S11.E08: The Battles Premiere

[Tara Ariano]

Quote

The battle round kicks off. Here, team members face off in dueling duets. The advisers are Joan Jett, Sammy Hagar, Bette Midler and Charlie Puth.

[Jabu]

As a crash course, here are the team rosters/cheat sheets going into the Battles tomorrow night:

Team Adam
Riley Elmore
Andrew DeMuro
Billy Gilman
Brendan Fletcher
Bindi Liebowitz
Elia Esparza
Simone Gundy
Nolan Neal
Johnny Rez
JSOUL
Natasha Bure
Ponciano Seoane

Team Miley
Courtnie Ramirez
Ali Caldwell
Sa’Rayah
Sophia Urista
Lane Mack
Karlee Metzger
Aaron Gibson
Darby Walker
Khaliya Kimberlie
Maye Thomas
Charity Bowden
Josette Diaz

Team Alicia
Jason Warrior
Dave Moisan
Christian Cuevas
Wé McDonald
Lauren Diaz
Josh Halverson
Gabriel Violett
Michael Sanchez
Halle Tomlinson
Whitney & Shannon
Belle Jewel
Kylie Rothfield

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

[Michel]

This Battle was leaked:

Good song choice by Alicia, but possibly bad pair?  Jason has good power and all, but Christian has almost exceptional control.  I'd say Christian did better, but I don't know how Alicia will judge it.

[MaryPatShelby]

I swear the thing that makes me happiest while watching The Voice is how excited Carson gets when there's a steal.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Good 'ol battle rounds.....as usual, almost never a real "upset" just some interesting calculus for the pairings where you think the steals will come from.

That said, I'm a bit surprised Miley went with Ali over Courtnie. Her and Miley just seemed like a much more natural fit. I'm wondering if that was some Pharrell pyschology at play there. Figure that of the two Courtnie might be more appealing to the other coaches than Ali so you leave her out there and hope for a steal? It worked out that way.

I thought Natasha was better than Riley and a million miles better than her blind (and she's a way more versatile pop singer than he'll ever be), but I knew their was a less than 2% chance that Adam wasn't picking his gawky Sinatra wannabe. Oh well.

Poor Dan.....fodder from the jump. He was bringing the vocal equivalent of a watergun to a duel going up against Sundance.

Something rings so incredibly fake/inauthentic when comes to We. I've already started to ignore her presence on the show.

3 steals down, 5 to go....

Edited October 11, 2016 by PhD-Purgatory15

[apollonia666]

2 hours ago, MaryPatShelby said:

I swear the thing that makes me happiest while watching The Voice is how excited Carson gets when there's a steal.

I like that, but the thing I love is when the singer just won is being interviewed backstage and gets all excited when they hear their opponent got stolen!  

[Padma]

2 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

I thought Natasha was better than Riley and a million miles better than her blind (and she's a way more versatile pop singer than he'll ever be), but I knew their was a less than 2% chance that Adam wasn't picking his gawky Sinatra wannabe. Oh well.

Poor Dan.....fodder from the jump. He was bringing the vocal equivalent of a watergun to a duel going up against Sundance.

Something rings so incredibly fake/inauthentic when comes to We. I've already started to ignore her presence on the show.

3 steals down, 5 to go....

I thought Natasha was ... pitchy ... but much better than her blind. She probably has a lot more opportunities ahead than he does anyway. I didn't mind him advancing--I always like when young kids go for the old school crooner/hopefully with some jazz style.

Sorry to see Dan go, I love when there's some older singers moving on. But he surely knew when he was paired with Sundance, as you say, he was fodder.

I don't mind We's singing, but if it's the contrast with her speaking voice that's moving them, that's different. I have seen several girls her age--esp. those familiar with anime--adopt that same kind of ultra-high, attention-grabbing speaking voice and claim its natural and they just don't know how to get used to it. In her case, maybe it IS natural, but when she got chosen, I thought she lost it for a bit, so... not sold. She'll have to win me over with the singing, not the speaking. I'm skeptical about that.

I hope the rumors of Miley not fitting in are just to get us watching. She does seem like a kid at times, but I think the show benefits from her energy (at least as edited). And Blake and Adam should be glad to not have to perform their schtick so much. Nice to give it a rest. I don't miss it.

