Season 16 Discussion

[Booklady1017]

16 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

So, the coaches see 'amazing breakthrough' but I was just bored while 'unique voice with personality and character' read kind of annoying and whining with a bonus of terrible squinting facial gestures. So my read of Andrew vs. Patrick was a little different I guess...

I thought Oliv smashed Kayslin in their battle, she was effortless cool and had a great energy and flow. She would seem to be a picture perfect candidate for John's team and I'm disappointed that he saw it differently. I doubt Blake will 'get' her and I fear for his song choice(s). So that was kind of a bummer but at least she is still around.

I was also sad to see LiLi get montaged and dumped, I thought she had a fun spirit but she wasn't a good fit for Blake so I'm not surprised but bummed.

Cecily was the styling victim of the night and I guess I would have gone with Selkii too but I thought both were a bit unremarkable in this one.

So, the cross-battles are like a 'cross' between the knockouts and the Twitter Save with people from different teams then? Hmm. I guess we'll have to see it but I'm not sure I like the narrowing down of the vote to those that watch live and can/desire to text during the 'voting window' that's not much of a cross-section of the audience I don't think.

I don't watch the show live, so I'm concerned about the audience vote component. I'm happy Oliv was saved but I wonder too how she will fare on Blake's team. There's still a chance John can get her back though.

[Jal]

18 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

I thought Oliv smashed Kayslin in their battle, she was effortless cool and had a great energy and flow. She would seem to be a picture perfect candidate for John's team and I'm disappointed that he saw it differently. I doubt Blake will 'get' her and I fear for his song choice(s). So that was kind of a bummer but at least she is still around.

I didn't get that choice by John either. Oliv has a beautiful voice and a lot of confidence. She was absolutely perfect for his team. I guess he saw a lot of potential in Kayslin. I hope Blake lets Oliv have a say in her song choices, or he looks into what might work best with her voice.

[MzLiz]

Jackson Marlowe said on his Twitter (in an answer to someone) that there were no steals left when he performed. Take that for what you will. But I’d have at least like to have heard the whole song. 

[viajero]

I thought the two teens (Cecily and Kayslin) gave us the best pure vocals of the night, even if their opponents (Oliv and Selkii) were more polished and confident in what they do.  I wish all four had gone through and am sad to be losing Cecily way too early.  

Patrick was a big disappointment.  I had liked his blind audition, but he struggled on this one.  Not that his opponent was any better.

[Dots And Stripes]

I don't know what to make of this cross-battle thing. I think it felt too haphazard. I also don't trust this show enough to believe it was all decided on the spot. A few of the artists looked genuinely terrified, so maybe it was more real than I'm giving it credit for. 

John really does not mind picking a winner. It's not what I'm used to. Also, why is it Team Legend when everyone else goes by their first name? 

I barely know who anyone is at this stage. Maelyn stood out in a good way. I liked her voice a lot. Celia stood out in a bad way. Adam seemed to get that by telling people not to focus on one performance. I dislike her tone, so I haven't liked any of her other performances any better. I don't get the hype. 

[limecoke]

I don’t like this and I think the Knock-Outs were better.  Some of these people hit awful notes tonight...Celia comes to mind.  Some were totally mush mouth.  Didn’t enjoy it much.

[sas616]

I could just be me, but I don't find that the format of The Voice allows you to really know these singers at all.    I remembered only 3 or 4 of them from the Blinds and Battle Rounds.  And just about all of them sounded bad tonight.  Did not like most of the song choices.  

[kathyk2]

My favorite singers were Kim and Maelyn and I thought Celia was the worst. I thought the band was too loud and overpowered the singers. I wonder if people will vote for the coach or the individual singer if they vote for the popular coach Adam will be in trouble.

[Wandering Snark]

2 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

I thought the band was too loud and overpowered the singers.

This show often has this issue, I mean I know they love to tout their band but they really drown some people out, and if you had "backup" singer parts those parts were at equal or louder volume which was distracting. Also distracting was the stage set, too many lighted columns and when they pulled back at all the artists were not even visible on stage.

I guess I wasn't thrilled with the new format as I fell asleep at some point about 1/3 of the way in... I was happy however to see that it was vote after the show. I thought they were going to do each round's voting like a "twitter save" which would have been a huge mistake.

I was also getting huge 2nd degree stress from the format (assuming it all being on the up-and-up and they really didn't know who/when they would face) remembering when you had a presentation at school and you were hoping you didn't have to do yours first and/or that you were praying to not be picked as you really needed more time to be ready... ugh.

Edited April 16, 2019 by Wandering Snark

[Gel]

What is it about going to lives that makes them all go off pitch? Is it the change in studio? Nerves? It’s beyond frustrating that the Blinds is too often the best performance for so many, imho.

