S12.E26: Live Semifinal Eliminations

[Nalan]

From TV Guide:

America's vote reveals the top three artists in the competition.  Two artists are sent home, while three compete for the final Instant Save.

Comment on the results of this season's bloodbath here.  And I bet there'll be some real discussion here.

[Jabu]

Final team rosters/cheat sheets for the season:

Team Adam
Jesse Larson (saved by Twitter vote)

Team Gwen
None.:(

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

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

This is the top four.  These are our finalists.

[Court]

Wow, I am genuinely surprised at those results. This is the final 4 I wanted but it stinks for Gwen. 

[Valny]

Boooooo!!! Was what I yelled. Aw come on..... that sucks that both kids get knocked off Gwen's team. Blake will have to do some comforting tonight. ;)

I was waiting to hear Carson say either one from Team Gwen but then in the back of my mind I was thinking, oh shit...it might be Jesse.

Edited May 17, 2017 by Valny

[Dots And Stripes]

Woah! What a night for Team Blake! I'm so happy for Aliyah. Two weeks ago I wouldn't have thought she would be the last 15 year old standing.

The instant save is broken. Was this chair order or alphabetical by first name order? 

As much as I would have loved an Adam free finale, Jesse moving forward is good for the 3 voted through by America. Jesse was the only option without an iTunes bonus.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Called 3 out of the 4 (Chris, Jesse, and Lauren). Had I have known ahead of time that Aliyah was going to get the epic turbo boost of doing a Christian/Spiritual song in the semifinal round....I'd have probably given her the nod over Brennley. I liked Aliyah personally more than I did Brennley (who I could never warm up to) but if they are going to allow Christian/Gospel songs they should make them all happen in the same week (preferably like Top 12 or 11 week). Aliyah definitely had a bit of an unfair advantage coupling her song with getting to close out the show.

Good riddance Hunter.

[Nalan]

I call B.S.  I knew Brennley had no chance after last night, but Hunter was the clear fourth favorite behind the top three vote-getters, and Adam's advantage badly screwed him over.

Poor Gwen.  This was actually the best job she'd done as a coach this season, and she won't even be making the finale.  And to think I was so looking forward to her duet with Hunter.  But alas, she did choose the wrong time to take a risk with both of her artists.  Top ten week was the best time for it.

Brennley, Hunter, you're both going to be amazing someday.  Keep doing what you're doing!

Not sad to see TSoul go.  I liked him okay, but . . . come on.  He was the weakest of all of the semifinalists.  But sad for Vanessa that she was instantly eliminated with him.

Oh, well.  Jesse's obviously going to lose.  The one who gets the last save always comes in last of the finalists.  So it's going to come down to Lauren and Chris next week, I think.  In this case, Blake and Alicia.  Good for Aliyah in getting through, I guess, but she's got no chance against either Lauren or Chris.

Aliyah tried to get people to tweet for Hunter, so that was sweet of her.  Several past contestants tried to rally around him, which shows how much of a favorite he was.

2 minutes ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

Good riddance Hunter.

Did he seriously kick your puppy or something?

[PhD-Purgatory15]

B.S. in what possible way? Hunter got beat fair and square. Lauren and Chris clearly ran away with the votes and Itunes multipliers. Aliyah and Hunter got multiplier help too. She got more votes. And then Jesse got more twitter votes than Hunter and Brennley (almost combined).

[Jextella]

15 minutes ago, Jabu said:

Final team rosters/cheat sheets for the season:

Team Adam
Jesse Larson (saved by Twitter vote)

Team Gwen
None.:(

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

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

This is the top four.  These are our finalists.

I like this final 4. A little bit of somethin' for everyone..

[Diana Berry]

 feel bad for Gwen but knew it was inevitable with Jesse singing last.

[Nalan]

4 minutes ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

B.S. in what possible way? Hunter got beat fair and square. Lauren and Chris clearly ran away with the votes and Itunes multipliers. Aliyah and Hunter got multiplier help too. She got more votes. And then Jesse got more twitter votes than Hunter and Brennley (almost combined).

