S12.E22: Live Top 11 Eliminations

[Nalan]

From TV Guide:

Quote

America's vote reveals nine of the top ten artists.  The bottom two artists compete for the Instant Save.  Coaches Gwen Stefani and Alicia Keys perform with their teams.  Season ten winner Alisan Porter debuts her new single.

I'm there if only for Alisan being on!

Comment on the latest results here.

Edited May 3, 2017 by Nalan

[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 Twitter vote)

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

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

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

This is the top ten.

[Dots And Stripes]

Soooo annoyed but that result. Why America? Mark just doesn't have a great voice and we're stuck with him for another week.

I felt bad for Stephanie she could tell by the numbers coming in so she was just trying not to fall apart when they asked her to say something to Alicia.

[Quickbeam]

Stephanie was awful. I liked her before but terrible song to go out on. 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Sadly, I kinda sorta called it. I'm still bitter though.

I just had a horrifying feeling when I looked at the make up of this top 12, that Mark could be very very dangerous in head to head twitter match ups (regardless of the quality of his performances on Mondays or in the twitter save face off). Pessimistically I think he's not done either. I think he'll probably knock out someone like TSoul next week too...

[Nalan]

Just now, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

I just had a horrifying feeling when I looked at the make up of this top 12, that Mark could be very very dangerous in head to head twitter match ups (regardless of the quality of his performances on Mondays or in the twitter save face off). Pessimistically I think he's not done either. I think he'll probably knock out someone like TSoul next week too...

Well, next week is a bottom three rather than a bottom two, so if he survives that, too, he's almost certainly gone right away in the semifinal bloodbath, with no chance to sing for his life.  Even then, TSoul shouldn't be here, either, so I hope he is gone next week.

[Diana Berry]

Mercy. Mark the Sanjaya of the Voice.  Stephanie should have chosen another song but she didn't really stand a chance with the teen/tween twitter vote and Adam's team getting to sing last (as usual).

any thoughts on Alison?  The song was just ok for me.

3 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

Sadly, I kinda sorta called it. I'm still bitter though.

I just had a horrifying feeling when I looked at the make up of this top 12, that Mark could be very very dangerous in head to head twitter match ups (regardless of the quality of his performances on Mondays or in the twitter save face off). Pessimistically I think he's not done either. I think he'll probably knock out someone like TSoul next week too...

The problem is the whole twitter save.  He's golden for a while.  Hiding  my head in shame, but a lot of people my age or other ages dont have a twitter account and don't want a twitter account.  The good old days when we could use a phone.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

I mean say some combination of Lilli, TSoul, Vanessa, Mark and Aliyah makes up the bottom three next week and the week after....who do you trust to actually knock out Mark?

Yes his run (along with pretty much all my other bottom 3 hypotheticals) is probably over during the semifinal 8 to 4 week. But could I see Mark getting to that Top 8 point with two more twitter saves? Absolutely.

Edited May 3, 2017 by PhD-Purgatory15

[Court]

Ugh at this point, I am actively rooting against Mark. I don't even care if he is fantastic next week. One coach save and two Twitter saves is two too many. Hate the Twitter save.

I was surprised Stephanie was in the bottom two. I was expecting Aliyah, Vanessa, or Lilli.  I'd like to see what Adam would say if Mark and Lilli were the bottom two.

Edited May 3, 2017 by Court

[Nalan]

10 minutes ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

But could I see Mark getting to that Top 8 point with two more twitter saves? Absolutely.

Technically, only one.  Once he clears the top ten Twitter save next week (if he does), that's all he needs to get to the top eight.

Edited May 3, 2017 by Nalan

[Dots And Stripes]

7 minutes ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

I mean say some combination of Lilli, TSoul, Vanessa, Mark and Aliyah makes up the bottom three next week and the week after....who do you trust to actually knock out Mark?

Yes his run (along with pretty much all my other bottom 3 hypotheticals) is probably over during the semifinal 8 to 4 week. But could I see Mark getting to that Top 8 point with two more twitter saves? Absolutely.

I think Lilli, Vanessa, or Aliyah could knock him out. I think all 3 are capable of putting together a good enough vocal that they would look like the obvious choice. All 3 also got America's vote going into the top 12, unlike Troy and Stephanie. Lilli would also nuertralize Adam a bit and I think that would help. 

