S12.E21: Live Top 11 Performances

[Nalan]

From TV Guide:

The top eleven artists perform for coaches Adam Levine, Gwen Stefani, Alicia Keys, and Blake Shelton for America's vote.

Comment on the top eleven's performances here.

[Nalan]

Songs for tonight:

Team Adam
Jesse: "Human" by Rag 'n' Bone Man
Lilli: "Town without Pity" by Gene Pitney
Mark: "How to Love" by Li'l Wayne

Team Gwen
Brennley: "River" by Joni Mitchell
Hunter: "All I Want" by Kodaline

Team Alicia
Chris: "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge
Stephanie: "Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who
Vanessa: "Diamonds" by Rihanna

Team Blake
Aliyah: "Take it Back" by Reba McIntire
Lauren: "Somewhere in My Broken Heart" by Randy Travis
TSoul: "Lay Me Down" by Sam Smith

Jesse, Lilli, and Mark are all doing songs suited to them, though I can see Mark faltering again.  Jesse and Lilli made good, safe choices for their genres, though.  I expect Mark to hit the bottom again, though.

Brennley picked a good choice, but she runs the risk of being compared to Alisan Porter's version two seasons ago.  But fans had suggested that song for Hunter, and it's a good choice.  I think he'll do better than Deanna Johnson did in her Blind in season eight.

No complaints about Chris, Stephanie, or Vanessa's choices.  All perfectly fitting songs for them.

A little worried about Aliyah doing a country song, since she was basically just okay with "Before He Cheats" in the Knockouts.  Lauren can do any song well, so no beef with that choice.  TSoul . . . could go either way.  I think he'll butcher that one, too, though, with his vibrato and uneven voice.

We'll see tonight.

[Valny]

Listening to Lilli sing Town Without Pity now.....MURDERER!!   Holy site that was bad. IMO of course.

 

Adam.... fyi...Lilli is not winning and I don't want to buy that song.

Edited May 2, 2017 by Valny

[Nalan]

Now, this was a much better night of song choices all around.  Nearly everyone picked a song that was perfectly suited to them, and nearly all of them, I thought, did a good job with them.

So, then.  The performances:

Stephanie: I really liked the beginning of the this one.  It was shaky in some spots, but overall very smooth and solid performance.  Probably among her better performances this season.  I'm not sure she's in a safe spot, having been placed at the top of the order, but maybe she'll avoid the bottom two tomorrow.  If she doesn't . . . then she'd better hope that Mark isn't joining her there.

Aliyah: Again, Aliyah makes lemonade out of the lemons given to her.  I don't think it was the best song choice for herself, but she made it work for her.  I just hope America agrees, because there were some questionable spots in the performance.  Vocals were pretty much spot on, but her age was showing there.  The connection and intention behind the lyrics were missing.  Overall, though, she keeps growing and improving.  Well done.

TSoul: What I liked: the first ten seconds.  What I hated: everything after that.  Too much oversinging, his vibrato was out of control once again, and his vocals were just uneven throughout the performance.  I've heard the Sam Smith version, and this wasn't even on the same level as that.  If he avoids the bottom two tomorrow, I will be very surprised (and disappointed).  Why did Blake let him through when he had Casi Joy and Felicia Temple waiting for his save?  Bad, bad choice, Blake.

Lilli: So glad she went back to basics, and to her roots, but this was almost as bad as last week.  And this time, she doesn't have the excuse of being sick to help justify her being so bad.  She was flat almost the entire performance and just plain inconsistent and uneven.  And I don't think she bought Adam's spiel about her performance.  She didn't look like she believed him, which tells me even more that Jesse and Mark are his chosen ones and she's more here for numbers.

Hunter: Not his best, but I still liked it a lot.  But despite the tweet I sent him, he still hasn't learned to enunciate.  He needs to work on that.  But I think he still did a good job this week and should get through the votes with no problem.

Vanessa: Taking a well-known Rihanna song was a bit of a risk for her, despite how current it is.  But dare I say it?  She did pretty well.  Her tone was lovely, as per usual.  Her voice was strong and solid, as it always is.  Only problem was breath support for some of her sustained notes.  But on the whole, very good job.  Hope she gets the votes.

Lauren: Undoubtedly, she sounded beautiful yet again.  Performance was damn near flawless.  Problem is, it was once again not very engaging.  She has such amazingly vocals, but she needs to up her stage presence.  Otherwise, I could see America getting tired of her.

Mark: This wasn't bad at the start, but wasted no time devolving into a mess.  In terms of his past performances, it was . . . passable, at best.  But still down there with Lilli and TSoul's performances.  Will be shocked if he's not in the bottom two again.  Adam should've given him a less challenging song.

