S06.E20: Live Top 10 Eliminations 2014.04.29

[Lily Adler]

Talk about the results here. Personally glad that Bria is gone.

[pivot]

Thrilled Bria is gone. Wish Tess would have picked a different save song. Pink is a killer on this show for some reason. Not that it likely would have mattered. At least she got more saves than Bria.

 

Usher and Shakira have really, really got to pick perfect songs next week to get their contestants to the finale.

 

I really hope this isn't a repeat of season 4 where all of Blake's team made it way too far into the competition. Audra and Jake should be leaving us next week along with Delvin from Team Adam.

[Joystickenvy]

Based purely on vocals, Jake shoulda gone, but not surprised he escaped B3. Fine with Bria & Tess exit. Kat had the better SFYL performance. Bria's was terrible. Tess was Tess. I don't know why people sing Pink songs on these shows. They aren't singer's songs and the only person that I've heard cover Pink that didn't suffer by comparison was Kelly Clarkson, who kinda sounds like Pink anyway.

Favorite moment was Delvin's Tina Turner mullet.

Both group performances were a hot mess with Usher's being the hottest mess of them all. Kristen sounded good on the bits she got to sing by herself at least.

[Lily Adler]

Thrilled Bria is gone. Wish Tess would have picked a different save song. Pink is a killer on this show for some reason. Not that it likely would have mattered. At least she got more saves than Bria.

 

Usher and Shakira have really, really got to pick perfect songs next week to get their contestants to the finale.

 

I really hope this isn't a repeat of season 4 where all of Blake's team made it way too far into the competition. Audra and Jake should be leaving us next week along with Delvin from Team Adam.

To be fair Tessanne sang Pink's Try for her blind audition and won.

[pivot]

That is true. I still say that was one of her weaker performances. Pink just doesn't work for these shows as the songs need more attitude and less glory notes.

[Lily Adler]

I'm getting shivers now. Do you think Kat or Christina will try a Pink song later this season?

[pivot]

Haven't they run out of them to sing by now?

 

I think Christina is smart enough to stay away from them and I think Pink is too poppy for Kat, but with Adam picking the songs you never know. On the other hand, Kat is pretty much leaving next week no matter what so it won't matter.

[Lily Adler]

If Pink is the show killer choice than I hope Christina picks her. I know I'm evil, but hey with Bria gone I'm feeling optimistic. =p

[nbsmom]

 

I'm getting shivers now. Do you think Kat or Christina will try a Pink song later this season?

With the right arrangement (meaning, backing all the way off and almost acoustic), I'll bet Sisaundra could do a very capable job of "Glitter in the Air." With Kat, it doesn't matter, as she's probably only here for one more week. Would be interested to see what Christina would do with something like "Whadya Want from Me", which was a P!nk song sung by Adam Lambert.

 

Kind of related: Not sure what happened to Ryan Tedder. Wasn't he supposed to be more heavily involved this season? Or is he supposed to be Adam's replacement for S7?

Edited April 30, 2014 by nbsmom

[Lily Adler]

If I remember correctly, there was a contestant from season three that sang Whaddaya Want From Me or however you spell it, in the Battle Rounds and won. He then lost in the Knockout Rounds after singing Taylor Swift's Back to December.

Edited April 30, 2014 by Lily Adler

[MizArk]

I thought Michelle Chamuelle did a good job with Pink's songs. But I liked Michelle's voice.

 

As for last night, I'm not sure it much matters what SFYL song the bottom 3 pick. I think people have already made up their minds who they want to save -- obviously the west coast where they vote without even seeing the results show yet. Still, I like it when they do well on the last song and go out proudly. I still just don't really have a strong favorite this season as I have in seasons past. Maybe I need to imitate the judges and take a season break.

[MelsW]

I was surprised that Bria was at the bottom percentage-wise with the Twitter save. I guess I overestimated her fan base, as I thought it was going to be Kat and Tess leaving. I am glad to see Bria gone, as she has really stunk up the place the last couple performances. Maybe she lost her powers once they took away the guitar necklace. Jake has been pretty bad too and butchered that George Strait song on Monday, so he is in my crosshairs for elimination next week unless he really gets his shit together, stat.

[leighdear]

 

Favorite moment was Delvin's Tina Turner mullet.

OMG, that was hysterical!  The whole "Confessions" thing was the best part of the show.

 

All 3 bottom girls have real problems with those lower registers.  Just NOT good for any of them. 

[kj4ever]

I think this show proves that many of us have put to much stock into the whole previous fanbase/twitter followers.  Shakira has more Twitter followers than everyone put together and couldn't get Tess saved.  Interesting thing was minutes after both her and Adam posted for their peeps Shak's had like 1,500 retweets and Adam's had 9,000.  I guess it isn't the size, it's how you use it :)

[pivot]

Most of Shakira's twitter fans are outside the U.S. and aren't watching the show. I don't think their tweets count either.

 

But I think only Blake's fans slavishly vote for his contestants no matter how bad they are.

[MissScarlett]

Jake Worthington belonged in the bottom 3 last night, darn it!  If you butcher a George Strait song, to the bottom 3 you go! 