Troy kind of gave up mid performance last week and Stephanie chose a really stylized song that I don't think she had fully worked out.  I wouldn't be completely surprised if Mark screeched his way past more artists, but I have hope that he won't.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

The more I think about it, that might've been the most disastrous twitter save song choice in Voice history. What in the world was Stephanie thinking? On what planet was that song's style, and subject matter going to strike a nerve in the portion of the Voice voting public who votes in these situations?

Was the deck stacked against her, absolutely. But that song choice just basically gifted Mark a blowout win...

[Sugar]

Do we even know what the voting demographics for this show are? I see posts refer to teen/tween voters saving Mark, but I really don't know how many in that age group a) watch the voice and b) care enough to vote, even if it is just by tweeting. I could be completely off base, but I get the impression that The Voice isn't like AI was back in its glory days - it's not "must-see" TV that a 14 year old is going to rush home for and gossip about at school the next day.
I would be surprised to learn that tween voters come out in droves to support contestants like Mark, just because I haven't seen much activity around it on teen fandom sites and forums (plus, I work with kids, and none of them know what I'm referring to when I talk about this show!). I get the impression it's slightly older folks - early 20's+  that are doing the voting/watching, and sophisticated older users (who have a twitter account). Also, Mark (forgive the assumptions), appears to be of Latin background, and Latino voters (like Hawaiians and Philippinos) have, in past seasons of AI, rallied around a contestant to push them forward in votes.
Anyway, would be curious to see how voting skews. Mark very well may be propped up by the teen demographic, but basing my opinion on absolutely nothing concrete - I don't believe it :P

Also, I don't see how Alicia changed Gwen's mind about going with Troy. I watched that part back just now, and she didn't say anything different from the usual "Coach, what do you think ____ should do?" responses that the panel gives. She suggested Troy, but she didn't campaign hard for him, and Gwen was already very fond of him. I think she would have picked him no matter what. JChosen has TSoul and Chris Blue to compete with for the r&b singer slot, whereas Troy is fairly unique. I could see people comparing him to Jesse, but his style is definitely more pop/soul whereas Jesse is rock soul/blues. So I could see why Gwen decided on him (terrible choice, I agree).

[Noreaster]

Just watched the instant save performances on youtube.  I never heard of Stephanie's song before, but it was kind of painful to listen to.  A bunch of little squeaks, like nails on a chalkboard.  Mark's performance wasn't great early on with some rank notes but leveled out into a decent rendition.  Though this song seemed too mature for him which bothered me.

So another week where I would have preferred other contestants to land in the bottom two.  I think this was the first week when I wasn't turned off by Stephanie.  And Mark is always decent enough for me.  I much prefer Aliyah to go home.  And this week I would have liked Tsoul and Chris Blue there too.  

[Nalan]

You can tell by the way that Aliyah and TSoul looked at Lauren the moment the first save was announced to be from Team Blake that even they knew she'd be saved first from their team.  Lauren herself looked more relieved than shocked to have made it through.  I still don't know who's voting for Jesse, and I don't think he knows, either, due to his own shock.  Chris being saved wasn't surprising, and I'm glad they didn't drag it out this week.  And Brennley was also no surprise, but her and Gwen's joy over it was cute.

Aliyah looked a bit calmer about the proceedings this week, but still not quite emotionally stable.  Still, she got her relief.  Lilli was a mild surprise, but I can't see her lasting much longer.  Vanessa would've been a mild surprise, too, if not for the crowd reaction I heard when Carson addressed her.  It's pretty clear she's loved.  So I won't worry about her too much until the semifinals.  Hunter was zero surprise at all.  TSoul was hugely surprising, though.  I think he's in danger of it next week, though.

I loved both of the women's team performances.  Team Alicia melded together very well.  Chris, Stephanie, and Vanessa were all great.  But given who got the most solo parts, it's clear who Alicia's star is: Chris.  Team Gwen also did amazingly well.  A Coldplay song was a no-brainer for Hunter (whom fans have wanted to see do a Coldplay song for weeks now), but Brennley was shockingly great on it, too, despite being a country singer!  But if Gwen hadn't had to pull out last week, I wonder how it would've sounded with Troy there?  Which parts were done as a result of his ouster, I wonder?  In any case, it's clear that Hunter is Gwen's star since she chose a song better-suited to him than Brennley or Troy for their team performance.

