Season 16 Discussion

[peachmangosteen]

10 hours ago, Kaiju Ballet said:

The commercial all the contestants shot for Marshall's was way better than anything that was onstage tonight.

+1

I actually liked a lot of the performances last night though. At least they sounded better than they did during the Cross Battles!

A part of me almost wants all of Blake's team to just make it through on votes because it'd be kind of hilarious.

I also kinda want none of Adam's people to make it for the comedy, but I really like Domenic's voice. I haven't liked his past two performances at all though and have actually fast forwarded through them. I hope if he makes it he sings some songs I actually know/like.

Do the Comeback Stage people perform tonight and then there's a twitter vote to put one of them into the Top 13?

[DaphneCat]

45 minutes ago, JeanneH said:

It seemed as if nearly everyone was singing flat last night.

I actually cringed at a couple of them.  I haven't bothered to remember a lot of their names because it seems like a lot of them aren't very good.  Maybe once the fodder is gone I'll find someone I like among the rest.

Am I the only person who has better memories of past contestants (even - or should I say especially - ones who didn't win from the earlier seasons?)  It really seems like the talent pool is becoming more and more generic.  All GOOD singers, no great/memorable ones.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

I still feel like the band could dial their volume levels back twenty percent and it would help almost every remaining contestant.

I think Blake's 4 country males will sail into the top 8 thanks to Carter's savvy Elvis song choice. I think there's an outside shot Kendra might get voted in too. I'd say Shawn and Maelyn from Team Legend should also be moving on. The last two probably will come from Team Kelly maybe. Although I thought her team wildly underperformed or just picked super uninteresting song choices. I'll guess that Jej gets through at least. The only person Adam will keep, will be his save. Probably Domenic since he already saved him once before. If my original picks are right, that would leave Blake to maybe save Selkii again, Kelly might go for Rebecca or Abby, and John might go for Celia (who came pretty close to deserving a voted in spot last night), or maybe Jimmy. Just not Jacob, please not him again.

Edited April 30, 2019 by PhD-Purgatory15

[seacliffsal]

There is the potential for an amazingly hilarious result of changing the knockout rounds.  I would laugh for days if Blake's entire team went through knocking out the other judges (except for 'saves').  In my mind it has the possibility of happening.  Maybe more realistically it could happen that he could even get 6 through, or, as PhD-Purgatory15 mentioned, even 4 of his team getting through would be awesome.

It just made no sense to me to change the knockouts.  I like that the coaches had to make decisions about their own teams in how they selected the battles.

[JMarie99]

12 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

Celia Babini - I think goes down as a crime against music in general. Some songs shouldn't be re-arranged like this. Being this is her style and her voice is much more on-tone than he last disaster I guess her fans will greet it well. Especially if they (somehow) haven't heard the classic version.

I came on here specifically to agree a thousand times with this. One of my favorite Fleetwood Mac songs and she totally ruined it. It was pretty much a one-note bellow. She has been one of my least favorites from the beginning. I honestly don’t know what her “fans” see in her. 

[realdancemom]

2 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

There is the potential for an amazingly hilarious result of changing the knockout rounds.  I would laugh for days if Blake's entire team went through knocking out the other judges (except for 'saves').  In my mind it has the possibility of happening.  Maybe more realistically it could happen that he could even get 6 through, or, as PhD-Purgatory15 mentioned, even 4 of his team getting through would be awesome.

It just made no sense to me to change the knockouts.  I like that the coaches had to make decisions about their own teams in how they selected the battles.

I'm thinking this could likely happen.  Also, since he had the most contestants going into this round, his team shouldn't have been last.  Or at least, the show should have done a little montage at the end of all the contestants singing their songs. 

Edited April 30, 2019 by realdancemom

[Booklady1017]

Overall, the performances were better than Cross-Battles. However, there were a few that I really didn't like. Jake's and Selkie's were so bad in my opinion, I couldn't listen to them all the way through. I was distracted by Lisa's weird gyrations and I didn't like her song choice either. I didn't like Andrew's performance either. The only ones that stood out in a good way for me were: Maelyn, Presley, Gyth and Carter. Matthew and Jej were good but not as good as they have been in the past.