Jesse: Probably one of the better song choices for him, but still . . . I felt like there was something off.  His nasally tone took away from a lot of the performance.  Basically, the song choice was good.  Jesse's performance on it was not.  But of course Adam praises him for it.  Won't be in the bottom, but I won't be surprised if he has to either sing for his life in the semifinals or is completely, instantly eliminated there.

Brennley: She still needs to work on that vibrato, though that's understandable, as it's not a quick fix.  Nonetheless, yet another fantastic performance from her.  Her head voice . . . oh, my God.  It's beautiful.  Perfect song choice (though not quite comparable to Alisan Porter's rendition in season ten), and a great voice to go with it.  I loved it and think she's pretty much safe no matter what happens.

Chris: This is a very much overused song.  But Chris actually did an incredible job with it.  Yeah, he relied on his vocal tricks again, but at least he waited to use them this time.  The falsetto was probably ill-advised for this kind of song, though.  Nonetheless, a very good way to end the show.

I think any combination of Mark, Lilli, and TSoul will be in the bottom tomorrow.  Really surprised if it goes any other way.

1 hour ago, Valny said:

Adam.... fyi...Lilli is not winning and I don't want to buy that song.

Huh.  Would you look at that?  She's actually selling pretty well right now, so someone does.  Go figure.

[Diana Berry]

I know Chris is talented but the screaming, theatrics does nothing for me.

loved Lauren's song.  Very safe but beautiful.

Hunter and Brennley good job.

I'm thinking Stephanie, Lilly, Mark, and tsoul might be bottom 3 bound?? 

[pivot]

Brennley butchered that beautiful song. She clearly didn't understand the meaning behind it and beauty pageanted her way through it oversinging and using way, way too much vibrato. And I love vibrato. It was one of the worst versions of the The River I've ever heard. It actually made me angry.

I thought Lauren sounded great but Blake is picking such boring and overdone songs for her. I think she was her best when she sang Allison Krauss. I'd have her go back to that well or do another blue grass song. No more bland interchangeable ballads. 

I actually enjoyed Stephanie and Jesse tonight which was surprising.

I don't like the way Hunter rearranges his songs. He makes them sound like bad Coldplay rip offs which is too bad because I love his voice and the emotion he sings with.

[Dots And Stripes]

I'm officially obsessed with Lauren. Her voice is so lovely. 

Brennley needs to do like 10% less for me. Her voice is also lovely but she does too much vibrato. Just sing. Also Adam's dig at Blake was unfair. Blake does pull non-country songs for his country artists too. That dig was too long and uncalled for.

Speaking of people who need to just sing: Chris. He didn't pull off all of those runs very well and it took away from what he did do well, mostly in his lower register. 

I liked Jesse better tonight because he was mostly in his lower register. Some of the background effects were distracting and almost sounded like cries for help. I thought Lili's song was too high for her and the whole production felt very dated, contrary to what Adam said.

I need Hunter to do more. He also needs to enunciate. 

Mark should be bottom two. It's his time to go.

[Noreaster]

My favorites of the night were Jesse and Lauren.  I never heard of either song before and really enjoyed the covers.  Interesting how the show has moved away from Jesse as a guitarist.  I miss it.  Also weird given how they encourage some of the other contestants to play instruments.  Lauren's performance was really pretty.  Though she never seems to sing anything challenging or that interesting so I don't feel she's worthy of winning this competition.  But nice enough where I would like to see more of her.

Vanessa was disappointing. Her vocals were uneven especially after she walked out to the crowd (I don't like how the show has some of the contestants do that).  

I did not like Brennley's cover. "River" is probably one of my favorite songs and she used way too much vibrato. 

Chris has great vocals but I don't feel anything watching him perform.  His moves feel too showy?  On the other hand, there was TSoul who seems to feel so much but his vocals were not as good.  TSoul was also overly dramatic for my tastes. 

Really didn't like Aliyah.  I can't take these really young contestants singing songs they can't possibly relate to.  

The others were okay.  Stephanie wanted to rock out but looked more like a hippie.  Lilly's performance was nice enough.  Mark was not bad on a challenging song.  I'm missing someone.  Oh, Hunter...okay, I guess.  

[Nalan]

Early results, and will be updated throughout the night:

13. Lauren Duski - Team Blake: "Somewhere in My Broken Heat"
17. Hunter Plake - Team Gwen: "All I Want"
30. Brennley Brown - Team Gwen: "River"
33. Chris Blue - Team Alicia: "When a Man Loves a Woman"
37. Jesse Larson - Team Adam: "Human"
60. Lilli Passero - Team Adam: "Town without Pity"
83. Stephanie Rice - Team Alicia: "Behind Blue Eyes"
85. TSoul - Team Blake: "Lay Me Down"
94. Aliyah Moulden - Team Blake: "Take it Back"
99. Vanessa Ferguson - Team Alicia: "Diamonds"
112. Mark Isaiah - Team Adam: "How to Love"

Looks like the Adam fans are out in desperation this week after Mark's close call last week.  Still, it's looking just as bad for Mark this week as it did last week.

