S10.E21: Live Top 10 Performances

[Tara Ariano]

Quote

The Top 10 artists perform.

[MaryPatShelby]

Just started watching, and WHAT?  Both Christina and Pharrell gave criticism to Daniel?  And it wasn't mean-spirited, it wasn't cruel...it was something sorely needed in this competition.

[Valny]

I was on the phone when Daniel performed, what did Christina and Pharrell tell him?

I really like Stand by You Man, but for me Mary S sounded too low in the verses. The chorus was good(that's the best part!) but I didn't love they way she was singing it. I was thinking maybe she'd sing it more like

the Dixie Chicks version, a little more jaunty.

Really liked Adam's song. and damn, he's a talented piano player too!

[nichelle]

Sitting here trying to figure out how to cast negative votes for Hannah...

Edited May 3, 2016 by nichelle

[Dots And Stripes]

2 hours ago, nichelle said:

Sitting here trying to figure out how to cast negative votes for Hannah...

i

Go to the app and vote for everyone else. I really love the voting app. It is really easy to log votes strategically and feel way more important than I actually am.

Alisan was amazing. Her voice is impressive every week but I think this was a better performance because she didn't try to do too much. I liked more people than I didn't this week. Team Christina was so strong overall and I love it. I want Chirstina (and Alisan) to get that win!

I like Shayla but she sounds like she is killing her voice. She's very very good but I think she's a few years away from coming in to her own. I'm also really tired of Adam selling himself. I want to work with Shayla! Vote for me! No, Adam.

Edited May 3, 2016 by Dots And Stripes
Finally figured out how to remove the unnecessary spoiler box! Change is still bad but I'll get there.

[nichelle]

30 minutes ago, Dots And Stripes said:

Go to the app and vote for everyone else. I really love the voting app. It is really easy to log votes strategically and feel way more important than I actually am.

Alisan was amazing. Her voice is impressive every week but I think this was a better performance because she didn't try to do too much. I liked more people than I didn't this week. Team Christina was so strong overall and I love it. I want Chirstina (and Alisan) to get that win!

I like Shayla but she sounds like she is killing her voice. She's very very good but I think she's a few years away from coming in to her own. I'm also really tired of Adam selling himself. I want to work with Shayla! Vote for me! No, Adam.

ETA: no spoiler, I just cannot get rid of the spoiler tag. Change is bad.

  Hide contents

 

Yes, that's pretty much what I did. I liked Alisan's performance as well as a few others so I voted for them. Hannah, you get nothing! :)

[rollerblade]

Adam is kinda smart with his "critique" of Shalyah - casually mention what song he wants her to sing NEXT week, heh.

[InfiniteMystery]

My favorite performance by far was Adam's.  He really does seem like a shy guy who is more used to being in the background and I'd love to see him totally open up as Blake mentioned. I actually do think he'll have success after the show.

I liked a few others but no one stood out to me. Some sounded really off, especially those at the beginning of the show. Surprised and happy to hear some criticism from the judges. 

I know this is probably weird of me, but ever since I started hearing the gurgle in Laith's voice, it's all I hear when he sings. Adam saying he is the best musician evah to be on the show irritated me. Don't know why Adam always needs the hyperbole. That's such an insult to everyone else.

 Curly was better this week, but she's still not my cuppa. 

Edited May 3, 2016 by InfiniteMystery

[filmfan2480]

I typically enjoy Daniel but I think he's bottom 2 worthy and am glad he received criticism.

Shalyah is so talented and so poised for 16, but I feel like her voice is starting to shred.

Hannah did as well with that song as she could have. Very impressive. But her aw shucks/faux-humble thing is probably costing her votes.

Paxton is coming into his own.

I seem to be one of the few who enjoy Nick, but I particularly enjoyed his performance tonight. It was a PERFORMANCE.

Laith was good. Love The Thrill is Gone (thanks Kelly Clarkson).

Mary Sarah sounded great on the chorus but mush-mouth on the verses.

