S11.E09: The Battles Premiere, Part 2

[Tara Ariano]

Quote

The battle round continues. The advisers are Joan Jett, Sammy Hagar, Bette Midler and Charlie Puth.

[mangosplums]

The thing that annoys me the most about the battles, aside from montaging, is the fact that the judges always have their mind made up before they even sing. Even if the person they had labeled fodder does better, they still go with their original choice. Kinda makes the battles pointless. I still enjoy watching them, but it's annoying.

[Primetimer]

Miley's jumpsuit, Sophia's jacket, and Michael's glasses all steal the show (and were maybe purchased at the same thrift shop?).

View the full article

[Kendall]

I was not expecting Blake to go with Courtney over Ethan. I did assume that they would both be on the show as one would be stolen, but he wasn't, so that entire performance was the biggest shock of the episode for me.

Other than that, I really dislike the Battle rounds as I feel like it's an opportunity for the coaches to weasel out of going further with "the voice" that they turned around for once they find out that they don't have "the look" needed to win.

[desertflower]

I was sad to see Ethan let go. He had a cool voice and it would've been nice to see what they could do with him. Courtney is good, obviously, but I don't think there's anything particularly distinctive that sets her apart from some of the other big voiced ladies on the show. 

THREE montaged battles! Ridiculous. 

[frogprof]

I don't even watch this show but apparently Miley got her blue eyeshadow at the thrift store as well.

[Jabu]

Team rosters/cheat sheets thus far:

Team Adam
Riley Elmore (defeated Natasha Bure)
Billy Gilman (defeated Andrew DeMuro)
Ponciano Seoane (defeated Elia Esparza)*
Jason Warrior (stolen from Team Alicia)
Dave Moisan (stolen from Team Alicia)

(Still Waiting)
Brendan Fletcher
Bindi Liebowitz
Simone Gundy
Nolan Neal
Johnny Rez
JSOUL

Team Miley
Ali Caldwell (defeated Courtnie Ramirez)
Sophia Urista (defeated Lane Mack)
Josette Diaz (defeated Charity Bowden)*
Maye Thomas (defeated Khaliya Kimberlie)*
Lauren Diaz (stolen from Team Alicia)

(Still Waiting)
Sa’Rayah
Karlee Metzger
Aaron Gibson
Darby Walker

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

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

Team Blake
Sundance Head (defeated Dan Shafer)
Courtney Harrell (defeated Ethan Tucker)

(Still Waiting)
Dana Harper
Gabe Broussard
Josh Gallagher
Austin Allsup
Christian Fermin
Preston James
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.

[Jabu]

4 hours ago, desertflower said:

THREE montaged battles! Ridiculous. 

They always do this in fall seasons.  Because of whatever shit NBC show the next tries to force on us on Tuesdays in the nine o'clock slot, this show is forced to montage three Battles.  In this case, This is Us forced The Voice to give up its second Battle hour, so they had to montage three of the matches.  The same will happen next Tuesday, too.

[Michel]

How is This is Us doing in the ratings?  You ask me, they should just move it to Fridays.  They haven't had any true, quality shows on that night since Friday Night Lights, Las Vegas, Providence, and American Dreams all went off the air.  That could've easily been put anywhere on that night's schedule, as Dateline really can't possibly carry the Friday night lineup alone.  That way, we'd have no need for these stupid, pointless montages on Tuesday Battle episodes and could actually see every Battle!

Anyway, on to the matches:

Lane vs. Sophia: I knew Sophia would go through since one-chair-turns almost always lose to artists with more chair turns.  But Lane actually give her a surprising run for her money, and I wouldn't have been shocked had Miley picked him.  Both of them started out very well and built it up into an amazing climax.  I'm glad Sophia is sticking around, as I think she'll be one of Miley's best ones, but I do wish Lane well and think he's got talent, too.

Courtney vs. Ethan: Ethan certainly had a uniqueness to his voice of which I wouldn't have minded hearing more.  But Alicia was right that he did hold back a bit too much.  He gave Courtney plenty of room to show off her vocal capabilities a lot more.  While I'll miss Ethan, I'm okay with Courtney getting through, distinct or not.

