S10.E11: The Knockouts Premiere, Part 2

[Tara Ariano]

The knockout rounds continue. Key adviser: Miley Cyrus.

[Primetimer]

Also, Coach Miley's totally dressed for the Olympics.

Read the story

[jjjmoss]

Well, I guess a contender steps into the ring. Though Adam Wakefield is a Team Blake country white male, so I'd prefer that he not win.

[roamyn]

I like Adam and can see him going far. Thank God Peyton's gone. She didn't connect to that song at all and I dislikte her immensly for making her parents uproot their lives while she doesn't work (though that's on them too). And this was the one time Miley was wrong. Adding that yelling in the middle - which made Peyton's voice crack - was a terrible idea.

Moushima was good, but not wow. Tamara (?) shouted waaaaay too much, but she was better than that other girl.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

I think tonight's episode slammed the breaks on any momentum the show might have had from last night. Cause this was dreadfully dull. Even Miley seemed underwhelmed/under-utilized.

 

Adam and Peyton, Poor Peyton.....when Pharrell is basically throwing his hat in glee at Adam's performance, you figure she saw the writing on the wall. She's clearly in that RaeLynn zone of having a smooth cool tone in a very narrow range. When she pushed in a couple of the choruses it got rough. I get the Adam appeal, he's the Voice's very own Chris Stapleton this season. But his enunciation and diction is atrocious. There were large stretches of that song that were completely unintelligible to me. He also seemed pretty out of his element, just kind of wandering around the stage.

 

Moushumi and Nick, Wow, did Moushumi ever get away with dodgy song choice. I liked how she started the song on the first verse....but New Americana really didn't give her a lot to do and show (even with the Miley suggestions on the chorus which I'm not sure completely worked). I simply dislike singers that rely as much on their falsetto as Nick does so I am happy to see him go. The previews at the end of the episode also made me think that we might get to see every KO in full with the two episodes next week. In an earlier season this would've been an easy candidate to montage and sweep under the rug.

 

Tamar and Maya, Well I'm mostly just happy the episode didn't end with Blake wasting his steal. These two do nothing for me, I guess Tamar won because Maya was unpleasant to listen to and just off pitch or something from the very beginning. Still think Tamar has an uphill battle to get Christina's 3rd spot when it goes from 20 to 12. I'd say Alisan and Ryan will be her fan favorites.....and Tamar will have to battle with two others for her judges save that week.

 

I really hope that "yes" from Christina shown at the end of the previews is just an editing fake out. If it isn't, then I think that could mean Blake's steal is probably Kata (the lone country person left not on his team)....or a Trey steal back. Meh to either possibility.

Edited March 30, 2016 by PhD-Purgatory15

[anonymiss]

Tamar does nothing for me. She has no charisma or individuality in her voice IMO. Just another generically strong belter.

[Padma]

I agree with Pharrell that Moushumi has a lovely voice and untapped potential, so I was glad to see her advance. Surprised how disinterested I was in the Maya/Tamar outcome. Tamar deserved to advance (after overdoing the song--per usual for coach Christina), I'm rooting for her as an older performer, but I agree with the above post about her lacking that "spark", at least so far. I'll be surprised if she is Xtina's top 3.  

 

I liked Adam a lot, but I wish they would eliminate the choir-type arrangement repeating the lines. It's old school to me, and not in a good way.  It sounds so hokey. Imo, he would have been so much better just singing the song without any backup singers whatsoever--as is everyone, imo, about 95% of the time at least.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

For reference, there are 7 remaining KOs.

 

Blake has one left: Brittany (the Gwen-esque singer from Canada) and Mary Sarah (the throwback country singer, who's already recorded a CD with some icons).

 

Pharrell also has one left: Abby vs. Caity. Mainstream pop vs. Indy pop...