[Kaiju Ballet]

I'm not going to hate on TPTB's attempts to keep the show fresh--Time will tell whether or not it's successful (also depending on the fate of artists I like, lol!)

3 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

I wonder if people will vote for the coach or the individual singer if they vote for the popular coach Adam will be in trouble.

Ugh--I wasn't planning on voting, but I just did. Thank you, show, for making voting available on the website instead of forcing an instant tweet situation.  Aside from the fact that the singers *weren't* arranged by battle,  they were arranged by team. So yes, if you were pro-coach, you could just go down the line and give all of them 10 points. I didn't, but it would have been way easy to. And conversely if you were anti-a certain coach (cough--Adam --cough) you could see at a glance who his singers are.

I'm unfortunately unable to rise above pettiness, so my feelings about the coaches definitely played into who I voted for (or didn't) Especially since I couldn't remember matchups/pairings readily.

That being said, Maelyn was outstanding for me (and the reason I went online to vote). Celia wasn't the only one who sounded off key, to the point that I thought it was an audio issue. But Oliv clearly "won" that battle.

It was nice of Kelly to say that no matter who wins, someone was going to get saved or stolen in the first match--but man, I sure hope nobody wastes their save or steal. That first battle --"Poison" Kim the Rapper and "You Oughtta Know" Betsey Ade--mangled two songs that I not only recognize (a rarity on this show) bit also liked (an even bigger rarity) I noted at times Kim had a lovely voice, but I can't tell if her rapping really is good, or if it was pure novelty. (Kelly should have had the Bundys up against her.)

Adam is terrible when it comes to talking up his team members. He spent way more time gushing about how Blake's team member was really country, while his own team member--the guy whose first time on a stage was at the Voice--was standing there visibly squirming. And then he gave that poor guy the most generic praise.

Kelley gave good comments about their performances, and was really gracious about finding something positive to say about both in each pairing. John to a certain degree was like that as well.

On a totally shallow note, I liked Celia's jacket/styling--I wonder if she was wearing her mom's designs?

Edited April 16, 2019 by Kaiju Ballet
Clariying that the "ugh" was self-directed.

[Lily H]

I noticed that Betsy changed a line in You Oughta Know ('make out with you' in a theater LOL) and I wondered if it was the network or the show producers that made her change it, or if it was her decision.

[radiochik]

Wow this round was boring.  I was getting antsy 30 minutes in.  I too was surprised at how awful most of the singers were tonite.  I hated Kim's version of Poison and Betsy wasn't much better.  Just how much "help" do the producers give the contestants in the prerecorded shows?  This live show made me wonder how some of them even advanced this far - especially that one from Team Kelly who had to go against Lisa.

Maelyn was fantastic.  I wish Selki was better because I like her.  

So the Bebe Rexha contestants again won't show up until the live rounds?  I still think that's crap.  It's unfair to those who have made it through each round and it's unfair to the comeback person because the audience barely remembers them.  

[peachmangosteen]

Wow, that was bad. I think the only good performances were Maelyn and whoever she was against, I think his name is Rod. Everyone else was bad, boring, or both.

5 hours ago, Lily H said:

I noticed that Betsy changed a line in You Oughta Know ('make out with you' in a theater LOL) and I wondered if it was the network or the show producers that made her change it, or if it was her decision.

I feel pretty confident there's no way in hell NBC was gonna OK 'go down on you' to be sung on this show lol.

[LakeGal]

I was bored.  Sometimes it was song choice.  Other times they just did not sound good.  I kept wondering if the coaches were saving their better singers till later in the battle.  At least with this format they can't montage anyone.  

[hnygrl]

(Possibly - cause I haven't read the thread yet ) Unpopular Opinion:

These cross battles are bullshit. Come on man, this just a newfangled name for the LIVES. THAT IS ALL THIS IS. And they still have the COACHES picking the songs and they SUUUUCK at it.

NOBODY SO FAR Picked the right songs for their talent. Well, that's not true. The kid in all the (Unfortunate) Pink (PRESLEY!) who sang Love on the Brain KILLED THAT THANG!!!!

Ooh and Team Adam's Domenic Haynes and  Damn Your Eyes. Great Choice dude...that was inspired.

It's just the lives. And is anybody else as sick of the faux Adam/Blake feud as I am?

Edited April 16, 2019 by hnygrl

[CountryGirl]

10 minutes ago, hnygrl said:

And is anybody else as sick of the faux Adam/Blake feud as I am?

Yep and I'm sick of the whole show. Only two battles, in the very first round (with Jej and Beth and Shawn and Michael) held my attention through their entirety. Everyone else, I've fastforwarded halfway through.

I'm thinking I'm going to drop off my DVR list after this season if not sooner.

