S11.E06: The Blind Auditions, Part 5

[Tara Ariano]

Quote

The blind auditions continue.

[Jabu]

Final rosters/cheat sheets going into the Battles:

Team Adam
Riley Elmore (2)
Andrew DeMuro (3)
Billy Gilman (4)
Brendan Fletcher (3)
Bindi Liebowitz (2)
Elia Esparza (3)
Simone Gundy (2)
Nolan Neal (4)
Johnny Rez (2)
JSOUL (1)*
Natasha Bure (1)
Ponciano Seoane (2)

Team Miley
Courtnie Ramirez (2)
Ali Caldwell (4)
Sa’Rayah (2)
Sophia Urista (2)
Lane Mack (1)
Karlee Metzger (2)
Aaron Gibson (3)
Darby Walker (3)
Khaliya Kimberlie (2)
Maye Thomas (2)
Charity Bowden (2)*
Josette Diaz (1)

Team Alicia
Jason Warrior (2)
Dave Moisan (4)
Christian Cuevas (3)
Wé McDonald (4)
Lauren Diaz (3)
Josh Halverson (3)
Gabriel Violett (2)
Michael Sanchez (1)
Halle Tomlinson (2)
Whitney & Shannon (4)
Belle Jewel (1)*
Kylie Rothfield (2)

Team Blake
Sundance Head (2)
Dana Harper (3)
Gabe Broussard (2)
Ethan Tucker (2)
Dan Shafer (1)
Josh Gallagher (2)
Austin Allsup (1)
Christian Fermin (1)*
Preston James (1)*
Courtney Harrell (2)
Tarra Layne (1)*
Blaine Long (3)

Names in bold indicate artists who've newly been added to a team.  Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of chair turns.  An asterisk indicates that this artist was montaged.

Edited October 4, 2016 by Jabu

[MaryPatShelby]

I liked everyone tonight - good talent level, not a lot of youngsters nor a lot of screechers.  Gives me hope for the rest of the season.

[Michel]

Wow!  Color me shocked that, for the second season in a row, Adam didn't fill his team first!  Hell, he didn't even fill it second!  He filled it third!  It's Alicia who fills her team first!  Even more surprising, she filled it before the first hour even ended!  Fucking amazing!

Speaking of Alicia, congrats to her for making history.  By landing Whitney & Shannon, she has just broken the record of most four-chair turns landed by a female coach in a single Voice season.  Christina previously held the record with two (India Carney and Jeremy Gaynor in season eight).  But Alicia takes the lead now in season eleven (with Dave Moisan, Wé McDonald, and Whitney & Shannon).  And yes, like she said, she's the Queen of the Four-Chair Turn!  And at least she's not smug about it . . . Adam.  (On a side note, looking at foreign versions, Jessie J holds the world record for the female coach with the most four-chair turns in one season.  She got four on one season of Australia's version.)

And while we're on four-chair-turns . . . wow.  Is this the first time a coach has failed to land a single one in a season?  Blake doesn't have a single one on his team this season!  The best he's got are two three-chair-turns in Dana Harper and Blaine Long!  Poor Blake.

Anyway, the artists:

Whitney & Shannon: Beautiful, flawless harmonies.  I could see them going a long way.  Blake seemed like the right coach on the surface due to their country preference and his country preference, but he's worked with duos already.  I'd like to see what Alicia can and will do with them.  And it meant her stealing a four-chair turn from Adam, so that's always fun!  Really, both she and Miley probably threw out the best pitches, so it was clear they'd pick one of the two women.  On a side note, how hilarious was Miley's "WTF?!" face when she realized that there were two voices singing?  Not to mention Alicia's mouthing, ". . . Two?" in total confusion and holding up two fingers toward Adam.  You'd think they never realized that duos were allowed to participate.

Johnny Rez: Seemed pretty ordinary and not too unique to me, despite what Adam thinks.  He'll be making a cameo on Team Adam, I'm guessing.

Maye Thomas: I liked her a lot, but I'm surprised she got only two chairs to turn.  Very good voice, nice stage presence, but maybe could try some songs that feature her voice a bit more.  Miley will do right by her, I think.

Johnny Hayes: Actually, I thought his performance was better than the coaches made it out to be, but I could see why he didn't get a turn.  Still, I could see him returning and landing on a team.

Courtney Harrell: Amazing voice, but a bit shocked that she picked Blake.  A voice like hers really warranted Alicia as a coach, not Blake.  Betting her Battle partner is Dana since they're so similar.