[Court]

I thought Lilli was so boring. 

Mark was awful again,  he should go. He's already needed two saves. 

How is performance order decided? Team Adam gets back to back at the end? 

I actually liked TSoul. I wanted to like Aliyah but it was boring. 

[Dots And Stripes]

4 minutes ago, Court said:

How is performance order decided? Team Adam gets back to back at the end? 

On performance night it's however they darn well place. Results show it goes in the order the coaches sit from Blake to Adam, much to my personal annoyance. 

I think Chris (Team Alicia) was last tonight and I don't think Mark's placement is going to save him. It's too late. Last week I noticed Team Blake had good positions on performance night, but not so much this week. Team Alicia has gotten the last spot 2 weeks in a row.

[Mr. R0b0t]

This season is a slog, yet I still find myself watching.  (hate watching?)  The only ones who've moved me in any way are Jesse, Lilli, Lauren and Vanessa.  TSoul needs some truth telling; about 3000% less melisma please.  Same advice to Chris.  Hunter is something and I'm not sure that something is good.  I wish Brennley and Aliyah had come on the show as a 20 y/o instead of 16 y/o.

[Nalan]

Current results, though the PST viewers are apparently still watching, so there are still room for bumps after they get finished:

8. Lauren Duski - Team Blake: "Somewhere in My Broken Heat"
14. Hunter Plake - Team Gwen: "All I Want"
17. Brennley Brown - Team Gwen: "River"
18. Chris Blue - Team Alicia: "When a Man Loves a Woman"
22. Jesse Larson - Team Adam: "Human"
48. Lilli Passero - Team Adam: "Town without Pity"
66. Stephanie Rice - Team Alicia: "Behind Blue Eyes"
71. TSoul - Team Blake: "Lay Me Down"
75. Aliyah Moulden - Team Blake: "Take it Back"
81. Vanessa Ferguson - Team Alicia: "Diamonds"
95. Mark Isaiah - Team Adam: "How to Love"

Assuming Lauren stays up there, she's got the multiplier for sure.  Hunter could get it and in fact has about twelve hours and some change to do so.  Brennley could, as well, and possibly Chris.  Jesse and Lilli might be safe tomorrow with those numbers.  Stephanie might, as well.  TSoul, Aliyah, Vanessa, and Mark should be the most worried.

[Nalan]

Current results now that the PST viewers are done and possible West Coast bumps have been made to the downloads:

7. Lauren Duski - Team Blake: "Somewhere in My Broken Heat"
12. Hunter Plake - Team Gwen: "All I Want"
16. Brennley Brown - Team Gwen: "River"
17. Chris Blue - Team Alicia: "When a Man Loves a Woman"
19. Jesse Larson - Team Adam: "Human"
40. Lilli Passero - Team Adam: "Town without Pity"
62. Stephanie Rice - Team Alicia: "Behind Blue Eyes"
64. TSoul - Team Blake: "Lay Me Down"
72. Aliyah Moulden - Team Blake: "Take it Back"
73. Vanessa Ferguson - Team Alicia: "Diamonds"
88. Mark Isaiah - Team Adam: "How to Love"

Lauren's still got the multiplier.  Hunter got a good bump from the West Coast and could get it, as well.  Brennley and Chris need some overnight downloads and even into tomorrow morning to pull it off.  Jesse has no chance, but he and Lilli may still be safe tomorrow with those numbers.  Stephanie, too.  TSoul, Aliyah, Vanessa, and Mark should still be the most worried.

[InfiniteMystery]

Awful all around except for Lauren. I still blame Gwen for the JChosen fuckery. JC was miles above the others and way better than Chris Blue with his calculated conniptions. TSoul has the authenticity but not the voice. 

Brennley murdered the Joni Mitchell song. Lilli sounded like a drowning cat.