[Wicked]

I like the cross battles, I hate that they put teammates up against each other in the battle rounds and then do it again in the knockouts. Too many good people get sent home that way.  I like this system better, the audience gets to vote and it's more of a real competition.  That said, I'm not loving the season.  Turned in to see how John Legend would do, I like him, but while there is some really good talent, I'm not getting drawn in.

[Booklady1017]

17 hours ago, Dots And Stripes said:

I don't know what to make of this cross-battle thing. I think it felt too haphazard. I also don't trust this show enough to believe it was all decided on the spot. A few of the artists looked genuinely terrified, so maybe it was more real than I'm giving it credit for. 

John really does not mind picking a winner. It's not what I'm used to. Also, why is it Team Legend when everyone else goes by their first name? 

I barely know who anyone is at this stage. Maelyn stood out in a good way. I liked her voice a lot. Celia stood out in a bad way. Adam seemed to get that by telling people not to focus on one performance. I dislike her tone, so I haven't liked any of her other performances any better. I don't get the hype. 

I was reading the posts about the Cross Battles here. I agree with the posters who said that a number of singers didn't sound good. I was trying to figure out too if it was nerves due to the new round they were trying out and that they are live a lot early and not knowing who is their competition. I wonder how they prepared them for this round. I would think they would still have rehearsals with their coach? I am curious about all that. I mean it's all interesting this new twist, but if the performances are due to nerves and all, they need to fix some things if they do this next season. 

So the first few performances were not that great and memorable. I will say the only ones that I thought were good were: Presley, Kayslin, Maelyn, Dexter and Rod. The others either were average or bad.  So the majority of the performances that were good were later on. Could it be that they saw how things went they were less nervous or are they better singers? What do you all think?

[Booklady1017]

17 hours ago, limecoke said:

I don’t like this and I think the Knock-Outs were better.  Some of these people hit awful notes tonight...Celia comes to mind.  Some were totally mush mouth.  Didn’t enjoy it much.

I have to say Celia did the worst. I feel overall Adam is not great at picking the best talent. The other girl who performed who's name is escaping me but begins with an M was good but not as good as the other girls I mentioned before who were very good.

14 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

This show often has this issue, I mean I know they love to tout their band but they really drown some people out, and if you had "backup" singer parts those parts were at equal or louder volume which was distracting. Also distracting was the stage set, too many lighted columns and when they pulled back at all the artists were not even visible on stage.

I guess I wasn't thrilled with the new format as I fell asleep at some point about 1/3 of the way in... I was happy however to see that it was vote after the show. I thought they were going to do each round's voting like a "twitter save" which would have been a huge mistake.

I was also getting huge 2nd degree stress from the format (assuming it all being on the up-and-up and they really didn't know who/when they would face) remembering when you had a presentation at school and you were hoping you didn't have to do yours first and/or that you were praying to not be picked as you really needed more time to be ready... ugh.

Yes, good point, it was like comparing it to a presentation at school. I felt that too. I'm happy they did the voting at the end because I can't watch live, so I can watch when I get home and still vote.

[Booklady1017]

13 hours ago, Kaiju Ballet said:

I'm not going to hate on TPTB's attempts to keep the show fresh--Time will tell whether or not it's successful (also depending on the fate of artists I like, lol!)

Ugh--I wasn't planning on voting, but I just did. Thank you, show, for making voting available on the website instead of forcing an instant tweet situation.  Aside from the fact that the singers *weren't* arranged by battle,  they were arranged by team. So yes, if you were pro-coach, you could just go down the line and give all of them 10 points. I didn't, but it would have been way easy to. And conversely if you were anti-a certain coach (cough--Adam --cough) you could see at a glance who his singers are.

I'm unfortunately unable to rise above pettiness, so my feelings about the coaches definitely played into who I voted for (or didn't) Especially since I couldn't remember matchups/pairings readily.

That being said, Maelyn was outstanding for me (and the reason I went online to vote). Celia wasn't the only one who sounded off key, to the point that I thought it was an audio issue. But Oliv clearly "won" that battle.

It was nice of Kelly to say that no matter who wins, someone was going to get saved or stolen in the first match--but man, I sure hope nobody wastes their save or steal. That first battle --"Poison" Kim the Rapper and "You Oughtta Know" Betsey Ade--mangled two songs that I not only recognize (a rarity on this show) bit also liked (an even bigger rarity) I noted at times Kim had a lovely voice, but I can't tell if her rapping really is good, or if it was pure novelty. (Kelly should have had the Bundys up against her.)

Adam is terrible when it comes to talking up his team members. He spent way more time gushing about how Blake's team member was really country, while his own team member--the guy whose first time on a stage was at the Voice--was standing there visibly squirming. And then he gave that poor guy the most generic praise.

Kelley gave good comments about their performances, and was really gracious about finding something positive to say about both in each pairing. John to a certain degree was like that as well.