 

I was a bit surprised to see Kat there... but not surprised that she was saved. 

 

Bria Kelly was one of my favorites going into this and after the last two weeks dropped from favorites status.  How is it possible that someone actually gets worse after coaching?  Did he maybe not understand her as an artist?  Or does her guitar have some kind of special powers of persuasion?

[pivot]

Both Judith Hill and Sarah Simmons got worse with Adam's coaching. Some contestants can never match their blind auditions or Bria's guitar does have some kind of special powers to turn crap singing into beautiful music.

[ToxicUnicorn]

I loved Bria in her blind audition, too, MissScarlett.  As it turned out, I'm glad her run was cut short.  Maybe not short enough - it feels like she might have been better off if she hadn't moved forward at all.  I can't remember thinking before that someone might actually damage themselves by appearing on this show.

 

Not sad to see Tess go.  She's talented, but not enough.  I think much the same of Kat.  I'm even beginning to think the same of Jake, although I think he has more potential than the other two.

 

Still hoping Kristen makes it to final 3.  I think it'd be a great story if she were the dark horse who won it all.

[kj4ever]

Both Judith Hill and Sarah Simmons got worse with Adam's coaching. Some contestants can never match their blind auditions or Bria's guitar does have some kind of special powers to turn crap singing into beautiful music.

You beat me to it Pivot!  I will never understand how he gets so many four chair turns when he took two of the best contestants ever on the show and made them mediocre....

Edited April 30, 2014 by kj4ever

[SnarkGhost]

I think that Bria's voice is fairly genre bound.  She sounds great when allowed to do the style that her voice sounds great on.  She doesn't sound too great outside of the box.  Having Bria sing non-gritty or non-bluesy songs is a losing proposition.  Not a knock on Bria, however, as I like her when she is doing the kind of songs that she is comfortable with.

 

I think that most of Blake's country singers would have the same problem, but Blake doesn't try to bump them out of their niche.   In fact, with his country singers, he probably does a good job of identifying specific styles/artists within country and pushing them in that direction.

 

I'm not particularly upset with last nights results.  Of the 3 who were in danger, Kat definitely deserved the save.   I've got to believe that Jake's time is coming soon unless he can really work on his pitch and enunciation.

[Joystickenvy]

You beat me to it Pivot!  I will never understand how he gets so many four chair turns when he took two of the best contestants ever on the show and made them mediocre....

I particularly don't get why any female R&B artist ever chooses him. He is the absolute worst when it comes to taking a front runner and picking horrible songs for them until they get eliminated mid-season.

All of the coaches are pretty bad about picking songs though. I'm not sure if it's pure ineptitude or producer manipulation.

[MaryPatShelby]

I was just thinking about Ryan Tedder today too, for some reason. Wasn't he supposed to be the in-house songwriter or similar? Though I suppose that doesn't matter til the finals, if it means (like last year) he wrote the champion's celebratory song.

[daughtersofanarchy]

I was okay with seeing both Bria and Tess go.

 

Maybe Bria's guitar belongs in Warehouse 13.

 

This is the first season I really and truly don't have a favorite to win.  I guess I'd narrow it down to Josh or Kristen, but that's based more on who I wouldn't want to see win.  heh

[Lily Adler]

The first season where I didn't have a clear favorite would have been three. I liked most of the contestants, but wasn't enamored by them as I was with Juliet and Jamar from season two. I'm rooting for "anyone but Christina" to win it all.

[ToxicUnicorn]

It didn't even dawn on me that Blake and Adam still had 3 contestants left, each.  Yuck.  I wish they wouldn't do so well relative to the other coaches (and I'm not sure why they do).  It must be disheartening, on some level, for Shakira and Usher each to be down to one.

That said, I like Shakira's Kristen and Usher's Josh better than anyone else.  From Adam's team, I suppose I like Christina best.  I had no idea who she was before the show, but Delvin's style (not him, personally, he seems perfectly nice) ticks me off, and Kat is a "nice try, thanks for playing" kind of contestant to me.  Blake's team is more of a toss up.  He always seems to have solid talent that doesn't particularly blow me away.

[Lily Adler]

My prediction is Blake will actually win this season. Unless Shakira or Usher introduce a "dark horse", I like Kristen a lot but don't think she's THE ONE, I don't see them winning despite how good Josh may be. Adam will most likely make it far, but we'll get a "shocking" elimination where his team is nearly decimated.

[SnarkGhost]

If Blake wins this season, I think it pretty much has to be with Sisaundra.

 

Jake and Audra, though they have their moments, just don't sing in key often enough, and usually America weeds out the off-pitch contestants.   It's still a popularity contest, but its usually a popularity contest between equally bland but talented singers.  

[kj4ever]

I know that Adam and Christina to some degree usually get a lot of crap for their group performances and how they relegate their team to background singers, but NOTHING they have ever done could even touch that Team Shakira performance last night.  Tess and Kristen might as well have not been there.

