S13.E09: The Battles, Part 3

[Guest]

The Battles, Part 3

[viajero]

Now this is a truly fantastic battle.  We had some good ones last Monday, but this is easily my favorite so far this season.  I sure hope there is a steal, because neither of these girls deserves to go home.

 

[Star Aristille]

I was just coming here to link that Battle and see it here already!  Neat!

Both did really well, but I might've preferred Karli by just a hair.  Still, Addison was excellent, too.  Win or lose, I agree that both girls deserve a steal.

[Jabu]

Current team rosters/cheat sheets:

Team Adam
Adam Pearce (defeated Whitney Fenimore)
Hannah Mrozak (defeated Brandon Showell)
Dylan Gerard (defeated Dave Crosby)*
Jon Mero (defeated Brandon Brown)
Emily Luther (defeated Gary Carpentier)*
Anthony Alexander (defeated Michael Kight)
Dennis Drummond (stolen from Team Blake)
Addison Agen (stolen from Team Miley)

Team Miley
Moriah Formica (defeated Shilo Gold)
Brooke Simpson (defeated Sophia Bollman)
Chloe Kohanski (defeated Ilianna Viramontes)*
Karli Webster (defeated Addison Agen)
Janice Freeman (defeated Katrina Rose)
Whitney Fenimore (stolen from Team Adam)
Stephan Marcellus (stolen from Team Jennifer)

(Still Waiting)
Ashland Craft
Megan Rose

Team Jennifer
Lucas Holliday (defeated Meagan McNeal)
Chris Weaver (defeated Kathrina Feigh)
Davon Fleming (defeated Maharasyi)
Jeremiah Miller (defeated Alexandra Joyce)*
Shi'Ann Jones (defeated Stephan Marcellus)
Noah Mac (stolen from Team Blake)
Katrina Rose (stolen from Team Miley)

(Still Waiting)
Eric Lyn
Ignatious Carmouche

Team Blake
Keisha Renee (defeated Noah Mac)
Esera Tuaolo (defeated Rebecca Brunner)*
Mitchell Lee (defeated Dennis Drummond)
Red Marlow (defeated Ryan Scripps)
Anna Catherine DeHart (defeated Kristi Hoopes)*
Kathrina Feigh (stolen from Team Jennifer)

(Still Waiting)
Adam Cunningham
Natalie Stovall

Names in bold indicate an artist who has either newly won his or her Battle and stayed on his or her team, or been newly stolen by another coach.  An asterisk indicates that this artist's Battle was montaged.

[Star Aristille]

Not as solid of a night of Battles as last week, but still decent.  I think I only really, really liked two of the Battles, though.

Brandon B. vs. Jon: A Temptations song made sense for these two.  And yet . . . they both found a way to not make it sound all that interesting.  Don't get me wrong.  In the actual Battle, their voices both still sounded good and smooth together.  But something about it just wasn't quite captivating enough.  That said, Jon is probably Adam's best vocalist (and his only four-chair-turn), so it was probably a better choice to keep him.  But with Brandon B. now gone, Adam has officially tossed both of his Brandons (Brown and Showell), just like Pharrell tossed both of his Jonathans (Bach and Hutcherson) in season ten, and Shakira tossed both of her Lindsays (Bruce and Pagano) in season six.

Red vs. Ryan: Since I hadn't seen this one in any promos, I really had thought, up to tonight, that this one would be montaged.  And based on what I saw . . . I really wish it had been.  This was just . . . not good at all.  Ryan sounded fine, but Red?  Oh, my God.  Can anyone sound worse?  So.  Much.  Twang.  We see Blake have two country songs tonight, and they montage the good one, while showing the bad one.  Their harmonies were the only parts I really enjoyed.  And yet, despite Ryan obviously being the better, more current, more marketable one, Blake picks the dated one because he'd simply prefer having a beer with him.  Ooooooookay, Blake.  Poor Ryan.  He has country star potential.  I don't know why Blake thinks Red does, because he just . . . doesn't.

Addison vs. Karli: This was just beautiful.  Simply an amazing performance from both of them.  Both girls did their absolute best, both together and separately.  Just beautiful, clear, unforced tones from both of them.  I can see how Miley was torn.  But I think I preferred Karli a hair better, so I'm glad she moved on.  As for Addison, she absolutely deserved the steal.  And this is one of the few times that I can understand picking Adam if the choice is between him and another coach.  He knows throwback and indie-folk voices a lot better than Jennifer would.  Plus, he had the added benefit of turning around for her in the Blinds when Jennifer passed on her.  That usually comes back to bite coaches who go for steals against coaches who'd previously believed in the artist in prior stages.

