S12.E18: The Live Playoffs, Night 2

[Vyk]

From TV Guide:

The playoffs continue as the top twenty-four artists from the remaining two teams perform in front of coaches Alicia Keys, Adam Levin, Blake Shelton, and Gwen Stefani for their chance at a spot in the top twelve.  Each coach brings back one eliminated artist from their own teams to compete.  Votes are cast through real-time voting, and two artists from each team advance to the next round by audience vote.  The coaches can each advance one more artist of their choice from their teams.

Well, now that Team Alicia and Team Blake have performed, that means it's time for Team Adam and Team Gwen to take their turns.  Still hoping that Team Gwen goes second.  Otherwise, it's a dull second hour if Team Adam does.

[Vyk]

Songs for tonight:

Team Adam
Hanna: "Skyscraper" by Demi Lovato (excellent choice for her)
Jesse: "Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder
Johnny H.: "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" by The Rolling Stones
Josh: "More than a Feeling" by Boston
Lilli: "It's Too Late" by Carole King
Mark: "All Time Low" by Jon Bellion

Team Gwen
Brennley: "Fly" by Maddie & Tae
Hunter: "Elastic Heart" by Sia
JChosen: "Nothing Compares 2U" by Prince
Johnny G.: "Hands to Myself" by Selena Gomez (WHAT?!)
Quizz: "My Girl" by The Temptations
Troy: "A Case of You" by Joni Mitchell

On Team Adam, I think Hanna, Jesse, and Lilli picked the perfect songs for their particular genres or niches.  I hope at least two of them get voted through.  Johnny H. is admittedly doing a good song for himself, too, though, and could also get the vote.  Jon Bellion does not deserve the disrespect that Mark is going to give him.  As for Josh . . . eh.  Never heard the song, but it's probably hard rock, so he should do it well.  But resentment for Johnny H. going home over him could definitely affect his votes.

On Team Gwen, I heard all of their previews.  I definitely think that Brennley, Hunter, JChosen, and Troy sound excellent, and some combination of those four should get the public vote.  Johnny G. . . . I don't know what he was thinking, taking a pop song over a rock song.  Gwen was probably doing some serious bussing to make sure that her chosen three got through and he doesn't.  Quizz sounds like . . . Quizz.  Don't think he has a chance.  He has enough resentment for getting as far as he has.

Edited April 19, 2017 by Vyk

[susannot]

Troy was really good. But why is Gwen's hair a different color every show?  I really dislike her.  She is so phony.

[Quickbeam]

The Chrissy hairdo really creeps me out. 

 

Just no to JChosen. Didn't work for me. 

Edited April 19, 2017 by Quickbeam

[Valny]

1 hour ago, Quickbeam said:

The Chrissy hairdo really creeps me out. 

 

I didn't have my glasses on and I thought, wow she really looks like Suzanne Somers  aka Chrissy Snow(Three's Company for the youngins)

I didn't realize Gwen had such a strong team.  Brennley is the only one I will be not pleased if she doesn't move on.

Edited April 19, 2017 by Valny

[Noreaster]

For Gwen's team, I voted for Brennley, Hunter, and Troy.  Brennley and Hunter have great voices though I wished they enunciated better and I could understand what they were singing.  Brennley in particular seems to have star quality.  Troy was interesting.  I'm not sure I actually enjoyed the arrangement and melody changes to tonight's song but he clearly likes taking risks and doesn't do straight covers.  I'm curious to see what else he will do.  I was underwhelmed by the others.  JChosen had a great song but was too tentative.  Johnny Gates is a rock guy but was doing a pop song?  Quizz sang pretty well but can't help but come off as a kid impersonator.  

For Adam's team, I voted for Mark, Lilli, and Jesse.  They all have really nice smooth voices. Mark is also very commercial.  I really like the musicianship of Jesse and like having that as part of the show.  I actually also enjoyed Johnny Hayes, but I kept my votes to only three contestants.  The other two, Josh and Hanna, are just too inexperienced.  

