S13.E06: The Blind Auditions, Part 6

[Star Aristille]

From TV Guide:

The auditions conclude as the final vocalists perform for coaches Adam Levine, Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Hudson, and Blake Shelton.

This is a one-hour episode and the final episode of the Blinds.

[Jabu]

Final team rosters/cheat sheets going into the Battles:

Team Adam
Dave Crosby (3)
Brandon Showell (3)
Dylan Gerard (2)
Hannah Mrozak (3)
Adam Pearce (2)
Anthony Alexander (3)
Emily Luther (3)
Brandon Brown (3)
Whitney Fenimore (2)
Jon Mero (4)
Michael Kight (1)
Gary Carpentier (1)

Team Miley
Janice Freeman (2)
Brooke Simpson (4)
Ashland Craft (3)
Shilo Gold (2)
Addison Agen (2)
Moriah Formica (4)
Sophia Bollman (2)
Karli Webster (2)
Chloe Kohanski (3)
Ilianna Viramontes (2)
Katrina Rose (1)*
Megan Rose (2)

Team Jennifer
Chris Weaver (4)
Shi'Ann Jones (2)
Lucas Holliday (1)
Maharasyi (2)
Davon Fleming (4)
Kathrina Feigh (2)
Alexandra Joyce (3)*
Eric Lyn (1)*
Stephan Marcellus (1)
Ignatious Carmouche (2)
Meagan McNeal (1)
Jeremiah Miller (2)

Team Blake
Mitchell Lee (3)
Esera Tuaolo (2)
Keisha Renee (4)
Red Marlow (2)
Adam Cunningham (2)
Noah Mac (2)
Anna Catherine DeHart (2)*
Dennis Drummond (2)
Rebecca Brunner (1)
Natalie Stovall (1)*
Ryan Scripps (1)*
Kristi Hoopes (3)

Names in bold indicate an artist who has newly been added to a team.  Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of chairs to turn for each artist.  An asterisk indicates that this artist's Blind was montaged.

[Star Aristille]

Well, as with most final Blind episodes, this felt like a bunch of simple fodder -- simple filler auditions before we head on into the Battles.  But nonetheless, there was a Blind or two (for me, at least) to enjoy.

So the final performances for this round:

Kristi Hoopes: Very good voice, and definitely a good performance.  Definitely a true country girl.  She had a very good amount of control, and a very rich tone to her voice.  Based on that, Blake was very clearly the right one to choose.  And she was a very fitting person to complete his team.

Michael Kight: As much as I don't like Adam (like, at all), "Sugar" is one of the few Maroon 5 songs to which I'll listen.  That said, he did a decent job with the song -- hell, even better than Adam -- and gave it a very fresh spin.  But really, a one-chair-turn was inevitable if only because a.) his voice was good, but not really great enough for more than one coach to turn, and b.) it was one of Adam's songs.  Very rarely does a coach not turn for his own song, and that usually means that that coach is going to get picked no matter what.

Jeremiah Miller: Was shocked to see him actually pick up his own father!  But going on to the performance, it was very solid.  Not exactly mind-blowing, but easy and decent enough.  I was all right with it.  I'm actually a bit surprised that he didn't go with Adam, but considering how important his faith was to him, maybe Jennifer was the right choice.  I think she'll do right by him.  Nice way to complete her team.

Serina Rae: I think she started out well, but I think she should've just stayed either all in English or all in Spanish, a la Elia Esparza in season eleven.  It sucks that she pulled such a risky, ballsy, unnecessary move.  Like Miley said, I think it demonstrated a total lack of control over her voice.  Or, rather, her performance.  Her voice wasn't bad, though, and I think she really might've landed on a team had she come earlier in the rotation.  Another no-chair-turn I hope comes back at a later date.