[kathyk2]

I hate this format it's too rushed. I thought the outfits on many of the women were too distracting especially Mari and Olive. I thought Maelyn gave the best performance and Jacob the worst he sucked all the emotion out of Total Eclipse of the Heart.

[Wandering Snark]

I agree, in general all attempts of people reworking/"making it their own" destroyed the original's merits and thereby put in horrrrible performances. I hope none of them advance. Are we sure they have saves or can we leave Team Adam on the side of the road completely?

I also think this 24-12 cut is crazy. 24 performances with the "strongest (by number at least) going last did nobody any favors. I was recapping while watching, via DVR, and even I can't instantly remember who did what/who was good/bad!

Carson said we were "Four weeks away from the finale" so there are heavier than usual cuts to get down to that, right? Yeah not liking this format at all.

[desertflower]

7 hours ago, DaphneCat said:

Am I the only person who has better memories of past contestants (even - or should I say especially - ones who didn't win from the earlier seasons?)  It really seems like the talent pool is becoming more and more generic.  All GOOD singers, no great/memorable ones.

Yeah, I feel the same. A lot of these people are talented but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen someone who just blew me away. I caught some of American Idol the other night which I haven’t watched in years, and felt the same. Since Adam Lambert was guest mentoring I ended up falling down a YouTube rabbit hole of his old Idol performances and he was just light years ahead of most of the contestants we see now, as far as the total package of voice, charisma and performance. I’m ready to see someone like that again. 

[viajero]

Though they had some sound problems again, overall this was better than the Cross Battles.  Taking the performances by team:

Team Kelly:  I thought Mathew gave the best overall vocal.  Jej and Pressley did fairly good on much more challenging songs, but both have been better.  Rod did a acceptable job on something well within his wheelhouse.  Finally, both female country singers had some problems, but Abby was definitely the better of the two.

Team Legend:  Maelyn and Shawn were the best of this bunch as expected without being up to their usual level.  Celia improved significantly over last week, while Jacob was just awful (I guess I stand alone in kind of liking what she did with The Chain).  Lisa and Jimmy were both entertaining, but not that great vocally.

Team Adam:  Though all four artists were good, I’d give the edge to the two women.  I thought that was Betsy’s best performance all season and Mari was simply sensational.

Team Blake:  Kendra gave my favorite performance of the entire evening - it pretty much had everything I look for - great performance and vocals along with an interesting imaginative rearrangement of a song that actually worked.  That was just sublime.  Most of the rest were pretty good, with perhaps Carter and Kim standing out the most while Dexter was the best the country boys.  Selkii and Oliv were perhaps the weakest. 

Overall, I'll be particularly happy if Kendra, Mari, Pressley, and Mathew somehow manage to go through alongside the obvious favorites.  Unfortunately I think there is a good chance that all four may go home.

[Skycatcher]

We have another game we play.  "What the hell is Kelly wearing?????!!!!!!"  Woman needs a stylist, or maybe a new stylist, STAT.

Also, the time may be coming when the success of a show is judged by the amount of screaming noise it can generate.  There'll be a little "scream-o-meter" in the corner of the screen and the highest/loudest program will win the overnight ratings regardless of content.

ETA: I'm officially a curmudgeon!

Edited May 1, 2019 by Skycatcher

[Quickbeam]

Wow, outcome so uneven. 

[Diana Berry]

Oh man that was hilarious.  I'm sure Blake's people were All top vote getters.  But the show had to throw Adam a bone.  Lb you should have chosen John.  

[seacliffsal]

I think that LB should have read the room and gone with Blake as he's getting most of his team through and has a strong likelihood to get them through to the next rounds.  Or, could LB only choose between Adam and John?

Anyway, I loved this outcome-that's what they get for changing up the Knockouts so much.  

[Diana Berry]

3 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

I think that LB should have read the room and gone with Blake as he's getting most of his team through and has a strong likelihood to get them through to the next rounds.  Or, could LB only choose between Adam and John?

Anyway, I loved this outcome-that's what they get for changing up the Knockouts so much.  

Yea , I think they will nix this next season .

[Quickbeam]

2 minutes ago, Diana Berry said:

Yea , I think they will nix this next season .

I agree. Kelly can’t be too happy with it either. 