[Jabu]

Current team rosters/cheat sheets:

Team Adam
Jesse Larson (saved by America's vote)
Lilli Passero (saved by America's vote)
Mark Isaiah (saved by Adam)

Team Gwen
Brennley Brown (saved by America's vote)
Hunter Plake (saved by America's vote)
Troy Ramey (saved by Gwen)

Team Alicia
Chris Blue (saved by America's vote)
Vanessa Ferguson (saved by America's vote)
Stephanie Rice (saved by Alicia)

Team Blake
Lauren Duski (saved by America's vote)
Aliyah Moulden (saved by America's vote)
TSoul (saved by Blake)

This is your top twelve, people.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Jabu

[Dots And Stripes]

Brennley sounds like she went to the Arianna Grande school of anunciation. Hunter reminds me of Chris Martin and not in a good way. I really was not thrilled with Team Gwen tonight. I still like Johnny and JChosen at least had a good arrangement. I am so unenthusiastic about Team Gwen now.

Team Adam had a better night. I liked Lily and Johnny. Poor little Hannah kind of imploded. She didn't have the control she needed. Adam wanting more time with Mark feels kind of useless. Did not get Jesse at all. 

[Babalooie]

51 minutes ago, Dots And Stripes said:

Poor little Hannah kind of imploded.

She is the hubby's favorite because she is so humble.  He will be disappointed when he watches the playback.  You could tell from Adam's speech to her after the song that she was a goner.

[LakeGal]

My hubby keeps calling Hannah "Sue Sue" (The Middle).  Now that is all I think of when I see her.

Adam made it very clear to the voters who he wanted in his final 3.  He got that 3.  I felt bad for the others on his team when they heard that.

I will miss Johnny Gates.  But singing a pop song instead of rock hurt him. 

[Vyk]

1 hour ago, Dots And Stripes said:

I still like Johnny and JChosen at least had a good arrangement. I am so unenthusiastic about Team Gwen now.

Gwen may have weakened her team a fair bit by not choosing either of them for her coach save.  Troy did well, but he was last on the Twitter votes.  I guess he got the nod, though, because he was third on iTunes for her team, behind Brennley and Hunter.  JChosen and Johnny were far more popular with the viewers (especially with the story of JChosen's mother being able to provide some sympathy), and one of them should've gotten the save, not Troy.

1 hour ago, Dots And Stripes said:

Team Adam had a better night.

Uh . . . what?  Other than Lilli, that team was tragic, even more so than Blake's team last night.

But more on that with my analyses:

Johnny G.: I thought he did a fairly interesting take on a Selena Gomez hit.  He sounded pretty damn good.  He turned a pop song into a rock song and was damn near perfect at it.  Still wish he had gotten another chance from Gwen.

Troy: A solid, if unspectacular performance.  His voice was strong and clear, and once again, he gave a nice arrangement of a Joni Mitchell song.  Problem was, he wasn't the most engaging.  Now that he's through, he's going to need to work on his personality and stage presence if he hopes to attract voters for himself and for Gwen.

Quizz: I was a bit tentative when I realized he was going to take "My Girl" at such a slow tempo.  But it helped him showcase his vocals and his stage presence that way, so it wasn't bad at all.  Still not great, but at least decent.  Still wasn't good enough to get through for me, though.

Brennley: Brennley goes to a charter school? . . . Huh.  Anyway, I don't hear the enunciation problems you mentioned, @Dots And Stripes.  She sounded fine to me.  Actually, her voice was so damn wonderful, I nearly cried.  As @Noreaster said (literally one of the few things on which I will ever agree with her), she has star quality.  She has the voice and stage presence to go with it.  I can see her lasting a long time.  I think it'll be a fight to be last country singer standing between herself and Lauren.

JChosen: First of all, glad his mother is doing much better.  Second of all, I think this Prince song was a good one for him.  He did very well with it in such a way that I think that Prince would be proud of him.  However, he should've gone for it in the second half a bit more than he actually did.  Still a strong voice and a strong performance, but his intimidation over the song was obvious.  In other words, I do think he did a good job.  But he really could've done better than he did.

Hunter: Probably the best or second-best of the team tonight.  I was engaged from start to finish.  His voice is so strong, so clear, and so pleasing to the ear.  I was surprised that he did so well on a Sia song.  She's just, to quote Christina, "this rare, strange, amazing, exotic bird," and taking her songs can be risky.  But Troy rose to the challenge with Chandelier, and since this is Gwen's team, I had a feeling that Hunter could do it, and he did.  A slight comedown from his Battle and Knockout, but still very good.  And he's already charting high on iTunes, so clearly the country agrees!  And to make the top thirty twice, even before the Lives?  Crazy!  Fucking crazy!  I think Gwen really did steal a good one from Alicia.  (She must be kicking herself for letting him go by now.)  He's one who should hopefully carry her to the end, and even to a win!  Go, Hunter!  Go, Gwen!

