Blake Shelton: In It To Win It!

[Mattipoo]

Entertainer of the Year, married to Miranda, won more times than any coach on "The Voice". Discuss country music's tallest drink of water here.

[Padma]

I was surprised to see him singing a love song with Gwen Sebastian (?) on the ACMA tonight. She looked good but didn't get much of a solo part, still, seems like he keeps giving her some big breaks (touring, this..) Of all the coaches, imo, he's far and away the one who does the most for contestants he sees something special in, even when they don't make it very far in the competition.

[Mattipoo]

I am not a fan of Blake's music but I love him as a coach. He is so protective of his contestants and always helps them post-show by bringing them out on tour with him. He also seems to genuinely care for them, so if I were a contestant I would definitely choose him as a coach, even if his music is not my cup of tea.

Edited April 19, 2014 by Mattipoo

[Kromm]

He really needs to take a season off.  If for no reason other than so people don't totally get sick of him.

Hell, have Miranda do it for a season, and let him stand right off camera like she current does.

[Kromm]

BTW: Does the creeping finger thing TOTALLY annoy anyone else here besides me?  I feel like if I was there on set, I'd want to grab him by that damn finger and break it just to stop him from doing that.

 

[Lily Adler]

No, you're not alone. I hate it every time he uses it.

[ToxicUnicorn]

The finger, the drunk jokes, the banter with Adam ... it's all tired schtick.  Yet ... he's still incredibly likable. 

 

What he is doing with Sisaundra this season is remarkable.  I was shocked when she chose him, but now I am glad she did.

[photo fox]

I'm stunned by how many women choose Blake.  When the battle rounds come along, and they're up against a man, Blake's gonna pick the man even if the woman wipes the floor with said man.  On his team, the only chance a woman has is against another woman, and the only time a man has to worry is against another man.

If you look at his teams for the live shows in the past few seasons, he had 2 females and 1 male in S6, 2 females and 2 males in S4 (counting the Swon brothers as one artist) and 3 females and 2 males in S3. Season 5 is the only one where he only had 1 female and 4 males. I definitely recall women winning against man in his battle rounds too. Perhaps he has a tendency to pair up women with women and men with men more often than pairing up a man and a woman, but I don't think this indicates any kind of gender bias. He also tends to pair up two singers that are close in age.

Bringing this over from the blind auditions topic...

I agree with Moonbow that I don't really see any gender inequity in whom Blake takes to the live rounds, just based on those statistics. And anecdotally, he has consistently seemed more excited about his female singers. Even in S5, when he ended up with more men, he would totally taken Holly Henry through to the lives if she hadn't imploded in the knockouts.

Plus, consider who Blake has continued to support after the show. Other than the Swons, all of the artists that I've heard of him (and Miranda) remaining close with and supporting after the show have been women. Danielle Bradbery, Cassadee Pope, Xenia, Dia Framton, Raelynn, Gwen Sebastian.

[hincandenza]

I think Blake is probably the best coach (so far) if you want a career past the show, regardless of your genre. He's shown time and again he'll personally invest in helping the artists, getting them promotional support and tour gigs, etc. It works best if you're country, since that's where his connections are, but until Pharrell showed up Blake would have been my choice if I was ready to shine and cared more about what happens to me after the finale.

[Universalhunter]

Blake is the only one who's gone above and beyond time and time again for his artists. The Swon Brothers had a song all over the radio, as have Danielle and Cassadee. Cassadee won a CMA award. I recently saw Raelynn's "God Made Girls" video on CMT. Gwen Sebastian regularly backs up and tours with Blake. If you follow country music even just somewhat, you're hearing his singers. No one else's have achieved that kind of mainstream exposure past the show.

[HighQueenEB]

Blake is the only one who's gone above and beyond time and time again for his artists. The Swon Brothers had a song all over the radio, as have Danielle and Cassadee. Cassadee won a CMA award. I recently saw Raelynn's "God Made Girls" video on CMT. Gwen Sebastian regularly backs up and tours with Blake. If you follow country music even just somewhat, you're hearing his singers. No one else's have achieved that kind of mainstream exposure past the show.