Megan Rose: A little surprised she was held over till the end of the Blinds.  I found her voice and her performance very pleasing to the ear.  There was some great strength to her voice, nice power, and amazing control.  Since Blake's team was full, it was obvious that Miley was the next best option.  And yes, now that she's picked her, not only is Miley's team full, but she does indeed have a team of twelve women.  It's the show's first-ever same-sex post-Blinds team!  Now to see how she'll fare on it.  Since Miley only has one other country singer on her team, I imagine that Megan will be pitted against Ashland Craft just so things are even.  But we'll see.

Gary Carpentier: That was an okay performance of a Michael Bublé song.  He seemed to drop off a fair bit after Adam turned his chair, though.  He managed to pull it back together and deliver a passable, acceptable performance.  A fair ending to the Blinds, but as the final Blind, how long can he last on Team Adam?  We'll see.

So the Blinds are complete.  Onward come the Battles.  The advisors look to be Joe Jonas for Team Adam, Billy Ray Cyrus for Team Miley, Kelly Rowland for Team Jennifer, and Rascal Flatts for Team Blake.  And it looks like some of the pairings were shown to us right away:

Team Adam
Brandon Brown vs. Jon Mero

Team Miley
Addison Agen vs. Karli Webster
Janice Freeman vs. Katrina Rose
Ashland Craft vs. Megan Rose (so I was right about this one!)
Moriah Formica vs. Shilo Gold

Team Jennifer
Lucas Holliday vs. Meagan McNeal
Davon Fleming vs. Maharasyi
Shi'Ann Jones vs. Stephan Marcellus
Chris Weaver vs. Kathrina Feigh

Team Blake
Keisha Renee vs. Noah Mac

Hopefully, the team videos will be released soon and reveal all the rest to us, as well.

Decent, though not great, episode to close out the Blinds.  Bring on the Battles!

[Mystery Author]

Re: Jeremiah Miller (I hope that's the right name). I was clearing the supper dishes so I didn't see him, only heard him. And thought: No one will turn for that nasal, off-key kid.

Imagine my surprise. Can you say pandering? Shame on you, Jennifer Hudson. If you have to pimp with religion to gratify a religious kid and lure him on to your team, I don't respect you anymore.

[Sugar]

I, for one, am not impressed by Miley's "all female" team. I don't see how that's powerful or groundbreaking. I agree with Adam that you'd only get lost there. (Still love Miley though)

Very unimpressed by the singers in this episode; I could find better people at my local coffee shop or bar. It's all very 'middle of the road'. Really, this is the best their talent scouts could find??

Also, that stupid hat that all the indie chicks wear? Can someone PLEASE burn them all? The judges see a young woman wearing one of those hats and they're all "oh, you're so unique, you're so different". Um, what? How about the 8 other girls in hats who literally just came before her?

Oh, and the battle preview they showed; a guy and girl from Jennifer's team singing Dangerous Woman? That's exactly why I didn't want her as a coach. Yelling, screaming, over-singing; runs up the wazoo, and every damn trick in the book. I'm already over it, and it hasn't even been aired!

Sorry, y'all. I think someone must have pissed in my cornflakes.

P.S. I need to find out which movie Billy Ray Cyrus has been in and watch it immediately.  UPDATE: I have just discovered his tv show, "Doc". It's gold, Jerry!




 

[vb68]

41 minutes ago, Sugar said:

I, for one, am not impressed by Miley's "all female" team. I don't see how that's powerful or groundbreaking. I agree with Adam that you'd only get lost there. (Still love Miley though)

I thought it was a little weird that Miley's pitch was all about the team and not her as an individual singer. I guess that was just the way it was edited, but I didn't get the appeal of it from an competitive angle.  

I couldn't believe someone sang Ode to Billie Joe. Talk about old fashioned. But it's cool someone that young knows it.

[bluepiano]

8 hours ago, Sugar said:

I, for one, am not impressed by Miley's "all female" team. I don't see how that's powerful or groundbreaking. I agree with Adam that you'd only get lost there. (Still love Miley though)

Very unimpressed by the singers in this episode; I could find better people at my local coffee shop or bar. It's all very 'middle of the road'. Really, this is the best their talent scouts could find??