Johnny H.: Not too bad of a performance.  Actually, the first performance of his I didn't ignore.  His vocals were very good, at least.  But it was still fairly underwhelming, even for a Rolling Stones song.  Surprised he got as many Twitter votes as he did.

Hanna: Oh, Hanna.  I was expecting so much more from her after her excellent Knockout, especially since she was covering a Demi Lovato song.  But she was clearly nervous, and it showed.  It was actually great in spots, but very weak in others.  I think this performance sealed her fate.  And yeah, @Babalooie, I agree.  Adam's words to her definitely made it sound like she was taste if she didn't get the fan vote, and she knew it, too.  But . . . she picked Adam, who favors his boys over his girls, so she got what she deserved.

Josh: He took a popular Boston song and completely wrecked it.  Plain and simple.  I still don't know how he beat Johnny H. in their Knockout.  His performance then was subpar and off-key, and in this one, he was drowned out by the band and off-key once again.  How did he even turn all four chairs?!  He never should've gotten this far!

Mark: Jon Bellion did not deserve that.  I do not get your vote for him, @Noreaster.  That was another terrible job.  Even Adam subtly admitted he sucked (asking for more time with him pretty much hints that he didn't like it, or he did like it, but he didn't love it).  Got really lucky that Adam wanted to please the fangirls and the teenyboppers out there.

Lilli: Probably the best one from the team tonight.  Songs from Carole King's era are her specialty, and she really showed it.  I hope Alicia is kicking herself for letting her go, too, because her voice and performance were both incredible.  She's going far, which half-disappoints me, as Adam's team having anyone go far makes me ill.

Jesse: No.  Just no.  Another one of my favorite songs, and he totally didn't live up to the original.  I don't know why Adam was praising him so much.  He wasn't good at all.

19 minutes ago, LakeGal said:

Adam made it very clear to the voters who he wanted in his final 3.  He got that 3.  I felt bad for the others on his team when they heard that.

Adam's a jerk to broadcast it like that.  Strategically, it helped him get what he wanted, obviously, but it was hugely disrespectful to Hanna, Johnny H., and Josh.

So when it came down to elimination time, I knew that Mark would either get voted through for Adam's team, or he'd get his save.  Lilli was crushing the Twitter vote, so I knew she'd make it.  Jesse was a huge surprise, because I didn't think he did that well at all.  Hanna crashed and burned, as did Josh, so they weren't getting the save.  And I really don't want another Nick Hagelin/Daniel Passino debacle, so I'm okay with Johnny H. not getting through.

With Gwen's team, Hunter and Brennley were always going to make it through.  That's been obvious since their Battles and Knockouts.  But Gwen, I think, really missed a trick by not saving JChosen, probably her third most popular contestant, or Johnny G., her fourth-most popular one.  He could actually have gotten past a few votes.  Troy, on the other hand, is easy elimination at either top twelve or eleven.  Maybe ten, if he gets lucky enough.  Quizz was dead in the water, even though he, quite shockingly, didn't have the lowest count of Twitter votes.

So the top twelve's locked in.  Let's how things shake out next week, I guess.

Edited April 19, 2017 by Vyk

[Vyk]

Also, one more thing.

With JChosen and Josh now eliminated, Troy is the last four-chair-turn left in the game.  And since I doubt he has the fan following to win, I think season twelve will be the first season to be guaranteed not to be won by a four-chair-turn, as I think he'll be gone sooner rather than later.

Edited April 19, 2017 by Vyk

[waving feather]

I'm surprised Gwen chose Troy instead of Johnny Gates. Johnny remains one of my favorites till today. There's just something about him.

Edited April 19, 2017 by waving feather

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Snap thoughts:

This is the point in the season when I usually start having the will to continue sucked out of me. Season 12 is no different.

Coach Bringback Artists went 0-4. Honestly, barring an immortal performance on a night when the entire rest of the team whiffs....that's how it should play out.