 

Christina's got two: I'm assuming the pairings will be will be Joe v. Bryan (battle of the returning R&B male vocalists) and Kata and Trey (crazy country female vs. whitebread guy she stole from Blake)

 

Adam has three left that will involve these six contestants: Brian, Caroline, Jessica, Katherine, Laith, and Nate. Caroline and Katherine seem like a fit, Adam (like Blake) tends to pair his steals up so that would be Brian/Jessica......and by process of elimination, that leaves Laith and Nate I guess.

[kathyk24]

Peyton was good but Adam was great. Moushumi has a lovely voice but her song choice was terrible. I would have chosen Nick because he chose the right song for his voice. I didn't like Tamar I thought she over sang her song and I liked Maya better. I think Blake will keep Mary Sarah and steal either Caity or Abby. I hate Kata so I don't want her on Blake's team.

[Oscirus]

This was a fairly uneventful night.  Adam established himself as a threat while everybody else came across as pretenders. Onto the knockouts

 

Adam vs Peyton- On a side note, this is another reason why country people don't pick anybody other then Blake. The judges have plenty of opportunities to steal country artists in the battle rounds and knockouts. Yet, they never do, thereby showing that they weren't serious about actually wanting a country artist. Adam was great. If Peyton was up against anybody else but Adam or Mary Sara, I'd say she should go to the Lives, but she wasn't so she goes home instead.

 

Moushumi vs Nick-  Thank god Pharell got rid of that falsetto fool.  That was not a good look. And Xtina, if you thought that he won the battle the say it while giving the critique instead of being wishy washy and complaining about the results in confessional.

Now onto Moushumi. She's easily my favorite and she was awesome at the beginning but man did she screw up big time. Let me count the ways.

1. People say that was the wrong song, I disagree. It only felt like the wrong song because she blatantly ignored Pharell and Miley's advice and sung in a way that did not allow her to showcase any new facets of her voice.  It's never good to be a one trick pony in a competition like this.  No matter how good that trick is.

2. She sang this song way too pretty.  This is a millennial anthem there should be an edge to one's voice when singing such a song. The lack of emotion was noticeable. 

3. While I can't blame the song, the lyrics were questionable. I read a lot of  online complaints centered around the use of the marijuana lyric.

 

As much as I'm a fan of Moushumi, I fear that she pretty much just earned herself the death slot with that performance. Hopefully. she can recover well enough to make it to the final twelve. But it's going to take a lot.

 

Maya vs Tamar- No idea what xtina did with Maya, but was a hot mess. Pharell there was no need to lie about Maya like that.  Tamar just had to sing the song well enough to get to the lives which she did. I think Tamar did a good job but not a great job.

 

For reference, there are 7 remaining KOs-

 

Assuming the 3 person per hour model they've been using. It's safe to say we'll get one montage. Probably Katherine against whoever she's singing against

 

[Venee]

As much as I'm a fan of Moushumi, I fear that she pretty much just earned herself the death slot with that performance. Hopefully. she can recover well enough to make it to the final twelve. But it's going to take a lot.

 

Maya vs Tamar- No idea what xtina did with Maya, but was a hot mess. Pharell there was no need to lie about Maya like that.  Tamar just had to sing the song well enough to get to the lives which she did. I think Tamar did a good job but not a great job.

 

 

Moushumi: That performance just went nowhere! I think she has something unique (I'm personally not a fan, mainly because I can't get past the machine gun vibrato) Luckily if this doesn't work out, she has medical school! Her situation is interesting, my husband is from India, if you want to give Indian parents heart failure, postpone Medical school in lieu of a career in the music industry. lol

 

Maya: agree it WAS a hot vocal mess! Pitch was all over the place (reminiscent of Malik the night before, which no one has pointed out) What the heck was Pharrell going on about her performance being the best of the whole show? 

[InfiniteMystery]

I'm definitely a fan of Adam. His performance is the type I love to listen to. Sounds great on iTunes also. I feel his personality will come out as he gets more comfortable. Blake is a great coach for him.

Sadly,the rest of the show put me to sleep. But, I do feel the right choices were made.