Bryan Bautista continues to impress me vocally.

Alisan was VG. Got nothing else to say there.mshes just a very talented vocalist.

Overall good night. I also love using the voting app; I feel like my allocation of votes actually matters :)

Edited May 3, 2016 by filmfan2480

[Dots And Stripes]

I need to get rid of one of Nick/Daniel and one of Adam/Laith. Those pairings blend to me. It may make me terrible but I don't want to work that hard to remember these artists. I only distinguish Adam/Laith based upon my love of Coach Blake and my loathing of Coach Adam. I have no ~legitimate reason for liking (Blake's) Adam and not Laith. 

[pivot]

I am ready to lose one of Adam/Laith and one of Nick/Daniel as well.  Those performances were way too painful for me. 

Hannah was way too karaoke for me tonight as was Mary Sarah.

My favorites tonight were Alisan and Bryan. Shaylah and Paxton were pretty good as well.

Unfortunately, iTunes has Laith, Adam and Mary Sarah in the top bunch so we are likely stuck with them. 

[kathyk24]

How do you read spoilers? When I click on the link nothing happens. I loved Adam and Paxton. I was surprised they called It's All Coming Back to me now was a Celine song I heard it on Meatloaf's Back into Hell album.

[Dots And Stripes]

13 minutes ago, pivot said:

Unfortunately, iTunes has Laith, Adam and Mary Sarah in the top bunch so we are likely stuck with them. 

Are we still only getting rid of only 1? As long as I can say good-bye to one of Nick/Daniel or even poor Shalyah (sorry, you are Team Adam) I'm good.

There are some good things about getting rid of 1 at a time. It keeps the performance shows packed with less random filler and it gives more artists

time to grow and gain a following. The down side is we're stuck with clutter and too many artists who are just not going to win this or even keep things interesting. 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Can anyone be remotely bothered to sing something from this century? Maybe Hannah, Shalyah and Bryan's spanish language song....but that's it right?

Nick and Daniel wasted seven minutes of my life. Nick is even less believable as a white guy falsetto dude. He's like a poor man's version of Chris Jamison from a few seasons ago....or even worse a poor man's version of a Jonas brother. Daniel was just awful, and shouldn't of touched IDWTMAT with a ten foot pole.

Hannah was interesting, she didn't get lazy and straight up copy a bunch of Adele-isms. It was just different enough from the original that it kept me guessing where she was going to take it.

Paxton gives zero f's and I kind of love it. So far this season he's covered Robyn, Shawn Mendes and Camilla Cabelo, Selena Gomez, Adele, Celine Dion, and a CCM/Gospel artist. Keep doing you, Paxton.

If you get around the whole enunciation issue, Adam was all kinds of awesome and just straight up killing the piano. Strategically I'm also loving the fact that for the most part he kept his falsetto under wraps until the Top 11. The last couple weeks he's deployed it as a pretty effective part of his vocal toolkit.

I actually thought the english bit was unnecessary in Bryan's song. It was the only point where he kind of lost me for a few seconds. The spanish language verses sounded gorgeous.

Mary Sarah was pretty much middle of the pack for me, bits of the song were a little too low for her. 

Laith sounds like he's ever so slightly being submerged under water when he sings. Felt like that song (pretty much always) just kind of meanders around and didn't really build to much of a great ending. Still a workman-like performance and figure last week gave him enough equity to slide through this week. He needs to throw a curveball (preferably of the contemporary kind) next week.

Shalyah found a song that fit her voice, but that voice is rapidly shredding/disintegrating...

Edited May 3, 2016 by PhD-Purgatory15

[Padma]

Adam L. should be sure Shalyah doesn't ruin her voice. I remember Kelly Clarkson saying that AI almost did that to her.

Adam...Laith....Alisan....Bryan....Paxton -- I liked them all, and Mary Sarah, though not trying to do anything new with SBYM or hitting all the notes as well as TW (so, in a sense, why bother?), was fine. Not deserving of a win, like the first four above may be able to do, but perfectly deserving of going forward for another few weeks.