I went into the night very unsure of how America would vote, because I couldn't really differentiate Gwen's team outside of Quizz and the reinstated Johnny G. I felt slightly more confident that Adam's team would come down to Jesse getting one spot. The other spot was a total toss up between Josh and Mark in my mind. I thought Lilli was a longshot to pull America's votes, Hanna was even more of a longshot, and Johnny H. thanks for playing along.

I was underwhelmed by Brennley and Hunter. I felt like Brennley's voice just flat out gave out/disappeared in spots of that song that it wasn't supposed to disappear. To me, she took a half step back from her KO which was the first time I really took notice of her as a threat to maybe make a run to the finale. I'll admit, Hunter's popularity with America and the coaches is a mystery to me. I haven't been wowed by a single performance of his. I though the first 1/3rd of this particular song was a slurry, unintelligible mess. Yes it got a little bit stronger after he pulled the microphone out of the stand and moved to the front of the stage for roughly the back third of his song. But still, there's a pointedness to the way that Sia "hits" that song and he wasn't even in the ballpark. Troy was solid (bonus points for the Joni Mitchell song choice for sure), and I'm glad he got the nod over JChosen who I just didn't feel was a good match for that song.

Josh and Hanna were off, to put it charitably. You could see it on Adam's face even. Mark didn't sound like an exact carbon copy of Shawn Mendes on his song which is a good thing, unfortunately he performs better when he is doing a straightforward karaoke version of Shawn Mendes so this was pretty weak. I also wonder if Adam sabotaged him a little bit with that song choice. I'd have given him something like End of the Road by Boys 2 Men. Something that whatever teenybopper girls are voting would like, but something people their parents age would know and like too. Lilli was good (she was the Troy of Team Adam lol). She's still auditioning for a PMJ slot post-show. Her getting the votes to (probably) finish 2nd on Team Adam was a decent sized surprise.

My Top 12 (personal)

1. Lauren

2. Stephanie

tie for 3rd. Lilli and Troy

5. Vanessa (she's climbing fast after the Lean On performance)

6.  Aliyah

7. Brennley (not much separation between the two teens)

8. Jesse

9. Hunter

10. TSoul (his last performance made him free fall big time)

11. Mark

12. Chris (no longer listening to him)

Edited April 19, 2017 by PhD-Purgatory15

[Vyk]

iTunes thus far, with the eliminated artists included for now:

65 Hunter Plake Elastic Heart
141 Brennley Brown Fly
209 Lilli Passero It’s Too Late
241 Troy Ramey A Case of You
307 Jesse Larson Sir Duke
361 Josh West More Than a Feeling
395 Johnny Hayes Ain’t Too Proud To Beg
434 Quizz Swanigan My Girl
473 JChosen Nothing Compares 2 U
582 Johnny Gates Hands To Myself
583 Mark Isaiah All Time Low
853 Hanna Eyre Skyscraper

Will update later with only the six who got through.

Assuming Gwen was following this throughout the show, which she probably was, since I saw her phone at one point, it's easier to see why Troy made it through and make peace with JChosen being gone.  Troy was indeed third of Gwen's team, and JChosen was next-to-last.  Assuming Adam was also checking it, it's a mystery as to why he saved Mark since he was next-to-last for Team Adam.  Even bigger surprise that Josh got so high when he was subpar.

Edited April 19, 2017 by Vyk

[Vyk]

9 minutes ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

Troy was solid (bonus points for the Joni Mitchell song choice for sure), and I'm glad he got the nod over JChosen who I just didn't feel was a good match for that song.

To be honest, even if Troy was stronger tonight, I still think that Gwen, for sake of fanbase, should've advanced JChosen, @PhD-Purgatory15.  And it even looked like she was going to.  If you look at her face when she was addressing him just prior to her choice, she really looked like she wanted to.  (Even the studio audience was yelling at her to put him through!)  But I think she let Alicia get in her head about Troy.  Nothing particularly wrong with it, per se, as Troy does seem to be better-received, at least this week.