Shi'Ann vs. Stephan: So Shi'Ann acknowledges that she does way too many riffs and runs.  Yet in her performance, she does . . . way too many riffs and runs again.  I guess not as many in her Blind, but still . . . And despite all that, I still would've picked her over Stephan, who improved greatly from his Blind, didn't forget or mangle any words this time, but still managed to go very sharp at a number of points.  I thought both sold the song well, but Shi'Ann being on pitch for the entire song was my selling point on her.  On the whole, I liked the Battle and, despite the app voters' preference, am fine with Shi'Ann moving on.  But Miley wrecks her all-female team, her shot at "herstory," by stealing Stephan?!  Whaaaaaaaat?!  Well, I hope she doesn't lose credibility for this decision.  But at least Stephan gets to be happy with a second chance.  And Miley can enjoy knowing that in two seasons of coaching, she finally got a black man on her team.

Anthony vs. Michael: The Weeknd songs are really, really hard to pull off.  The only artists I think have been able to do that were Rob Taylor ("Earned It" in the Playoffs in season eight), Bryan Bautista ("The Hills" in the Blinds in season ten), Brandon Royal and Davina Leone ("In the Night" in the Battles in season twelve), and Meagan McNeal ("Can't Feel My Face" in the Blinds just this season).  But individually, I think these two did decently enough.  It wasn't great.  That much was sure.  But it was at least solid enough.  However, the times they harmonized?  Not so much.  Not awful, but they could've been cleaner when they sang together.  I might've given Anthony the nod, too, but looking at the people moving on from Adam's team . . . I think he might be an easily dispensible person.  And I'm not surprised that Michael wasn't stolen.  No one wanted him in the Blinds, so why would anyone go for him in the Battles?

Janice vs. Katrina: Probably the best or second-best Battle of the episode, and a great way to close out the night.  Miley's done well with her team this season.  Their voices were strong and solid, and they both gave a great performance.  Their individual voices were spectacular, and their harmonies were spot-on.  I was surprised at how well they took on this Etta James song.  And Billy Ray was right -- they both had a total Janis Joplin thing going for them.  They had voices that could be suited for rock, jazz, blues, and even soul -- four things Janis also does well.  Of the two, I actually might've liked Katrina more for her bigger, longer range, but I totally understand why Miley went with Janice.  That said, Katrina fully deserved Jennifer's steal.  I can't wait to see what she does with her in the Knockouts.

Montages:

Mildly surprised that Kristi was montaged, considering her Blind was shown.  But it seems that Anna Catherine getting montaged through her own Blind ended up taking her with her through a Battle montage.  From the little I heard, though, I might've given that win to Kristi.  Not only did her voice sound better, but she was a three-chair-turn to Anna Catherine being a two-chair-turn.  I think that Anna Catherine will be the unlucky montage for the Knockouts and follow in Rebekah Samarin and Katherine Ho's footsteps and get the dreaded triple montage at this rate.  And it sucks that Alexandra gets her entire run on the show montaged thus far, especially after being a three-chair-turn herself in the Blinds.  But she was against Jeremiah, a two-chair-turn whose Blind was actually shown.  She had no chance of surviving.  Especially since Jennifer seems to be ruling against the women in all of her male vs. female pairings (I feel like she's like Gwen in that regard), except for Shi'Ann vs. Stephan.  She honestly did the same thing on the U.K. version, though, so this isn't all that surprising.  And finally, Gary, the last successful Blind, goes out the door on his own montage, especially since he was a one-chair-turn against Emily, a three-chair-turn with a great throwback voice that Adam clearly loves.  I'm actually surprised that she was montaged, though, given, again, her tie to Charlie Puth.

So tomorrow contains the final Battles.  With all of Adam's Battles done, we just have the following:

Ashland Craft vs. Megan Rose (Team Miley)
Eric Lyn vs. Ignatious Carmouche (Team Jennifer)
Adam Cunningham vs. Natalie Stovall (Team Blake)

I'm definitely interested in how these shake out, though I bet know how each coach will rule.  We'll see.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Hmmm....I think the show took a half step back with this set of shown in full battles, and three quick montages.

Blake was completely off his rocker. Ryan utterly dominated Red every time they harmonized (seriously Red's voice was nowhere to be found on the harmonies). Red sort of sounds like an older country singer who had some success (I want to say John Michael Montgomery but I'm not sure if that's right)...but a really cut rate version. Maybe Blake thinks people will latch on to him like they did Sundance, but I just don't see it happening.

Shi'Ann & Stephan: Ugh, I wasn't a fan of either of these singers (seriously, if you forgot the lyrics to the blind audition song you've been prepping for who knows how long, they should boo you off the stage Showtime at the Apollo style). So my worst possible outcome is that they both would stay in the competition. This is my penance for Whitney gettting an unexpected steal lol.

Janice & Katrina: Well Janice cranked the dial up to 10 (to no one's surprise) and then Katrina broke the damn dial (and I'm not sure if I mean that as a compliment or not. She looked like she was on the verge of a seizure in a couple spots. Blake's WWE comment must not have been too far off).

Anthony & Michael: This should of been an awesome song for both of these guys. Instead it was super underwhelming and their voices just seemed kind of lifeless throughout the song. I'm getting danger, warning signs from Anthony (if he can't rekindle the spark he had in his blind audition) that he could be this season's (Jeremiah could too actually) teen heartthrob who rides the twitter save two weeks longer than necessary (a la Mark Isaiah)...