Dave vs. Michael: This one had me genuinely torn.  On the one hand, I think it's dumb to dump a four-chair-turn any time before the Knockouts.  Dave was a strong singer who could've given Alicia some real strength going into the Lives.  On the other hand, Michael really did own that Battle, and the coaches clearly agreed.  It would've been a bit unfair for Alicia not to reward him for it.  Surprised that Adam's blown all of his steals already.  Dave was a good steal for him (especially since he'd wanted him since the Blinds due to how similar their voices sound), but I'm not sure if Jason was.

Montages:

As an El Paso resident, I wanted to root for Elia.  But once she decided to waste herself on Adam, I decided she'd deserve whatever she got.  And indeed, Adam sent her packing over Ponciano.  Josette, whose audition was shown, went against Charity, whose audition was montaged.  Easy to see that Miley would pass Josette through.  And it's another rare case of a one-chair turn beating someone who turned more chairs.  Also, to my biggest surprise, the last successful Blind did not get sent packing on a montaged Battle like Sydney Rhane and Ayanna Jahneé!  And Maye and Khaliya were both two-chair-turns.  I'd like to see what went into Miley's choice here, because both of them sounded good from the few seconds I heard.  But I had a feeling that Miley would go with Maye since she was a bit more unique compared to Khaliya.

Decent episode.  Hoping the Battles next week can be better.

Edited October 12, 2016 by Michel

[PhD-Purgatory15]

A little disappointed that Khaliya was a montage and out on Team Miley. I really thought Blake might have eyes on her since she's about the only country (well pop-country) artist that would've been out there for a steal from another team. Plus you don't always get positive representation of Native Americans on reality tv so it would've been nice had she stuck around a little longer.

Michael is apparently the out-of-nowhere man for this season. How many times in Voice history has a 1 chair turn slayed a 4 chair turn in a battle or KO? Probably you can count them on one hand...

Dave will fit well on Team Adam. I like him to win a KO, and maybe (if necessary) get Adam's save the week we go from Top 20 to Top 12.

Blake's track record of taking non-country guys very far (Jermaine who won, and Paxton from last season are notable exceptions) is pretty spotty, so I'm not surprised he went with the showier vocal from Courtney....even though I'd much rather sit and listen to what Ethan has to offer.

Whoever Miley chose to pair up against Lane was going to have a virtual bye. He was beyond an afterthought on her team.

So Blake's still got two steals left, and Miley/Alicia have one each.....interesting. Going by Blake's tendencies, I'd say Halle Tomlinson, or Belle Jewel might be two of his targets, or maybe even Johnny Rez from team Adam.

[adhoc]

yeah. funny, Courtney, IMO, clearly won that battle, yet Ethan's voice is so tantalizing! I kept thinking, if I were stuck in the car listening to the radio, I'd love to hear Ethan, while Courtney, eh, there are plenty like her already.

I liked Michael Sanchez at his blind audition--funny how now all these coaches are, like, "Where did that voice come from?" I would like to see him scruff up his hair more and dress differently so his persona matches his voice. Maybe jeans and a leather jacket? 

[Cementhead]

27 minutes ago, adhoc said:

I liked Michael Sanchez at his blind audition--funny how now all these coaches are, like, "Where did that voice come from?" I would like to see him scruff up his hair more and dress differently so his persona matches his voice. Maybe jeans and a leather jacket? 

Sounds like you will get your wish because Alicia told Blake she was going to 'Superman' him; which I assume means she is going to change up his look..?   That's fine.  But hopefully Alicia (and Miley) don't go full-on 'Extreme Makeover' on all of their contestants like Gwen did. 

[Noreaster]

Kind of a disappointing episode.  

I like Michael Sanchez's voice, but his style and voice is sort of piano-loungey.  Not my favorite.  And the whole piano-switching gimmick was interesting but it still came off as "hop-scotchy" as Alicia said in rehearsals.   

I thought the Pink Floyd song choice had the potential to be awesome, but neither contestant was strong enough to pull it off.  

For the Gravity song, I don't find the woman's voice to be pleasant and much preferred the other guy's tone.  

FYI, Tuesday episodes have been 1 hour long for many seasons so 3 montages are the norm (for a total of 6 battle montages per season).  