On a totally shallow note, I liked Celia's jacket/styling--I wonder if she was wearing her mom's designs?

You made a lot of good points and I agree about your comments on the singers from last night.

6 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

Wow, that was bad. I think the only good performances were Maelyn and whoever she was against, I think his name is Rod. Everyone else was bad, boring, or both.

I feel pretty confident there's no way in hell NBC was gonna OK 'go down on you' to be sung on this show lol.

Maelyn and Rod were some of my favorites too.

5 hours ago, LakeGal said:

I was bored.  Sometimes it was song choice.  Other times they just did not sound good.  I kept wondering if the coaches were saving their better singers till later in the battle.  At least with this format they can't montage anyone.  

I didn't like a lot of the song choices either.

[Jal]

Holy wow, Maelyn

[peachmangosteen]

2 hours ago, Booklady1017 said:

I will say the only ones that I thought were good were: Presley, Kayslin, Maelyn, Dexter and Rod. 

6 hours ago, hnygrl said:

The kid in all the (Unfortunate) Pink (PRESLEY!) who sang Love on the Brain KILLED THAT THANG!!!!

I forgot about Presley (which says something lol) but I really liked her performance, too.

I've been loving Domenic, but I didn't know that song and after a bit I could tell I didn't like it so I just fast forwarded.

Edited April 16, 2019 by peachmangosteen

[Gel]

Rod was a nice surprise. Maelyn sounded great vocally, but I only understood every third word or so. Are you only supposed to vote for one or the other? Or how is that going to work?

For those of you with a better ear, was keeping tempo with the band somehow an issue that threw some of them off pitch? 

[Diana Berry]

So I so I take it that the coaches already knew who they were going to have battle since the pre recorded personal clips came on before the battle.  

Im watching this after the fact...it was live last night ,right?

[viajero]

That was a pretty awful show.  Something was really off with the sound mixing, and perhaps also with the sound the performers were getting through their ear pieces.  Maybe Maelyn is lucky that she's half deaf, because she certainly gave the best performance of the night.

My picks for each battle:

Kim vs. Betsy - Both were off compared to previous rounds, but I would give a slight edge to Betsy.

Mari vs. Selkii - No contest.  Selkii was a total mess.

Lisa vs. Karen - Also no contest.  Lisa gave us the first half decent performance of the evening.  Kelly is right about Karen's silky tone, but her pitch went off the rails about halfway through.

Mathew vs. Dominic - Mathew was competent, if a bit boring and old fashioned.  Dominic was much more dynamic, if vocally imperfect.  I'll take Dominic.

Pressley vs. Kayslin - Pressley did a good job - best up to that point in the evening -  while Kayslin showed off her range.  Pressley should win, but I hope Kayslin gets saved or stolen.

Celia vs. Oliv - No contest.  Celia was just awful throughout.  Oliv came down a lot compared to the last round, but wasn't horrible.

Dexter vs. Andrew - My least favorite performance by Dexter so far, while Andrew was surprisingly competitive.  But I'd probably still have to give the edge to Dexter.

Maelyn vs. Rod - Though Maelyn gave us the best performance of the evening, Rod was also pretty good.  He'd be my second choice of someone to save or steal after Kayslin.

I sure hope they fix the sound problems by next Monday.

Edited April 17, 2019 by viajero

[Retired at last]

I didn't like this new format at all and switched to Everybody Loves Raymond reruns half-way through last night. I didn't know/like any of the songs and many sounded terrible, even not knowing what it was supposed to sound like. So, what if every coach decided to pick the same team to challenge - could they do that? Or, were they told they had to each pick each other once during the evening? Confusing. They used this format but didn't tell any of the rules, like when they can use the Save or the Steal and how many does each coach get? And I really don't think that second chance thing is fair at all and whose team will that person be on? I adore John Legend and I think his singers will benefit. I am not sure why ANYONE picked Adam after his disgusting throw-his-contestant-with-talent under the bus to save his poor-little-girl-who-was too immature-to perform team member last season. 

Adding all of these saves and steals seems like it is going to prolong this season indefinitely and I am not feeling like I want to continue. I still like Blake, I like John and a little of Kelly goes a very long way. Adam lost me last season, although his pleas to vote for him, I mean his team, got old a long time ago.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Wow, nice knowing almost everybody who has to wait till next Monday to sing...

[Wandering Snark]

2 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I've been loving Domenic, but I didn't know that song and after a bit I could tell I didn't like it so I just fast forwarded.

I couldn't take the hummingbird-like speed hand gestures over his heart through the whole. song. And it seemed a little creepy to me...

[Diana Berry]

I'm so confused so who sings next week?

I give Carson credit -he seemed just as confused as the audience.