[bluepiano]

4 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

I thought Natasha was better than Riley and a million miles better than her blind (and she's a way more versatile pop singer than he'll ever be), but I knew their was a less than 2% chance that Adam wasn't picking his gawky Sinatra wannabe. Oh well.

Poor Dan.....fodder from the jump. He was bringing the vocal equivalent of a watergun to a duel going up against Sundance.

Something rings so incredibly fake/inauthentic when comes to We. I've already started to ignore her presence on the show.

Natasha was better than in her blind for sure, but I still don't feel her. Though I guess it was a good effort given a song more in Riley's wheelhouse.

Despite having this year's worst name, Sundance Head can really sing.

I know that he's gone so it's kind of kicking a dead horse, but Dan's back story bugs me. My brother had Crone's Disease, so I know it's no picnic, but the idea that he changed his entire life when his son came down with it seems shaky. And if he was successful at writing commercial jingles, that's a lot more lucrative than the 9 to 5 job he said he had to take.

I get the fake vibe about We also. Well, maybe that's what happens when you give your kid such a pretentious name. And are we going to hear about her being bullied every week? That's now the default sob story when nothing bad has ever really happened to you.

Overall, too many of the kind of battles I don't like, when both people are screaming and trying to out glory-note the other. That's why I appreciated the subtlety of the "Man in the Mirror" performance. (Though that song is being done way too often now.)

Was also surprised that there were that many steals on the first battle episode. Especially as none of the singers who were stolen seemed to me that special or unique.

PS - I take it back about Sundance Head's name. Just looked at the contestant's list and forgot about JSoul.

Edited October 11, 2016 by bluepiano

[Jabu]

Team rosters/cheat sheets thus far:

Team Adam
Riley Elmore (defeated Natasha Bure)
Billy Gilman (defeated Andrew DeMuro)
Jason Warrior (stolen from Team Alicia)

(Still Waiting)
Brendan Fletcher
Bindi Liebowitz
Elia Esparza
Simone Gundy
Nolan Neal
Johnny Rez
JSOUL
Ponciano Seoane

Team Miley
Ali Caldwell (defeated Courtnie Ramirez)
Lauren Diaz (stolen from Team Alicia)

(Still Waiting)
Sa’Rayah
Sophia Urista
Lane Mack
Karlee Metzger
Aaron Gibson
Darby Walker
Khaliya Kimberlie
Maye Thomas
Charity Bowden
Josette Diaz

Team Alicia
Christian Cuevas (defeated Jason Warrior)
Wé McDonald (defeated Lauren Diaz)
Courtnie Ramirez (stolen from Team Miley)

(Still Waiting)
Dave Moisan
Josh Halverson
Gabriel Violett
Michael Sanchez
Halle Tomlinson
Whitney & Shannon
Belle Jewel
Kylie Rothfield

Team Blake
Sundance Head (defeated Dan Shafer)

(Still Waiting)
Dana Harper
Gabe Broussard
Ethan Tucker
Josh Gallagher
Austin Allsup
Christian Fermin
Preston James
Courtney Harrell
Tarra Layne
Blaine Long

Names in bold indicate an artist who has either newly Battled and stayed on his or her team or has been stolen by another coach.  An asterisk indicates that this artist's Battle was montaged.

Edited October 12, 2016 by Jabu

[Primetimer]

Season 11 heads into the Battles, as The Voice starts showing its age.

View the full article

[Duke Silver]

Admittedly, I was a bit grumpy last night, but there wasn't a single performance that interested me any more than muzak would.

[Sugar]

Wow, I guess I'm in the minority, but I love We. I love her singing voice, I love her speaking voice, and I find her to be so likeable and charming. My fiance, who is a miserable grump, even admitted that he really likes her. I thought her voice was so powerful and soulful - and  she sings with maturity. I would never guess she was 17. Anyway, she sold me way more than Lauren did, who I find bland and forgettable.

I was really disappointed that Billy won over Andrew. I feel like Andrew worked his butt off on a song that was pushing his register, and likely chosen to accommodate Billy's. He was fodder going into it, but I thought he was way better than Billy. Billy's voice is good, but it's a bit thin, and he doesn't do anything for me as a performer. Whereas Andrew had a deeper, richer tone and was more engaging. For a seasoned singer, Billy should be blowing everyone away, whereas I feel like he was just "good". I wish Andrew had been stolen over Lauren.