Addison & Karli: I called a steal (go me!) and they both have gorgeous, fragile like glass voices. So I have no qualms that they are both still in the competition. They also sucked 99.9% out of the fun and joy of Cyndi's song. I guess I can respect their craftmanship....but when you have a timeless fun pop classic, must we always render it completely unrecognizable?

While I tend to agree with Star Aristille that Anna Catherine is probably going to go join Katherine and Rebecca in the very rare triple montage club. There's a slight chance she could pull a Belle Jewel and go montage, montage, steal. It woud almost have to Miley stealing her in the KO round though. I just don't see Adam or Jennifer coming to her rescue. Zero surprises that the teen heartthrob, Jeremiah survives as well as Emily in the other two montages.

Blake has to pick the loser of Ashland/Megan, right? He can't steal his own artist and the other likely loser is Eric Lyn who was another montaged contestant himself.

[Star Aristille]

1 hour ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

While I tend to agree with Star Aristille that Anna Catherine is probably going to go join Katherine and [Rebekah] in the very rare triple montage club, there's a slight chance she could pull a Belle Jewel and go montage, montage, steal.

I did think about that.  But I also thought about another possibility.  She could pull a Grant Ganzer (season seven)/Andrea Thomas (season twelve) and be double-montaged, followed by an aired loss.  Someone in season four had that fate, too, I believe, or possibly season five.  That's really her best shot of being shown at all.

[JMarie99]

I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought Red was terrible. I admit I’m not a big country fan, but I do appreciate a good country artist. That guy is ALL twang! I don’t care how “authentic” he is, he is practically unlistenable to me. Ryan is exactly the type of country artist they should be looking for, and he had a very pleasant tone to his voice. I can almost believe that Blake passed him up for a “cornbread country” guy, but I can’t believe someone didn’t steal him. 

The other battles were mostly toss ups to me. I wasn’t really invested in any of the singers. I find these battle rounds to be boring. 

[Padma]

Dear Jennifer,

Please don't choose any songs that I like if you're going to turn them into over-embellished, screech-fests. Thanks!

Dear Adam,

You got rid of Brandon who admittedly was flawed but interested me more than anyone else on your team. Actually, I can't remember much about your team, sorry.

Dear Blake,

I like old-school country and always seem to have a favorite on your team.   (This time that would be Keisha). I don't know what you see in Red. If twang were lethal, I'd be a goner. That was so bad. And his cornball humor isn't funny and, worse, just  seems fake (When you're as ugly as I am....).  However, Blake, I forgive you for subjecting me to another one of his performances because you made me laugh at that comment about the Lauper song.  Something like "That was like 'girls just want to have fun--but they're not having any." Ha! and true. They had such lovely voices, but that was awful.

Dear Miley,

I really think you're one of the best coaches.  You seem to work well with your singers and bring a nice emotional support to the performances--but also good suggestions and demonstrations of what you're thinking they should be doing with it.   You're not phoning it in and you're not making it all about yourself. I also think you have some good comments afterwards--again, putting thought into it and not phoning it in.  I'm really sorry that you won't be back. Hope you make your goal of winning the season (the all-girl team was a nice gimmick since you were stuck with it, but I'm glad it didn't limit you from adding a guy. I don't know if Stephan has the discipline to learn the songs perfectly--I'm still shocked he couldn't remember his audition song--but he has potential and I'd lie to hear him again.  Addision and Karli both have beautiful voices and I'm glad they are both in the competition.  (Small criticism:  Looks aren't everything. If you are trying to get Dad to take over one day for Blake, please forgetaboutit.)

[Babalooie]

14 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

Maybe Blake thinks people will latch on to him like they did Sundance, but I just don't see it happening.

That reminds me...did anyone catch Sundance in the Target commercial during last night's show?  At least he's making  money from being on the show in some capacity.

[AntAnn]

I did!

[vb68]

21 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

Maybe Blake thinks people will latch on to him like they did Sundance, but I just don't see it happening.

Well, plus Sundance had that built in fanbase from that other show. I also thought Red was nothing special. Just another standard country artist from central casting. Pretty boring.

I did like Addison, who seems really interesting. I'm less convinced that Adam was the right choice for her and have her back in the end.

[viajero]

I thought this episode was a bit of mixed bag.  As I posted after the sneak peak, Addison vs. Karli remains my favorite battle of the season.  I don't mind that they slowed Girls Just Want to Have Fun down and made it more somber.  As Glee had previously, they paid homage to Robert Hazzard's original version of the song, rather than Cyndi Laupers more famous upbeat cover.

I also thought the Janice vs. Katrina battle was quite good, despite the oversinging.  Janice has a great voice and it was just plain fun to watch Katrina stomping all over the stage.

Unfortunately, I found the remaining battles to be quite mediocre and forgettable, with Red vs. Ryan being particularly weak.

I am concerned that Mylie has too many of good singers still on her team, which means I have to worry about who we're going to lose next week.

Edited October 28, 2017 by viajero