[Nalan]

Current results now that the PST viewers are done and possible West Coast bumps have been made to the downloads:

3. Lauren Duski - Team Blake: "Somewhere in My Broken Heat"
10. Hunter Plake - Team Gwen: "All I Want"
14. Brennley Brown - Team Gwen: "River"
16. Chris Blue - Team Alicia: "When a Man Loves a Woman"
17. Jesse Larson - Team Adam: "Human"
36. Lilli Passero - Team Adam: "Town without Pity"
56. Stephanie Rice - Team Alicia: "Behind Blue Eyes"
58. TSoul - Team Blake: "Lay Me Down"
65. Vanessa Ferguson - Team Alicia: "Diamonds"
66. Aliyah Moulden - Team Blake: "Take it Back"
74. Mark Isaiah - Team Adam: "How to Love"

Lauren's still got the multiplier.  Hunter now has it, as well, if he can keep himself this high.  Brennley and Chris still need some overnight downloads and even some into tomorrow morning to pull it off.  Jesse is closing in now, but no way Lilli gets it, though she's safe, I think.  Stephanie, too.  TSoul, Aliyah, Vanessa, and Mark should still be the most worried, even though Vanessa has at least overtaken Aliyah.  Seems like Mark's fans are hugely desperate at this point, though, so he could overtake them both.

Edited May 2, 2017 by Nalan

[Mystery Author]

Quote

I thought Lili's song was too high for her and the whole production felt very dated, contrary to what Adam said.

AND...she sang with a coy smile, not understanding the lyrics. Did the coaches even understand the song? Town Without Pity is about 3 soldiers accused of rape. The movie's tagline is: The Story of What Four Men Did To a Girl... And What the Town Did To Them!

[JunebugWA]

My hubby and I were talking about Lilli's performance and we concluded that t it did not have "soul". She just sang the song without any emotions or feelings. Even Aliyah put some emotions into her song. Lilli's was just "eh". 

The other artists at least put their feelings and emotions into their songs.

Edited May 2, 2017 by JunebugWA

[Nalan]

Current results now:

3. Lauren Duski - Team Blake: "Somewhere in My Broken Heat"
10. Hunter Plake - Team Gwen: "All I Want"
13. Brennley Brown - Team Gwen: "River"
15. Chris Blue - Team Alicia: "When a Man Loves a Woman"
17. Jesse Larson - Team Adam: "Human"
34. Lilli Passero - Team Adam: "Town without Pity"
55. Stephanie Rice - Team Alicia: "Behind Blue Eyes"
57. TSoul - Team Blake: "Lay Me Down"
64. Vanessa Ferguson - Team Alicia: "Diamonds"
67. Aliyah Moulden - Team Blake: "Take it Back"
69. Mark Isaiah - Team Adam: "How to Love"

Aliyah has already started to drop, which isn't good news for her, considering that Mark is closing in on her.  Everyone else has either remained constant (Lauren, Hunter, and Jesse) or moved up (Brennley, Chris, Lilli, Stephanie, TSoul, and Vanessa).

Edited May 2, 2017 by Nalan

[waving feather]

6 hours ago, Mystery Author said:

AND...she sang with a coy smile, not understanding the lyrics.

This is not the first time I saw Lilli do this. I remember a few other performances where I was wondering why she was smiling coyly. Unfortunately, I think it's her go-to singing face. Lilli has the voice, but I'm not sure she will ever be an authentic singer.

I really like T-Soul but he needs vocal lessons. Very authentic performer but not much in control of his instrument. Lauren, on the other hand, has great control of her instrument. So much so, I want her to rough it up a little. Let her voice crack a little. The good kind of crack like Sia. I know I may be asking too much because not everyone has that ability. Still, I love Lauren because I can't complain too much about someone sounding good.

6 hours ago, InfiniteMystery said:

I still blame Gwen for the JChosen fuckery. JC was miles above the others and way better than Chris Blue with his calculated conniptions.

Agreed. I can't believe she saved Troy, who is fodder, instead of JChosen. Chris is like Alisan Porter to me, meaning not my kind of thing. HATE what he did to When A Man Loves A Woman. He was shouting off-tune! I like that song when it's done well, like Trent Harmon's performance on the last American Idol season.

Lauren seems to be doing well on iTunes but Blake's other contestants are bottom dwelling. I feel bad for Aliyah because she's a better singer than some of the adults in the competition. But it's not so easy to connect with a young performer who performs young.

Edited May 2, 2017 by waving feather

[Nalan]

17 minutes ago, waving feather said:

Agreed. I can't believe she saved Troy, who is fodder, instead of JChosen.

To recap this, she basically only did because Alicia told her to.  You could tell by Gwen's face she wanted to save JChosen.  Yes, ultimately, she made the choice, but Alicia deserves her own part of the blame for essentially pushing her to do so.