[SnarkGhost]

I know that Adam and Christina to some degree usually get a lot of crap for their group performances and how they relegate their team to background singers, but NOTHING they have ever done could even touch that Team Shakira performance last night.  Tess and Kristen might as well have not been there.

 

And on top of that, it really couldn't compete with Usher's group performance, which was pretty awesome.

[Lily Adler]

I don't think any of the group performances will ever top Cee Lo's from the early seasons.

[SnarkGhost]

Not with these coaches.

 

Imagine the fun that would ensue if Gaga or Adam Lambert coached for a season, however...

[Lily Adler]

Dear Lord. Imagine all that glitter and lace. =p

[cosmic1]

The show may as well eliminate the 4 coaches concept and have it be between Adam and Blake every season. I find it very boring and this may be the last season I watch.

I liked Bria because she reminds me of Susie Tedeschi, who has an awesome voice. I can't say that anyone is consistently impressing me. I think Sisaundra is probably the best singer and i really like Audra's voice. I like Kristen too. Josh has a great voice, but I hate those porkpie hats that he wears and I don't want him to win if he insists on looking like a hipster doofus (tm'd by Seinfeld).

[Lily Adler]

Well, Adam is leaving, so that should even the playing field between the coaches. They all can't go after Blake.

Edited May 1, 2014 by Lily Adler

[bluepiano]

I liked Bria because she reminds me of Susie Tedeschi, who has an awesome voice.

That's a great comparison, and I think it's definitely how she saw herself - the guitar playing blues/rock chick. That's how she came across in her great blinds performance of "Steamroller Blues." Unfortunately, Usher, who is supposed to have some understanding of blues, seems to have completely missed that. He gave her these clichéd power rock screamer songs. "Crazy on You" was from before Bria was born. The blues is timeless, but those old rock songs feel really dated. It made her sound like she was in some Vegas lounge "Legends of Rock" show.

 

The songs choices have been pretty uniformly terrible this year, with a few rare exceptions. (Blake of all people has done pretty well with Sisaundra. Really liked "New York State of Mind," but then I'm old). At this point song choice, or even performance, probably doesn't matter. People have decided who they like, and it's all about voting blocs. That's why even though Jake's last couple of performances have been really weak he's still around. And probably will continue to be for a while. And why even if Delvin absolutely kills his next performance he's still going home. I can't imagine that he's got the same kind of solid voting bloc like Christina, Jake, or probably Josh.

 

But God, why doesn't someone tell Josh how much better he looks without the hat that makes him look like every dweeby dude you see hanging out in your local hipster coffee shop? I initially assumed he was trying to hide the fact that he's going bald, but he actually has a nice head of hair, and without the hat looks almost handsome.. I also hate Kat's nose ring, which I realize is pretty small as nose rings go, but still makes her look like your middle aged aunt who's desperately trying to be hip.

 

While I'm being shallow, maybe this show really is about "the voice," because this season started out with an all-time record amount of female eye candy, and now they're all gone.

Edited May 3, 2014 by bluepiano

[pivot]

 

The songs choices have been pretty uniformly terrible this year, with a few rare exceptions. (Blake of all people has done pretty well with Sisaundra. Really liked "New York State of Mind," but then I'm old).

 

Sisaundra picked that song out. The contestants got to pick their songs out for the live playoffs.

 

I think Blake's song choices have been horrible as usual. Audra's been singing the same song for 2 weeks now. Jake's songs are just all wrong for his voice and his mumbly problem. I love the song she sang on Monday but it was dated and cheesy. Not surprised it got so few downloads.

 

I've liked a handful of song choices this season:

Adam - Kat's song last week, Delvin's song this week

Blake - None

Shakira - Both of Kristen's songs, Dani's song last week

Usher - Josh's song last week

 

I do think Adam and Usher are trying to follow the Blake path to winning by picking boring, safe songs that don't let the contestants step outside of their box. It makes for boring tv but that's how Blake wins each season.

[aradia22]

Why do all of Shakira's songs from this new album sound so derivative?

 

Bria wasn't ready but I'm impressed by how much Usher managed to improve her singing. 

 

The confessional was very cute. Ear wiggling. Mullet Tina Turner. They do a good job putting those together and I much prefer them to all the lame attempts at checking in backstage in the lounge and engaging with social media that we used to get. I don't think they've quite refined the magic formula yet but they're close. The instant twitter save is probably the least offensive way they can get all the tweets they want without driving the people watching the show crazy.

 

I do not get what is happening with Kristen and her father. I wonder if she filmed a ton of interview segments that would make this make more sense that we didn't see because they didn't show so many of her full performances.

 

I hope Usher never gave Bieber that "what you are is amazing because you say you are" advice.

 

As for the final sing off, Tess did the worst simply because she was drowned out for most of the song. Bria had some issues but it was solidly average. Kat was so far ahead of the other two it was ridiculous. I wish she did more songs like the one she performed because I'd probably be a bigger fan of hers if she did. My only struggle with Kat is that she's technically good but doesn't have a striking, unique sound while also not really being a great "interpreter" of songs. It just leaves me feeling a little flat after her performances.