Yes.  Because of the order.  Again.

And when it comes right down to it, I'd much rather have someone different in the finale than the same old, same old.  But I guess America wants boring and old and repetitive.  And that "boring and old and repetitive" plays a mean guitar, then so much the better.

Whatever.  I'll spend the rest of the week recovering and then return for the finale.  Till then, go, Lauren, and go, Chris.  Aliyah and Jesse just don't deserve it.

Edited May 17, 2017 by Nalan

[TiredMe]

I'm glad Jesse got in. I like him. Since I was indifferent to Hunter and Brennley I threw my vote to a Jesse. I'm sure there were others like me doing it.

bye Tsoul! You weren't the best singer there but you always made me smile and I loved yelling Tsoul when you came on the screen. 

[yourpointis]

Jesse got to me with that song Tenn Whiskey. It is actually one of my ringtones. I didn't vote though. I can't for the life of me remember my username or password for Twitter and have no desire to reset them. I truly don't believe order of performance makes any difference in who gets the save, but that's just me. It's not like the performances are an hour to two hours apart. Now back when I used to vote in the Twitter save I always voted for my fave; performance be damned. I bet Jesse was probably fourth in votes because a lot of people (like me) would rather just vote in the simplest way possible. I've never bought a download and probably never will. I've also never truly cared which team my fave contestants were on either. I'll be watching next week still without a dog in the fight. Good luck to your faves. 

Edited May 17, 2017 by yourpointis

[Dots And Stripes]

According to my reading of Wikipedia, we are at 9 in a row for the last artist winning the instant save. That's quite a streak. Right before that streak started there had been 3 in a row where the first artist received the instant save.

[Valny]

2 minutes ago, Diana Berry said:

 feel bad for Gwen but knew it was inevitable with Jesse singing last.

When this season was underway, I really thought she had a great shot at having someone on her team make it in the finals.

[Noreaster]

The show hasn't posted all the instant-save videos yet so no comment on the performances.  I'm bummed that Vanessa didn't at least get a chance to sing for the save.  Glad that Jesse got through.  His winning margin looked huge.  Really wish that Aliyah didn't make it.  Maybe another couple of years with some more age-appropriate songs (and preferably no religious ones) and I would appreciate her more.  Being cute and adorable doesn't cut it for me.  I wish there was room for Hunter.  I didn't care for him every week but I think he would have made the finale more interesting.  

[yourpointis]

The eliminations must have affected people in the worst way when no one is mentioning that horrible performance by Big Boi and Adam. Woof!

[Court]

1 minute ago, yourpointis said:

The eliminations must have affected people in the worst way when no one is mentioning that horrible performance by Big Boi and Adam. Woof!

I couldn't even finish watching it. 

[yourpointis]

1 minute ago, Court said:

I couldn't even finish watching it. 

I feel like I should be rewarded for watching the whole performance. 

[JMarie99]

I'm going to miss Hunter too. He brought something different to the show. I didn't find him difficult understand as others did. And I'm old lol. Heck, I distinctly heard Jesse say "strawbwine" during his Whiskey song, and no one complains about his enunciation. 

I really hope Lauren wins this thing. People complain that she is boring, but she has such a pure beautiful tone. She has me hanging on every word. I'm not a country fan but she actually has me liking country music. I'm so tired of all the runs and vocal gymnastics. She is like breath of fresh air to me. 

[Dots And Stripes]

So not only was Adam apparently wrong about Jesse being the first 1 chair turn ever to make the finale, Jesse wasn't even the first 1 chair turn to make this season's finale. Chris was also a 1 chair turn. 

[JMarie99]

I think I tried to erase the Big BoI/Adam song from my mind. I suffered through the whole thing and. I'm sorry I did. Ugh. 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Technically, Chris was a one chair because only Alicia had a spot available to turn for him.

In the mythology of the show (and the judges minds) he was a sure fire, 4 chair (3 at minimum) turn had he gone early enough in the blind audition order...