On iTunes, I couldn't even get through the preview of Curly Sue. I don't know why her voice is offputting for me. It's a bit cold and strident to my ears.

Of the three women I saw on iTunes, I liked Caty (forgot the name) best. Her performance of Gypsy has some gorgeous moments.

Edited March 30, 2016 by InfiniteMystery

[simplyme]

Adam vs Peyton- On a side note, this is another reason why country people don't pick anybody other then Blake. The judges have plenty of opportunities to steal country artists in the battle rounds and knockouts. Yet, they never do, thereby showing that they weren't serious about actually wanting a country artist. Adam was great. If Peyton was up against anybody else but Adam or Mary Sara, I'd say she should go to the Lives, but she wasn't so she goes home instead.

I will respectfully disagree with this. I love the song Travelling Soldier. It has a tendency to make me cry. Peyton's rendition left me unmoved. She felt completely emotionally detached from the song. I think there are enough other talented people in the competition that picking up a country artist solely because they are country would be a mistake. And please, Xtina, get rid of Kata.

Moushumi vs Nick-  Thank god Pharell got rid of that falsetto fool.

Amen. I'll add that I loved Moushumi's song choice. She could have performed it a bit better, but there's a ton of potential there. (OMG! Legal mj! That's shocking. Quick! Go back to the songs about sex and cheating and drinking!)

I can appreciate a good falsetto, but it can get really old for me really fast. Nick was ancient halfway through his blinds for me.

[Jal]

I actually think Tamar did a wonderful job with her performance. Yes, it was power-packed, but she hit all the notes correctly. That's more than I can say about half of the other contestants' performances, most notably Maya's.

 

Bad performance by Moushumi but I think she's got a lot more potential.

 

Adam's style of voice isn't something I've ever liked on the show. I DO enjoy similar artists on the radio, but I guess hearing some voices do other peoples' songs has never interested me. It's boring.

 

Also boring: Nick's falsetto.

[bluepiano]

Moushumi vs. Nick for me was a battle that didn't have a winner. She was boring (not seeing what others see in her) and Nick's falsetto was more of a gimmick than actual singing. I don't need Robin Thicke. I especially don't need a Robin Thicke impersonator.

[thegriswolds]

Moushumi vs. Nick for me was a battle that didn't have a winner. She was boring (not seeing what others see in her) and Nick's falsetto was more of a gimmick than actual singing. I don't need Robin Thicke. I especially don't need a Robin Thicke impersonator.

Agree, thought she was overrated in the blinds and didn't enjoy her last night either.  I love Nick's little boy ,and although Nick way overused his falsetto, I would have put him through just to watch the joy on that little guy's face :-)

[violetr]

Wow, Adam is amazing. Guy can sang. More of him please!

That "New Americana" song was fucking awful. So trite and on the nose. Just no.

[kj4ever]

I like Adam and can see him going far. Thank God Peyton's gone. She didn't connect to that song at all and I dislikte her immensly for making her parents uproot their lives while she doesn't work (though that's on them too). And this was the one time Miley was wrong. Adding that yelling in the middle - which made Peyton's voice crack - was a terrible idea.

Moushima was good, but not wow. Tamara (?) shouted waaaaay too much, but she was better than that other girl.

 

OMG when she started saying she could feel the emotions in that song because she was away from her parents I kept thinking "Holy shit this is the chick that made her Dad come out of retirement and go back to work so that she could be a "artist."  God I'm glad she lost and hope she grows the hell up.

 

I don't understand the hoopla around Moushima.  I think she's pretty basic.  And it's not because of the Mary Jane reference in the song - I'd be the last person to complain about that...lol

 

I didn't know if I'd stay on the Adam train or not  but I'm still riding it.  I always love the non-belters.  With Christina there it is bound to get worse before it gets better (she loses most of her team).

 

I really like the first round of knockouts, but this fell way short in quality.  Hopefully they will ramp it up next week.