Well, the Swon Brothers song is still all over country radio.  It's a pretty good song, to be honest.  Danielle and Cassadee have barely made a dent on country radio, Danielle less so than Cassadee.  Danielle's song got a teensy bit of airplay but nothing like the Swon Brothers' song.  Raelynn's song is currently getting a fair bit of airplay.  Frankly, I hope it dies soon because I can't stand her voice. 

I still wish Amber Carrington had gone with Blake rather than Adam because she was the best country singer I've heard on the show yet and if she'd had Blake backing her up, she'd probably be his most successful artist to date.  Right now, though, the Swon Brothers have that title.  We'll see if they can follow up their solid debut single with another good song.

[hincandenza]

I still wish Amber Carrington had gone with Blake rather than Adam because she was the best country singer I've heard on the show yet and if she'd had Blake backing her up, she'd probably be his most successful artist to date.  Right now, though, the Swon Brothers have that title.  We'll see if they can follow up their solid debut single with another good song.

 

Totally agreed; she is one of my favorite artists ever to be on the show, and I don't even know what she's up to these days- she doesn't even have a Wikipedia page!  I wasn't totally wowed by her blind or battles, but once she got to the lives she was my early front-runner from her first performance of "Stay" which blew me the hell away, all the way until she was eliminated the week before the finale (and I still call shenanigans on the double-elimination the week before the finals).  She wasn't just a great country singer, she was a great singer, period.  Oh, and she was (to this shallow viewer) stunningly gorgeous, very photogenic in a girl-next-door way, and um... well, despite her penchant for "mom jeans", she had a truly awe-inspiring badonkadonk. :)

 

Then again, she was (in broadcast order) one of the last ones picked in the blinds, and Blake had no spots left when she auditioned; there was no option for her to pick or be picked by Blake, even though during the performance he was clearly impressed, begging Usher to steal her from Adam.  Blake was top-heavy with country singers that season as he steamrolled to his third win in a row, and would only be able to take 4 to the live shows, one of whom would be eliminated week 1. This was the year he had Danielle Bradbury and the Swon Brothers both make the finals, as well as Holly Tucker making it top 6, so... where would Amber have even fit?  Maybe she doesn't even get to the live shows on Blake's team, or gets cut in week 1, or never makes much impact doing predictable "safe" country songs as opposed to being pushed by Adam to go outside her wheelhouse.  To his credit, Adam did keep her around as long as possible.

 

But whatever the case may be if we could do-over the past, had she been on Blake's team I bet he'd have pushed her career post-show as hard as any singer he's had.  And I think all the ingredients- talent, looks, poise- are there for her to be pretty successful, with a little support.

[kj4ever]

Totally agreed; she is one of my favorite artists ever to be on the show, and I don't even know what she's up to these days- she doesn't even have a Wikipedia page!  I wasn't totally wowed by her blind or battles, but once she got to the lives she was my early front-runner from her first performance of "Stay" which blew me the hell away, all the way until she was eliminated the week before the finale (and I still call shenanigans on the double-elimination the week before the finals).  She wasn't just a great country singer, she was a great singer, period.  Oh, and she was (to this shallow viewer) stunningly gorgeous, very photogenic in a girl-next-door way, and um... well, despite her penchant for "mom jeans", she had a truly awe-inspiring badonkadonk. :)

 

Then again, she was (in broadcast order) one of the last ones picked in the blinds, and Blake had no spots left when she auditioned; there was no option for her to pick or be picked by Blake, even though during the performance he was clearly impressed, begging Usher to steal her from Adam.  Blake was top-heavy with country singers that season as he steamrolled to his third win in a row, and would only be able to take 4 to the live shows, one of whom would be eliminated week 1. This was the year he had Danielle Bradbury and the Swon Brothers both make the finals, as well as Holly Tucker making it top 6, so... where would Amber have even fit?  Maybe she doesn't even get to the live shows on Blake's team, or gets cut in week 1, or never makes much impact doing predictable "safe" country songs as opposed to being pushed by Adam to go outside her wheelhouse.  To his credit, Adam did keep her around as long as possible.