[Dots And Stripes]

So to recap:

Team Blake - 6

Team John* - 3

Team Kelly - 2

Team Adam - 2**

*I'm refusing to go along with Team Legend. 

**Including the comeback artist.

9 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

I think that LB should have read the room and gone with Blake as he's getting most of his team through and has a strong likelihood to get them through to the next rounds.  Or, could LB only choose between Adam and John?

Anyway, I loved this outcome-that's what they get for changing up the Knockouts so much.  

As much as I like Blake, I actually don't think it would have been smart to jump on the band wagon. Blake is not going to spend an infinite amount of time with his team. I think LB was better off picking any other coach who could devote some time and attention to him. The ap makes voting for a team easy, but I don't think Blake fans will be able to carry that many artists with streaming.

Based on the team sizes, I think Kelly was definitely an option. She could have been a smart choice too. She has a small team and she's proven to be very good at coaching on this show. Picking Adam at least has the virtue of showing loyalty. I did enjoy that LB milked to moment and made it sound like he was doing Adam a favor. Nice way to take Adam down a yet another peg.

I'm actually really surprised Kelly lost so much of her team. I didn't like Jej's performance, but he came in with a lot of hype. It's funny that after Kelly spent the blinds complaining she gets no men on her team, she ends up with an all male team going into the top 13.

[sarkygal]

I haven’t watched tonight’s episode yet but based on yesterday’s, I think I know who the TPTB want in the finale. 

I’ve never cared enough to make a prediction about this show but it somehow seems even more artificial and rigged this season. I think the finale will be Jej, Maelyn, Gyth and possibly Shawn or the pretty long haired boy on Blake’s team. 

Or when I get round to watching tonight’s results, I’ll find I’m wrong. 

[MzLiz]

Oy.... I’m stoked that my fave Gyth is thru and was the top streamed artist.

I cannot believe Beth was not the artist for the comeback performance. LB was prob my second choice but she was far in front for me. Not sure the comeback is totally fair though. This person gets to skip a round and go thru.

I’m really bummed overall though. So many of the ones I like were eliminated. Matthew, Rebecca, Abby, and Pressley. 

Kelly, really, Jej was your save. He was the last of the 5 I would have chosen. I totally would have thought she would have picked Matthew or Pressley.

Sending 12 home just sucks

You know the reason no one does exceptionally well after the voice is because once they go live there are like 3 shows and they drop a ton of people at the time. For the most part you just don’t have time to really get invested in someone. Idol USED to have a lot be really successful because it went longer with only 1 or 2 people go home a week and you got a chance to really become a fan.

Edited May 1, 2019 by MzLiz
Because I don’t need 2 totally’s in the same sentence.

[sharifa70]

I got through two of Legend’s performers and realized I still can’t name any of these people. In spite of my having watched all the episodes this season, my Team Kelly viewing experience was dominated by “Wait, there’s a Pressley/Abby/That Guy?” Followed by “Ugh, Jacob and That Other Guy are so bland.” I love Kelly and John, but even they can’t make me sit through another hour of this. Deleting the rest of the mostly-unwatched episode was surprisingly freeing.

[Wandering Snark]

12 minutes ago, sharifa70 said:

I love Kelly and John, but even they can’t make me sit through another hour of this.

Yeah this was a heavily DVR'd showing at my house I whipped through it in nothing flat.

I'm annoyed that Celia is still here but John kind of spoiled that at the beginning so not shocked, but still pissed.

Not happy about Blake taking Oliv over Kendra.

Picking from all of Kelly's choices (and she had to be gutted to end up with as many people as Adam...) my last might have been Jej. Given the way they talked him up previously I wasn't shocked there either.

I agree that Mari is heads above anyone on Team Adam so I was happy he didn't choose one of his bromances as he tends to do.

LB was one of two weak options imho. They both knew people would be voting for them so why not do something fun and uptempo that would get the crowd into and people running for their iPhones? Both did slow 'showy' range songs and they did say that was of their own choosing. Two bad choices sonwise left us without much to decide on, basically a coin flip. I don't trust that ANY votes were tabulated actually as they couldn't even bother to show us the percentages at any time so I just assume LB was chosen by Bebe and/or TPTB. Two years now they've done this throw someone back at the end format and neither has produced a viable contestant. Let's nix that AND this 24->12 cut next season whihc starts in about a month right?

