S12.E10: The Battles Premiere, Part 2

[Vyk]

From TV Guide:

Guest mentors Luke Bryan, Céline Dion, John Legend, and DJ Khaled help prepare the vocalists as the battle rounds continue.  The coaches have chances to steal artists from opposing teams.

Only one hour in this one because NBC wants to force the new Trial & Error on us.  Come on, NBC!  Stop pushing your new shows on Tuesdays!  Put them on Fridays!  I heard that night needs some actual good programming in its lineup.

[Dots And Stripes]

Loved Sammy and Johnny working so well together. They both have winning attitudes. I agreed with all of the coaches that Johnny was better. I'm looking forward to seeing more of him.

I also liked both Aaliyah and Dawson. So happy Dawson was stolen! I don't think that song was a real fit for him so I'm happy to see he's not done. 

[Noreaster]

Only memorable thing tonight was Adam's comment that Dawson looks like a young Russell Crowe.  I can't unsee it!  

I wasn't crazy about any of the performances.  The last one was like a high school talent show.  Preferred Dawson but not by much. I agreed with the coach decisions on the other two battles.  

[ProudMary]

Song choices tonight were poor across the board.

[Jabu]

Current team rosters/cheat sheets:

Team Adam
Mark Isaiah (defeated Gaby Borromeo)
Josh West (defeated Nala Price)*

(Still Waiting)
Johnny Hayes
Jesse Larson
Julien Martinez
Kawan DeBose
Taylor Alexander
Malik Davage
Hanna Eyre
Sheena Brook

Team Gwen
JChosen (defeated Kenny P)
Johnny Gates (defeated Sammie Zonana)
Aaliyah Rose (defeated Savannah Leighton)*
Brennley Brown (stolen from Team Blake)

(Still Waiting)
Stephanie Rice
Brandon Royal
Troy Ramey
Caroline Sky
Davina Leone
Jozy Bernadette

Team Alicia
Anatalia Villaranda (defeated Missy Robertson)
Quizz Swanigan (defeated Felicia Temple)
Chris Blue (defeated R.J. Collins)
Ashley Levin (stolen from Team Blake)
Dawson Coyle (stolen from Team Blake)

(Still Waiting)
Autumn Turner
Lilli Passero
Jack Cassidy
Lauryn Judd
Hunter Plake
Vanessa Ferguson

Team Blake
Lauren Duski (defeated Brennley Brown)
Casi Joy (defeated Ashley Levin)
Andrea Thomas (defeated Micah Tryba)*
Aliyah Moulden (defeated Dawson Coyle)
Felicia Temple (stolen from Team Alicia)

(Still Waiting)
Josh Hoyer
Enid Ortiz
TSoul
Valerie Ponzio

Names in bold indicate artists who've newly battled and stayed on their teams or been stolen by another coach.  An asterisk indicates that this artist was montaged.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

And two of my favorite 5 or 6 females in the entire competition are one and done (Gabby last night and now Sammie). I should know not to get attached to them much at this point in the proceedings...

Not much surprising in the montages. Blake went country female (a montaged, 1 chair turn country person at that) over a non-country female. Shocker. Gwen went with the teen w/ the sizable Youtube following over the dreamer from small town Alabama. Who must've had a (not shown) mini meltdown when no one stole her. It seemed like that shook Gwen and Alicia a little bit in their reactions. And Adam went with another guy, a 4 chair rock teen over a two chair female pop singer. Snore.

Can we still use twee? I feel like that was Dawson v. Aliyah. Either that or "too cute for school" or something. It felt very high school talent show-ish. Not shocked that Blake went with Aliyah. Never felt like him and Dawson were a great fit (don't really think Alicia's much better, but hey at least he's in the competition for at least one more round). I will say for 15, Aliyah has a more developed and mature sound than you would expect.

Chris is just too much, too everything for me to get on board. I preferred RJ going in but felt reasonably confident that he was just fodder in Alicia's eyes.

Edited March 22, 2017 by PhD-Purgatory15

[Quickbeam]

I hate that they montage these battles. It just really bugs. 

[Vyk]

9 hours ago, ProudMary said:

Song choices tonight were poor across the board.

Sorry, but I completely disagree.  I thought the first was probably the best song choice.  This was another night of not-too-good song choices, but I at least found one that kept my interest the whole time.