 

But whatever the case may be if we could do-over the past, had she been on Blake's team I bet he'd have pushed her career post-show as hard as any singer he's had.  And I think all the ingredients- talent, looks, poise- are there for her to be pretty successful, with a little support.

I still think Adam picked her over Sasha so that Blake couldn't get his hands on her.  Every time he said "I was the only one that turned around for you" I wanted to smack him because we all knew Blake would have if he could have.

 

I think if Amber made it to his team the Christian girl singer would have been the sacrificial lamb.  He would have kept Amber and got rid of her.

 

It always amazes me that his team is so low key during the blinds, battles, and knockouts, but it always seems like he has my favorites by the end of it.  I don't know how he does it.  I am so not a country fan either.  I actually really, really love his voice, I just hate the style of his music.  I love his duet with Christina and the "Home" duet with Usher is played quite a bit on my iPod.  I don't think he gets near the credit he deserves, and I think he likes playing dumb....but he's dumb like a fox.

[mercfan3]

I'm actually not sure if Amber would have lasted on Team Blake. Mostly because he played "Eliminate all of Danielle's competition" from battles on. 

 

Also, as incredible as Amber was at times, she was actually not that great during her blind. Vocally, she was all over the place. So, I"m not sure Blake would have picked her. Blake cares a lot about pitch with his country singers. 

[ToxicUnicorn]

and the "Home" duet with Usher is played quite a bit on my iPod.  I don't think he gets near the credit he deserves, and I think he likes playing dumb....but he's dumb like a fox.

 

Absolutely.

 

Blake cares a lot about pitch with his country singers.

 

I love this about him.  He's not a fancy coach, but he's solid.

 

I'm a little unclear about the history of Blake's popularity.  I guess he had a CMA award before the first season, but I hadn't been too aware of him.  Now, he seems like a major industry guy.  Does anyone think the popularity of The Voice had much to do with it, or was he on his way to being such a huge star already without it?

[facingfacts]

Blake has had many country artists but only 4 with moderate success: gwen, danielle, swons & raelynn. Amber wouldn't have stood out on his team and her greatest performances were non-country songs. I doubt she would have made it far over swons & danielle

[kj4ever]

Absolutely.

 

 

I love this about him.  He's not a fancy coach, but he's solid.

 

I'm a little unclear about the history of Blake's popularity.  I guess he had a CMA award before the first season, but I hadn't been too aware of him.  Now, he seems like a major industry guy.  Does anyone think the popularity of The Voice had much to do with it, or was he on his way to being such a huge star already without it?

I think Blake was famous to country music fans before, but The Voice made him TV Famous, where your average Joe knows him now.  I think it's helped his wife's career too.  Before the show i had no clue either one of them existed.

[poppy-]

I'd heard of Miranda but not Blake before The Voice. She has more crossover appeal. But I get the impression he is  a bigger star than her overall in Country music.

[Sammich63]

Blake has had many country artists but only 4 with moderate success: gwen, danielle, swons & raelynn. Amber wouldn't have stood out on his team and her greatest performances were non-country songs. I doubt she would have made it far over swons & danielle

Cassadee has also had moderate success. Her first single sold quite well.

[facingfacts]

I forgot to add Cassaddee

[hincandenza]

Wasn't sure where to post this, but it showed up on Reddit a few days ago, thought I'd share.  Someone made this incredible mash-up of six country songs (3:55)- including one from our own Blake Shelton- that really shows how formulaic the modern country-pop scene is.

 

I think the only difference between myself and a successful country songwriter at this point, is that I can feel shame. :)