I enjoyed Adam per usual, (more piano solos, please), but for me his vocals were just a cover of the Elvis version of this song. Still, along with Laith, he's one of my favorites.

Bryan got my attention tonight for the first time in weeks. If he starts branding himself as a Spanish-language performer, I'd be on board. 

And ETA that I hope Alisan blows the roof off the iTunes numbers today so that Christina will let her stop screaming every week. This was my favorite performance of hers since Blue Bayou.

Daniel....Nick....Hannah....Shalyah all struggled. I hope it's between Daniel and Nick to go home. Daniel was  bad this week and Nick was a bit stronger, but for some reason, Nick's the one I'm hoping will be voted off. .I won't mind if it's Daniel though. He doesn't have much more going on at this point either. (And why Pharrell thinks "Damn, Daniel!" is helpful, beats me. I thought he was all about Jesus and a lot of the crowd he aims at when he talks about God doesn't care for the swearing, even as a joke. Daniel always looks so uncomfortable with it, too.)

I liked that Christina, Adam and Pharrell all gave criticism this week. Blake? Not much, except for telling Laith the ratio of guitar to voice should be more than 1:1. But I guess they didn't want to shock us too much. It was refreshing--especially re Daniel who was awful. 

Edited May 3, 2016 by Padma

[viajero]

Despite a poor start with that disaster of a performance from Daniel, I thought this episode turned out to be a big improvement over last week.  Most people really stepped it up.

Ranking them in order of preference:

Alisan -  Easily her best since she did The River. She really is a great singer and performer when she connects to the lyrics of a song and doesn't go over the top.

Laith - I loved and enjoyed everything about this performance.  I'd like to ask Blake why Laith's guitar solo is not appropriate for a vocal competition but Adam's long piano solo is?

Hannah - Surprisingly, I don't think her vocals suffered much in comparison to the original, which is saying a lot when it comes to Adele.  Plus she changed it up just enough to keep it interesting and make it her own.  Unlike Adam, I had no problems with the way she slid up into the first note of the chorus.  My only issue is that this is not a song that's going to do well on iTunes.

Adam - The good news is that it was fun.  I loved what he did on the Piano and his voice was as good as usual.  But I also think there was a lack of emotional depth and grit.  It was just missing something for me.  Still, it was a big improvement on last week.

Shalyah - Yes she's very rough in places and has a tendency to get shouty towards the end, but unlike Adam W, she really seems to connect with the songs she sings.  Plus the good parts were really good.

Bryan - I was hoping he's do Bachata at some point, but unfortunately it took him awhile to really get going.  Maybe I was thrown a bit by his slight American accent on the Spanish verses.  He has great vocal range and ended strongly, but he's no Romeo Santos.  Unlike say Hannah with the Adele song, this was a case where the contrast with the original was more obvious.

Paxton -  I really don't know what to make of this.  But there's no doubt that he's a great magnetic performer and he mostly kept control of his pitch.

Mary Sarah - I have trouble being objective because I hate that song so much.  But I do think she started in too low a key and was a bit flat as a result.  Fortunately for her, I imagine a lot of country fans are going to snap this up on iTunes and she won't be going anywhere.

Nick - While he was less pitchy than in some of his previous performances, he spent most of the song singing in his falsetto, which is still nails on chalkboard to me. I have no idea why his falsetto bothers me so much, when Bryan´s doesn't.

Daniel - Just plain bad all the way around and he completely botched his big note.  Makes me wish that Owen hadn't screwed up the lyrics on his save me song last week.

Though I think Daniel and Nick should be in the bottom three, I suspect its going to be Daniel and Bryan, with an outside chance that Shalyah might end up there.  Either way, Daniel should be going home.

[bluepiano]

13 hours ago, InfiniteMystery said:

I know this is probably weird of me, but ever since I started hearing the gurgle in Laith's voice, it's all I hear when he sings. Adam saying he is the best musician evah to be on the show irritated me.