Looking at the performances, Stephanie really should've picked a song better-suited to her genre and abilities.  Always nice to take a risk, but only on performance night.  Not elimination night.  Mark, on the other hand, probably gave a rare good performance for him.  Just probably.  Sucks enormously, but why he got such a landslide in the votes wasn't a mystery.

Hoping for better results next week.

Edited May 3, 2017 by Nalan

[Court]

I don't know the demographics of the viewers but clearly the voters tweeting are not the ones voting the night before. 

Most people who use Twitter are going to skew younger. I am in my thirties, have Twitter but rarely use it.

My mom watches, votes but is never going to use Twitter.  If she did, she would have voted for Stephanie.

Loved Chris during the team performance. Much better than last night. 

[Quickbeam]

I'm 60 and I vote on Twitter. I think the show demographics skew far older than people think. 

[Valny]

I didn't watch most of it tonight, so Blake and Adam both have three left and the others have two, is that correct?

[Dots And Stripes]

One thing that occurred to me watching tonight is I would be happy with an all female top 4 (artists, not coaches). I don't think it will happen, but for me the women are better vocalists and more intersting.

[waving feather]

I am not surprised someone from Team Adam was saved again. The last person singing always gets the save.  Not that I will miss Stephanie because I'm done with her overwrought singing for a while now. At least it's Mark in the bottom 2 and not TSoul. I have such a soft spot for that dude.

[Nalan]

I just realized that with Stephanie now eliminated, everyone left is either an original member of Team Adam, Team Alicia, or Team Blake.  All twelve of the original Team Gwen members are gone. Her only members left are her Battle steals.

Team Adam: Jesse and Mark were on his team from jump and have remained there, and Lilli was stolen from Alicia.
Team Gwen: Brennley was stolen from Blake in the Battles, and Hunter was stolen from Alicia during that same round.
Team Alicia: Chris and Vanessa have been on her team since the beginning.
Team Blake: Aliyah, Lauren, and TSoul have all been on his team from the beginning.

So the top ten are two original Team Adam members, four original Team Alicia members, and four original Team Blake members.  The entire original Team Gwen has now been eliminated before the top ten.  Part of it was America, but part of it was Gwen's own dumb decision at the Playoffs.

Thought it was interesting to note, especially after several fans had Gwen's team pegged as the strongest or at least the second-strongest after the Blinds.

Although I still don't think it means her team was anywhere near the weakest.  After all, at least she had steals from the Battles and Knockouts come from her team.  It's worth noting that zero of Adam's contestants were stolen at all, be they Battle or Knockout losers, a first for the show.  Gwen was just too stuck on her personal preference (Troy) to actually look at the big picture see whom America was feeling, not herself (JChosen and, hell, even Johnny Gates).

And even as her Battle steals, Gwen's still the coach most likely to get two artists in the finale at the moment.

10 minutes ago, Valny said:

I didn't watch most of it tonight, so Blake and Adam both have three left and the others have two, is that correct?

That's right.  It's in @Jabu's team roster/cheat sheet early in this thread.

1 minute ago, waving feather said:

At least it's Mark in the bottom 2 and not TSoul. I have such a soft spot for that dude.

Next week is a bottom three, though, and I'm pretty sure that TSoul is a lock for it.  Soft spot or not, I've gone around the Web enough to see that most of the country is just not feeling him, nice guy though he is.

[Noreaster]

1 hour ago, Court said:

I don't know the demographics of the viewers but clearly the voters tweeting are not the ones voting the night before. 

Most people who use Twitter are going to skew younger. I am in my thirties, have Twitter but rarely use it.

My mom watches, votes but is never going to use Twitter.  If she did, she would have voted for Stephanie.

Loved Chris during the team performance. Much better than last night. 

I'm not sure there are major differences between the demographics voting vs. tweeting.  

One thing to consider is that the voting mentality might be different for the regular performance night vs. the instant results night.  In the former, people are thinking about their favorite performances and which contestants (out of a large group) they want to advance.  This vote is about choosing the best, not about who they want to eliminate.  

In the latter, it's a choice between two contestants who many of these same voters didn't support the night before.   This second vote can be about choosing the better instant save performance, or it could simply be about who the voters like or hate the most out of the bottom-dwellers.  

There is also probably a difference in thinking between 2-person instant saves vs. the 3- or 4-person instant saves.  The 2-person saves can be more of an "elimination" type of vote.  The 3- or 4-person saves are probably really more about "saving".  