[anonymiss]

I don't understand the hoopla around Moushima. I think she's pretty basic. And it's not because of the Mary Jane reference in the song - I'd be the last person to complain about that...lol

Entirely basic. Her singing reminds me of those "quirky"-voiced young girls Blake was always drawn to.

That song choice was also appropriately trite and tryhard.

[Oscirus]

I think there are enough other talented people in the competition that picking up a country artist solely because they are country

 

I agree, but the judges shouldn't talk about wanting to get into country and complain about never getting country artists when they refuse to steal one despite having multiple opportunities.

 

(OMG! Legal mj! That's shocking. Quick! Go back to the songs about sex and cheating and drinking!)

 

 

I agree that all the pearl clutching over that lyric is unnecessary but at the same time, know your audience. 

 

 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Here's a list of every song the contestants picked this week:

 

Angie-Sam Hunt's Take Your Time (2014)

Paxton-Adele's Hometown Glory (UK release, 2007)

Owen-Billy Joel's Always a Woman to Me (1977)

Ryan-Train's Drops of Jupiter (2001)

Hannah-House of the Rising Sun (Basically this song is as old as time)

Malik-Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely (1976)

Katie-Fleetwood Mac's Gypsy (1982)

Lacy-The Cranberrie's Zombie (1994)

Alisan-Joni Mitchell's River (1971)

Daniel-The Temptations' Ain't to Proud to Beg (1966)

Emily-Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi (1970)

Shalyah-Martina McBride's A Broken Wing (1997)

Adam-Sam Cooke's Bring it on Home to Me (1962)

Peyton-Dixie Chicks' Travelin Soldier (2002)

Moushumi-Halsey's New Americana (2015)

Nick-Robin Thicke's Lost Without U (2006)

Maya-Alicia Keys' No One (2007)

Tamar-Sam Smith's Lay Me Down (2014)

 

While I don't think Angie and Moushumi picked great songs, I do want to give them some credit for thinking outside the traditional AI and Voice box by trying something different and something that had been released within the last decade. We wonder why the Voice artists have struggled post show (and certainly the Show's own indifference towards it's winners is a problem), but some of the issue is really outside of Danielle who sounded current at the time she won (although Country shifted hard to the Bro-Country sound shortly after) none of the winners have really sounded like a viable "current" artist. Jordan doesn't really sound current either but at least he checks off a couple of boxes, Christian/Inspirational/Josh Groban that certainly has allowed him to make more of an impact than I expected.

 

Seeing this KO lineup (the one time in the show when the artists have the power to choose their own songs) largely being made up of songs from the 1960's and 1970's kind of drives home that point...

Edited March 31, 2016 by PhD-Purgatory15

[viajero]

This episode was quite a comedown after all the great performances we got on Monday night.  I thought both Adam and Tamar were great (and liked both about evenly), but the rest ranged from mediocre to downright bad.  I suspect Adam is the true favorite to win this season once the voting kicks in.  Of course he has a great voice, but he also benefits from being older and more experienced, male, is accessible to both Bro Country fans and all those viewers who think it´s still the 1970's, plus he doesn't have the albatross around his neck of being pushed by the show as an early favorite.  He would be logical inheritor of Craig Wayne Boyd's crown.

 

This brings me to PhD-Purgatory15's post above, on which i agree almost entirely.  One of the most noticeable changes in this show over the years is that while the early season's leaned heavily on more recent current music, the emphasis has shifted strongly towards old classics.  But I'm not so sure I can entirely blame the contestants for this.  Any contestant who has been paying attention to recent seasons knows that doing the old songs is the way to get ahead in the competition, even if it does little or nothing for their post show careers.  The coaches certainly seem more than aware of this.  The Voice has basically become a competition to see who does the best job at covering Golden Oldies; and the most inoffensive ones possible at that.

 

 

My teen in the other room heard just the preview snippet of The New Americana song and announced, "I hate that song."  I hated it too and fast-forwarded halfway through.  I like Moushoumi's voice but yuck to the song and her delivery choices.  