But her problem for some time has been that she seems to let the other coaches get in her head rather than go with her gut.  (For example, I will forever think that Lyndsey Elm got screwed three seasons ago because Blake badly got in her head about Braiden Sunshine.)  At least now that the coaches don't make the choices anymore, we won't have to worry about that from her.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

At this point though, I think the four chairs goodwill for JChosen and Troy was kind of out the window. And I think (trying to get in the head of Gwen) they both had been surpassed by both Brennley and Hunter in her eyes.

If I was giving the "tiebreaker" edge between Troy and JChosen, I say it goes to Troy because he's been solid (if not spectacular) every single round. JChosen has been uneven (I think the stress from his mother's stroke had to have bled into his time and mindset for the Voice) every round except the KO when he was quite good. Troy also doesn't have a comparable artist (maybe Stephanie is his closest) in the Top 12 now that the competition moves from an intra-team to a inter-team battle, whereas for JChosen you have Chris casting a large shadow out there, and TSoul lingering too. 

Edited April 19, 2017 by PhD-Purgatory15

[Dots And Stripes]

17 minutes ago, Vyk said:

Assuming Gwen was following this throughout the show, which she probably was, since I saw her phone at one point, it's easier to see why Troy made it through and make peace with JChosen being gone.  Troy was indeed third of Gwen's team, and JChosen was next-to-last.  Assuming Adam was also checking it, it's a mystery as to why he saved Mark since he was next-to-last for Team Adam.  Even bigger surprise that Josh got so high when he was subpar.

I wouldn't assume she was checking iTunes or that iTunes would make much of a difference in this case. Alicia had just named Troy as one of her top 2 from Team Gwen. I saw that as a nice little help to Gwen's decision making process. 

Adam told America to vote for Mark because he wanted more time to work with Mark. That made his motivation for picking Mark completely clear. iTunes totals tend to lag a little and wouldn't have been a good barometer when Adam had to make his decision so close to the end his team's performances.

Team Gwen was putting me to sleep, especially the 3 who made it through. America may love Hunter and Brennley but I sure don't. For me, Team Adam easily had the stronger night, and I say that as someone who roots against Adam.

[Vyk]

1 minute ago, Dots And Stripes said:

America may love Hunter and Brennley but I sure don't. For me, Team Adam easily had the stronger night, and I say that as someone who roots against Adam.

Well, it's fortunate that America isn't one person, isn't it?  Because they, not you, got it right.

8 minutes ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

At this point though, I think the four chairs goodwill for JChosen and Troy was kind of out the window. And I think (trying to get in the head of Gwen) they both had been surpassed by both Brennley and Hunter in her eyes.

If I was giving the "tiebreaker" edge between Troy and JChosen, I say it goes to Troy because he's been solid (if not spectacular) every single round. JChosen has been uneven (I think the stress from his mother's stroke had to have bled into his time and mindset for the Voice) every round except the KO when he was quite good. Troy also doesn't have a comparable artist (maybe Stephanie is his closest) in the Top 12 now that the competition moves from an intra-team to a inter-team battle, whereas for JChosen you have Chris casting a large shadow out there, and TSoul lingering too. 

Sadly, you may be right about all of that.  I totally forgot that JChosen would've had to compete with Chris and possibly TSoul for the R&B/soul vote.  Maybe Vanessa, too.  At least by picking Troy, Gwen picked someone with an open lane.

[Dots And Stripes]

10 minutes ago, Vyk said:

Well, it's fortunate that America isn't one person, isn't it?  Because they, not you, got it right.

There is no right and wrong. We all have our opinions about this silly reality show. Please try to respect that.

[Vyk]

How the top twelve are charting thus far:

54. Hunter Plake - Team Gwen: "Elastic Heart"
59. Lauren Duski - Team Blake: "Someone Else’s Star"
61. Chris Blue - Team Alicia: "Love On the Brain"
83. Stephanie Rice - Team Alicia: "Every Breath You Take"
116. Brennley Brown - Team Gwen: "Fly"
177. Lilli Passero - Team Adam: "It’s Too Late"
198. Vanessa Ferguson - Team Alicia: "Lean On"
203. Troy Ramey - Team Gwen: "A Case of You"
241. Jesse Larson - Team Adam: "Sir Duke"
287. Aliyah Moulden - Team Blake: "Mercy"
413. TSoul - Team Blake: "Knock On Wood"
446. Mark Isaiah - Team Adam: "All Time Low"

Hardly an indicator of how the entire season will shake down from here, but with an early glance . . . it looks good for Gwen and Alicia's chances of having one of them get their first win.  The only real threat to them seems to be Lauren from Blake's team.  Lilli might be the only real threat Adam can pose, but even then, I can only see her reaching the semifinals, not the finale.  Blake and Adam are otherwise cellar-dwelling for what has to be the first time ever.