Also, that stupid hat that all the indie chicks wear? Can someone PLEASE burn them all? The judges see a young woman wearing one of those hats and they're all "oh, you're so unique, you're so different". Um, what? How about the 8 other girls in hats who literally just came before her?

Oh, and the battle preview they showed; a guy and girl from Jennifer's team singing Dangerous Woman? That's exactly why I didn't want her as a coach. Yelling, screaming, over-singing; runs up the wazoo, and every damn trick in the book. I'm already over it, and it hasn't even been aired!

Sorry, y'all. I think someone must have pissed in my cornflakes.
 

Mine too, because I agree with everything you said. I know, "girl power" and all that, but do these women not realize that they will be going against each other? It's an individual competition, not a team sport, so let's see how long the solidarity lasts. Adam was right about her getting lost, and also right when he pointed out to one of the country singers that they would get lost on Blake's team. I get the attraction of Blake to the country singers, but if you are not one of his favorites you're slated for an early exit.

I was also unimpressed, but I think there are a few singers who probably would've gotten chair turns if they were on in the first or second week? But Jeremiah the wrestler? Totally don't get his appeal. There were better singers in the first week that didn't get picked.

I go to a lot of live music shows where I live, and don't see the young women performers wearing those stupid hats, so don't know what it is about this show. Maybe they're copying past contestants who have been successful.

Like you, already bored with the over-singing, and think we'll see tons more of it from JHud as she coaches her team.

7 hours ago, vb68 said:

I couldn't believe someone sang Ode to Billie Joe. Talk about old fashioned. But it's cool someone that young knows it.

As a song it kicks the butt of 99% of the current country songs that get performed on this show.

[sugarbaker design]

7 minutes ago, bluepiano said:

As a song it kicks the butt of 99% of the current country songs that get performed on this show.

Word.

One of my favorites.

[Rachel RSL]

12 hours ago, Mystery Author said:

Can you say pandering? Shame on you, Jennifer Hudson. If you have to pimp with religion to gratify a religious kid and lure him on to your team, I don't respect you anymore.

I don't see how that is pandering at all. That's like saying:  "I no longer respect Blake for luring people on to his team by pimping with his country roots to gratify country singers." 

10 hours ago, Sugar said:

Also, that stupid hat that all the indie chicks wear? Can someone PLEASE burn them all? The judges see a young woman wearing one of those hats and they're all "oh, you're so unique, you're so different". Um, what? How about the 8 other girls in hats who literally just came before her?

THIS! I hate those stupid hats. They don't even look good. On anyone.

[vb68]

Personally I like J Hud.  I can see where she's not for everybody, but most of Blake's and Adam's antics are so tired to me, and I like that she doesn't hang back. I bet she really is a decent coach, too.

[viajero]

I don't think Mylie initially set out to get an all-female team.  She only seemed to decide to go for it once she got down towards the end and already had 9 or 10 women.  She turned around for plenty of guys earlier on.  In any case, I do think she ended up with one of the stronger teams, including a couple of potential contenders in Moriah Formica and Ashland Craft, as well as several others who could turn out to be pretty good.

I thought that the clip from that Dangerous Woman battle sounded good.  By their very nature, the battles are going to encourage a degree of over-singing.  But I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing given the right song and contestants who have the necessary power and range.

As far as this episode goes, the only one who might not be fodder was Kristi Hoopes (hat and all).   The rest were fairly unremarkable.

Edited October 11, 2017 by viajero

[MillionReasons]

As other posters have said, song choice is very important to me.  If I can't relate to a song at all it is difficult for me to pay attention, let alone evaluate or critique.  I have five favorites at this time.  Four of them made song choices that resonated with me and the other sang something that is not a personal favorite but is familiar.

In the order they appeared (maybe not exact but close) they are: Janice Freeman (Radioactive), Brooke Simpson (Stone Cold), Esera Tualo (Rise Up), Meagan McNeal (Can't Feel My Face) and Jon Mero (Versace).  "Stone Cold" and "Face" (the relationship interpretation not the addiction one) are relevant to me personally.  Although I am more familiar with other Andra Day songs, such as "Red Flags" and "Gold",  I was surprised and pleased with Esera's choice.