**Lindsay Parker in her Yahoo recap school's Adam some more on his Jesse boasting, noting that both Ceelo and Gwen have advanced one chair contestants to a season finale previously. Nicholas David, and Jeffrey Austin respectively.

Edited May 17, 2017 by PhD-Purgatory15

[endure]

1 hour ago, yourpointis said:

The eliminations must have affected people in the worst way when no one is mentioning that horrible performance by Big Boi and Adam. Woof!

LOL I actually came on here to read what people said about the performance.  Adam looked so uncomfortable and out of place, I was beginning to think maybe he was being forced to perform at gunpoint.

[gingerandcloves]

Nooooooo...I'm so bummed Hunter and Brennley are gone. I do like both Chris and Lauren, and I don't mind Jesse and Aliyah, but I'm still sad that my two faves are gone.

[kathyk24]

I think Lauren will win. Blake will choose a duet that showcases her voice. I don't find her boring I think she doesn't need vocal tricks or theatrics to sound great. She was singing a sad song she would have ruined it by smiling or dancing on stage. She doesn't have to split votes with Brennly.

[waving feather]

5 hours ago, Dots And Stripes said:

So not only was Adam apparently wrong about Jesse being the first 1 chair turn ever to make the finale, Jesse wasn't even the first 1 chair turn to make this season's finale. Chris was also a 1 chair turn. 

Chris was because the other coaches had no more places in their teams, right? 

I'm glad Aliyah made it through. Between Jesse, Brennley and Hunter, I have no preference over who made it to the finale. It's not like they were fantastic in their semi final performances either, so. 

Chris or Lauren will be winning this.

[ladytenor]

6 hours ago, yourpointis said:

The eliminations must have affected people in the worst way when no one is mentioning that horrible performance by Big Boi and Adam. Woof!

I agree. My DVR was messing up and not letting me get to the recording, so I was afraid I was going to have to do On Demand which doesn't let you Fast Forward. I skipped both musical performances...not a big fan of DNCE either.

[Noreaster]

6 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

**Lindsay Parker in her Yahoo recap school's Adam some more on his Jesse boasting, noting that both Ceelo and Gwen have advanced one chair contestants to a season finale previously. Nicholas David, and Jeffrey Austin respectively.

It doesn't really matter but for Nicholas David, two coaches' teams were already full by the time of his audition.  It seemed like Adam just misspoke anyway.

I usually like reading Lyndsey Parker's recaps as she's pretty knowledgeable about the show and the music industry.  But this one read more like a crazed fan with all the conspiracy theories.   I guess she was really upset with the results.  

[TaraS1]

9 hours ago, JMarie99 said:

I'm going to miss Hunter too. He brought something different to the show. I didn't find him difficult understand as others did. And I'm old lol. Heck, I distinctly heard Jesse say "strawbwine" during his Whiskey song, and no one complains about his enunciation. 

He totally did.  I was like, "WTF was that word?"  That whole performance was just too twangy and precious for me.  I was really hoping Vanessa would get that last spot, but I was completely shocked that Jesse got it instead of Hunter.

Go Chris!

[Dots And Stripes]

1 hour ago, Noreaster said:

It doesn't really matter but for Nicholas David, two coaches' teams were already full by the time of his audition.  It seemed like Adam just misspoke anyway.  

He seemed pretty confident in his word choice. I don't know if Adam came up with that stat himself or if someone fed it to him and he ran with it, but I think it was exactly what he intended to say. I don't expect him to remember how many chairs everyone turned but he should have realized that stat didn't sound right. It was part of his pitch for why Jesse is so great and why he is so great for picking Jesse.

[yourpointis]

8 hours ago, endure said:

LOL I actually came on here to read what people said about the performance.  Adam looked so uncomfortable and out of place, I was beginning to think maybe he was being forced to perform at gunpoint.

Thank you for this visual. I will be giggling like a 12 year old school girl all day. 