Dan is just so earnest and sweet looking - I felt bad that he wasn't picked, but happy that he had this opportunity. I like Sundance, but I'm kind of over these people who already had their shot at fame, and I count being in the top ten of AI as "a shot".

Oh god....I think I like Miley (hides).

I love Alicia's 'presence', but she comes off a little too "earth mother" for my taste. "You're beautiful", "I want to feel your soul", "You have something special inside you".....it's great, but for an accomplished musician, I'm expecting more technical critique.

LOL@ Adam's team. He really got the bottom of the barrel with the exception of one or two.

[MaryPatShelby]

13 hours ago, apollonia666 said:

I like that, but the thing I love is when the singer just won is being interviewed backstage and gets all excited when they hear their opponent got stolen!  

That's great too; you're right.

9 hours ago, bluepiano said:

 

Overall, too many of the kind of battles I don't like, when both people are screaming and trying to out glory-note the other.

I really liked the blinds this season, specifically because there weren't too many screechy/screamy singers. But now in the Battles we're right back to that, at least last night. Why do the coaches think that's what their singers need to be?

[bluepiano]

1 hour ago, Sugar said:

 Whereas Andrew had a deeper, richer tone and was more engaging. For a seasoned singer, Billy should be blowing everyone away, whereas I feel like he was just "good". I wish Andrew had been stolen over Lauren.

38 minutes ago, MaryPatShelby said:

I really liked the blinds this season, specifically because there weren't too many screechy/screamy singers. But now in the Battles we're right back to that, at least last night. Why do the coaches think that's what their singers need to be?

 

So "Man in the Mirror" was the one of the only non-shouty battles and Andrew loses and doesn't get stolen. What does that tell you?

Despite the fact that in the rehearsals we often hear coaches advise against over-singing and unnecessary runs, but in truth that's what wows them. So Courtnie and Lauren get stolen for mediocre but loud, showy performances. While the judges praise Andrew for his tone and classy singing but they're not moved to steal him.

For me the idea of two singers having a head to head "battle" is strange and artificial, and the format is always going to encourage screaming and OTT dramatics. Only occasionally is there a battle where both singers are focused more on the song and the overall performance than showing up the competition, and those are the ones I enjoy.

Edited October 11, 2016 by bluepiano

[azshadowwalker]

I can only comment on the Ali/Courtnie battle, since it's the only one I watched. I thought Miley picked a horrible song. She seemed to be more interested in the lyrical "message" than whether it showcased the singers' voices. I was not impressed by either woman, because it all seemed so flat and uninteresting. I hope they get better selections next time. The best part of the package was seeing Joan Jett, to be honest. 

[JMarie99]

I agree with those who are saying that the battle rounds encourage screaming and over the top dramatics. A couple of the girls' battles were nothing but screamfests and were torture for me to listen to. Despite the fact that last night's show featured some decent singers, I didn't enjoy the show at all. 

[huahaha]

So Carson Daly hosts this show. I've been watching since the beginning of the season and only just noticed. I guess that's a sign he isn't Seacresting the place up, so good on him.

[Ketzel]

I don't usually talk back to the TV, but I found myself repeatedly screaming, "Shut UP!" to Miley Cyrus last night. I thought Blake was being condescending and obnoxious to her during the blind auditions, but now I'm starting to get how annoying she must be.  All that frenetic energy All The Time was hard enough to take from my living room, let alone from the next seat on the sofa.

[Sharpie66]

Another We fan here. I don't really care that her speaking and singing voices are so different, I just love listening to her sing. I have rewatched her audition I don't know how many times and always stop it after she introduces herself to the judges. Such a powerful, different voice with terrific richness of tone, and her range is great. I was getting worried when she didn't pull out any higher notes in Maybe, but then she belted them out. I really hope she gets far this season.

[Guest]

I thought Billy Gilman blew that Andrew away.  But I can't stand it when singers sing behind the music AND drama it all up like Christina.  And I think Billy's tone and stage presence were terrific.  I liked Charlie Puth's advice (to another team) to remove almost all the runs and sing a song straight for once.

I was sad to see Dan Shaeffer go for Sundance, who seems like a ham.  But I agree that Crohn's isn't exactly terminal cancer.  I mean, adjust your son's diet and go on with your career.  It's like saying I quit my job for my kid's diabetes or celiac disease, isn't it?  

I thought it was totally telegraphed that Alicia would pick We and Miley would save Lauren.  