I also think people exaggerate the performance order effect.  There have been a few times when the person saved is not the last person to perform.  Also we see gaps of all sizes in the instant save results.  When there have been blowouts in the votes, other factors are very likely involved.  I've mentioned this in the past that I think genre matters as well as the coach pitches (I think that whenever Adam mentions a preference, even when it's not his own team, that contestant wins the twitter save).  

Edited May 3, 2017 by Noreaster

[PetuniaP]

Am I nuts? Is Hunter Plake not terrible? Who is voting for him? Is that what teen girls are into these days? If so, save us all. I like Mark and I'm glad he was saved but I liked Stephanie too. I think everyone is pretty good this season but I'm ready for TSoul, Hunter, and Lilli to go home. 

[Nalan]

3 minutes ago, PetuniaP said:

I like Mark and I'm glad he was saved

Why?  Just . . . why?  I feel like I have to ask this to everyone, because he's basically terrible.

[PetuniaP]

Just now, Nalan said:

Why?  Just . . . why?  I feel like I have to ask this to everyone, because he's basically terrible.

Because I don't think he's terrible? Is he the best ever, no, but I like his voice and I think he has charm.  He shouldn't win but there are plenty that can go before him. Stephanie shouldn't have been one of them though.

[tpplay]

UGGGH!  This is total bullshit.

Noone could POSSIBLY think Mark is going to win this thing.  WHAT THE FUCK?

Plus, I am tired of Vanessa.  A lot.

[tpplay]

Having had a few minutes to think, I actually am done.  I don't want to watch a show anymore where 12 year olds decide who the best singer is.

[Noreaster]

I think Stephanie was polarizing.  There have been a few weeks where I really disliked her performances.  For some voters, her falling in the bottom may have been their chance to vote her off.  Her instant-save performance sucked anyhow.  

The show has now had a bunch of contestants who consistently land on the bottom but survive a bottom 2/3 vote.  Kat Perkins, Ryan Sill, Korin Bukowski, Aaron Gibson, now Mark Isaiah.   So contestants who are not good enough to be a favorite for many voters, but perhaps not really bad enough either and they can deliver decent instant-save performances.  

As a reminder, the median viewer age for this show is over 50.  This show really isn't about young voters, although I would guess that twitter voters skew a bit younger than the general voters.  But who knows.  Twitter is not a difficult tool to use.  Plenty of older folks know how to use facebook and other types of social media. 

[Dots And Stripes]

4 hours ago, tpplay said:

UGGGH!  This is total bullshit.

Noone could POSSIBLY think Mark is going to win this thing.  WHAT THE FUCK?

Plus, I am tired of Vanessa.  A lot.

I don't think the people who saved Mark did so because they think he can win. I think they were choosing to give him 1 more week. I don't think Stephanie was going to win either even if she stuck around another week.

40 minutes ago, Noreaster said:

The show has now had a bunch of contestants who consistently land on the bottom but survive a bottom 2/3 vote.  Kat Perkins, Ryan Sill, Korin Bukowski, Aaron Gibson, now Mark Isaiah.   So contestants who are not good enough to be a favorite for many voters, but perhaps not really bad enough either and they can deliver decent instant-save performances.  

 

When it comes to Mark's performances, even "decent" would be a bit of a stretch for me.  He's lucky his opponents haven't put their best foot forward so far. I'm sure some people genuinely like Mark but the same can be said for everyone in the top 12.

[kelslamu]

Stephanie's songs both nights left a lot to be desired, imo.  That said, however, I'd still take her any day over Mark.  I can't even listen to him.  

[TaraS1]

That last song of Stephanie's....yikes.  I've never been a fan, so I was especially glad to see her sent packing after hearing that mess.  But Mark should've been sent with her.

I know TSoul isn't the best singer and won't win, but I still clapped like a five year old on a sugar rush when Carson called his name.  He just has such a sweet spirit about him, I really like him.

And I was never into Alisan during her season, but I loved the song she did last night.  Didn't love all the runs and other stuff she threw in, but I thought the song itself was really good.  If she wrote it (which I think maybe they said she did), props to her.

[yourpointis]

For the life of me I cannot figure out how Lilli or TSoul have not graced the bottom two yet. Lilli had one week where she was "sick" and gave a less than mediocre performance, but what is her excuse for weeks prior and the current week. Imho she has never given a good (not great - oh please) vocal performance. She is flat out awful and with exception to a few bloggers, comments from other sites tend to agree. So who is voting for her (rhetorical) and why? 

