S10.E02: The Blind Auditions Premiere, Part 2

[Tara Ariano]

The blind auditions continue.

[Valny]

I too couldn't believe none of the guys turned around for  15 year old Shalyah. Christina got her without a fight.(and we'll be hearing the  can't believe your only 15 stuff again) I thought she had a killer voice.

 

Emily from Pharrell team had an interesting voice, I never heard that version of Goodbye Yellowbrick Road before.

 

I really liked Angie who Blake got (well duh) Vocals were strong and she looked really comfortable with her guitar playing and singing.

 

The young kid, Caroline who came back that Adam got....while she has improved, I think she still get swallowed up by someone with stronger vocals. She seems sweet though.

 

The guy with the beard, if he makes it further along, I can see them doing a makeover on him with that wild beard. I am not a beard lover on guys, and that one needs some cleaning up!

 

That Kata girl was....um....well not dull. I need to hear more what she can bring.    I really wasn't sure she'd pick Christina and also surprised Blake didn't turn.

I am enjoying this season so far.

[PepperMonkey]

Blake really didn't seem to like his fellow Oklahoman at all. He actually almost cringed everytime she got close to him. For me, she's just too much. That would wear me out after about 15 minutes.

 

I liked bearded guitar guy and was afraid no one was going to turn for him for a minute there. He's probably way too much musician for this show, but I liked his voice and you can tell he's a SERIOUS musician. I also kind of loved that he didn't have a sobby backstory.

 

It's really good to have Christina back. So refreshing after the vapidness that is Gwen.

 

I'm liking this season so far. Of course, I always love the blinds, then lose interest as the show progresses. I can't remember the last time I watched all the way from beginning to end.

[Primetimer]

Singers sing, Christina kisses a girl, and Pharrell really, really likes it.

Read the story

[selkie]

The Spousal Unit is a guitar buff and likes to play spot the instrument on the music shows. Apparently bearded guy's guitar is the sort of thing that's worth a couple month's rent, even in relatively expensive Ann Arbor.

[TacoBoutIt]

This season seems promising so far.

 

I really liked Emily, my kind of singer.  She needs to sing a Florence and the Machine song.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Team Adam

 

Laith....Serious skills on the guitar. I wasn't as sold on his voice though. Me thinks he might be a one and done. I did wonder if he converted to Islam at some point in his life (hence the potential name change). Hopefully it that's true and the show decides to address it, they do it in a respectful manner.

 

Caroline...I was expecting her to come back and get someone to turn. That said, her performance tonight was still pretty uneven and young sounding. I wonder though if she might be this season's Yvonne Acero (who herself was a returnee). I could see her beating the montaged Asian-American young contestant (Katherine Ho) in a montaged battle and then maybe Blake might swoop in and steal her if she loses a KO in the following round.

 

Team Blake

 

Angie...Impressive. Blake's country armada is definitely up and running. I think Blake was spot on, there was an appealing wildness to how she presented that song. The only thing I fear is Blake will inevitably end up with 6 or 7 country singers and they will have to win difficult "primaries" if you will to advance on his team.

 

Adam...The quintessential country/southern rock/soul guy. Chris Cagle has had some success in country music so you'd have to clear a reasonably high bar to perform with him around Nashville.

 

Team Christina

 

Lacey Mandigo....montaged blonde

 

Shalyah...This had to be an editing trick where she performed when a couple of the guys or all three were filled up. Or they had some sort of gentleman's agreement that they were going to "let" Xtina get a promising young female diva. Xtina's got a pretty strong team so far.

 

Kata....Whirling dervish of a country singer. Always a little concerned when Blake doesn't turn for a country singer (unless his team was full, which is a possibility). Reminded me a bit of La'Porsha from this season of AI. They are painters who want to throw buckets of paint at the wall (like Jackson Pollack lol)....when doing 75% as much to a song would be so much better. Her dad was kind of a riot though...

 

Team Pharrell

 

Jonathan Bach...montaged teen pop singer.

 

Emily Keener...Gotta represent for a fellow Buckeye-stater. TacoBoutIt was on the money. Florence definitely flashed through my brain as she started. Alternatively PhD-Mom though Celtic Women so there's that. Hopefully she can be more "accessible" than Madi from Pharrell's team last season. Song choice is going to be key for her.

 

Joe Vivona...I spent the majority of his audition trying to think of who his voice reminded me of. Still haven't totally made up my mind...

Edited March 2, 2016 by PhD-Purgatory15

[anonymiss]

So far everyone sounds like filler (good filler but filler nonetheless) after hearing Curly Sue Allisan.