[Noreaster]

16 minutes ago, Dots And Stripes said:

He seemed pretty confident in his word choice. I don't know if Adam came up with that stat himself or if someone fed it to him and he ran with it, but I think it was exactly what he intended to say. I don't expect him to remember how many chairs everyone turned but he should have realized that stat didn't sound right. It was part of his pitch for why Jesse is so great and why he is so great for picking Jesse.

I didn't watch it.  But what I meant was he likely wasn't deliberately feeding bad info especially on things that could be fact-checked.  I think his narrative/argument all season was how Jesse was going to be  the first 1-chair turn to win.  So this just seemed to be a continuation of that which turned out to not be completely accurate.  

[Nedsdag]

A part of me wants to throw the "Adam's contestant must go last so he can have someone in the finals" conspiracy theory out there, but it has been proven this season that whoever sings last in the Twitter save goes on to win it.

I finally saw Hunter's performance from the semifinals. WTF? All season he has been changing melodies on songs and for the semis, he decides to karaoke U2? No wonder he ended up in the Twitter sing off. Plus, I have heard stories that he wanted out of the show so he can "do his own music". Bravo, Buckaroo! Everyone on this show says this; however, they wait until AFTER the show has ended to admit this. Good riddance!

As for Brennley, everyone and their brother has a pretty good idea where she is going after this show: directly over to ABC to audition for American Idol. Why not? She already sang on America's Got Talent. Go for the trifecta. 

TBTH, this is probably the first time for me watching this show that there is no clear-cut favorite to win. The past few seasons have been a bore since the show's chosen one singers were literally picked to be winners from the first two blind audition shows. Lauren has been coasting for the past few weeks and Chris has gone from "will he be in the Twitter sing-off" to "shoot, he could win this thing". 

I have to give credit to both Blake and Aliyah for her getting this far. Whether it was the tears from last week, to the Jesus song she sang in the semifinals, both make a decent team in this competition. She was another one I didn't think would get this far, but it worked. As for Jesse, there was a lot of Leith/Sundance in him that he was a shoo-in for this. He won't win, but he fits a pattern of those older bluesy guys making it this far.

I turned off Adam and Big Boi, especially when I saw Adam's attempt at "dancing". 

[Keekski]

I thought Chris has been TCO all along. And that is exactly why I just check the boards after a certain point during the lives.

[Valny]

11 hours ago, Court said:

I couldn't even finish watching it. 

I didn't even WANT to watch, I immediately grabbed my remote and put on the Yankee game.

[waving feather]

I do have to give Hunter props for his instant save song. Most singers who attempt "Love Runs Out" sound like a hot buttered mess but he sounded great on the song. If he had sang like that (50% less stylized than his usual offering), I would have liked him so much better than I did through out the course of the show.

[Koalagirl]

Must be something seriously wrong with me.  I never remember Chris Blue or his performances.  I'm always surprised to see him.  Maybe it's selective facial recognition. 

[Sugar]

Adam's performance with Big Boi was embarrassing. If I were Jesse, I'd never let him tell me how to do anything ever again after seeing AND hearing that dreck. "I'm sorry, why are you qualified to be giving me singing advice?" Jesus, watching the whitest white guy that ever lived try to 'get down' with Big Boi was painful. And I say this as a fellow awkward white person.

I thought that was truly shittastic, but that was nothing compared with DNCE.

During their whole performance I thought they were a novelty act or prank, and that the real band would come out any minute. Nope, turns out they're just really fucking terrible! Between the lead singer's lack of singing, the bassist's homemade Tarzan costume, and the worst guitar solo I've ever heard, I cannot believe that someone gave these people a record contract. I've heard better music from my neighbour's shitty ass guitar band, and those are just 12 year olds who bang on things and scream. Jesus.

When the two "big name" acts can't hold a candle to even the worst contestant, it really tells you something about the state of the music industry.

I truly cannot say enough bad things about those performances.

As far as who got through: I liked Hunter but got bored of him by this week, so I was ok with him leaving. Love Jesse and was thrilled he made it. Chris Blue is good, and sings music I love, but I don't know where he'd go from here. Aaliyah is cute and has a killer voice, but I think Blake's song choices for her suck balls. Would have preferred Vanessa. Lauren has a beautiful voice but I don't like country, so "meh".