For my money, he's not even the best musician this season. Maybe I'm prejudiced because I'm a piano player and I worship Ray Charles, but I thought Adam was great. To me Laith is a very by-the-numbers blues singer and guitarist. I don't hear anything original in his playing or singing. Check out the BB King original of "Thrill" and you will hear that Laith was doing an exact copy, mimicking all of BB's vocal inflections. By contrast, I thought Adam had fun with "I Got a Woman" without trying to copy Ray, which is the right approach when you're covering the work of a genius. And the piano was killer. His solo was more country/rock than Ray's gospel/blues, but again, cool that he did his own thing. And he threw in some weird tonal intervals on that concluding run. That's more advanced musically than anything I've heard Laith do.

I liked Alisan more than I had in several weeks. She seemed to be singing with genuine emotion, and didn't go for the meaningless glory notes for a change.

I wish Shalyah would sing something fun and upbeat. She's only 16, so when she does these overwrought, emotional love songs it comes across like she's mimicking the emotions of older singers that she's heard. 

Classic country does seem to be where Mary Sarah is most at home, and the ending was really nice. Did we really need Dirty Old Man Blake bringing up the soldiers in the audience lusting (at least in his mind) after her?

I admit that I fast forwarded through Daniel and Nick. I just can't take it anymore.

Edited May 3, 2016 by bluepiano

[roamyn]

All say it with me now...

Damn Daniel (for keeping Nick on the show)!

[Rosieroo]

I liked Alisan for the first time in a while. It was nice seeing an understated (for her) song thrown in to remind us she really can do more than scream. (I'm looking at you, Christina)  Mrs. Roo likes her best of all but I have to think its Bryan, Laith or Adam for me and that was the case with last night's performances as well. 

Bryan was my favorite of the night. I love contestants that look comfortable on stage.  Some of them seem so lost...One, two, three--walk to the left. One, two, three--walk to the right. One, two, three--walk into the audience and touch somebody's hand...two three...back to the center for my glory note.  Its just painful.  Just let them stand there and sing until they are comfortable for pete's sake.  Moving around the stage easily will come with experience...or not.  Some of my favorite performers just stand there and SING.  (Rant over) 

I liked Laith and am a sucker for a blue's git-tar and I liked Adam's Ray Charles but it lacked a bit of ....something....for me. Hard to compare to Ray Charles, I guess. 

Hannah just grates for some reason I can't put my finger on...I just know I don't care for her even though she has a competent voice. Ditto Mary Sarah but I do like the classic country sound she has and if she could hit on the right song I think I would love her. SBYM is not a favorite.

Paxton did a good job with a song I don't care for and still has loads of brownie points left over from last week's performance which was my favorite of the season for any of them so far.

Nick and Daniel....can go...bless their hearts.

I love Shalyah and think she's as cute as a button.  I dunno though....Mary J .....pretty big shoes.   We'll see. She certainly has shown that she can bring that type of emotion into a song.

Did I forget anybody?

[roamyn]

Rosieroo, I have to agree with you re:  Adam.  He didn't grab me the way Laith did last week, though he was still very good.

I think it's that he lacks connection to some of these songs. 

Also, yeah, viajaro, why is it okay for Adam to perform (very well) with a lot of keyboard,  but not Laith with his guitar?  Shade, much?

Christina, SIT  DOWN and stop pandering!  That was BS.

I have to wonder if -esp Blake - sees Laith as a threat now.  Notice for the first time that Adam L didn't call out Alisan as the winner?

[Primetimer]

FLOTUS and SLOTUS stop by to look hot, thank some veterans, and give Carson a run for his money.