I was ok seeing Natasha Bure leave.  The celebrity's kids and siblings never seem to make it far on this.  Her voice was fine but I'm so over the quirky thing.  And what was with first the ugly fur vest in auditions then the earrings in her hair for the battle?  

[huahaha]

1 hour ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I thought it was totally telegraphed that Alicia would pick We and Miley would save Lauren.  

My only issue was that dumping Lauren made Alicia look a little insincere after serenading her with "If I ain't got you, Lauren" in the blinds. She's so warm with the singers that I worry she could really break some hearts when she lets people go. On the other hand, I would've picked We, too!

[viajero]

This was the first episode this season that I really enjoyed all the way through as I was generally bored by the overly bland song choices and performances we got during most of the blinds.  My specific comments are:

• I thought most of the performances ranged from good to very good. The exceptions were the overly stiff and dull Riley against Natasha (on which I would have given the edge to the later) and Sunshine vs Dan (in which both completely failed to give us any of the smoldering heat required by that song).
• I love We's singing voice.  She just may be my favorite so far.  Ali was the other top performer of the night. 
• I thought that both Lauren and Courtnie well deserved their steals.  They may have clearly lost their battles, but both also showed considerable improvement over their blind auditions and have real stage presence and decent vocals.
• I probably would have picked Jason over Christian and Andrew over Billy, but both winners were still fairly good.
• I'm really enjoying both Alicia and Miley.  I can't help getting caught up in their enthusiasm.  They are bringing a needed freshness to the show.  I also give them credit for good song selection (in contrast to Blake, who utterly failed in this episode by assigning a great song to the singers incapable of pulling it off).

[Michel]

Okay.  Someone clearly got rid of my last post.  So I'm gonna try again tonight.  The matches:

Christian vs. Jason: I think they both did an amazing job with Adele's "Hello," which surprised me, as I'd previously thought that it might be a bad song choice for two male voices.  But to answer @viajero, I think Jason probably put a bit too much emotion into his performance that he came off as overdoing it.  Christian put just enough into it and kept himself from over the top like Jason did, so I can see why Alicia believed his performance to the point that she chose him.  But Jason being stolen by Adam?  Hmm. . . . That could either be a good thing for him or an insanely bad thing.

Natasha vs. Riley: As has been said above, I thought Natasha just edged Riley out here.  But come on.  Adam gave them a Michael Buble song.  He gave a crooner song to a pairing containing a crooner.  Of course Adam doesn't have an agenda.  Of course he wanted Riley to go through regardless of how well he did.  But I'm stunned he didn't see the voter potential in Natasha.  Two famous parents?  Their fanbases would've been rallying behind her like crazy in the Lives.

Ali vs. Courtnie: I thought Ali was just shy of total perfection in this song and deserved the win.  But Courtnie did an excellent job in keeping up with her and deserved her steal.  Both of their voices worked surprisingly well together, and I like the sort of Elle King thing Courtnie has going on in her voice.  And if she had to be stolen, I'm glad Adam actually used Blake's failure to turn around for Courtnie in the Blinds against him so that she would pick Alicia.  I think she'll do well on her team.  Or rather, I hope she will.

Dan vs. Sundance: Dan certainly put out an amazing job here, but come on.  Blake, despite claiming to like that this show is for people of all ages, was never going to keep Dan past the Battles once he saw that he was an older man who just sounded younger than he actually was.  Sundance fits the look and sound of country the way Blake sees it (and he certainly did sound like he won the Battle to me, anyway), so of course he was going to get through.  I wish Dan good luck, though.

Andrew vs. Billy: I thought Blake was right that this was an evenly-matched battle.  But I think it came down Billy a four-chair-turn against Andrew's two.  Also, Billy has the possibility of his past fanbase helping him vote-wise in the Lives, and I think Adam's counting on that by putting him against artists he knows he can beat.  I think he's going to be Adam's main horse for this season.

Lauren vs. Wé: I don't get the sentiment that Wé is fake.  I haven't seen a fake, disingenuous bone in her body.  She made it clear that she herself didn't even expect to have a deeper, richer singing voice than her speaking voice (which she said got her bullied during the Blinds).  Plus, it's not like she's the first with that vocal discrepency.  Remember Siahna Im from season nine?  She, too, had a drastically different singing voice from her speaking voice.  But on to the performance, while, yes, Alicia did end up looking a bit dishonest by booting Lauren after her pitch to her, there's no doubt that Wé's just on a whole other level from her.  I, too, would've picked her.  And Lauren did such a strong job, anyway, that I totally think that she deserved Miley's steal.  And this time, it's Adam who gets it used against him that he didn't previously turn for her (he was the only one who didn't).  Let's see how she does on Miley's team in the Knockouts!