[TAG42481]

First season I've watched the show, so I'm glad to see I'm not the only person disgusted by the number of montages.  What I find so unfair is that they typically show 3 battles per HOUR, then montage 3 battles in a MINUTE.  "You are worth 1/60th the time of the other people."  Yikes.  And they actually end up doing that to 25% of the contestants making it through?  If you need to montage that many people, maybe you just shouldn't have teams that big in the first place!  If you only want to show 6 hours in that round x 3 battles per round, have each mentor pick 9-10 people and adjust the pacing accordingly

[Sugar]

I really don't think Dave is anything special, and I don't understand why he was a 4-chair turn. IMO, his voice is thin and unremarkable. He's totally up Adam's alley though, so wasn't surprised by that steal. LOVE Michael's tone, and I'm excited to hear what he does next - he was the clear winner for me.

Really bummed that Ethan wasn't stolen - he has a beautiful tone and seemed sincere in his performance, but that was a tough one to call. Courtney is more versatile, but she doesn't have anything that makes her stand out from other belters. Ethan's tone made him unique.

I had no idea who Charlie Puth was going into this, and I was ready to get my hate on, but I actually like him as a mentor.

Bette is fantastic, and I wish I could take her to brunch.

[Court]

I would have much rather seen Ethan get stolen over Dave. I don't get his appeal at all.

Courtney and Ethan's battle is the only one I'd listen to again out of the three shown.

[bluepiano]

The Dave-Michael battle on "Valerie" was an example of what I was talking about in an earlier post. So nice to hear two people singing together and trying to create an overall performance, instead of just trying to out scream each other. (Miley made a comment to the same effect.) Dave reminds me of whichever one in Hall and Oates does the falsetto. For me, a little of that goes a long way, but I can see why Adam is drawn to him.

6 hours ago, Noreaster said:

I like Michael Sanchez's voice, but his style and voice is sort of piano-loungey.  

The guy does make his living playing in piano lounges, but I only heard that creep in at one point. I think Alicia can help him get over any of those tendencies. Between his singing and piano playing I think he's one of the more talented people who have been on this show. And I love that this nerdy-looking guy has a really pretty wife. Hope for music nerds everywhere.

(Blake - please stop with the "Rick Moranis" business. That's one of the annoying things about Blake. He'll come up with some line he thinks is clever and than run it into the ground.)

Edited October 12, 2016 by bluepiano

[Noreaster]

4 hours ago, TAG42481 said:

First season I've watched the show, so I'm glad to see I'm not the only person disgusted by the number of montages.  What I find so unfair is that they typically show 3 battles per HOUR, then montage 3 battles in a MINUTE.  "You are worth 1/60th the time of the other people."  Yikes.  And they actually end up doing that to 25% of the contestants making it through?  If you need to montage that many people, maybe you just shouldn't have teams that big in the first place!  If you only want to show 6 hours in that round x 3 battles per round, have each mentor pick 9-10 people and adjust the pacing accordingly

I don't mind montages because I think the battle round format is flawed.  Forcing contestants with different singing styles and genres to perform duets result in some bad/boring/uncompetitive performances.  I'm happy to not see those. 

2 hours ago, bluepiano said:

The guy does make his living playing in piano lounges, but I only heard that creep in at one point. I think Alicia can help him get over any of those tendencies. Between his singing and piano playing I think he's one of the more talented people who have been on this show. And I love that this nerdy-looking guy has a really pretty wife. Hope for music nerds everywhere.

Ooops, you can tell I've skipped over most of the back stories.  I didn't know that's what he did for a living.  From the blinds, there seems to be a bunch in this genre.  A couple of Billy Joel songs, some jazz.  I feel like this season is sort of Lite-FM-ish.

I think Michael has a great voice, but I'm not that interested in the Vegasy vibe so far (does he work in Las Vegas too?).   

[huahaha]

3 hours ago, bluepiano said:

(Blake - please stop with the "Rick Moranis" business. That's one of the annoying things about Blake. He'll come up with some line he thinks is clever and than run it into the ground.)

You mean like comparing Courtnie to a strutting rooster? Some people shouldn't make analogies.

[limecoke]

Interesting to me that the three montaged battles were all non-yelly performances.  Screaming = amazing.  Apparently.