 

This is generally another mediocre season and I'm having a hard time feigning interest from week to week. The finale is upon us and I can't name over three contestants from memory. I honestly would like to know what tweens/teens are interested in this show period. If there is a contestant that the majority of viewers don't tend to like and manages to survive week to week, I hardly doubt the young viewers are the ones keeping these contestants around no matter what medium is used to vote for them. People said the same for AI contestants. Viewers for The Voice and AI have skewed older for quite some time and if anyone is responsible for certain contestants hanging around week to week it is more than likely the older viewer (I'm included in this group as an older viewer that is) and not a handful of tweens/teens that may or may not be watching this declining show. jmho

[Court]

I think TSoul has survived because he seem like such a nice person.  I have a soft spot for him. I like how he has comforted and congratulated his teammates, especially Aliyah. I also think he benefits from being on Blake's team. Some will just vote based on coaches. That being said, I won't be surprised if he ends up in the bottom next week.

No idea why Lilli hasn't been in the bottom yet. She's been awful and boring and wooden.

[peachmangosteen]

11 hours ago, waving feather said:

The last person singing always gets the save.

Is this for sure true? I'd love to see some stats on where the winners of every Instant Save sang. But not enough to actually try to figure it out myself lol.

10 hours ago, PetuniaP said:

Am I nuts? Is Hunter Plake not terrible? 

This made me laugh so hard! 

Edited May 3, 2017 by peachmangosteen

[Nedsdag]

I thought Stephanie would make it to the bloodbath. I was wrong I guess. Plus, why would she sing a song called "Issues"? That's not going to get a lot of Tweets.

Once I saw that she would be singing against Mark, she might as well forfeit and not sing at all. The sad part was he wasn't impressive at all in his sing off. It helps to have a baby face for the tweens and hausfraus will vote for him.

I still don't get the Alisan love. Yes, she can sing, but I'm not going to break my back and download that new single of hers.  It didn't move me at all.

So much of Hunter singing another Coldplay song during this season. 

[Nedsdag]

11 minutes ago, Nedsdag said:

Delete

 

1

Edited May 3, 2017 by Nedsdag

[Archery]

I don't think I've sat through more than a handful of full performances this whole season.  None of the contestants really caught my attention, although I did like that "Felicia Keys" person.  Mostly, I'll listen to the first couple of notes, then turn the channel. So when I switched back over in the middle of "Deep Waters," I sat up like, FINALLY, someone has hit that musical stride -- only to realize it was a winner from another season.  So instead of watching any more of that episode, I went online to find the song, and stayed for the next two hours watching my personal "best of" performance videos from The Voice and Idol.

Stephanie had a tail.  And sounded like a mad cat, so. . . yeah.  Issues, indeed.

[Adusk81]

I really feel that utilizing a twitter only save situation is completely bogus and deminishes the already laughable integrity of their voting process? Do you have a twitter account? I don't. If it can't be an all method process then they should get rid of the save altogether and just eliminate the lowest vote getter. More seasons than not, some undeserving untalented young male with mild teen girl appeal does this. It's pretty annoying. Mark sucks. He does. He even knows he does. Adam likes him more than he likes himself. It's embarrassing. Stephanie wasn't amazing in that save song but she is miles better than Mark and a few others there and she's actually interesting. She will be fine. This was a huge boost to her self esteem and I believe she will benefit greatly from this exposure. Mark will never be heard from again as soon as he's off the screen. And again, here I am complaining over a reality show which means nothing. I need a hobby. And a beer.

[limecoke]

Would have preferred Stephanie staying as Mark leaves me cold but, wow, what a disastrous song choice.  Seriously awful.  I truly hope she finds joy and, hopefully, can reconcile with her parents but I think America got the picture and wanted her to drop the pain and just sing good music.  Mark can go next.  Please.

i guess I'm a hausfrau but am never swayed by cute faces and chubby cheeks.  It's the voice and only the voice for me.  Watch the broad brush, ok? Peace.

Edited May 3, 2017 by limecoke

[SunnyBeBe]

The Twitter save is something the show came up with, because, they think it makes the show appear fresh and current. I mean, who wouldn't be super excited to get that POWER right in your hands?  lol  So lame.  They really do need something better.  If they would focus more on content and less on bells and whistles, they would do themselves and the viewers a service.