[ChristmasJones]

I just tried to watch this episode (cross battles), which aired last night. I had to turn it off.  I didn't like/couldn't recognize most of the songs, didn't like the whole format, and thought they all sounded really bad.  UGH!!! I was actually enjoying this season. 

[Wandering Snark]

So next week is the rest of the group that hasn't gone yet... and if I were one of them i'd be pissed that almost all the saves and steals were used tonight. I'd love to have a chance to not rely on "America" and get saved or stolen but it doesn't look promising for them. The nice thing about these results shows though is that if you DVR them you can get through the whole thing under the 10 minute mark I'd guess. Oh and speaking of ten I thought the 10 second counter was really stupid. Wait for a save or steal then let them say a quick word or two, the "dramatic" (at least it seems to be what they think) 10 second counter is just stupid.

Okay, so... I check in with the 'contestants' page to keep track and it looks like (probably...) next week will feature:

Team Adam: Kalvin, Kendra and LB

Team Blake: Andrew, Carter, Gyth and Carly

Team Kelly: Abby, The Bundy's, Jej and Rebecca

Team Legend: Beth, Jacob, Jimmy, Julian and Shawn

[Lily H]

Well, THAT was totally unfair to the remaining contestants who now have none of the saves or steals left (or maybe just one - I lost track what with all the coaches losing their minds and hitting their buzzers for just about every contestant). Why were they saving so many mediocre singers from this week? And I just KNOW that next week, one or all of them will be whining, "I wish I had a steal left - you're so good and you deserve to stay, blah blah blah ". By using their saves the first time one of their singers wasn't voted through, they're telling everyone else on their team that they're not as worthy. I don't like this new format at all.

[JeanneH]

4 hours ago, Lily H said:

Well, THAT was totally unfair to the remaining contestants who now have none of the saves or steals left (or maybe just one - I lost track what with all the coaches losing their minds and hitting their buzzers for just about every contestant). 

I think they said each coach had 1 save and 1 steal for this entire round, both days of it. If that is correct, Blake has 1 steal left (he saved Selkie), John and Kelly each have 1 save left (having used their steals), and Adam can do nothing (used his saves and steals up at the beginning). And boy did he want to save, or someone (Blake) to steal, the last guy eliminated. He is Adam, watch him squirm.  And I do not like this new format. Confusing I can get used to, but as has been said, it's not fair to the later contestants if the coaches can't control themselves (and unless the coaches get more saves/steals for night #2, it's hugely unfair to those contestants).

Edited April 17, 2019 by JeanneH

[peachmangosteen]

9 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

The nice thing about these results shows though is that if you DVR them you can get through the whole thing under the 10 minute mark I'd guess.

I think I watched it in about 8 minutes.

The fact that the judges were saving and stealing left and right made me wonder if they got 1 save and 1 steal for each night but I guess not since some of them didn't use their's. They saved way too many people last night who really didn't deserve it. I couldn't believe John stole that awful brown haired teen who has a designer mom. I don't get that at all. How many people actually got eliminated? Like 3?

Edited April 17, 2019 by peachmangosteen

[DaphneCat]

I like the new format.  People have complained over the seasons that if someone has a team with many good singers some of them have to be sent home while much weaker singers on other teams make it to the lives.  Even if they don't win, I would think the extra exposure is beneficial to them.  Anything that allows voting instead of coach decisions is a plus in my book.

I don't believe for an instant, that the judges haven't agreed among themselves who is going to battle who.  They have their favorites for whatever reason and that is why they probably put forward who they did.  They were either hoping for America to get rid of some of their dead wood for them or hoping for the win.  There is a reason Adam didn't want to save the country singer (or, once again, is playing favorites by saving the person who he did.)

[SunnyBeBe]

Maybe, I haven't settled in to watch this carefully enough, but, from what I have seen, I don't see how the new process makes sense or is fair.  Can someone confirm for me, how the voting is applied to the artists who performed in these last rounds.  Since one performer is pitted against the other, are the votes tabulated only as to how they apply to each other? So, is the choice only Artists A or B.?  And, the same goes for the next set that is paired?  Just wanted to confirm this ad that it wasn't an overall vote to see who got higher or lower in the entire group. 

Please correct me if I have misconstrued the rules. My reasoning is based on the voting as I have concluded as follows"  By pitting one performer against another and then having the loser exit, unless saved by another coach, seems to not work well for the contest overall.  To me, it seems to dismiss some very good performers while keeping some that aren't as good.  So, if Artist A goes up against artist B and both are awesome artists, but, B wins, A goes home. (Unless saved.) Next, Artist C goes up against Artist D and neither are that good, but, Artists C prevails.  So, we have sent home Artists A and D.  But, Artists C stays, who is not as good as Artists A, who left, and if pitted against Artists C Artists A would have won.  So, you end up with a fair amount of not so good artists and sent home some that are. I'm not against change, but, don't see how this helps. 