View the full article

[ChicksDigScars]

I tunes as of 10:18 AM

6. Let Him Fly: Alisan Porter

11. The Thrill Is Gone: Laith Al Saadi

16. I Got a Woman: Adam Wakefield

19. Stand By Your Man: Mary Sarah

23. Rolling in the Deep: Hannah Hutson

35. Promise: Bryan Bautista

38. It's All Coming Back to Me Now: Paxton Ingram

85. Break Every Chain: Paxton Ingram (last week's song)

91. I Cant Help It: Nick Hagelin

92. My Kind of Love: Shalyah Fearing

109. Make It Rain: Laith Al Saadi (last week's song)

188. Johnny and June: Mary Sarah (last week's song)

193. I Don't Want to Miss a Thing: Daniel Passino

 

So, basically, Daniel is (deservedly, IMO) trending BELOW three of last week's songs. Not good. 

It seems that the I Tunes voting is down this year. 

[pivot]

Bryan should be above both Hannah and Mary Sarah. Hannah's voice isn't strong enough for these songs she is covering. Adele's version was so, so much better.

[jjjmoss]

Quote

It seems that the I Tunes voting is down this year. 

Last year's equivalent round: 2, 7, 12, 26, 31, 32, 37.

6, 11, 16, 18, 23, 35, 38 doesn't compare particularly unfavorably. No Sawyer, sure, but not every season has a Sawyer. There's one more in the T20, one more in the T30, same number in the T40.

Or if you're trying to compare fall vs. spring, it's always been the case that it's easier to rank higher in the fall due to depressed song sales during the holiday season.

[meep.meep]

I used to watch this show, but gave it up this season.  For some reason I watched last night.

From an outsider's perspective, Alison, Laith, and Adam are in the running, Bryan and Paxton are OK, but the rest are really bad.  Especially the guy who sang first.

[ppl]

Tonight turned into a 10 minute performance show. I fast forwarded through parts of every performance except for Alisan, who sounded much better than previous weeks and Adam. Adam has the most pleasing sounding voice of this season and he did a good job with the song. I like Alisan but I had my finger on the fast forward button the whole time, fearful that she would oversing and go all screamy ala Christina.

I would rather have another week of Damn Daniel! and all his blandness if Nick goes home this week. I heard one line of falsetto from Nick and reached for the fast forward button.

Shaylah's voice is going. I could care less. Hannah was horrible on Adele. Thank you Adam for pointing out that she slid up to her notes. She didn't slide up to a note once but 4 or 5 times. You made Vicci from season 1 sound good on this song.

Laith gave me a headache. i recognize he has one of the better voices this season but that was bad.

Mary Sarah slowed down the tempo of Stand By Your Man and made it boring. She can't sing well either. What a total waste of a decent song.

Bryan was bland.

Paxton was OK but he doesn't have much of a voice.

[Adusk81]

Laith is kinda rocking my world right now. I forget who it was, maybe Dave Grohl said in an interview regarding singing competition shows that it doesn't resonate with most contestants because they're just kids who wanna be singers. You have to put in the work. You have to try and fail. You have to keep playing in bars and showing up to empty venues. The spectrum of hannah to Laith is clear. She's a pretty girl with a nice voice who wants to be a singer. That doesn't make anyone feel anything and that is why she falls flat. Laith has been sweating through this for a very long time and had earned his keep and it flows from him purely. Hard work, heartbreak, talent. He's the real deal. I dig this guy big time. And that guitar tho. 

[mntnsrck79]

2 hours ago, meep.meep said:

I used to watch this show, but gave it up this season.  For some reason I watched last night.

From an outsider's perspective, Alison, Laith, and Adam are in the running, Bryan and Paxton are OK, but the rest are really bad.  Especially the guy who sang first.

As someone who has watched 2 episodes this season (1 of which was last night's), I completely agree with this evaluation.