[Nalan]

Current results now:

3. Lauren Duski - Team Blake: "Somewhere in My Broken Heat"
10. Hunter Plake - Team Gwen: "All I Want"
13. Brennley Brown - Team Gwen: "River"
15. Chris Blue - Team Alicia: "When a Man Loves a Woman"
17. Jesse Larson - Team Adam: "Human"
35. Lilli Passero - Team Adam: "Town without Pity"
55. Stephanie Rice - Team Alicia: "Behind Blue Eyes"
56. TSoul - Team Blake: "Lay Me Down"
65. Vanessa Ferguson - Team Alicia: "Diamonds"
67. Aliyah Moulden - Team Blake: "Take it Back"
70. Mark Isaiah - Team Adam: "How to Love"

At this time, only TSoul has nosed up.  Everyone else has either remained constant (Lauren, Hunter, Brennley, Chris, Jesse, Stephanie, and Aliyah) or dropped down (Lilli, Vanessa, and Mark).

[Nalan]

All right.  Turning in, but last update I can offer before the voting closes:

Current results now:

3. Lauren Duski - Team Blake: "Somewhere in My Broken Heat"
10. Hunter Plake - Team Gwen: "All I Want"
13. Brennley Brown - Team Gwen: "River"
16. Chris Blue - Team Alicia: "When a Man Loves a Woman"
17. Jesse Larson - Team Adam: "Human"
36. Lilli Passero - Team Adam: "Town without Pity"
54. Stephanie Rice - Team Alicia: "Behind Blue Eyes"
58. TSoul - Team Blake: "Lay Me Down"
65. Vanessa Ferguson - Team Alicia: "Diamonds"
69. Aliyah Moulden - Team Blake: "Take it Back"
70. Mark Isaiah - Team Adam: "How to Love"

At this time, only Stephanie has nosed up.  Everyone else has either remained constant (Lauren, Hunter, Brennley, Jesse, and Vanessa) or dropped down (Lilli, TSoul, Aliyah, and Mark).

Will provide one last update after I get up, which should be well after the voting closes.

Edited May 2, 2017 by Nalan

[SunnyBeBe]

My favorites were Brennley, Vanessa, Aliyah and Jesse.  I'm not sure what Blake has against Aliyah, unless he's trying to narrow his team down.  Just a little more coaching and better songs would really help her.  I'm ticked at Blake.  I thought Adam was the one who picked favorites.  

[mangosplums]

They aren't on youtube yet.... which is unusual, they always are right after the show airs. This is the first time I want to vote and I'd like to see the performances first. 

[SunnyBeBe]

6 minutes ago, mangosplums said:

They aren't on youtube yet.... which is unusual, they always are right after the show airs. This is the first time I want to vote and I'd like to see the performances first. 

You can see a video of their performances last night on The Voice website.  Click on artists, then on the person you want to see and then all their performances come up.  

[pivot]

15 hours ago, Noreaster said:

My favorites of the night were Jesse and Lauren.  I never heard of either song before and really enjoyed the covers.  Interesting how the show has moved away from Jesse as a guitarist.  I miss it.  Also weird given how they encourage some of the other contestants to play instruments.  Lauren's performance was really pretty.  Though she never seems to sing anything challenging or that interesting so I don't feel she's worthy of winning this competition.  But nice enough where I would like to see more of her.

Vanessa was disappointing. Her vocals were uneven especially after she walked out to the crowd (I don't like how the show has some of the contestants do that).  

I did not like Brennley's cover. "River" is probably one of my favorite songs and she used way too much vibrato. 

Chris has great vocals but I don't feel anything watching him perform.  His moves feel too showy?  On the other hand, there was TSoul who seems to feel so much but his vocals were not as good.  TSoul was also overly dramatic for my tastes. 

Really didn't like Aliyah.  I can't take these really young contestants singing songs they can't possibly relate to.  

The others were okay.  Stephanie wanted to rock out but looked more like a hippie.  Lilly's performance was nice enough.  Mark was not bad on a challenging song.  I'm missing someone.  Oh, Hunter...okay, I guess.  

I love River as well. Out of curiousity, what is your favorite cover of the song? I am a big fan of Sarah McLachlan's which is why I hated Brennley's performance so much. 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Sigh, if you want to see someone absolutely slay "All I Want" by Kodaline go check out Stevie McCrory's blind audition for the Voice UK from a few seasons ago. If you want to see someone snooze it....go listen to Hunter's version again. Yawn.

Thought Jesse stepped a little outside his box this week and it suited him. It felt vaguely alt-rockish in the vein of KONGOS or something. Or maybe I was just hypnotized by the drummer dude in the background.

I'm going to call it now (going out on a moderately sized limb here lol), Lauren Duski in country music will be the most successful Voice contestant in post show history. She's more polished (because of her age) and less contrived than Danielle or Cassaddee coming off of their respective wins and I think (ymmv of course) Nashville is going to eat her up in a good way...

Vanessa and Stephanie both still solid, I really like how Vanessa can just fluidly go between different eras and genres of music. I'm the guy always begging for more current/modern song choices so I was glad to see that particular Rihanna song make an appearance even if it is one of her more overdone ones out there.