 

Halsey may be popular in the indie-pop scene, but her songs are not good choices for a singing competition.  They require too many vocal effects to sound good live (Halsey herself certainly doesn't), the lyrics tend to range from trite to nonsensical, and the melodies tend to be a bit discordant and jarring.  If Moushumi wanted to do some current indie-pop, she would have been much better off picking something with more of a groove, perhaps along the lines of BANKS's "Beggin' for Thread" or maybe something from Marina and the Diamonds. The other problem is that while Moushumi started off sounding really good, she didn't put nearly enough bite into the chorus.  "New Americana" is supposed to be an anthem of sorts and needs to be sung like one. 

 

Having said all that, I would still have picked her over Nick, whose overused falsetto is like nails on a chalkboard.  I hope that Pharrell can guide her towards better song choices in the future.  I just wish I had more confidence in Pharrell's ability to pick songs that aren't at least 40 years old.

 

(Come to think of it, "Beggin' for Thread" would actually be an even better song choice for Abby Celso.  It's a perfect match for her voice).

Edited March 31, 2016 by viajero

[PhD-Purgatory15]

I would've loved for Moushumi to try something by Chvrches. Maybe Leave a Trace or Clearest Blue. I like the Banks idea too.

 

I think she actually is far from basic, and could actually have something really interesting to offer (and carve out a lane this season that only Emily intrudes on a little). One thing that may end up helping her is for once, Team Pharrell is a little lacking in frontrunners beyond Hannah. His other contestants in the Top 20 week will be his steal Lacy, Moushumi, Emily (who a lot of the audience may think wrongly won her KO), and either Abby or Caity. For those contenders the Top 20 week will be vital because none of the four have built up much of a safety net in the way that Hannah's HOTRS probably gave her.

Edited March 31, 2016 by PhD-Purgatory15

[Oscirus]

Yea I don't think Moushumi is basic or even over-rated. I believe that she's just hard-headed and relies too much on the best tool in her arsenal. One way or the other, she's going to learn come the live shows.

[DarkRaichu]

Lol of course the beltier singer went forward in Xtina team.  Was there even a suspense there ? :P

 

I did not get all the gushing over Moushumi either.  She sounded ok and a bit on the bland side.  The song choice was awful and the lyrics did not connect with her at all.  There is no way I can believe a pre-med student of Indian background would waste her time getting high on marijuana, medical or not :P It is hard to enough to get ahead sober when you are a minority.

 

Adam is the dark horse of the competition.  I can see Blake position him to be a runner up (with country connection benefits) if it comes down to Adam vs Xtina anointed belter in the finale

[viajero]

One would think from reading the comments here that New Americana is ode to the wonders of smoking weed. That's just one line of the chorus and its more metaphorical than anything else.  The lyrics to the song actually read more like a commentary on the latest generation of young rich kids.  As the daughter of immigrants who grew up in a resort town for the 1% and was a med student at elite east coast schools, I can see why Moushumi might identify with this song.

 

Cigarettes and tiny liquor bottles,
Just what you'd expect inside her new Balenciaga.
Viral mess turned dreams into an empire.
Self-made success now she rolls with Rockefellers.

 

Survival of the richest, the city's ours until the fall.
They're Monaco and Hamptons bound, but we don't feel like outsiders at all.

 

CHORUS: We are the new Americana (ah, ah, ah)
High on legal marijuana (sky high)
Raised on Biggie and Nirvana (ah, ah, ah)
We are the new Americana (ah...)

 

Young James Dean, some say he looks just like his father,
But he could never love somebody's daughter.
Football team loved more than just the game
So he vowed to be his husband at the altar.

 

Survival of the richest, the city's ours until the fall.
They're Monaco and Hamptons bound but we don't feel like outsiders at all.

 

REPEAT CHORUS

 

We know very well who we are, so we hold it down when summer starts.
What kind of dough have you been spending?
What kind of bubblegum have you been blowing lately?