Kylie Rothfield: Surprised she sounded so well after just getting her voice back.  But from what I heard, she did an amazing job.  Perfect capper for Alicia's team, and I hope she lasts on it.

Natasha Bure: Interesting to see Candace Cameron Bure's daughter on the show!  It's clear she's going to suffer from nerves, though.  I imagine her stay on Team Adam will be short unless her Battle performance is damn near flawless.

Blaine Long: I loved his voice.  I don't see Blake ditching him for some time, because that's one of those big, powerful country voices that he loves.  Knockouts, at the very least.

Nicholas Ray: I actually thought he had way more potential than the final member of Adam's team.  He should've turned for him instead.  Maybe he'll come back.

Ponciano Seoane: It was actually pretty obvious he'd pick Adam.  Something about him didn't seem compatible with Miley at all.  That said, I did like his voice, but there was something plain about it.  Nothing too special.

Josette Diaz: I liked her interpretation of Justin's song.  Very beautiful, clear, unforced tone on her part.  And how cute for her that she's always looked up to Miley and ended up taking the last spot on her team!  Now the only question is whether or not she keeps her on her team in the Battles.

Montages:

I liked that the montages contained one artist for each coach.  I kinda wish we could've seen Tarra Layne.  I like "Black Velvet" and would've liked to have heard her cover of it.  I bet she'll be part of a montaged Battle on Blake's team.  And I'm blown away that Charity Bowden was a two-chair turn who was fought over by Miley and Alicia, as the montaged two-chair turns are normally artists fought over by Adam and Blake.  But that's the second time someone who's done "Girl Crush" has been montaged, as last season's Teresa Guidry got montaged, too, when she did that.  Nonetheless, I hope we can at least see her Battle on Miley's team.  For the dumb name alone, I can already tell I won't like JSOUL.  Here's to hoping his time on Adam's team is very short.  And finally, Belle Jewel looks adorable.  From what little I heard, she sounds like she has a good, beautiful voice.  Hope she thrives on Alicia's team.

Edited October 10, 2016 by Michel

[Cementhead]

1 hour ago, MaryPatShelby said:

I liked everyone tonight - good talent level, not a lot of youngsters nor a lot of screechers.  Gives me hope for the rest of the season.

I agree!  And I especially enjoyed tonight's song choices because most of them were favourite songs of mine.

Question that has probably been asked & answered before but I have missed:  Over how many days do the Blind Auditions take place?  In spite of the judges wearing the same clothing the entire time, I am assuming that it must take place over a couple of days.

[azshadowwalker]

Tried to watch last night, after several seasons of only watching an episode or two each time. Found myself muting the inane patter between coaches, the packaged nonsense, and most of the singers. I used to at least listen to the singers. Guess I really am over this show. 

[Primetimer]

DJ Tanner's daughter earns herself a few chair turns, but Adam and Miley seem to have some buyer's remorse as The Voice closes out the Blinds on an otherwise low note.

View the full article

[Archery]

At this point, do coaches typically pick weaker singers so that they have cannon fodder in the knockout (or battle, I forget which ones they pit team members against each other) rounds? 

[JMarie99]

I am SO glad the blind auditions are over. I found last night to be especially boring because some of the coaches  had filled their teams and were prevented from pushing their buttons for some decent singers. And I am sick to death of Miley's head-to-toe flowers and Alicia's fringe and head wrap. I'm not sure how the next round works since this is my first season watching the show, but at this point I'm really looking forward to the change in outfits! 

[Ketzel]

Please, oh please, tell me I did NOT see a clip of Alicia coaching two of her people in a battle of House of the Rising Sun? Seriously?  House of the Rising Sun?  I'm pretty sure that song was banned from all singing competitions everywhere forever last year. Or maybe that was just me promising myself I would never watch another singing show again if one (or more) of the contestants used it. By now it's been so overdone, it's the auditory equivalent of gum that's been chewed for a week.

Edited October 4, 2016 by Ketzel

[bluepiano]

Does anyone know how the order of auditions is determined,  because it's such an obvious disadvantage to be in the last group, when the judges have one or two spots left and are much choosier?  I think there are always at least a couple of singers who don't get a chair turn, who would have earlier in the auditions. (Though I don't think the wedding singer would've ever gotten picked. That was a terrible song choice to try to showcase his vocal skills. No way it's not going to sound cheesy).