If this is not how it's going, please comment. 

Edited April 17, 2019 by SunnyBeBe

[Booklady1017]

17 hours ago, viajero said:

That was a pretty awful show.  Something was really off with the sound mixing, and perhaps also with the sound the performers were getting through their ear pieces.  Maybe Maelyn is lucky that she's half deaf, because she certainly gave the best performance of the night.

My picks for each battle:

Kim vs. Betsy - Both were off compared to previous rounds, but I would give a slight edge to Betsy.

Mari vs. Selkii - No contest.  Selkii was a total mess.

Lisa vs. Karen - Also no contest.  Lisa gave us the first half decent performance of the evening.  Kelly is right about Karen's silky tone, but her pitch went off the rails about halfway through.

Mathew vs. Dominic - Mathew was competent, if a bit boring and old fashioned.  Dominic was much more dynamic, if vocally imperfect.  I'll take Dominic.

Pressley vs. Kayslin - Pressley did a good job - best up to that point in the evening -  while Kayslin showed off her range.  Pressley should win, but I hope Kayslin gets saved or stolen.

Celia vs. Oliv - No contest.  Celia was just awful throughout.  Oliv came down a lot compared to the last round, but wasn't horrible.

Dexter vs. Andrew - My least favorite performance by Dexter so far, while Andrew was surprisingly competitive.  But I'd probably still have to give the edge to Dexter.

Maelyn vs. Rod - Though Maelyn gave us the best performance of the evening, Rod was also pretty good.  He'd be my second choice of someone to save or steal after Kayslin.

I sure hope they fix the sound problems by next Monday.

I was annoyed that Celia got saved but not Kayslin. Why John would think Celia is better than her I don't get. 

[Booklady1017]

17 hours ago, Retired at last said:

I didn't like this new format at all and switched to Everybody Loves Raymond reruns half-way through last night. I didn't know/like any of the songs and many sounded terrible, even not knowing what it was supposed to sound like. So, what if every coach decided to pick the same team to challenge - could they do that? Or, were they told they had to each pick each other once during the evening? Confusing. They used this format but didn't tell any of the rules, like when they can use the Save or the Steal and how many does each coach get? And I really don't think that second chance thing is fair at all and whose team will that person be on? I adore John Legend and I think his singers will benefit. I am not sure why ANYONE picked Adam after his disgusting throw-his-contestant-with-talent under the bus to save his poor-little-girl-who-was too immature-to perform team member last season. 

Adding all of these saves and steals seems like it is going to prolong this season indefinitely and I am not feeling like I want to continue. I still like Blake, I like John and a little of Kelly goes a very long way. Adam lost me last season, although his pleas to vote for him, I mean his team, got old a long time ago.

It seems like they only get one steal and save each, so there won't be much more people who would be saved next week. I don't like Adam anymore but I don't feel it's fair to penalize his contestants even though they have bad taste. For example, I like Blake better but Mari was better than Selkie but I may change my mind when it comes to the lives though.

16 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

I couldn't take the hummingbird-like speed hand gestures over his heart through the whole. song. And it seemed a little creepy to me...

I'm not a big fan of Domenic, but it's more because of his type of voice than his performance ability. But the gestures were annoying.

16 hours ago, Diana Berry said:

I'm so confused so who sings next week?

I give Carson credit -he seemed just as confused as the audience.

So I guess they can pick from whomever is left.  But I'm not even sure how many singers are left. Do they have just enough to pair everyone in the next show?

[Booklady1017]

15 hours ago, ChristmasJones said:

I just tried to watch this episode (cross battles), which aired last night. I had to turn it off.  I didn't like/couldn't recognize most of the songs, didn't like the whole format, and thought they all sounded really bad.  UGH!!! I was actually enjoying this season. 

I didn't like the song choices. Did the coach pick them or the contestants?

[Booklady1017]

14 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

So next week is the rest of the group that hasn't gone yet... and if I were one of them i'd be pissed that almost all the saves and steals were used tonight. I'd love to have a chance to not rely on "America" and get saved or stolen but it doesn't look promising for them. The nice thing about these results shows though is that if you DVR them you can get through the whole thing under the 10 minute mark I'd guess. Oh and speaking of ten I thought the 10 second counter was really stupid. Wait for a save or steal then let them say a quick word or two, the "dramatic" (at least it seems to be what they think) 10 second counter is just stupid.

Okay, so... I check in with the 'contestants' page to keep track and it looks like (probably...) next week will feature:

Team Adam: Kalvin, Kendra and LB

Team Blake: Andrew, Carter, Gyth and Carly

Team Kelly: Abby, The Bundy's, Jej and Rebecca

Team Legend: Beth, Jacob, Jimmy, Julian and Shawn

Another problem with this format, is I thought at least in the Knockouts, you got to know the contestants better. I don't recall the people who are up next week except for a few. I think the 10 second counter was stupid and they should have a chance to talk first. I thought a few saves and steals were wasted last night and they should have held on to some of them. I noticed Blake used the least amount (just one) while Adam dumbly already used his up on the first two pairings.