1 hour ago, Dots And Stripes said:

There is no right and wrong. We all have our opinions about this silly reality show. Please try to respect that.

My apologies.  Tonight's results just hit me way harder than I thought, and I'm not dealing with it as well as I'd hoped to.

Edited April 19, 2017 by Vyk

[Mystery Author]

Quote

I'll admit, Hunter's popularity with America and the coaches is a mystery to me. I haven't been wowed by a single performance of his. I though the first 1/3rd of this particular song was a slurry, unintelligible mess.

THIS!

If I have a horse in this race, it's Lauren. (Sorry to call you a horse, Lauren!)

[Vyk]

Another update:

45. Hunter Plake - Team Gwen: "Elastic Heart"
59. Lauren Duski - Team Blake: "Someone Else’s Star"
60. Chris Blue - Team Alicia: "Love On the Brain"
83. Stephanie Rice - Team Alicia: "Every Breath You Take"
113. Brennley Brown - Team Gwen: "Fly"
173. Lilli Passero - Team Adam: "It’s Too Late"
192. Troy Ramey - Team Gwen: "A Case of You"
198. Vanessa Ferguson - Team Alicia: "Lean On"
238. Jesse Larson - Team Adam: "Sir Duke"
294. Aliyah Moulden - Team Blake: "Mercy"
411. TSoul - Team Blake: "Knock On Wood"
426. Mark Isaiah - Team Adam: "All Time Low"

Some of them have nosed up, while others have stayed the same.  Aliyah's actually nosed down.  The only position shift is that Troy has now gone past Vanessa.

Edited April 19, 2017 by Vyk

[waving feather]

Even though the rest of team Blake are at the bottom of the chart, you only need one to win and Blake definitely has Lauren in the final 4, unless something unexpected happens. Only Adam has the risk of not having anyone in the F4. Lilli is very polished but I can't quite connect with her. 

Lauren is my horse, too. It's about time someone low key with a beautiful voice win.

Edited April 19, 2017 by waving feather

[Vyk]

All right.  Last update before I call it a night (or morning):

38. Hunter Plake - Team Gwen: "Elastic Heart"
60. Chris Blue - Team Alicia: "Love On the Brain"
61. Lauren Duski - Team Blake: "Someone Else’s Star"
82. Stephanie Rice - Team Alicia: "Every Breath You Take"
108. Brennley Brown - Team Gwen: "Fly"
159. Lilli Passero - Team Adam: "It’s Too Late"
179. Troy Ramey - Team Gwen: "A Case of You"
193. Vanessa Ferguson - Team Alicia: "Lean On"
222. Jesse Larson - Team Adam: "Sir Duke"
307. Aliyah Moulden - Team Blake: "Mercy"
342. Mark Isaiah - Team Adam: "All Time Low"
439. TSoul - Team Blake: "Knock On Wood"

Hunter, Brennley, Stephanie, Lilli, Troy, Vanessa, Jesse, and Mark continue to rise, Chris stays about the same, and Lauren, Aliyah, and TSoul all fall.

[luvbadtv]

I think Adam picks songs that are too old.  I like them since I'm old, but I think the current songs seem to do better.  And for the record, I do not like Stephanie Rice at all.

[Nedsdag]

A few things about last night's show:

• When did Suzanne Somers become a coach on The Voice? And why did Suzanne choose "I'll be participating in the Twitter sing-off" Troy over JChosen? To justify her choosing him over Stephanie in the previous round?
• Lilli is a bona fide contender for a Top 4 spot unless her new coach Sting decides to throw her under the bus like he usually does to his singers.
• Can somebody at Disney please sign Quizz to a show on their kiddie channel? This kid was conceived for this purpose alone.
• StingAdam wants to work with Mark? For what? To join Troy in the Twitter sing-off? 
• If you are going to bring back singers for the save, can they at least sing songs that are not annoying nor useful to the singer chosen?
• Hunter and Chris will be the last two guys standing when all is done.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Nedsdag

[waving feather]

I don't know who chose the song but I feel so bad for Mark having to sing that. That chorus is impossible to sing well without background support. He still did relatively well given the circumstances IMO, but man what a disservice to him.