4 hours ago, Archery said:

At this point, do coaches typically pick weaker singers so that they have cannon fodder in the knockout (or battle, I forget which ones they pit team members against each other) rounds? 

I don't think they intentionally pick weaker singers, but the way this show is structured, every team has to have a certain amount of cannon fodder. The judges probably do pick some singers knowing they're not going to be around long.

I was really glad the 40 year old, Blaine Long, got three chair turns. For my money, this show needs even more veteran singers who have been paying their dues, instead of the 16 and 17 year olds. (Too many "kids" and it starts feeling like American Idol). And I love that he and his wife chose to adopt a couple of kids to give them a home, rather than having their own biological children. What an incredibly cool thing to do.

3 hours ago, JMarie99 said:

And I am sick to death of Miley's head-to-toe flowers and Alicia's fringe and head wrap. I'm not sure how the next round works since this is my first season watching the show, but at this point I'm really looking forward to the change in outfits! 

Sorry to say, doesn't look like it's getting better, given Alicia's Pocahantas outfit that we saw in next week's preview. I don't know if she has any Native American blood. If not, I think it's borderline offensive, especially given that there are two real Native American contestants this year.

Edited October 4, 2016 by bluepiano

[Michel]

On 10/4/2016 at 8:13 AM, Ketzel said:

Please, oh please, tell me I did NOT see a clip of Alicia coaching two of her people in a battle of House of the Rising Sun? Seriously?  House of the Rising Sun?

You did see a clip of that.  I heard it, too.  You also might've seen two of Alicia's guys singing Adele's "Hello," which is . . . um . . . an interesting Battle choice.  Anyway, "House of the Rising Sun" has yet to be used in the Battles, so I at least want to keep an open mind on how it's used there.

On 10/4/2016 at 7:57 AM, JMarie99 said:

I'm not sure how the next round works since this is my first season watching the show, but at this point I'm really looking forward to the change in outfits! 

The Battles involve the coaches dividing their twelve artists into six pairs each.  They learn songs that each pair sings in a duet in front of the coaches and a studio audience, and the coach of the pair decides who performed better, thus choosing the winner.  Winner stays, loser gets eliminated.  However, the elimination can be nullified if one of the other three coaches presses his or her button to go for a steal and add the Battle loser to his or her team.  If more than one tries to go for the steal at the same time, then the power shifts to the Battle loser, and he or she gets to pick his or her new coach.  Each coach has two steals, so while the Battles themselves cut their teams in half, from twelve to six, they can add two more members with their steals, raising their teams to eight members.

After the Battles come the Knockouts, which work similarly to the Battles, but also differently.  In that round, the coaches make four new pairs to go against each other, but in this case, they each sing a different song of their own choosing.  One member of the pairing sings one song, and the other member sings another song.  The coach of the pair again chooses the better performer as the winner, and the loser is eliminated unless one of the other three coaches goes for a steal.  But this time, each coach only has one steal, so they're typically pickier in terms of who gets saved.  The teams again get cut in half, going from eight members to four, but the steal ups the count to five each, and these five are the ones each coach takes to the live shows.

Edited October 6, 2016 by Michel

[Noreaster]

The blind auditions are usually filmed over 4-5 days.  I don't know how they determine the order.  I always assumed that they made sure to put the stronger candidates in the first few days.  The producers have also invited quite a few contestants (who either did not get a chair turn or did not get a chance to perform at all) to try again the following season.   

I don't think the coaches purposely pick fodder.  I think that as they fill up their teams of 12, they try to choose the best possible.  No doubt there will be certain contestants viewed as favorites but that's just the way it goes.  

However, I wouldn't be surprised if the coaches do come in with certain agendas (whether their own or directed by the producers) in their chair turns.  In the earlier seasons, the coaches often made comments about wanting to diversify their teams or wanting to win contestants from a particular genre (for example, Adam and country contestants).  This season seems to be very heavy on R&B/soul and I'm guessing that's something the producers might communicate ahead of time to the coaches so they know to turn around for some even if they normally wouldn't.  

Edited October 4, 2016 by Noreaster

[Kromm]

Oh lord.  Candace Cameron Bure?  Ugh.  How long until we hear about how it's God's will that Lil' Bure is on the show? (there must have been SOME holy intervention, because honestly she wasn't very good)

Did we see enough signs of Loving Submission of Candace to her husband?  And I wonder what CCB would have done if her little girl had wound up on Devil Miley's team?  A man with tattoos is probably bad enough. 