4 hours ago, JeanneH said:

I think they said each coach had 1 save and 1 steal for this entire round, both days of it. If that is correct, Blake has 1 steal left (he saved Selkie), John and Kelly each have 1 save left (having used their steals), and Adam can do nothing (used his saves and steals up at the beginning). And boy did he want to save, or someone (Blake) to steal, the last guy eliminated. He is Adam, watch him squirm.  And I do not like this new format. Confusing I can get used to, but as has been said, it's not fair to the later contestants if the coaches can't control themselves (and unless the coaches get more saves/steals for night #2, it's hugely unfair to those contestants).

I'm not surprised that Adam made a dumb move like that. I thought Betsy wasn't that great to steal and I'm not overly impressed with Domenic (as I explained before it's more of personal taste to me). 

[realdancemom]

Yes, the judges were dumb using save and steals last night.  The only ones that I thought made sense were Domenic and Rod.  Domenic is one of Adam's better artists since his team is weak.  I didn't like the song that he did on Monday but I did like his other performances.  I agree with the judges that Matt showed more range but Domenic showed more emotion and is more raw.  He also has a cool vibe about him.

I thought Rod was also very good.  He just had to go against Maelyn and her angelic voice.  At first, I thought Adam was being annoying/dumb that he wanted John to pick him since Maelyn is so good.  But now, I think it was in Rod's favor because Rod was stolen since the judges still have steals left. 

The rest of the saves/steals were really off key or just mediocre.

It is too bad that there are a lot of good artists remaining and hardly any steals/saves left.  But this is how it is in the Knockouts.  I think the judges use them too early.  You just can't tell as much because the show rearranges the order of the performances.

[Booklady1017]

I don't get how they were so cautious with their saves in the battles rounds and so willy-nilly with them now. Another reason why people shouldn't pick Adam. At least on Kelly and John's team the contestants who don't win have a chance. But on the positive side no one else will go to Adam's team.

4 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I think I watched it in about 8 minutes.

The fact that the judges were saving and stealing left and right made me wonder if they got 1 save and 1 steal for each night but I guess not since some of them didn't use their's. They saved way too many people last night who really didn't deserve it. I couldn't believe John stole that awful brown haired teen who has a designer mom. I don't get that at all. How many people actually got eliminated? Like 3?

Yes 3. It was not fair that Celia stayed when 2 out of the 3 were better than her (Kayslin and Andrew).

[Booklady1017]

1 hour ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Maybe, I haven't settled in to watch this carefully enough, but, from what I have seen, I don't see how the new process makes sense or is fair.  Can someone confirm for me, how the voting is applied to the artists who performed in these last rounds.  Since one performer is pitted against the other, are the votes tabulated only as to how they apply to each other? So, is the choice only Artists A or B.?  And, the same goes for the next set that is paired?  Just wanted to confirm this ad that it wasn't an overall vote to see who got higher or lower in the entire group. 

Please correct me if I have misconstrued the rules. My reasoning is based on the voting as I have concluded as follows"  By pitting one performer against another and then having the loser exit, unless saved by another coach, seems to not work well for the contest overall.  To me, it seems to dismiss some very good performers while keeping some that aren't as good.  So, if Artist A goes up against artist B and both are awesome artists, but, B wins, A goes home. (Unless saved.) Next, Artist C goes up against Artist D and neither are that good, but, Artists C prevails.  So, we have sent home Artists A and D.  But, Artists C stays, who is not as good as Artists A, who left, and if pitted against Artists C Artists A would have won.  So, you end up with a fair amount of not so good artists and sent home some that are. I'm not against change, but, don't see how this helps. 

If this is not how it's going, please comment. 

I'm confused how the voting plays out. Do they compare each contestants in the Crossbattles total votes to the other in the battle? I would think so but it's definitely confusing. I felt that some good artists left because of this format and some others who were not good were saved. But both methods seem to have issues. I find this format interesting though but still have some concerns about the format because of the issues experienced with the sound and the quality of performances on Monday's show. I hope the issues are fixed and improved on Monday.

6 minutes ago, realdancemom said:

Yes, the judges were dumb using save and steals last night.  The only ones that I thought made sense were Domenic and Rod.  Domenic is one of Adam's better artists since his team is weak.  I didn't like the song that he did on Monday but I did like his other performances.  I agree with the judges that Matt showed more range but Domenic showed more emotion and is more raw.  He also has a cool vibe about him.