Edited October 12, 2016 by limecoke

[mangosplums]

Quote

And Maye and Khaliya were both two-chair-turns.  I'd like to see what went into Miley's choice here, because both of them sounded good from the few seconds I heard.  But I had a feeling that Miley would go with Maye since she was a bit more unique cmpared to Khaliya.

Maye was more unique in her look and possibly her sound, but Khaliya was more unique in terms of demographics. We don't see many Native Americans or gay women on TV, especially gay women who sing country. I think the demographic aspect is just as, or more important, than the look/sound to people. 

Quote

A little disappointed that Khaliya was a montage and out on Team Miley. I really thought Blake might have eyes on her since she's about the only country (well pop-country) artist that would've been out there for a steal from another team. Plus you don't always get positive representation of Native Americans on reality tv so it would've been nice had she stuck around a little longer.

Yeah, I honestly don't think either Josette or Charity should have moved forward, but both Maye and Khaliya should have. Miley should have paired Khaliya and Charity together, the two country girls, and Maye and Josette together, will Maye/Khaliya as the chosen ones to move forward.

Quote

I don't mind montages because I think the battle round format is flawed.  Forcing contestants with different singing styles and genres to perform duets result in some bad/boring/uncompetitive performances.  I'm happy to not see those. 

Although I agree they are flawed, I think they are important to have a change from the rest of the show. The entire rest is them singing solo. Plus there have been some amazing battles in the past that sound more like duets. Have You Ever Seen the Rain is my fave thing from the show ever. 

Edited October 12, 2016 by mangosplums

[Padma]

I hate the montages (esp as they are often of the more interesting auditions, imo). The least they could do is post them in full on Youtube--give the kids a nice video clip for their trouble.

[Noreaster]

2 hours ago, mangosplums said:

Although I agree they are flawed, I think they are important to have a change from the rest of the show. The entire rest is them singing solo. Plus there have been some amazing battles in the past that sound more like duets. Have You Ever Seen the Rain is my fave thing from the show ever. 

I'm not saying to get rid of battles entirely, but there's a reason why the show decided long ago to montage a few every season.  A fair amount were probably just not good and therefore not very entertaining.  A few past contestants have even admitted that about their montaged performances.  Another issue is that bad battle performances might suggest the coaches are not doing a good job with their song choices and mentoring.  

Edited October 13, 2016 by Noreaster

[Quickbeam]

I like the performances that are more duet than one upmanship. 

[MaryPatShelby]

On 10/12/2016 at 8:15 AM, Noreaster said:

FYI, Tuesday episodes have been 1 hour long for many seasons so 3 montages are the norm (for a total of 6 battle montages per season).  

I, too, thought I remembered that most Tuesday eps were one hour.  I wasn't aware that it was only because of a show that NBC was pushing though. 

21 hours ago, Sugar said:

I had no idea who Charlie Puth was going into this, and I was ready to get my hate on, but I actually like him as a mentor.

 

Me too; I was ready to get my hate on because I despise his current "hit" (One Call Away? something like that) but yeah, he's doing a really good job.

14 hours ago, limecoke said:

Interesting to me that the three montaged battles were all non-yelly performances.  Screaming = amazing.  Apparently.

So much this.

[Noreaster]

25 minutes ago, MaryPatShelby said:

I, too, thought I remembered that most Tuesday eps were one hour.  I wasn't aware that it was only because of a show that NBC was pushing though. 

Yeah, it's not just because of a specific show they're pushing this season.  NBC has been doing 1-hour Voice episodes on Tuesday for a long time.  The complaints about montages come up every season, fall and spring.  Also, remember that when live shows start, Tuesday episodes are for results and are never longer than an hour.  

[realdancemom]

I'm not surprised that Blake picked Courtney over Ethan.  However, I also love Ethan's voice.  It seemed like Miley did too.  I noticed that Carson didn't say that he was available to steal so I think all the steals were gone by then.  If not, I wouldn't have been surprised if Miley pushed her button for him.

[bluepiano]

On ‎10‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 1:33 PM, Noreaster said:

Ooops, you can tell I've skipped over most of the back stories.  I didn't know that's what he did for a living.  From the blinds, there seems to be a bunch in this genre.  A couple of Billy Joel songs, some jazz.  I feel like this season is sort of Lite-FM-ish.

I think Michael has a great voice, but I'm not that interested in the Vegasy vibe so far (does he work in Las Vegas too?).   