Maybe I hallucinated this, but during one of the blinds segments,  I thought I heard Miley say, more than once, that she wanted to win with "country".  IIRC that ideation evidently disappeared.

[Star Aristille]

14 hours ago, Sugar said:

I, for one, am not impressed by Miley's "all female" team.

Well, on the Team Miley video, every single member of the team is, so since they are, that's all that matters.

[viajero]

3 hours ago, Star Aristille said:

Well, on the Team Miley video, every single member of the team is, so since they are, that's all that matters.

I really enjoyed the Team Miley video.  I like it when its obvious that the contestants are having a blast.  The other team videos were okay, but this one was my favorite.

[Star Aristille]

7 hours ago, MillionReasons said:

Maybe I hallucinated this, but during one of the blinds segments,  I thought I heard Miley say, more than once, that she wanted to win with "country".  IIRC that ideation evidently disappeared.

She said it to Ashland Craft, who ultimately chose her.  She apparently also said it to Megan Rose (Megan herself confirmed it), but that was cut, for some reason.

Edited October 12, 2017 by Star Aristille

[AntAnn]

I also recall Miley making her “country” claim. I guess she changed her mind when the “country” guys went with Blake. Plus, how will she keep an all “girl” team once the knockouts and steals start? Miley is just so immature and entitled, IMHO.

[bluepiano]

1 hour ago, AntAnn said:

I also recall Miley making her “country” claim.

She called herself "The Queen of Country." A pretty dubious claim, I would say. I know she was born in Nashville, and who her father and Godmother are, but does anyone even think of her as a country artist?

[Star Aristille]

1 hour ago, AntAnn said:

I also recall Miley making her “country” claim. I guess she changed her mind when the “country” guys went with Blake. Plus, how will she keep an all “girl” team once the knockouts and steals start? Miley is just so immature and entitled, IMHO.

And that's her fault that all of the country guys and many country girls pick him, oftentimes to their own detriment?  No.  Not really.  I really don't see how that makes her immature or entitled.

And sure, she can keep an all-female team.  All she has to do is steal more women.  It's, like, that obvious.

[AntAnn]

Miley made a pretty big proclamation with her county statement; only to drop it and take up another cause is immature, IMO. Claiming she is the queen because of her Dad and Godmother seems entitled to me. 

[Padma]

As far as I can tell, Miley has an all-woman team just because she lost out on all her pitches to guys. However, I give her credit for embracing it and trying to turn it into some kind of special thing rather than an example of failure.

And from the video viajero posted, I think she'll make it work, so good for her. Her team seems to be having a great time together and actually makes me like the idea of all women, (feminist here, happy to see women working supportively together as a group, not the catty bitchiness that you see portrayed all over television). I haven't followed the blinds carefully enough to know how strong the team is, but I hope they do well.

[sharifa70]

On 10/11/2017 at 1:06 AM, Sugar said:

Also, that stupid hat that all the indie chicks wear? Can someone PLEASE burn them all? The judges see a young woman wearing one of those hats and they're all "oh, you're so unique, you're so different". Um, what? How about the 8 other girls in hats who literally just came before her?
 

This made me snort-laugh. I've been taking screen shots of the Hat Girls and mocking their Quirky Uniqueness to a couple of my friends (and my dad). I picture the producers going "She has a Unique Voice/Backstory, just like those fifteen other girls. You know what she needs? The Hat!"

ON 10/11/2017 AT 9:17 PM, BLUEPIANO SAID:

She called herself "The Queen of Country." A pretty dubious claim, I would say. I know she was born in Nashville, and who her father and Godmother are, but does anyone even think of her as a country artist?

I don't think she meant that she's The Queen of Country, full stop. I think she was only talking about herself in the context of the show. Given who her godmother is, I'd say her country connections for her contestants are at least as good as Blake's. The question is whether she's willing to tap those connections.

Edited October 15, 2017 by sharifa70