I thought Rod was also very good.  He just had to go against Maelyn and her angelic voice.  At first, I thought Adam was being annoying/dumb that he wanted John to pick him since Maelyn is so good.  But now, I think it was in Rod's favor because Rod was stolen since the judges still have steals left. 

The rest of the saves/steals were really off key or just mediocre.

It is too bad that there are a lot of good artists remaining and hardly any steals/saves left.  But this is how it is in the Knockouts.  I think the judges use them too early.  You just can't tell as much because the show rearranges the order of the performances.

I wonder if I'm the only one who is not feeling Domenic. I personally liked Matt better. I'm happy Rod was saved and that was a stupid match up on Adam's part. 

[realdancemom]

5 minutes ago, Booklady1017 said:

I'm confused how the voting plays out. Do they compare each contestants in the Crossbattles total votes to the other in the battle? I would think so but it's definitely confusing. I felt that some good artists left because of this format and some others who were not good were saved. But both methods seem to have issues. I find this format interesting though but still have some concerns about the format because of the issues experienced with the sound and the quality of performances on Monday's show. I hope the issues are fixed and improved on Monday.

I wonder if I'm the only one who is not feeling Domenic. I personally liked Matt better. I'm happy Rod was saved and that was a stupid match up on Adam's part. 

I think the votes are between each contestant in the cross battles.  I also think the judges might have talked to each other about the pairings.  I do feel that Celia was supposed to beat Oliv and Selkii was supposed to beat Mari.  It just didn't work out that way since Celia and Selkii were so off key on Monday.

I liked Matt too and was bummed when Adam paired Domenic against him.  Technically, he's a better singer than Domenic.  I also like his personality since he just radiates happiness.  But I like Domenic too.  They're just different. 

[DaphneCat]

2 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

To me, it seems to dismiss some very good performers while keeping some that aren't as good.  So, if Artist A goes up against artist B and both are awesome artists, but, B wins, A goes home. (Unless saved.) Next, Artist C goes up against Artist D and neither are that good, but, Artists C prevails.  So, we have sent home Artists A and D.  But, Artists C stays, who is not as good as Artists A, who left, and if pitted against Artists C Artists A would have won.  So, you end up with a fair amount of not so good artists and sent home some that are. I'm not against change, but, don't see how this helps. 

This happens in the battle rounds when it is only one team.  This format helps because if Team 1 is packed with really good singers in the old format 3 of them (they had a save last season, right?) would have had to go home unless stolen.  If Team 2 is all really lame singers, 5 will still be staying.  This way, there is a chance more of Team 1 stays and less of Team 2.

[Wandering Snark]

As others have noted I thought Celia was painfully horrible, in a 'made me make that stank face' kinda horrible. I can see though that she's an "artsy" kind of singer and maybe that's what John saw in her that he wanted to see what he could do with her. But she was truly terrible and this is the case that because he saved the worst of the night he screws someone who really comes through next week but probably won't be stolen or saved. Don't think that's fair.

One odd thing about them constantly showing the teams in those first-calls seating areas is that they could have been dressed up VIP members of the audience for all the recognition I had of them. I could barely name more than a handful and the hell if I'd remembered what they sung previously. I'd be lost without that contestant page I linked to.

[DaphneCat]

51 minutes ago, Wandering Snark said:

One odd thing about them constantly showing the teams in those first-calls seating areas is that they could have been dressed up VIP members of the audience for all the recognition I had of them. I could barely name more than a handful and the hell if I'd remembered what they sung previously. I'd be lost without that contestant page I linked to.

See, this is my problem also.  I think they should eliminate the back stories all together and have fewer episodes of purely blind auditions.  Then when they get to the battle rounds, they could refresh us on what song the sang and spend a little time getting to know who they are musically - with NO montages.  (I would be happy if they skipped the whole "My family is living in a box under the overpass, and if I don't get a chair turn, I'm getting kicked out of the box" thing.  Unless they are facing multiple felonies, I REALLY just care about what kind of singer they are.)  We could get to know them more as they progress in the competition without having to hear about EVERY dead, grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, brother, sister, best friend, third cousin, dog, cat, hamster, ad infinitum.

[SunnyBeBe]

1 hour ago, DaphneCat said:

This happens in the battle rounds when it is only one team.  This format helps because if Team 1 is packed with really good singers in the old format 3 of them (they had a save last season, right?) would have had to go home unless stolen.  If Team 2 is all really lame singers, 5 will still be staying.  This way, there is a chance more of Team 1 stays and less of Team 2.

I see the point, but, I don't think it's fair to some of the artists. 

[limecoke]

I kind of feel sorry for next week’s contestants. Unless they win the battle, there’s not much chance they’ll survive.  Which stinks.

Was there some serious Adam Levine backlash in the voting?  Sure seemed that way.