 

REPEAT CHORUS

[DarkRaichu]

One would think from reading the comments here that New Americana is ode to the wonders of smoking weed. That's just one line of the chorus and its more metaphorical than anything else.  The lyrics to the song actually read more like a commentary on the latest generation of young rich kids.  As the daughter of immigrants who grew up in a resort town for the 1% and was a med student at elite east coast schools, I can see why Moushumi might identify with this song.

 

Thanks for the explanation.  Obviously I am not the target audience for this kind of music/art.  I loose interest fast if I have to spend my own time researching what the pretentious singer/songwriter/poet means.

 

Given the above explanation, Moushumi failed more miserably that I had thought.  There was nothing in her performance that hinted (much less convey) this metaphorical / commentary interpretation of the lyrics

Edited April 1, 2016 by DarkRaichu

[viajero]

I can certainly agree that Halsey is about as pretentious as it gets and that Moushumi failed to convey much of anything in her performance (though I still like her voice).  But I can appreciate a song with complex or subtle lyrics when its done well.  It's like when you are listening to a song for the umpteenth time and suddenly it clicks and you get one of those aha moments where you realize that it has a deeper meaning than you had initially thought. An example from among the songs covered this season is Fleetwood Mac's The Chain.

Edited April 1, 2016 by viajero

[simplyme]

I had never heard the song Moushumi did before and really liked it, and I certainly got why she would identify with it. It's about knowing yourself and your generation, being different than a past generation... I think the line that really stood out to me was "raised on Biggie and Nirvana." Granted, just last year I finally got simplymom to admit that Kurt Cobain could sing, so it might also be that the song resonated much more for me than others.

I think this simply highlights how personal music can be. Different people watch the same performance and come away with completely different responses.

(That's my only explanation for Barrett Baber last season too, though I admit I tend to dislike Bro Country in favor of just about any other type of country.)

I agree, but the judges shouldn't talk about wanting to get into country and complain about never getting country artists when they refuse to steal one despite having multiple opportunities.

I'll give you that. There have been a number who went home early that I really wanted to see more of (not necessarily this season). Dusty one season and, um... Krista?? What was her name? Blake often seems to go with the person he thinks is most marketable to The Establishment in the current climate. Honestly? There's a reason I don't buy a lot of current country music. I don't think The Establishment makes good choices a lot of the time. :P

I'll also agree that the marijuana lyric was going to upset the show's audience, but how boring would the world be if no one ever sang a song that offended someone? That's why I hate when they do Martina McBride's Independence Day on the Voice because they remove all lyrics that make it meaningful. What's the point? (Same with Demi Lovato's Warrior). So I was happy Moushumi actually sang the song the way it was intended instead of bowdlerizing it.

[Shades of Scarlet]

Miley was less prominent in this episode but I had a feeling that she would come on like gangbusters as the "key advisor," and she did.  She's extremely intelligent.  She seems to have a good sense of humor, something that completely eludes (for example) Pharrell.  And illustratively singing for the contestants!  She was awesome.     

[ToxicUnicorn]

Moushumi was much better in her blind audition than in this knockout.  I think she has talent and could be different, but that song was pretty snooze worthy, and I thought the knock out could have gone either way.  In fact, I sort of preferred Nick's weird falsetto performance (it had its moments) to Moushumi's song in the moment, although I can see why Pharrell may have picked Moushumi for potential.

 

(On a related note, this season Adam has talked several times about feeling like he has to "reward the singer who does better in this moment", which makes me laugh.  I guess I'm glad he has finally come around to that point of view.  Better late than never!)

I love the song Travelling Soldier. It has a tendency to make me cry. Peyton's rendition left me unmoved.

I completely agree.  Not only did Adam win that knockout hands down, but I would have booted Peyton for that performance against anyone.  Boo.

 

Tamar's rendition of Lay Me Down gave me chills.  I loved it.