Good start to the Battles.  Good, gooooooood start to the Battles.

[Jal]

On 10/11/2016 at 3:59 AM, bluepiano said:

I get the fake vibe about We also. Well, maybe that's what happens when you give your kid such a pretentious name. And are we going to hear about her being bullied every week? That's now the default sob story when nothing bad has ever really happened to you.

I think Wé McDonald has the best voice on the show. Lauren was fantastic, but Wé's depth and quality is astounding, especially for her age.

And isn't her name non-Western? I don't see how that's pretentious. Maybe do some research first?

Edited October 12, 2016 by Jal

[mangosplums]

Quote

I think Wé McDonald has the best voice on the show. Lauren was fantastic, but Wé's depth and quality is astounding, especially for her age.

I agree that We is the best on the show. She's like on another level entirely to the rest. I've been reading a few different Voice forums and the lack of enthusiasm for We (especially on Idolforums) is interesting considering how incredible she is. Something tells me that if she was a pretty white girl there'd be more recognition of this, her fandom would be enormous. I also can completely believe that she was bullied. 

Edited October 13, 2016 by mangosplums

[Guest]

Her style isn't my thing but I could see We winning.  She's good and unique. 

[Padma]

18 hours ago, Michel said:

Natasha vs. Riley: As has been said above, I thought Natasha just edged Riley out here.  But come on.  Adam gave them a Michael Buble song.  He gave a crooner song to a pairing containing a crooner.  Of course Adam doesn't have an agenda.  Of course he wanted Riley to go through regardless of how well he did.  But I'm stunned he didn't see the voter potential in Natasha.  Two famous parents?  Their fanbases would've been rallying behind her like crazy in the Lives.

 

I hope that maybe he did think of that and decided not to advance her so that her parents' fans wouldn't keep her around, bumping more talented teammates. If so, I'm glad he did it. She wasn't bad, but she's young and she'll have other opportunities.

[Michel]

22 minutes ago, Padma said:

I hope that maybe he did think of that and decided not to advance her so that her parents' fans wouldn't keep her around, bumping more talented teammates. If so, I'm glad he did it. She wasn't bad, but she's young and she'll have other opportunities.

But given how obsessed he is with winning, I would think he would have done it, anyway.

No matter what he tells anyone, Adam does not care about the talent of his artists. He only cares about which ones can help him win.

Edited October 13, 2016 by Michel

[huahaha]

37 minutes ago, Michel said:

But given how obsessed he is with winning, I would think he would have done it, anyway.

No matter what he tells anyone, Adam does not care about the talent of his artists. He only cares about which ones can help him win.

Natasha may have gone far, but she didn't have the voice or experience to win. We and Billy seem to be at the top of the pack so far. Not sure what we'll see in the next battles.

[MaryPatShelby]

On 10/11/2016 at 11:40 PM, huahaha said:

My only issue was that dumping Lauren made Alicia look a little insincere after serenading her with "If I ain't got you, Lauren" in the blinds. She's so warm with the singers that I worry she could really break some hearts when she lets people go. On the other hand, I would've picked We, too!

This drives me insane every season. The coaches are so unrestrained during the blinds, with their promises like "You can win this thing", "I just found The Voice!", the serenades, and running up to the stage.  I know the artists know that half of them will be eliminated in the next round, but it still seems mean-spirited to me and I wish they'd tone down their praise just a tad.

Edited October 13, 2016 by MaryPatShelby

[realdancemom]

On 10/10/2016 at 10:00 PM, apollonia666 said:

I like that, but the thing I love is when the singer just won is being interviewed backstage and gets all excited when they hear their opponent got stolen!  

I love that too.  I also love that Carson is excited for the contestants in these rounds and auditions.  During the auditions, he wants the coaches to press their buttons just as much as the family members.

[ladytenor]

Does anyone know why Joan Jett was talking like her teeth were clenched? It was really noticable, like she couldn't open her mouth

[bluepiano]

Looks like she's had a lot of plastic surgery. Maybe that has something to do with it?

[viajero]

I think Joan has always talked funny like that.