Johnny vs. Sammie: Incredible performance!  As @Dots And Stripes said, they both worked so well together.  They seemed to be having a good time and had the voices, chemistry, and stage presence to match.  I couldn't take my eyes off them.  Because of that, I have to agree with the unanimous decision by the coaches that the stage presence had to be the determining factor.  On that note, I think Gwen was right to keep Johnny.  But I loved Sammie, too, and hope she does well going forward.

Chris vs. R.J.: If I were judging by range, I'd have picked R.J. for the win.  But I have to agree with Alicia and Gwen that there is a charisma and an amazing presence within Chris that you just can't ignore.  Both of their voices were good in an otherwise dull song, but Chris would've been my choice, too.  Poor R.J., though.

Aliyah vs. Dawson: I straight-up thought that Dawson won that one.  Aliyah did a fine job keeping up with him, but it's clear that Dawson was owning those vocals and owning that stage.  I would've chosen him in a heartbeat.  In that respect, I am very glad that Alicia stole him.  I just hope she does right by him.  As for Aliyah, she got lucky that Blake's tendency to save young girls came into play here.  Let's hope she can give us a better Knockout performance.

Montages:

So Adam gives "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" to Josh, a rocker, and Nala, a pop singer?  Yeah.  He so didn't have any agendas there.  *rme*  Plus, Josh is his only four-chair-turn in addition to one of his obvious bromances, so Nala was dead in the water.  However, I feel no pity for Nala.  Gwen was right there, ready to take her, and she picks the man who personifies "bros before hoes."  Unless she had no idea about Adam doing that, she did this to herself.  On a side note, I doubt anyone ever watched Under the Dome, but Nala looks so much like a blonde version of the actress who played Norrie.  And I really wanted to see Aaliyah and Savannah have their Battle after finding out they were doing "Treat You Better."  Gabriel Violett did that for his Blind last season, so I was looking forward to seeing and hearing it in a Battle setting.  I'd love to know what went into Gwen's decision here, because I'd have thought that as a two-chair-turn, Savannah would've had the advantage.  But Aaliyah must've done a much better job.  And finally, poor Andrea gets montaged again, and despite being a one-chair-turn, she beats Micah, a two-chair-turn, just like Belle Jewel did to Halle Tomlinson last season.  It sounds like they did a country song, though, which gave her a distinct advantage over Micah's pop voice.  I hope we can finally see Andrea in the Knockouts, but she might get Rebekah Samarin'd/Katherine Ho'd.

On another note, I'm saddened that they've dispensed with Carson's introductions at the start of the Battles.  I loved those.  But I do like that the artists do their own recaps to us before their packages start rather than Carson reminding us of their pasts.

So looking at next week, in order, the previews showed that some of the remaining Battles will be Autumn Turner vs. Vanessa Ferguson from Team Alicia, Kawan DeBose vs. Malik Davage from Team Adam, and Brandon Royal vs. Davina Leone from Team Gwen.  I wonder how the others will shake out?  Gah.  Waiting six days is gonna be so damn hard!:(

9 hours ago, Quickbeam said:

I hate that they montage these battles. It just really bugs. 

Me, too.  I really hope that just like the montaged Blinds of Andrea and Davina, they put up the montaged Battles of Josh vs. Nala, Aaliyah vs. Savannah, and Andrea vs. Micah, too.  NBC really needs to stop pushing their new shit Tuesday shows on us and just, as I said above, move them to Friday.  With Grimm ending and Emerald City apparently a big flop and over now, they need some Friday night programming besides Dateline.  People who watch this show want to see the Battles, not just the outcomes of them.

Edited March 22, 2017 by Vyk

[Jextella]

3 hours ago, Vyk said:

Aliyah vs. Dawson: I straight-up thought that Dawson won that one.  Aliyah did a fine job keeping up with him, but it's clear that Dawson was owning those vocals and owning that stage.  I would've chosen him in a heartbeat.  In that respect, I am very glad that Alicia stole him.  I just hope she does right by him.  As for Aliyah, she got lucky that Blake's tendency to save young girls came into play here.  Let's hope she can give us a better Knockout performance.

They were a great match.   Both had equal amounts of youthful charm, strong vocals, and charisma.  I'm really glad Alicia stole Dawson.   I don't think either will last long, though.  Aliyah is too young and her performances come off that way.  Dawson is a great singer but I think there are a few other  men in the mix who can out sing him.  

They both seem like they'd be good fits for Broadway.

Edited March 22, 2017 by Jextella

[Vyk]

28 minutes ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

Gwen went with the teen w/ the sizable Youtube following over the dreamer from small town Alabama. Who must've had a (not shown) mini meltdown when no one stole her. It seemed like that shook Gwen and Alicia a little bit in their reactions.

