S.14.E07: The Battles Part 1

[PhD-Purgatory15]

The first batch of this season's 24 battles take place over a two-hour episode.

[Frost]

I'm not very musically inclined (although I sing in the shower and am, I must say, sublime) but when the coaches rave about a singer's power most of the time I hear screeching.

[4N6MAL]

Pretty good tonight. So glad that Shana Halligan did not get chosen to move forward! I didn't like her voice or her facial expressions while she was singing.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Sharane defeats Jamai (Team Alicia): Very even battle, I slightly preferred Jamai's voice to hers in their blind auditions and that didn't really change here. But when in doubt, the stronger sob story wins out.

Brynn defeats Dylan (Team Kelly): They "leaked" this battle to Youtube. I thought Kelly completely sabotaged Dylan by taking him back to his worst boyband impulses. He looked like a trainwreck up there to the point where Brynn pretty much won by default. The fact that she's 'only 14!' still messes with my head. Dylan was ultimately stolen by Blake...which clearly is Blake continuing to play the game season after season. Dylan is a total fodder pick for the knockouts to help Blake advance the group of five to the live shows that he wants to advance.

Kyla defeats JessLee (Team Blake): Knowing JessLee was a montage'd contestant, you pretty much knew this was a formality for Kyla. If you didn't know that you might've thought JessLee won the battle. Not a fan of Kyla really. Usually Blake doesn't give his battle pairings these vocal gymnastic showoff songs, so I was a little disappointed that was the direction he took with these two.

Rayshunn defeats Tish (Team Adam): Probably the only true "surprise" of the night. I suppose it's also possible that Adam went with Rayshunn because he felt like Tish might tempt a steal from Kelly (or Alicia/Blake) more than Rayshunn would. The show requires a quota of certain type singers so Tish gets stolen by Kelly.

Christianne defeats Shana (Team Alicia): Hmmm....three chair turn (widely considered in the top 10 out of all 48 singers left) vs. a one chair turn (widely considered the most negatively polarizing artist on any team). I wonder how this turned out? I actually liked Shana's spin on the song a lot and didn't really think Christianne knocked it out of the park (although she's not a screamer/wailer like Kyla, Tish, Rayshunn, or D.R. or Jackie....so she gets some points from me for that at least). Shana could do stuff with Celtic woman....she definitely has the look and some of the higher register, ethereal stuff.

D.R. defeats Jackie (Team Kelly) So much screaming and wailing. Yay? Jackie gets a rare triple steal and goes with Adam over Blake which because she's a female artist will totally work out in her favor lol.

[Ladyrain]

I love the Battles rounds!  Love harmonies!  Love that the judges can save someone!  Loved tonight's show!   And that is a huge surprise; last year was my first Voice season and I didn't care for it.  This year I was pumped that idol was returning, so...who needs The Voice, right?  Wrong!  The three Idol judges have lost me, and the  "talent" there can't hold a candle to Voice's talent.  For the life of me, I don't understand why there hasn't been a superstar born from The Voice.  Unless there has been and I'm too dense to have noticed.

I'm especially glad that Brynn made it through tonight.  She's from a town about 40 miles away, and where a cousin lives, so I'm rooting for her.

[Dots And Stripes]

The 14 year old kind of fell apart vocally. Like 99% of 14 year olds on reality shows, she needs time. I was surprised Blake used the steal on her opponent.

Ugh, Kelly is too nice for her own good. She's definitely not the first coach to cut the singer they know will be picked up for another team. It's kind, but bad for your odds of winning. Artists who are stolen can do very well on another team. Just ask Miley.

[PepperMonkey]

Wow is anyone watching this anymore? Only 5 posts, up to now, and so far, etc.

Agree with Ph.D. : cannot believe a female that has watched this show at all would choose Adam. I know he sounds so sincere and sounds like he adores you, but push coming to shove, he will go with the guy every. single. time. Sure, he's had a female winner - what is she doing now, I wonder? - and a few females for good measure, but he's a bro, first and foremost.