[Vyk]

10 hours ago, Nedsdag said:

• When did Suzanne Somers becoming a coach on The Voice? And why did Suzanne choose "I'll be participating in the Twitter sing-off" Troy over JChosen? To justify her choosing him over Stephanie in the previous round?
• Hunter and Chris will be the last two guys standing when all is done.

• Because Alicia basically told her to, and Gwen sometimes shows she has no mind of her own and listens to what others tell her rather than what she clearly wants.  (Though JChosen, to be fair, did kind of whiff it last night, while Troy was admittedly strong.)  But I have to say, Gwen is getting hammered on social media and YouTube for her choice.
• I agree.  There's just little to nothing stopping either one.  If this indeed results in, finally, a Gwen/Alicia showdown in the end rather than the usual, expected Adam/Blake one, I'll be so happy.  Finally!  Something new and refreshing!

At this point, looking at the high numbers for Hunter, Chris, and Lauren, I have no doubt they've all punched their tickets to the finale unless something really drastic happens to them or their performances.  So I'm just imagining and wondering what their coach duets with Gwen, Alicia, and Blake, respectively will be.  And, for that matter, who's going to have to fight for that fourth spot and just finish fourth behind them (if it shakes down that way).

Edited April 20, 2017 by Vyk

[Cementhead]

19 hours ago, LakeGal said:

My hubby keeps calling Hannah "Sue Sue" (The Middle).  Now that is all I think of when I see her.

 

Ha!  That is so cute because he's right!  I love Sue and think Hannah is adorable.  I can barely force myself to watch this show this season because I am finding it to be so boring and lackluster so I missed her performance.  Sorry to read that it did not go well for her. 

[limecoke]

I acknowledge that Hunter is tremendously talented with a lovely voice but it drives me nuts when singers slur their way through a song with few to no consonants articulated and Hunter is the worst this season.  Same goes for Brennley.  They need a coach who will stop praising it and correct it instead.  

Edited April 20, 2017 by limecoke

[Noreaster]

4 hours ago, waving feather said:

I don't know who chose the song but I feel so bad for Mark having to sing that. That chorus is impossible to sing well without background support. He still did relatively well given the circumstances IMO, but man what a disservice to him. 

It sounded like it was Adam's choice based on the pretaped clip.  He wanted Mark to not come off as too generic or something.  I agree that the "low low low low" chorus was pretty bad.  But I thought he sounded real good in the rest of the song and his voice just sounds ready for radio.  Such a huge difference, in my opinion, between the 17-18 years olds and the 13-15 year old crowd.  I guess I'm liking Brennley so far and think she has huge potential (she's 15, I think?), but she doesn't always have control of her voice.  It's a bit distracting at times.  

[waving feather]

2 hours ago, Noreaster said:

But I thought he sounded real good in the rest of the song and his voice just sounds ready for radio.  Such a huge difference, in my opinion, between the 17-18 years olds and the 13-15 year old crowd.  I guess I'm liking Brennley so far and think she has huge potential (she's 15, I think?), but she doesn't always have control of her voice.  It's a bit distracting at times.  

Mark is good. I like easy stage presence as well. He is just so comfortable on stage.

I will never get Hunter. He is just sort of awkward and if I didn't know that song by heart, I would not know what he is singing about. Even though Sia herself slurs when she sings, I can still understand her. Not so much for Hunter. Brennley has the same problem, especially in her higher register. That's something Blake could have helped her with. Blake is careful about diction and pitch for his singers.

[viajero]

Overall, I thought this was quite a comedown compared to Night 1 of the playoffs.  I wasn’t really blown away by any of the performances.

Or to put it another way, I thought Brennley and Lilli were among the best of the night, despite the fact that both have been better in previous rounds.

Admittedly, my problem with Brennley has little to do with her performance.  “Fly” happens to be my favorite recent country ballad and I found some of the changes she made a little too jarring.  This is one case where I think she would have been better off doing a straight up copy of the original.