Did I blink and miss the Toyota commercial, or did they not do one last night?! :o

[lonestar]

Gwen's team didn't have a chance. Adam had one singer to tweet for and Gwen had two.  Even the tweet vote numbers speak to that, no way would twice as many people choose Jessie. It was not physically possible for re-tweet for 2 people as it is for 1 person.

[Court]

I think if Vanessa had been singing instead of Brennley, Hunter would have likely won the sing off.

I do think going last has an advantage, though. 

[Nalan]

1 hour ago, lonestar said:

Gwen's team didn't have a chance. Adam had one singer to tweet for and Gwen had two.  Even the tweet vote numbers speak to that, no way would twice as many people choose Jessie. It was not physically possible for re-tweet for 2 people as it is for 1 person.

 

14 minutes ago, Court said:

I think if Vanessa had been singing instead of Brennley, Hunter would have likely won the sing off.

I do think going last has an advantage, though. 

That's what I strongly suspect, too -- that Team Gwen fans split the votes, which gave Jesse an even huger advantage on top of going last.  Had Vanessa edged Brennley out, I do think Hunter could've pulled it out.  So Jesse essentially got extremely lucky circumstances.

[Palomar]

To be fair, they should have the 3 go in the order of their "votes", with the highest votes going last instead of Adam's contestant ALWAYS going last.  He does do a good job of pumping up his contestant....I give him that.  At least I am assuming Hunter had more votes initially than Jesse if you go by ITunes as a guide but then again maybe not.  I have nothing against Jesse but Hunter just seemed to bring something different to the table.  Oh well. 

[Noreaster]

1 hour ago, lonestar said:

Gwen's team didn't have a chance. Adam had one singer to tweet for and Gwen had two.  Even the tweet vote numbers speak to that, no way would twice as many people choose Jessie. It was not physically possible for re-tweet for 2 people as it is for 1 person.

Are you talking about vote-splitting?  If so, I don't think it's a big factor.  There have been way too many 3-person saves where two contestants are from the same team and one of them gets the save.  

31 minutes ago, Palomar said:

To be fair, they should have the 3 go in the order of their "votes", with the highest votes going last instead of Adam's contestant ALWAYS going last.  He does do a good job of pumping up his contestant....I give him that.  At least I am assuming Hunter had more votes initially than Jesse if you go by ITunes as a guide but then again maybe not.  I have nothing against Jesse but Hunter just seemed to bring something different to the table.  Oh well. 

Yeah, it's always kind of hard to say.  No vote transparency so we're always guessing and itunes has proven to be wrong enough times.  I remember Amy Vachal in season 9 who did very well in itunes all season long (including several top 10s) and she ended up getting instantly eliminated in the bloodbath and couldn't even sing for the save.  I get the sense that the indie artists and songs that are "flipped" tend to sell well but may not necessarily be getting a lot of votes.  Perhaps the same thing with Hunter?

[Noreaster]

In Lyndsey Parker's The Day After weekly chat with Jeffery Austin (season 9 finalist), she sounds more calm and they kind of put to rest some of the conspiracy theories.  Jeffery provided some insight on the song choice process and how he believes the producers really do try to help the contestants do their best on the show.  I think it's worth a listen (at least the first 10 minutes or so) if you're interested in the behind-the-scenes stuff.

[Dots And Stripes]

6 hours ago, lonestar said:

Gwen's team didn't have a chance. Adam had one singer to tweet for and Gwen had two.  Even the tweet vote numbers speak to that, no way would twice as many people choose Jessie. It was not physically possible for re-tweet for 2 people as it is for 1 person.

I think more people vote for the artist than the team. If people only voted for the team, TSoul would have been voted in to the finale with Lauren and Aliyah. It didn't help to have 2 Team Gwen members competing but I don't think it was fatal. I definitely don't think it made it twice as hard for Hunter or Brennley to stay. They each should have developed their own fanbase. 