I'll say Itunes doesn't tell the whole story and the bottom two will be Mark and Either TSoul, Vanessa or Lilli (and I fear for all three in that scenario). I feel like despite her low charting numbers, Aliyah's likable enough and cute enough and gets the Blake bump to keep her safe at least one more week.

[Noreaster]

6 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I'm not sure what Blake has against Aliyah, unless he's trying to narrow his team down.  Just a little more coaching and better songs would really help her.  I'm ticked at Blake.  I thought Adam was the one who picked favorites.  

I don't think any of the coaches deliberately bus their contestants.  They might end up putting more effort with their favorites but I think they try to help all of them advance in the game.  With Blake, his knowledge outside of country music is somewhat limited so the non-country folks usually get less inspired song choices.  Unless they're really experienced and involved in the song selection process.  

3 hours ago, pivot said:

I love River as well. Out of curiousity, what is your favorite cover of the song? I am a big fan of Sarah McLachlan's which is why I hated Brennley's performance so much. 

I don't think I've listened to many covers of that song.  I just really like the original.  Actually, this may sound funny, but it might have been the show Ally McBeal that turned me onto the song and Joni Mitchell.  I think Robert Downey Jr. covered River?   I will have to look up Sarah McLachlan's version...her voice and style are probably a great fit.  

Edited May 2, 2017 by Noreaster

[Diana Berry]

Sorry if this has been asked, is Lauren the one that was Carrie Underwood's backup singer?

13 hours ago, Nalan said:

To recap this, she basically only did because Alicia told her to.  You could tell by Gwen's face she wanted to save JChosen.  Yes, ultimately, she made the choice, but Alicia deserves her own part of the blame for essentially pushing her to do so.

What did Alicia tell her ?

[Court]

I loved the song choice for Aliyah the show before the lives maybe? It was Mercy. She needs better song choices along those lines. Ultimately,  she's too young. 

But I'm hoping Mark is in the bottom two and gets sent home.

[SunnyBeBe]

I think that the contestant who was Carrie's backup singer has gone home.  She was a blonde, but, I can't recall which team she ended up on. 

Never mind the spoiler tag.  It suddenly appeared on my post box for no reason and I can't get rid of it.  I'm not sure why things like that happen around here. lol .........

Her name was Andrea Thomas.  She was on Blake's team. 

Spoiler

 

Edited May 2, 2017 by SunnyBeBe

[lgprimes]

Am I the only one whose senses were so hurt by Brennley's dress that I couldn't focus on her singing? 

Who puts a 15 year old in that???

[viajero]

I thought it was an okay night.  My take on the performances:

Stephanie:  I really liked this sort of indie rock take one my favorite The Who songs.  I hope she gets through.

Aliyah:  Much better than last week, though not quite as good as her cover of Mercy.  I do think it was a good song for her.

TSoul:  No like.  He let his emotions and antics on stage affect his vocals, which were all over the place

Lilli:  Better than last week, but I agree with JunebugWA, she didn’t put any soul into this performance and her vocal control could have been better.  

Hunter:  I liked this rearrangement a lot better than last week.  He is a charismatic performer, but I wish he had just a little more power in his vocals (and better enunciation).

Vanessa:  Parts of it were good, but her vocals were uneven at times.  Easily her worst performance of the season.

Lauren:  Once again a great performance on a song that doesn’t do much for me.

Mark:  Better than last week, probably because though that song may be difficult due to all the words, it doesn’t require much range.  But it paled in comparison to Christina Grimmie’s version from her season.  Not even close.

Jesse:  He did a quite good job on one my favorite hits from the past year (I’m kind of sick of Adam, but he usually has good taste in music). 

Brennley:  I really wish they would not keep picking these same overdone songs, though I did like her version.  At least Gwen had her countryfy the song, which along with her vibrato, helped distinguish this version from Alison Porter's or others from previous seasons.

Chris:  I wish Alicia hadn't given him this even more overdone song. He did a good job, but this cover was only at best the fourth or fifth best version that has been done on The Voice (not to speak of Joshua Ledet's version on AI).

I don’t really have a favorite performance this week, but I do think the bottom 2 should be Mark and either Lilli or TSoul, with Mark going home.

I just wish they would do more current songs like Human rather than keep repeating the same 40 or 50 year old classics season after season.  One of the things I liked most about the first couple of seasons of this show is that you could almost count on at least 50% (if not more) of the songs in any given episode coming from within the past 10 or 20 years, with a lot more variety in genres as well.