My problem with Lilli was that though her vocals were great as usual, for the first time she didn’t seem to be really feeling the song.

Add me to those who don’t understand why Hunter is so popular.  I do like his performances, but his vocals seem a bit weak at times.  When it comes to changing up songs, I much prefer what Johnny Gates did to “Hands to Myself” than Hunter’s version of the Sia song.  But clearly I’m in the minority on this.  I would certainly have preferred to see Johnny go through instead of Troy.  While the later does have a good voice, I find little of interest in his performances.  In this particular case, he did not even come close to matching previous versions of that song we've seen on this show.

As for my current ranking of the Top 12:

1.     Chris (Team Alicia)

2.     Vanessa (Team Alicia)

3.     Stephanie (Team Alicia)

4.     Lauren (Team Blake)

5.     Brennley (Team Gwen)

6.     Hunter (Team Gwen)

7.     Lilli (Team Adam)

8.     Aliyah (Team Blake)

9.     Jesse (Team Adam)

10.  TSoul (Team Blake)

11.  Troy (Team Gwen)

12.  Mark (Team Adam)

After the playoff performances, Lauren, TSoul and Troy dropped a little in my ranking, while Stephanie and Aliyah moved up

[Noreaster]

10 hours ago, waving feather said:

 Brennley has the same problem, especially in her higher register. That's something Blake could have helped her with. Blake is careful about diction and pitch for his singers.

Yeah, Blake mentions diction and pitch often in rehearsals.  Though to be more accurate, it's really the vocal coaches that end up helping the contestants.  

Kind of related to this, over the seasons, I have felt that Blake's contestants in general don't seem to perform overly challenging songs.  Perhaps it's due to genre where country music is usually not as rangey as others like R&B and pop (I think, I don't really listen to country music much).  So Blake not only cares about pitch, but I think he tends to assign songs where pitch issues are less likely.    

[Jillybean]

We recorded this and watched it last night. I was dreading Josh's performance, and was utterly horrified to learn he would be singing my all-time favorite song. We listened to the first two lines and quickly fast-forwarded it when the expected butchering became apparent. In fact, we FF through a number of the performances (including Hunter). There are only a couple of contestants that really grab my attention (for their vocal abilities). We had seen Troy's performance the night before and had already forgotten it by the time he was picked yesterday. I still have no idea what he sang. Totally unmemorable.

Some of the contestants seemed to indicate they had chosen their song, ,while other times it seemed that the coach had chosen the song. that was a bit confusing. So does anyone know what the format is now that it's down to 12? My understanding is that is changes from season to season and I'm a first-time viewer.

The choice of the term "saved" struck me as odd. Why not say "America voted you into the Top 12?"  I get that they were "saved" from elimination, it just seems like a negative spin on things when half or so were moving forward.

As for Gwen's hair, I'd be willing to bet she's wearing wigs. You don't have bangs one day and not the next. We were laughing at the chef's hat on her shoulder. 

Edited April 21, 2017 by Jillybean

[Keekski]

Gwen's hair is so damaged. Take note Ariana Grande.

Lilli, Vanessa, & Jesse were my favorites. Mark was terrible. I wish Johnny H had gotten Adam's save. 

[Noreaster]

7 hours ago, Jillybean said:

Some of the contestants seemed to indicate they had chosen their song, ,while other times it seemed that the coach had chosen the song. that was a bit confusing. So does anyone know what the format is now that it's down to 12? My understanding is that is changes from season to season and I'm a first-time viewer.

There is no set format for song choices.  It's usually a collaboration of some sort between the contestants, coaches, and producers.  But how much input from each party really varies.  I think it depends on how involved the coaches really want to be, and how open the coaches/producers are to the contestants' preferred song choices.  Based on interviews, some contestants have said that they submit a list of songs they would like to do early on, then there is dialogue each week about what they should do.  Some contestants say they end up mostly doing songs that they like. Others are mixed.  There are a few that have expressed frustration with the process.  So pretty much all over the place.  

[Vyk]

Well, apparently, the writer of this article is also salty about Gwen's choice, though she suspects either some behind-the-scenes manipulation, or Alicia doing the manipulation.  Since I don't see Alicia being that callous, it has to be the former.

Edited April 22, 2017 by Vyk