 

I didn't watch last season and forgot how frustrating the montages are.

[Kromm]

Vivona soft-peddled Amusements of America a bit. They totally dominate (at least in the East) that carnival industry. Dude's the scion of a pretty rich family. Pretty sure they're (ehem) connected too (and not just because they're Italian, but because I'm pretty sure you'd HAVE to be to dominate in such a rough business, filled with unions, migrant workers, lots of onsite crime, lawsuits aplenty, etc.)

[desertflower]

I would be pissed if I was one of the contestants who got relegated to a montage. Imagine watching it, waiting for your appearance, only to get a tiny blurb, THEN you have to sit through that nonsense at the end with Christina kissing the girl and Pharell freaking out. It was funny for a second then they dragged it on and on.

I couldn't believe the bearded guy was only in his 30s. I think a makeover would be fun, if he's up for it.

Amusement park guy was likeable, and I did like Angie too, even though I'm not a big country fan. I could see her doing Melissa Etheridge type stuff too; she had a similar vibe.

The girl with the family band was too cute, as was her whole family.

Edited March 2, 2016 by desertflower

[Kerri Okie]

Caroline...I was expecting her to come back and get someone to turn. That said, her performance tonight was still pretty uneven and young sounding. 

I've only seen the first half of the show so far, but regarding this, I thought she sounded good, not great. Still, I'm glad she made it onto a team this year. That said, Blake really needs to stop telling these middle of the pack girls that they can win the whole show if they go with him.   No, Blake, no they can't.  Also, it really bugs me when Christina has to upstage a mediocre audition with her rendition of the song they just flopped on.  She's amazing, no question, but there's a time and place for everything, and it makes me stabby to see someone else's moment, even if it sucked, turn into the Christina Show.

[Double-S Mom]

My main thoughts while watching this were that Angie reminds me of Melissa Etheridge, Laith wont go far but can definitely see how he a is "real" working musician, and Joe was surprisingly way better than I thought he would be.  Oh and if Allison/Curly Sue really continues to be all that & a bag of chips then I kinda feel bad for all the others who fall for Xtina's  "I need you, you & me winning for the girls" nonsense because unless she screws up royally anyone that battles Allison is going bye-bye.

[kj4ever]

I've only seen the first half of the show so far, but regarding this, I thought she sounded good, not great. Still, I'm glad she made it onto a team this year. That said, Blake really needs to stop telling these middle of the pack girls that they can win the whole show if they go with him.   No, Blake, no they can't.  Also, it really bugs me when Christina has to upstage a mediocre audition with her rendition of the song they just flopped on.  She's amazing, no question, but there's a time and place for everything, and it makes me stabby to see someone else's moment, even if it sucked, turn into the Christina Show.

I try really hard to like Christina, and I actually could tolerate her the last time she was on the show.  So far this go around she seems like that old impossible to like Christina.  It came across as mean spirited to me when she was all "look if you did it like this we would have turned."  I know she probably didn't mean it like that, but there is just something so defective in her personality that makes everything so unlikable.

[Steph619]

I liked Shalyah too so I was surprised that just Christina turned for her. I thought Pharrell might've turned for her too.

Kata was just too much, maybe trying too hard at times. I did find Pharrell's junior high school boy reaction to seeing two girls kissing in front of him funny.

I like Christina, but I do agree that it is kind of unnecessary when she decides to show everybody how she would sing a particular song especially if it's a person who didn't get any chairs to turn. We get it Christina, you can sing.

[anonymiss]

I like Christina, but I do agree that it is kind of unnecessary when she decides to show everybody how she would sing a particular song especially if it's a person who didn't get any chairs to turn. We get it Christina, you can sing.

I cringed when she did that because I knew it could come off as showboating. I didn't take it that way myself, though. I think she was already in coaching mode and one of the most effective ways to educate is to demonstrate your point. I appreciate when she does it, especially since she can, and this is The Voice.

Edited March 2, 2016 by anonymiss

[frogzapper]

After the first two shows my favorite is Emily. Her voice and delivery are different from any other contestant I can remember, but in a really nice and natural sounding way. She doesn't have the usual tiresome affectations that we've seen so many times in many of the young girls that come on this show. There's a richness and maturity to her voice that seems beyond her years and was just perfect for that haunting version of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. I like her demeanor too - she seems like a bit of an old soul. I'm interested to see what she does next and I hope Pharrell is able to guide her well.