Yes.  According to someone who went to the taping, Savannah barely held it together long enough to say her final words to Gwen, and then completely broke down after she did.  It crushed her.  She was almost inconsolable backstage.

I can't blame Gwen for choosing Aaliyah, though.  People with YouTube and other online followings typically do well and go far in the Lives with the right amount of support.  She must be thinking ahead to those rounds.

Edited March 22, 2017 by Vyk

[PhD-Purgatory15]

I'm glad the show listened to their "better angels" and chose not to show her meltdown, but it was a little jarring from a television editing perspective (especially in the always fast moving battle montage segment) for them to quick cut back to Gwen and Alicia in their chairs, almost crying after they'd just announced Aaliyah as the winner...

[Vyk]

19 minutes ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

I'm glad the show listened to their "better angels" and chose not to show her meltdown, but it was a little jarring from a television editing perspective (especially in the always fast moving battle montage segment) for them to quick cut back to Gwen and Alicia in their chairs, almost crying after they'd just announced Aaliyah as the winner...

Speaking of montages . . . sigh.  One step forward, two steps back, Show.  No Battles put up there.  Just another montage video:

Sorry.  No montaged Battles going up on YouTube.

[waving feather]

Dawson and Aliyah's performance made me really happy. It wasn't vocally perfect and it was such a blast to watch because they looked like they were having a great time. And I like that they took the effort to nail the choreography and staging. I would have chosen Dawson because he has a great voice and fun stage presence but I understood why Blake went with Aliyah. I am glad Dawson was stolen so I get to watch him at least one more time.

On the other hand, I loved Johnny and Sammy's performances during their rehearsal footage, but some of the authenticity and joy got lost in the actual performance. They still sounded good, but it wasn't as good. Johnny is such a great character on stage, though.

[Jillybean]

As a newbie, why are some of the battles not shown in full?  Is it really just due to limited air time? Seems like they have plenty.

Edited March 22, 2017 by Jillybean

[Jextella]

2 hours ago, Jillybean said:

As a newbie, why are some of the battles not shown in full?  Is it really just due to limited air time? Seems like they have plenty.

I'm no expert but I've read that it's mostly due to poor performances.  If the battles are good tv, they aren't shown on tv. 

[Noreaster]

4 hours ago, Jillybean said:

As a newbie, why are some of the battles not shown in full?  Is it really just due to limited air time? Seems like they have plenty.

The show has never said why but in interviews, a few montaged contestants have admitted their performances were not very good.  This includes the blinds where some people have said their performances fell apart after a coach turned.

I personally think the montaged battles didn't make for entertaining tv for whatever reason, whether they were bad, lopsided, didn't fit whatever narrative the show decided to go with, etc.  Even the battles they do show are sometimes not that great in my opinion.  Pairing up two contestants with different genres and musical styles is problematic. The battles are my least favorite round by far.  

Edited March 22, 2017 by Noreaster

[snowblossom2]

Seems like an unpopular opinion, but I thought Dawson v. Aliyah was a pretty bad performance. Vocals were good but the energy was so low

[bluepiano]

21 hours ago, Noreaster said:

I wasn't crazy about any of the performances.  The last one was like a high school talent show.  Preferred Dawson but not by much. I agreed with the coach decisions on the other two battles.  

Yeah, very Disney. But I won't deny that I kind of enjoyed it. As Luke Bryan said, Aliyah is cute as a button. But although she can really sing and she sounds older than she is, I wish she'd waited a year or two. Or that the age limit hadn't been lowered.

21 hours ago, ProudMary said:

Song choices tonight were poor across the board.

Glad to hear you say that. I feel like that was true for the first Battle Round as well. Since I'm way past the age demographic for today's pop music, I don't know most of the songs and so maybe I'm not a good judge. But a lot of these songs just sound like people shouting at each other. No real melody.

20 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

Chris is just too much, too everything for me to get on board. I preferred RJ going in but felt reasonably confident that he was just fodder in Alicia's eyes.

Was really surprised at the pimping of Chris as a lock for the finals, and even a probable winner. Someone posted previously that so far this season has no clear early favorite, which has kind of become a Voice tradition,. Often the early favorite ends up winning. (Alisan Porter, Jordan Smith, Sawyer Fredericks).