[uoflfan]

I love "Iris" so much, both the Goo Goo Dolls' and Sleeping With Sirens' versions, I'd have hit a button on the first few notes. I think Rez was a great choice for Adam.

[kj4ever]

10 hours ago, Kromm said:

Oh lord.  Candace Cameron Bure?  Ugh.  How long until we hear about how it's God's will that Lil' Bure is on the show? (there must have been SOME holy intervention, because honestly she wasn't very good)

Did we see enough signs of Loving Submission of Candace to her husband?  And I wonder what CCB would have done if her little girl had wound up on Devil Miley's team?  A man with tattoos is probably bad enough. 

A Jewish man with tattoos....Candace Cameron Bure makes me want to vomit.  Oh, and her daughter sucks.

[Kromm]

6 hours ago, kj4ever said:

A Jewish man with tattoos....Candace Cameron Bure makes me want to vomit.  Oh, and her daughter sucks.

What REALLY irks is that I looked on YouTube yesterday and the video of this girl singing was in the top trending videos.  For someone who's singing was really awful. No other Voice videos were trending. None. 

So do we conclude it's all Full House fans? Or that it's bible thumpers showing their support?

Okay... just checked again. It's gone from Trending now. But it was around the 4th biggest trending video on YouTube last night, and had more than a million views in a day and a half.

[kj4ever]

8 hours ago, Kromm said:

What REALLY irks is that I looked on YouTube yesterday and the video of this girl singing was in the top trending videos.  For someone who's singing was really awful. No other Voice videos were trending. None. 

So do we conclude it's all Full House fans? Or that it's bible thumpers showing their support?

Okay... just checked again. It's gone from Trending now. But it was around the 4th biggest trending video on YouTube last night, and had more than a million views in a day and a half.

My guess would be the Bible Thumpers with a little bit of curious Full House fans.  The fanatics know how to ban together for one of their own.  If she gets to the lives and hangs on a while we'll know how much influence they have because honestly every person I know that watches the show thought she was horrible.

[saber5055]

I have to say, I'm surprised by liking Miley and Alicia being added as judges. Who knew? I'm interested to see how they coach their singers. I'm also curious to see if Alicia Keyes has hair. Stay tuned!

[cindylu]

Alicia and Miley are surprisingly likeable so far. How refreshing to see 2 women support each other instead of acting all catty and bitchy.

[MaryPatShelby]

On 10/5/2016 at 11:01 PM, Kromm said:

What REALLY irks is that I looked on YouTube yesterday and the video of this girl singing was in the top trending videos.  For someone who's singing was really awful. No other Voice videos were trending. None. 

So do we conclude it's all Full House fans? Or that it's bible thumpers showing their support?

Okay... just checked again. It's gone from Trending now. But it was around the 4th biggest trending video on YouTube last night, and had more than a million views in a day and a half.

I feel about this like I do about bestseller lists. Just because someone views a video or buys a book, it doesn't mean that they liked it. 

[Wandering Snark]

For me the oddest thing about that is that Candace Cameron Bure is a Bure now because she married Pavel freakin' Bure (one of hockey's greatest pure goal scorers)! OMG. That was a mix I wouldn't have expected. And then, he completely disregarded half of his daughter's genes saying 'She's Russian, we don't smile.' The whole thing was one big wall of weird... took me aback for sure. Oh and yeah she is total cannon fodder I'd guess and won't make a vote for us to worry about it.

[kj4ever]

8 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

For me the oddest thing about that is that Candace Cameron Bure is a Bure now because she married Pavel freakin' Bure (one of hockey's greatest pure goal scorers)! OMG. That was a mix I wouldn't have expected. And then, he completely disregarded half of his daughter's genes saying 'She's Russian, we don't smile.' The whole thing was one big wall of weird... took me aback for sure. Oh and yeah she is total cannon fodder I'd guess and won't make a vote for us to worry about it.

I think she married his brother...

[xfuse]

On 2016-10-09 at 1:47 AM, Wandering Snark said:

For me the oddest thing about that is that Candace Cameron Bure is a Bure now because she married Pavel freakin' Bure (one of hockey's greatest pure goal scorers)!

She married his younger brother Valeri. He wasn't as good.

[Wandering Snark]

Ah, thanks... They look alike enough, but still a pairing that you have to wonder how it happened... and the 'she's Russian' thing was still a little creepy.