[viajero]

2 hours ago, Adusk81 said:

Laith is kinda rocking my world right now. I forget who it was, maybe Dave Grohl said in an interview regarding singing competition shows that it doesn't resonate with most contestants because they're just kids who wanna be singers. You have to put in the work. You have to try and fail. You have to keep playing in bars and showing up to empty venues. The spectrum of hannah to Laith is clear. She's a pretty girl with a nice voice who wants to be a singer. That doesn't make anyone feel anything and that is why she falls flat. Laith has been sweating through this for a very long time and had earned his keep and it flows from him purely. Hard work, heartbreak, talent. He's the real deal. I dig this guy big time. And that guitar tho. 

Of those two, I find myself much more interested in seeing what Hannah does each week.  I like Laith and enjoy his performances, but what you see is what you get and it's all you are ever going to get.  He's good, but not really anything all that special. Hannah is obviously much less polished, but she had a great instrument in her voice and brings a natural intensity to her performances (which I definitely almost always feel). I think she has great potential.  Though clearly she still needs a lot of work if she's going to make it big as a singer, she has occasionally shown a capacity to blow me away in a fashion that Laith never has.

[Adusk81]

12 minutes ago, viajero said:

Of those two, I find myself much more interested in seeing what Hannah does each week.  I like Laith and enjoy his performances, but what you see is what you get and it's all you are ever going to get.  He's good, but not really anything all that special. Hannah is obviously much less polished, but she had a great instrument in her voice and brings a natural intensity to her performances (which I definitely almost always feel). I think she has great potential.  Though clearly she still needs a lot of work if she's going to make it big as a singer, she has occasionally shown a capacity to blow me away in a fashion that Laith never has.

I'm not saying she isn't good at all. She can sing. But if you ask her what she does she will say she's a teacher and she likes to sing. If you ask Laith he will say he's a musician. When the show is over Hannah will go back to being a teacher and reflect on that one time she was on a tv show. Laith will continue being a bad ass musician. But yes, to each their own. And I do think her version of Rolling in the Deep was of the better ones I've seen on singing competition shows. Better than expected for sure.

[Ketzel]

On ‎5‎/‎3‎/‎2016 at 3:25 AM, viajero said:

Bryan - I was hoping he's do Bachata at some point, but unfortunately it took him awhile to really get going.  Maybe I was thrown a bit by his slight American accent on the Spanish verses.  He has great vocal range and ended strongly, but he's no Romeo Santos.  Unlike say Hannah with the Adele song, this was a case where the contrast with the original was more obvious.

 

I agree about the beginning, and the American inflection to the Spanish lyrics. His recorded version, however, is much better. And I like the song sung by one singer, even with the language switches, more than the odd duet version Romeo did with Usher.

Edited May 4, 2016 by Ketzel

[DarkRaichu]

On 5/3/2016 at 11:59 PM, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

I actually thought the english bit was unnecessary in Bryan's song. It was the only point where he kind of lost me for a few seconds. The spanish language verses sounded gorgeous.

The song originally was a duet by Spanish speaking singer and Usher.  The English verses were Usher's.   I actually enjoy bilingual songs like this so I am biased.  IMHO Bryan's version is better than the original, maybe because I am not as familiar with the original singer.

Adam rocked, but what's with hiding the electric piano in grand piano like structure???  Couldn't he just use real piano??

[ToxicUnicorn]

I loved Laith's guitar.  Mr. Toxic admired it, too, but was puzzled about why the singing was so straight ahead (and boring) when the guitar clearly showed a lot of musicality.  He's got a point.

I fall on the "liked Hannah" side.  I'm not a big fan of Rolling in the Deep and I thought her phrasing or tempo or something was more interesting.  I always feel a little beaten up when I hear Adele's version.

Quote

Adam rocked, but what's with hiding the electric piano in grand piano like structure???  

For some reason, this comment made me flash onto Luke Skywalker hiding in a Tauntaun carcass.  I'd better go take my meds ...

[Snarkette]

Loved Laith. Really didn't like Alison's take (a personal fave song, so more critical of covers). It was workmanlike and just didn't have enough "storytelling" for me. Pretty voice, a great delivery instrument, but emotionally flat delivery. Her breathing control right before bits that needed punches didn't provide enough vocal support.