[Nalan]

Final results as of the end of the voting window:

3. Lauren Duski - Team Blake: "Somewhere in My Broken Heat"
10. Hunter Plake - Team Gwen: "All I Want"
12. Brennley Brown - Team Gwen: "River"
16. Chris Blue - Team Alicia: "When a Man Loves a Woman"
17. Jesse Larson - Team Adam: "Human"
36. Lilli Passero - Team Adam: "Town without Pity"
55. Stephanie Rice - Team Alicia: "Behind Blue Eyes"
59. TSoul - Team Blake: "Lay Me Down"
67. Vanessa Ferguson - Team Alicia: "Diamonds"
68. Aliyah Moulden - Team Blake: "Take it Back"
69. Mark Isaiah - Team Adam: "How to Love"

Mark nosed back up at the last minute, and Brennley nosed up, as well.  Lauren and Hunter managed to hold on to the multiplier.  While it's true that iTunes doesn't tell the whole story, I do think it's telling that Mark and Aliyah have been so low two weeks in a row.  Mark is in the bottom again for sure, I think.  I just wonder who'll be joining him?

On ‎5‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 2:40 PM, Diana Berry said:

What did Alicia tell her ?

In the Playoff episode, Carson addressed Alicia and asked whom she'd pass through from Team Gwen.  Alicia said Troy since he had the most emotional performance of her team.  Gwen gave a nod at that like she was taking that into consideration.  Having the tendency that she does to listen to the last person to get in her ear, she essentially screwed her team's chance at staying intact for a really long time and chose Troy, her least popular contestant, and sent JChosen, her most popular contestant (of the four from whom she could choose), packing.

Edited May 6, 2017 by Nalan

[Diana Berry]

6 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I think that the contestant who was Carrie's backup singer has gone home.  She was a blonde, but, I can't recall which team she ended up on. 

Never mind the spoiler tag.  It suddenly appeared on my post box for no reason and I can't get rid of it.  I'm not sure why things like that happen around here. lol .........

Her name was Andrea Thomas.  She was on Blake's team. 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Thanks

3 hours ago, Nalan said:

Final results as of the end of the voting window:

3. Lauren Duski - Team Blake: "Somewhere in My Broken Heat"
10. Hunter Plake - Team Gwen: "All I Want"
12. Brennley Brown - Team Gwen: "River"
16. Chris Blue - Team Alicia: "When a Man Loves a Woman"
17. Jesse Larson - Team Adam: "Human"
36. Lilli Passero - Team Adam: "Town without Pity"
55. Stephanie Rice - Team Alicia: "Behind Blue Eyes"
59. TSoul - Team Blake: "Lay Me Down"
67. Vanessa Ferguson - Team Alicia: "Diamonds"
68. Aliyah Moulden - Team Blake: "Take it Back"
69. Mark Isaiah - Team Adam: "How to Love"

Mark nosed back up at the last minute, and Brennley nosed up, as well.  Lauren and Hunter managed to hold on to the multiplier.  While it's true that iTunes doesn't tell the whole story, I do think it's telling that Mark and Aliyah have been so low two weeks in a row.  Mark is in the bottom again for sure, I think.  I just wonder who'll be joining him?

In the Playoff episode, Carson addressed Alicia and asked whom she'd pass through from Team Gwen.  Alicia said Troy since he had the most emotional performance of her team.  Gwen gave a nod at that like she was taking that into consideration.  Having the tendency that she does to listen to the last person to get in her ear, she essentially screwed her team's chance at staying intract for a really long time and chose Troy, her least popular contestant, and sent JChosen, her most popular contestant (of the four from whom she could choose), packing.

I can't remember JChosen will have to do dome YouTube research thanks

[tpplay]

Tonight I'm rooting really really REALLY hard for Stephanie who is one of my favorites.  (BTW, as a person who - in her long ago and far away past - was a hippie, the Who was one of our favorite bands.)  I thought her rendition was fantastic and so did my husband.  

I also loved Lauren's performance.  I'm a Hunter fan but I've preferred his previous performances.  Who was it above who said s/he wished Hunter sang with more strength?  I thought that was definitely needed last night.

I also like Chris Blue.  I do understand the folks who don't like all the "moves" but I figure, he makes an album (a "record" - as Gwen likes to say) and the moves have nothing to do with it.

I'm on the "what the heck was Bennerly (is that her name?) wearing?" team.  Honestly, you have to HATE teenagers to dress her that way.

Still not much of a Vanessa fan.  Didn't like Jesse in the soft part at all - such a nasally voice. Lily was meh.  T was better than I expected.  I do love his heart-felt-ness.