I'm loving Kelly. I was trepidatious and didn't know how I was going to feel about her, but her enthusiasm has won me over.

Couple things I'm tired of: the bitching about Blake winning and the "ganging up" on him. I'm no Blake fan, but I enjoy him on this show and it's clear he's a fan of music, even if he's not well-versed in every genre. I enjoy him on the show and he wins, sometimes, because other people enjoy him also. Adam's blond hair: here we go again.

This is the first time I've watched the Battles in ages. The show was overlong on backstory,, but I have enjoyed the match ups so far.

[atlantaloves]

Quick QUESTION:  who were the last to sing, we had a storm warning and the show got cut off. Anybody got a youtube moment they can send me of the last battle round cause I missed it? Many thanks. 

[atlantaloves]

Never mind guys, I found it, wow, that was my favorite battle of the night, glad they both made it through.

[Cajungirl64]

3 hours ago, atlantaloves said:

Never mind guys, I found it, wow, that was my favorite battle of the night, glad they both made it through.

Reminded me of Trevin and Amanda's battle way back when... 

[viajero]

I thought the last battle was by far the best of the night.  Both singers killed it on a song that really lends itself to this format.   The other standout individual performer for me was Brynn, who confirmed that her blind audition was no fluke.  I really love her voice and her composure on stage is hard to believe for a 14 year old.

I generally agreed with the winners, except perhaps for Rayshun vs. Tish, which could have gone either way.  The only steal I question was Dylan.  He's an entertaining performer, if a bit over the top.  But he just doesn't match up to the others vocally.

Overall it was a good night as the only battle that left me completely cold was JessLee vs. Kyla. 

[Tony Williams]

Guess it is time to have an R&B/Blues The Voice.  That way people who hate "screaming and wailing" can have their flat line singing show.

While people who appreciated "screaming and wailing" can have their peaks and valleys show.

[PepperMonkey]

I don't mind the "screaming and wailing." What I do mind is how so many of them sound a lot like each other, or whomever is their inspiration/idol, and the judges rave about how different they sound.

And was it Tish?? Kelly was going on and on about how she sounded like Chaka (which I didn't think, but anyway) and I was thinking I want her to sound like something new, not someone we already know and love.

R&B and Blues is my jam.

[viajero]

1 hour ago, Tony Williams said:

Guess it is time to have an R&B/Blues The Voice.  That way people who hate "screaming and wailing" can have their flat line singing show.

While people who appreciated "screaming and wailing" can have their peaks and valleys show.

I personally like that we have a combination of genres.  We got some accomplished wailing on an R&B song like Sweet Thing, followed by the laid back vocal stylings of two indie girls on Use Somebody, followed by strong rangy vocals on a rock ballad like Sign of the Times.  All three were good performances that would not have been as effective if the show only gave us one thing.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

But we didn't really.

We basically had five of six battles (minus the Christianne vs. Shana battle) where the two contestants were desperately trying to out vocal horsepower each other. Jamai v. Sharane was like that, JessLee v. Kyla was like that. Rayshunn v. Tish was like that, and Jackie v. D.R. was like that. Even Brynn v. Dylan was like that despite Dylan not really having much vocal horsepower to speak of. And they were done largely in an R&B/Soul/Gospel style. Do I hate those styles of music? No, but it's absolutely not my favorite....I actually enjoy and prefer softer, more textured music. YMMV for sure.

To me that's one of the major flaws in the Voice machine. Coaches have largely decided that when it comes to baiting the other three coaches to steal one of their artists "loud=good" so more and more of every season's battle performances devolve (for me, for you maybe they crescendo...I don't really know) into showoff-y shouting matches and rif-offs if you like James Corden's running bit. If you like that stuff, great. Again YMMV.

Edited March 21, 2018 by PhD-Purgatory15

[Tony Williams]

I also like a combination of genres as I like them:  Depending on artist and song.  

I think one problem is choosing (artist) or forcing (judge) an R & B voice to sing Pop or a Pop voice to sing R&B. 

 The results are not always good.