 It's the same reason that they keep on making people chirp on the show instead of announcing the results and getting it over with.  Instead, they have this ginormous pregnant pause that goes on for an eternity and then they barely finish the results as they go off air.  So silly, imo.  

What I would like to know is what was being said to Stephanie during her rehearsal of her Save song?  Was her coach present?  The band?  Sound people?  What did they say to her? Did she get any feedback?  I'm just really curious as to how that got by.  

[Noreaster]

I just watched the group performances for this episode.  Kind of an odd song choice for Alicia's team...Chris feels like a natural woman?  For Gwen's team performance, Brennley was quite actressy. Emoting is good but she kind of overdoes it.  

1 hour ago, SunnyBeBe said:

The Twitter save is something the show came up with, because, they think it makes the show appear fresh and current. I mean, who wouldn't be super excited to get that POWER right in your hands?  lol  So lame.  They really do need something better.  If they would focus more on content and less on bells and whistles, they would do themselves and the viewers a service.

 It's the same reason that they keep on making people chirp on the show instead of announcing the results and getting it over with.  Instead, they have this ginormous pregnant pause that goes on for an eternity and then they barely finish the results as they go off air.  So silly, imo.  

What I would like to know is what was being said to Stephanie during her rehearsal of her Save song?  Was her coach present?  The band?  Sound people?  What did they say to her? Did she get any feedback?  I'm just really curious as to how that got by.  

The reason why the show does anything is because of TV ratings.  The Twitter save was introduced around the same time Nielsen started tracking Twitter activity for TV shows.  

I don't know if the contestants get to rehearse their instant save songs much or work with the band or coaches (meaning the real vocal coaches, not the celebrities).  Kind of hard to set aside time when no one knows who is going to land in the bottom.  Past contestants have said that they (and the producers) decide on the Twitter save song at the beginning of the live rounds and then are stuck with that song.  Maybe they practice in their spare time or when they feel they are at risk on Tuesdays?  This week, everyone must have known that Mark was likely to be in the bottom again and he had to learn a new instant-save song...does he get to rehearse more?  

Edited May 4, 2017 by Noreaster

[Dots And Stripes]

12 hours ago, yourpointis said:

For the life of me I cannot figure out how Lilli or TSoul have not graced the bottom two yet. Lilli had one week where she was "sick" and gave a less than mediocre performance, but what is her excuse for weeks prior and the current week. Imho she has never given a good (not great - oh please) vocal performance. She is flat out awful and with exception to a few bloggers, comments from other sites tend to agree. So who is voting for her (rhetorical) and why? 

There was no bottom 2 before Lilli was sick. We've had 3 rounds of voting: the first America picked the top 2 out of six, the second Lilli was sick, and the third was this week. Compared to Mark, I totally see why Lilli was spared  the bottom 2. I've liked some of her performances.

11 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

Is this for sure true? I'd love to see some stats on where the winners of every Instant Save sang. But not enough to actually try to figure it out myself lol.

This made me laugh so hard! 

Not always. I think it's been a while though since Wikipedia tells me the person who performed second won all last season. Personally I think it gives a bump but it doesn't always determine the outcome. With Troy the votes were so close it may have tipped it. This week I don't think performing second would have saved Stephanie.

4 hours ago, Adusk81 said:

I really feel that utilizing a twitter only save situation is completely bogus and deminishes the already laughable integrity of their voting process? Do you have a twitter account? I don't. If it can't be an all method process then they should get rid of the save altogether and just eliminate the lowest vote getter.

I disagree. Twitter accounts are free and easy to open. It's no more of a barrier to voting than the app or website. I know the app requires downloading and providing an email address, I assume the same is true for the NBC website. iTunes also requires a login.

I don't have a problem with twitter for the method of voting. I do think they should try to neutralize the performance order advantage or at least switch who gets that advantage. 

[mangosplums]

On 5/2/2017 at 11:50 PM, PetuniaP said:

Am I nuts? Is Hunter Plake not terrible? Who is voting for him? Is that what teen girls are into these days? If so, save us all. I like Mark and I'm glad he was saved but I liked Stephanie too. I think everyone is pretty good this season but I'm ready for TSoul, Hunter, and Lilli to go home. 

I feel like Hunter is only there because he reminds people of Thom Yorke crossed with Chris Martin. 

[Nalan]

26 minutes ago, mangosplums said:

I feel like Hunter is only there because he reminds people of Thom Yorke crossed with Chris Martin. 