Maybe the producers thought that they needed to put someone in that position, but I don't feel Chris is that strong. In fact, so far no one's impressed me. I'm hearing a whole lot of bland. No one who's a powerhouse vocalist, or has an interesting personal style.

Edited March 22, 2017 by bluepiano

[waving feather]

I didn't think Chris is anymore special than the other R&B artists on team Alicia or team Gwen. He is a good performer but voice-wise, I wouldn't be able to pick him out of a line up. I even prefer voices of JChosen and TSoul to Chris.

[JMarie99]

I am old enough to remember when "Walking on Sunshine" came out and was a big hit, and I absolutely HATED that song. Aliyah v. Dawson actually made me like it - yes, it may have sounded like a high school musical performance, but that's the song's fault! I mean, what the heck can you do with a lame song like that?  I enjoyed their performance of a song I hate, so that's saying something.  It's only my second season watching, but since it was the last performance of the night, I had a feeling that no matter who won the battle, the other one would get stolen. I'm glad I was right - they both deserved it. 

On a shallow note - what right does Blake have to make fun of Adam bleaching his hair, when his girlfriend's hair looks like a bad wig with a cinnamon bun on top?  I like Gwen but that ridiculous hairdo is distracting.  

[MaryPatShelby]

On 3/20/2017 at 11:12 PM, Vyk said:

From TV Guide:

 

Only one hour in this one because NBC wants to force the new Trial & Error on us.  Come on, NBC!  Stop pushing your new shows on Tuesdays!  Put them on Fridays!  I heard that night needs some actual good programming in its lineup.

I could be wrong, and I didn't go back to previous year's TV listings to check, but hasn't the Tuesday show pretty much always been one hour long?

[Vyk]

3 hours ago, MaryPatShelby said:

I could be wrong, and I didn't go back to previous year's TV listings to check, but hasn't the Tuesday show pretty much always been one hour long?

Didn't always used to be.  Back in season five, the Tuesday shows were two hours long quite a bit leading up to the Lives.  They started making the Tuesday Battle episodes an hour long around season six, in part to push their Tuesday shows.  A lot of good that did, though.  They got extremely lucky with This is Us, but Undateable was a flop, as was Crowded.  And I'm not too optimistic where Trial & Error is concerned, either (even though I love John Lithgow).  They should just put their new shows on Fridays and compete with the other lineups on that night.  They've had no good shows on that night since Providence, Friday Night Lights, Las Vegas, and American Dreams all ended, and with Grimm about to end in just a few weeks.  Then, this show can have its second Battle hour back on Tuesdays.

[Noreaster]

20 hours ago, MaryPatShelby said:

I could be wrong, and I didn't go back to previous year's TV listings to check, but hasn't the Tuesday show pretty much always been one hour long?

You're right.  I also remembered the Tuesday episodes being one hour long and did a quick check of the wikipedia pages for seasons 3-5.  There were times when they made Tues episodes two hours (like the season 5 blinds) but that was the exception rather than the rule.  Otherwise, the blinds and battles were all pretty much one hour long on Tuesdays.  One major difference back then was the knockouts were all shown in one week (2 hrs Mon, 2 hrs Tues) and now that round is spread out over two weeks (2 hrs Mon, 1 hr Tues, 2 hrs Mon).  

Edited March 26, 2017 by Noreaster

[Vyk]

Montaged Battles below!  They've been put up at last!

Josh vs. Nala:

Aaliyah vs. Savannah:

Andrea vs. Micah:

Josh vs. Nala: I can see why this was montaged now.  Neither was particularly engaging or interesting, but Josh was at least a bit more solid.  Nala sounded shaky at points.  Josh won this one easily.  But again, Nala reaped what she sowed for picking Adam.

Aaliyah vs. Savannah: Well, this wasn't bad.  But . . . uh . . . why wasn't Savannah named the winner?  She sounded way better on this one.  Aaliyah was good, but that vibrato was far too shaky to bear.  I can see why Savannah melted down after the Battle.  She definitely did win this one, but Gwen picked Aaliyah, anyway.

Andrea vs. Micah: Oh, my God.  This was just beautiful.  I thought it could've been a trainwreck, given that only Andrea does country, while Micah does pop.  But Micah actually did a damn good job on this.  Still, this was way more fit for Andrea, and she delivered on all fronts.  So I can see why Blake picked her.  That said, it must've been a bitch for the show to montage this.  But with half of Blake's Battles ending in steals and half not, they had to sacrifice at least two, and then take into account that other teams' Battles had to be seen, too.