Also you can sing a Country sound with and R & B voice and call it Country.  It may sound good to me but it is not country.

Unfortunately, it is now the thing to blow just to blow.  There should be a purpose and it should actually add something to the song.

The Legendary "power singers"  knew when to wail and when to mellow it out.

[madfortv]

On 3/20/2018 at 7:57 PM, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

To me that's one of the major flaws in the Voice machine. Coaches have largely decided that when it comes to baiting the other three coaches to steal one of their artists "loud=good" so more and more of every season's battle performances devolve (for me, for you maybe they crescendo...I don't really know) into showoff-y shouting matches and rif-offs if you like James Corden's running bit. If you like that stuff, great. Again YMMV.

I agree. I expected to enjoy the show but stopped watching this episode half way through for this reason. 

[MaryPatShelby]

Yup, I'm only about 65 minutes into this, and it sure seems like we're back to singing = screaming.  When did dynamics become a bad thing?  I feel like the earlier seasons weren't this way.....

[Gel]

I have no idea who these mentors are outside of Trace Adkins. And it’s a sign of old age I’m just resigned to that. 

[viajero]

14 hours ago, Gel said:

I have no idea who these mentors are outside of Trace Adkins. And it’s a sign of old age I’m just resigned to that. 

I'm getting pretty old myself, but Trace Adkins was the only one of the mentors with whom I was not familiar (other than very vaguely recognizing his name).  The other three may be quite young, but they are all extremely famous (though perhaps Julia Michaels a little less since much of her success comes from songwriting).  Maybe it comes from still having teens in the house. 

[Prin Holmes]

Current team rosters/cheat sheets:

Team Adam
Rayshun LaMarr (defeated Tish Haynes Keys)
Jackie Foster (stolen from Team Kelly)

(Still Waiting)
Drew Cole
Davison
Mia Boostrom
Reid Umstattd
Angel Bonilla
Stephanie Skipper
Miya Bass
Gary Edwards
Genesis Diaz
Jackie Verna

Team Alicia
Sharane Calister (defeated Jamai)
Christiana Danielle (defeated Shana Halligan)

(Still Waiting)
Britton Buchanan
Kelsea Johnson
Jaclyn Lovey
Johnny Bliss
Jordyn Simone
Megan Lee
Terrence Cunningham
Livia Faith

Team Kelly
Brynn Cartelli (defeated Dylan Hartigan)
D.R. King (defeated Jackie Foster)
Tish Haynes Keys (stolen from Team Adam)

(Still Waiting)
D.R. King
Justin Kilgore
Molly Stevens
Jackie Foster
Jorge Eduardo
Jamella
Alexa Capelli
Teana Boston
Hannah Goebel
Amber Sauer

Team Blake
Kyla Jade (defeated JessLee)
Dylan Hartigan (stolen from Team Kelly)

(Still Waiting)
Kaleb Lee
Pryor Baird
Brett Hunter
Austin Giorgio
Spensha Baker
WILKES
Jaron Strom
Bransen Ireland
Jordan Kirkdorffer
Dallas Caroline

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

[mamadrama]

On 3/19/2018 at 10:15 PM, Frost said:

I'm not very musically inclined (although I sing in the shower and am, I must say, sublime) but when the coaches rave about a singer's power most of the time I hear screeching.

That's one of my biggest complaints about these "voice" shows. A good majority of the women have so-called "powerful" voices which, to me, just sound like shouting. I have a nice voice; I even moved to Nashville and sought a career in country music many years ago and I still sing regionally. There is NO way I could compete with the women who try out for these shows, though. I definitely do NOT have that Jessica Simpson/Kelly Clarkson/Carrie Underwood/Christina Aguilera sound. I would love to see more variety, especially in the women. Norah Jones, Emmylou Harris, Patsy Cline...hell, even Madonna (I know, not known for being a great vocalist but still...). These women didn't have to rely on "power" and runs to get their music across. That was one of the reasons why I liked the "You Were Always on My Mind" cowboy boots girl. She had a much weaker voice but at least it didn't sound like all the others.