Or he's actually good.  Speaking solely for myself, I get why he's made it this far, and why he's done so well on iTunes and has the audience so in love with him.  I adore his voice.  It has that nice, haunting, soothing, almost ethereal quality to it that draws me in.  It took till his Battle for me to really take notice, though, because his Blind was too upbeat of a song to really show it.

[Sugar]

I don't think Mark is terrible - he's good at what he does. But I don't think the world needs another teen heartthrob signing r&b lite. It's laughable to me that Adam is praising Mark for his "artistry" by giving him credit for picking his own songs, when there are other contestants who literally arrange, produce, and play instruments. He's not a bad singer by any means, but he's bland, and I hate that he is basically doing the same song every week.

We call Hunter Thom Yorke in our household too. I feel like he could potentially be the most successful post-voice contestant, because he's pretty much radio-ready NOW.

I had high hopes for Lili because I love throwback music and styling, but she sucks. She is no Winehouse, and her voice is too thin to be able to pull off a lot of these songs. Also, that was a completely stupid interpretation of Town Without Pity, a tune that has little to do with smiling seductively and strutting across the stage (but I mostly blame Adam for that). I thought for sure that she'd be in the bottom.

Oh, and I guess I'm in the minority, but I love TSoul. I thought the first bit of his song when he was just at the piano was gorgeous. But I find that unlike Chris Blue's performance style, TSoul's theatrics impede his vocals and detract from the performance. I wish he'd just stand in front of a mike and limit his runs. His tone is lovely, and he seems like an adorable little nerd.

Finally, I'm so done with the back and froth where Carson asks the bottom artists to praise their coach, and then vice versa. It's the same every week, and I'm sick of the hyperbole.

[MissSunshine]

On 5/2/2017 at 8:05 PM, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

Sadly, I kinda sorta called it. I'm still bitter though.

I just had a horrifying feeling when I looked at the make up of this top 12, that Mark could be very very dangerous in head to head twitter match ups (regardless of the quality of his performances on Mondays or in the twitter save face off). Pessimistically I think he's not done either. I think he'll probably knock out someone like TSoul next week too...

How do the singers see the votes coming in? I was under the impression that they could not see the percentages coming in and only we the the tv viewer could see that. Anyone know?

[kelslamu]

During Gwen's team performance I kept noticing she was looking at Hunter far more than anyone else.  I wasn't even looking for it.  It just seemed obvious.  IDK, but truly wonder about her as a coach.  It seemed her asst. coaches (celine and so forth) did far more for the contestants. 

[MissSunshine]

On 5/2/2017 at 10:50 PM, PetuniaP said:

Am I nuts? Is Hunter Plake not terrible? Who is voting for him? Is that what teen girls are into these days? If so, save us all. I like Mark and I'm glad he was saved but I liked Stephanie too. I think everyone is pretty good this season but I'm ready for TSoul, Hunter, and Lilli to go home. 

I love hunter :) So sorry. But no, because I watch the show a day later, I never vote. I love his alternative sound. And I am also a very big fan of Coldplay. Although, yes, he does need to pronunciate more. I let him know via instagram.. hopefully he reads it. And I'm 29, so no, not a teen girl :)

[Noreaster]

Post-elimination conference call with Stephanie: http://starrymag.com/stephanie-rice-the-voice/

[Chyromaniac]

On 5/3/2017 at 9:06 PM, Dots And Stripes said:

I disagree. Twitter accounts are free and easy to open. It's no more of a barrier to voting than the app or website. I know the app requires downloading and providing an email address, I assume the same is true for the NBC website. iTunes also requires a login.

I don't have a problem with twitter for the method of voting. I do think they should try to neutralize the performance order advantage or at least switch who gets that advantage. 

Yeah, I don't think Twitter itself is the issue - I just opened up an account to tweet a question at a live Alton Brown event (nope, it didn't get picked...), and the process was pretty simple.  I may start using it for Hashtag Wars on @Midnight - we'll see.  I will not be using it to vote on The Voice, however, because my wife and I absolutely refuse to watch the show live.  We always DVR so we can fast-forward through  basically everything that isn't an actual performance, team selection or result.  Occasionally we'll watch a bit of the rehearsals if there's a fun mentor (Celine was the bomb), or if it looks like the coaches might accidentally give some honest feedback.  Otherwise, we just don't care - and it makes the show a hell of a lot more enjoyable when you can cram the whole 3 hours of live TV per week into an hour max.