He talked about playing around San Diego, don't think he's made it to Vegas. I looked at his YouTube channel, and he's got a pretty wide range of material there, from Justin Bieber covers to classic jazz tunes. Because of my own musical preferences I like his jazz playing and singing, but that's not a formula for success on this show. So I think Alicia will steer him more towards....well, the kind of stuff she does.

I'm not getting the same Lite-FM vibe this year. A couple of seasons ago there was a very pretty woman from Brooklyn who was channeling Norah Jones. That was more jazz-lite to me. She went pretty far, but the cynic in me thinks that was based in large part on having a certain look.

Alicia said a couple of times that Michael was a serious heavy duty piano player. I'm assuming that's based on something he played for her in rehearsal, because he hasn't shown that side on the show. I hope we hear more piano, but I don't think that will necessarily help with the voters. I know a lot people see the playing of an instrument as a distraction.

I believe that Laith Al-Saidi made the finals in large part on his guitar playing, but that was an exception. (Opinions vary, but if he did nothing but sing I have a feeling he might not have even made it out of the battle round. Adam was so into his guitar playing and the whole bluesman "package.")

[Noreaster]

On 10/13/2016 at 7:13 PM, bluepiano said:

He talked about playing around San Diego, don't think he's made it to Vegas. I looked at his YouTube channel, and he's got a pretty wide range of material there, from Justin Bieber covers to classic jazz tunes. Because of my own musical preferences I like his jazz playing and singing, but that's not a formula for success on this show. So I think Alicia will steer him more towards....well, the kind of stuff she does.

I'm not getting the same Lite-FM vibe this year. A couple of seasons ago there was a very pretty woman from Brooklyn who was channeling Norah Jones. That was more jazz-lite to me. She went pretty far, but the cynic in me thinks that was based in large part on having a certain look.

Alicia said a couple of times that Michael was a serious heavy duty piano player. I'm assuming that's based on something he played for her in rehearsal, because he hasn't shown that side on the show. I hope we hear more piano, but I don't think that will necessarily help with the voters. I know a lot people see the playing of an instrument as a distraction.

I believe that Laith Al-Saidi made the finals in large part on his guitar playing, but that was an exception. (Opinions vary, but if he did nothing but sing I have a feeling he might not have even made it out of the battle round. Adam was so into his guitar playing and the whole bluesman "package.")

I like seeing musicianship on the show so I wouldn't mind seeing more.  Hopefully we will given how Laith was allowed to showcase his guitar playing last season.  Also there was that other guy, Adam Wakefield, who played a few instruments.  

I remember that woman from a couple of seasons ago, Amy Vachal.  I thought she was okay.  What was interesting about her were the song rearrangements, but I think that was more the doing of the musical director and Adam. When she was left to her own devices, she sang the covers straight which I found boring.  

Edited October 15, 2016 by Noreaster

[bluepiano]

12 hours ago, Noreaster said:

I like seeing musicianship on the show so I wouldn't mind seeing more.  Hopefully we will given how Laith was allowed to showcase his guitar playing last season.  Also there was that other guy, Adam Wakefield, who played a few instruments.  

I remember that woman from a couple of seasons ago, Amy Vachal.  I thought she was okay.  What was interesting about her were the song rearrangements, but I think that was more the doing of the musical director and Adam. When she was left to her own devices, she sang the covers straight which I found boring.  

I liked Adam Wakefield a lot, and I though that they struck a good balance of showing his talent on the piano while still featuring the vocals. I was hoping he'd win, but I guess no one was beating Curly Sue.

Yup, Amy Vachal is exactly who I was talking about. For me she was often kind of musical Sominex, but I think she did have commercial potential. I just checked out her website, and looks like she's done an extensive amount of touring this year. It's interesting how many Voice contestants get a big build up, and then you never hear anything about them again.

[Michel]

On ‎10‎/‎15‎/‎2016 at 8:01 PM, bluepiano said:

I was hoping he'd win, but I guess no one was beating Curly Sue.

And no one should've, so there.  Everything happened as it should've.

Edited October 18, 2016 by Michel

[bluepiano]

2 hours ago, Michel said:

And no one should've, so there. 

So there? Really??

Edited October 18, 2016 by bluepiano