Mark.  So has the wrong coach.  He has a quite good voice - technically he's pretty good - he's certainly in tune. But there are songs OUTSIDE that boring freaking pop wheelhouse that he could sing.  The problem is, much as I find him charming and a pretty good singer, I zone out because every single freaking song he sings (mostly) is BORING.  He could use that voice a different way.  I wish he was on Alicia's team.  At this point, I agree that he deserves to go home.  Although Lily.  SOOOOO MEH!  Coyness?  So absolutely nothing.

Poor Aliyah.  She should not at all be on this show.  I actually wish she'd waited till she was 2 or 3 years older.  I ALWAYS HATE when teens sing songs they have no emotional connection to.  (Danielle?  Constantly.)  Brennerly is a great stylist already so she does a bit better, but there's lots of songs teenagers could sing AND relate to.  

Time to stop typing!

[Sugar]

Just catching up with the performances on YT.

I LOVED when the Voice UK guy sang the song by Kodaline, but I thought Hunter's version was fantastic as well. For the first time I was able to hear his voice, and all of the little nuances - and I'm a much bigger fan because of it.

[kelslamu]

I don't feel like the song choices for Lilli are doing her any justice.  I'm not sure what they should be, but it's definitely not the last two.  I didn't like what Stephanie did to Behind Blue Eyes.  She slowed it down too much or something.  I just kept saying, "No, no no...".  

[limecoke]

Quote

AND...she sang with a coy smile, not understanding the lyrics. Did the coaches even understand the song? Town Without Pity is about 3 soldiers accused of rape. The movie's tagline is: The Story of What Four Men Did To a Girl... And What the Town Did To Them!

Yes!  This is what drove me nuts.  She sang it like it was a happy little teeny-bopper love song.  I blame Adam.  She obviously hadn't a clue about the background of the song and Adam was the one who picked it but didn't do his homework.  Lili is very talented and he was the worst possible coach for her.  TWP is a tragic, heart-wrenching song and they missed the mark completely.

I'm sorry TSoul, you seem like a great guy but your voice doesn't work for me.  

Loved Lauren and consider her the best of the night.  No matter where she places in this competition, she's set in Nashville.

Im sorry, but Hunter sings like he's drunk.

[JMarie99]

I had no idea what the movie "Town Without Pity" was about. I just looked up the plot synopsis on Wikipedia, and oh my God, what a horrible tragic story. The song was all over the radio when I was young and I was aware that it was the title song of a movie, but I never saw the movie and I had absolutely no idea of the tragic plot line. To be fair, if you take the song at face value, it appears to be a song about a young couple who are in love and everyone is trying to keep them apart - like a Romeo and Juliet situation, or a couple who come from different backgrounds, or even a same-sex couple. What I'm trying to say is, if you take the song at face value and out of the context of the movie, it could be taken as a song about misunderstood lovers who are being treated very harshly as a result of their love. I agree that I didn't like the way Lilli performed it, but again, as sad as the song is, I don't think the song lyrics on their own give any hint of the tragic horrific plot of that movie. 

[viajero]

On 5/2/2017 at 5:42 PM, Nalan said:

Final results as of the end of the voting window:

3. Lauren Duski - Team Blake: "Somewhere in My Broken Heat"
10. Hunter Plake - Team Gwen: "All I Want"
12. Brennley Brown - Team Gwen: "River"
16. Chris Blue - Team Alicia: "When a Man Loves a Woman"
17. Jesse Larson - Team Adam: "Human"
36. Lilli Passero - Team Adam: "Town without Pity"
55. Stephanie Rice - Team Alicia: "Behind Blue Eyes"
59. TSoul - Team Blake: "Lay Me Down"
67. Vanessa Ferguson - Team Alicia: "Diamonds"
68. Aliyah Moulden - Team Blake: "Take it Back"
69. Mark Isaiah - Team Adam: "How to Love"

In the Playoff episode, Carson addressed Alicia and asked whom she'd pass through from Team Gwen.  Alicia said Troy since he had the most emotional performance of her team.  Gwen gave a nod at that like she was taking that into consideration.  Having the tendency that she does to listen to the last person to get in her ear, she essentially screwed her team's chance at staying intract for a really long time and chose Troy, her least popular contestant, and sent JChosen, her most popular contestant (of the four from whom she could choose), packing.

I would be quite happy if the final 4 were these top 4 from the iTunes chart.

I would personally have taken Johnny over JChosen, whose last two performances were not good. 

[Nalan]

1 minute ago, viajero said:

I would be quite happy if the final 4 were these top 4 from the iTunes chart.

I would personally have taken Johnny over JChosen, whose last two performances were not good. 

Absolutely perfect top four if that could happen.  But if Jesse reaches the Twitter sing-off and has to sing against one of them, I fear the Team Adam advantage would help him.

Johnny would've also been an acceptable (and far more understandable) choice on Gwen's part, but I wonder how much farther he'd have gotten beyond the top twelve?