4 hours ago, Palomar said:

To be fair, they should have the 3 go in the order of their "votes", with the highest votes going last instead of Adam's contestant ALWAYS going last.  He does do a good job of pumping up his contestant....I give him that.  At least I am assuming Hunter had more votes initially than Jesse if you go by ITunes as a guide but then again maybe not.  I have nothing against Jesse but Hunter just seemed to bring something different to the table.  Oh well. 

I think this system sounds good in theory but in execution it could be a mess. I suspect it would be difficult to prepare production and keep the artists in danger a complete secret. I  think having a stable, knowable order is probably helpful to production. Also if the highest vote getter goes last, I think that would be demoralizing for the first artist. 

[Valny]

I didn't know they have these after the elimination videos. I always want to see what happens after the show ends.

[tpplay]

Why are so many of these responses being posted over and over again?

[bluepiano]

10 hours ago, Sugar said:

I thought that was truly shittastic, but that was nothing compared with DNCE.

During their whole performance I thought they were a novelty act or prank, and that the real band would come out any minute. Nope, turns out they're just really fucking terrible! Between the lead singer's lack of singing, the bassist's homemade Tarzan costume, and the worst guitar solo I've ever heard, I cannot believe that someone gave these people a record contract. I've heard better music from my neighbour's shitty ass guitar band, and those are just 12 year olds who bang on things and scream. Jesus.

When the two "big name" acts can't hold a candle to even the worst contestant, it really tells you something about the state of the music industry.

Every word you say is so true. I DVR the show so I was able to fast forward through that crap, but holy cow, were those the best two acts they could hire? How ironic that on the semi-final results night for a show called "The Voice" they have two acts with not a single person who can actually, you know, sing.

This has been true way too often for both The Voice and American Idol over the years. The judges dissect the vocal performances of the contestants and hold them to certain standards, and then the big name musical guest comes out and proves that you can make millions in the music business with little to no talent.

For me this has been a disappointing season. No one's been overly impressive. My favorite of the ones who made it deep into the season was Vanessa, and she didn't even get to sing for the last save, which surprised me. I guess it's hard to beat out a young blonde country singer, but for me Brenley isn't remotely in her league.

Aliyah is a talented 15 year old, but I don't like the way the show's handled her. Too many heavy, serious songs that don't give her a chance to show the fun side she displayed in her blind audition with "Hound Dog." I really wish the age minimum was 18.

I've gotten to hate "Tennessee Whiskey" as it's been done to death on these shows, but strategically it was very smart of Jessie (or Adam) to go with a country song in the sing-off rather than with a blues or rock tune.

Lauren Duski has a beautiful voice, with almost the purity of an Emmy Lou Harris, so though I'm not a big country fan I'd be happy seeing her win.

Probably the best thing you can say for this season is that there was never an almost certain winner from early on, as there's been in several recent seasons.

Edited May 18, 2017 by bluepiano

[Noreaster]

5 hours ago, bluepiano said:

I've gotten to hate "Tennessee Whiskey" as it's been done to death on these shows, but strategically it was very smart of Jessie (or Adam) to go with a country song in the sing-off rather than with a blues or rock tune.

Based on a few different contestant interviews, it doesn't seem like the coaches are involved in the save songs.  Jeffery Austin said that for his season, the contestants had to choose from a list and then lock down their instant save songs at the Top 24 stage.  

I thought all three instant save performances were pretty good this week.  Actually liked Jesse's the least as I just don't care for country.  But obviously on this show, a significant number of viewers do.  

Would Jesse's I Was Wrong song on Monday be considered country?  I looked it up and it's by Chris Stapleton who's a country artist.  If so, that's the type of country music I like.  

So just randomly, in case people here might appreciate, I was in Trader Joe's recently and heard a bluegrass version of Purple Rain which I thought was really cool.  Looked it up online later and it seems to be by Dwight Yoakum.  Reminded me of the country guy who flipped the Cher song in this year's blind auditions.