[bluepiano]

I lived in Ann Arbor years ago and remember Laith as a regular on the active local music scene, so was surprised to see him turn up on The Voice, as it wouldn't seem to be his thing. Nice guy, but in reality I don't think he's anything special, on either vocals or guitar. He sang Joe Cocker's version of "The Letter" just like Joe Cocker, which for me was not interesting. Who knew after all these years that the coaches would go so nuts for a bar band blues guy. There are probably thousands out there now going, "why didn't I think of that?"

 

I thought the Scottish girl who got no chair turns was as good as a couple of the girls who got multiple turns. And I felt bad that Christina had to show her up, although I agree that wasn't her intention.

 

I didn't like Kata,the last country singer. Annoying personality, and vocally not that strong. She works in a karaoke bar and that's how she sounds.

 

As usual for me with this show, too many country singers.

Edited March 3, 2016 by bluepiano

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Where the teams stand after the first week with the number of turns they got. Asterisks for the dreaded montaged contestants.

 

Team Adam (5)

 

Caroline Burns (2, Returning from S9)

John Gilman (1)

Laith Al-Saadi (2)

Mike Schiavo (3)

*Katherine Ho (2)

 

Team Blake (4)

 

Adam Wakefield (2)

Angie Keilhauer (3)

Mary Sarah (4)

Paxton Ingram (3)

 

Team Christina (5)

 

Alisan Porter (4)

Bryan Bautista (2, Returnee from S9)

Kata Hay (3)

Shalyah Fearing (1)

*Lacey Mandigo (1)

 

Team Pharrell (6)

 

Abby Celso (2)

Caity Peters (4)

Emily Keener (4)

Joe Vivona (3)

Nick Hagelin (3)

*Johnathan Bach (1)

Edited March 3, 2016 by PhD-Purgatory15

[DeLurker]

 

I like Christina, but I do agree that it is kind of unnecessary when she decides to show everybody how she would sing a particular song especially if it's a person who didn't get any chairs to turn. We get it Christina, you can sing.

I cringed when she did that because I knew it could come off as showboating. I didn't take it that way myself, though. I think she was already in coaching mode and one of the most effective ways to educate is to demonstrate your point. I appreciate when she does it, especially since she can, and this is The Voice.

Sometimes I think she does it just to give a contestant who was overreaching a slap down, but other times I feel it has been an effective demonstration. 

[viajero]

Looking over where the teams currently stand, I think Blake has the strongest team top to bottom.  I like all four of his contestants and would be hard pressed to pick a favorite from among them.  I guess I might go with Angie, because she gives me that Melissa Etheridge vibe that you just don't get much from female vocalists these days.  While Mary Sarah has a beautiful purer more effortless voice, I got a feeling she's going to keep doing songs that do absolutely nothing for me.

 

On the other extreme is Team Adam, where I was only (very mildly) impressed with Mike Schiavo.  The rest of his team could go home tomorrow and I wouldn't care.

 

Team Christina of course has Alisan Porter, but I'm also really interested in seeing how Shalyah progresses.  She could be a dark horse.

 

Team Pharrell looks fairly competitive in that all of his Team Members have at least some ability.  I actually think Abby Celso might be my favorite on that team.  I wouldn't have said that on Monday night, but after watching this week's performances again on YouTube, she went way up in my estimation.  i just love her lower register and she was fairly good when she went up high as well.  I think it's one of those cases where I'm so familiar with the original version of the song that I was initially a bit thrown to hear it sung in a lower key.  I liked her stage presence as well.

 

Joe was pretty good too, but though Nick has a nice falsetto, otherwise his voice is fairly unremarkable.  I need to see what he can do when not trying to imitate Adam Levine. I think Emily may have the most interesting voice in the competition so far, but she tried to do way too much in a 90 second performance and it ended up sounding a bit disjointed.  If Pharrell can reign her in a bit and give her some direction, Emily could end up surprising a few people.

Edited March 3, 2016 by viajero

[jjjmoss]

Emily's my favorite so far. I wasn't expecting anything...partially because her song choice is one I feel I should know but don't. But I enjoyed her voice the whole way through.

 

I guess Mary Sarah's 2nd, but in a "well, better than the others" kind of way.

[Quickbeam]

Just didn't get Kata at all. Didn't like the song choice or her stage presence. However, I'd kiss Christina too if given a chance so yea!

Edited March 4, 2016 by Quickbeam

[realdancemom]

I keep watching Emily's audition on youtube.  I love her haunting voice.  Yuck on Kata!!