup of tea at all.)

 

Although I'm not really into hymns unless it's "The Garden" (it has sentimental meaning for me, because it was my Gramma's favorite one to sing), so Jordan's song this week didn't do much for me (I'm not the religious type), I did like his voice, and I loved both "Halo" and "Chandelier," and will likely look for them in the future.