[JMarie99]

I really like and admire John Legend, but when he saved Celia, that was it for me. I’m done for the season.

And I’m sick and tired of this entire “voting for the judges” thing. Are there actually people who are voting for Blake’s entire team just because they like Blake? Or because they hate Adam?!

I gave it a good try but I do not like this show. Unfortunately Am Idol has voted off my favorite contestants. Maybe that Songwriter show they have been advertising will be good. But I’m not getting my hopes up. 

[Lily H]

Ugh. First Kelly picks Jej and then John picks Celia? Those are the LAST 2 I would have thought deserved saving. This show must have a really high yokel viewership since Blake's team gets through so easily. Whenever someone does a country song I just mute the TV and read until it's over.

[xfuse]

4 hours ago, JMarie99 said:

And I’m sick and tired of this entire “voting for the judges” thing. Are there actually people who are voting for Blake’s entire team just because they like Blake?

People always bring this up but I say no.

I happen to like country, along with other types of music. I'm less of a fan of pop, since to me the majority of them sound the same and I really hate screechy and runs.

So if I'm going to vote than I'm going to vote for the music I like the most which is usually sung by people on Blake's team. Would I vote for someone just because they are on Blake's team, no. Would I vote for the country singer on Kelly's team, yes.

[Sharonana]

20 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

There is the potential for an amazingly hilarious result of changing the knockout rounds.  I would laugh for days if Blake's entire team went through knocking out the other judges (except for 'saves').  In my mind it has the possibility of happening.  Maybe more realistically it could happen that he could even get 6 through, or, as PhD-Purgatory15 mentioned, even 4 of his team getting through would be awesome.

It just made no sense to me to change the knockouts.  I like that the coaches had to make decisions about their own teams in how they selected the battles.

This would be an astoundingly hilarious outcome! Everyone gets eliminated except for team Blake. The remaining contestants from his team vie for the top spot. 🤣

And yes, the new format sucks! I just don't know what they can do anymore to revive this show. It's tired and very telling as many don't come here to discuss it.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

My guess, is even Blake knew what was up when they brought this change in format to the table. He might've even said "are you sure you want to go that route?". As long as Adam & Blake remain on the show, they've got to go back to leveling the playing field.

The real surprise to me was Rod making it through. He went 1st out of 24! How was he not forgotten? I guess it shows...if you are country-adjacent (i.e. Southern and White) and you do a tiredly familiar song competently...you have a solid chance.

As for the judges picks, I'm with the people up thread who were happy that Adam didn't go bromance this time. I thought a 2nd save of Domenic was a virtual lock. Surprised (although not really given his save track record over all the seasons) that Blake went for Oliv instead of Selkiii. I actually thought Celia did pretty well with The Chain. It wasn't as dark as Chloe K.'s audition version...she was going for a more anthemic attempt that she mostly pulled off. Jej is okay. I run hot and cold on him. I wish Kelly had gone with Pressley instead 😞

Edited May 1, 2019 by PhD-Purgatory15

[Booklady1017]

11 hours ago, Diana Berry said:

Oh man that was hilarious.  I'm sure Blake's people were All top vote getters.  But the show had to throw Adam a bone.  Lb you should have chosen John.  

I was saying to my friend that LB is a nicer person than I’d be. I’d definitely have picked John too.

11 hours ago, Diana Berry said:

Yea , I think they will nix this next season .

At least we don’t get to see Adam with 3 singers. It would have been better and just desserts if LB picked someone else. Don’t get why he felt so loyal to Adam.

Edited May 1, 2019 by Booklady1017

[Booklady1017]

11 hours ago, Dots And Stripes said:

So to recap:

Team Blake - 6

Team John* - 3

Team Kelly - 2

Team Adam - 2**

*I'm refusing to go along with Team Legend. 

**Including the comeback artist.

As much as I like Blake, I actually don't think it would have been smart to jump on the band wagon. Blake is not going to spend an infinite amount of time with his team. I think LB was better off picking any other coach who could devote some time and attention to him. The ap makes voting for a team easy, but I don't think Blake fans will be able to carry that many artists with streaming.

Based on the team sizes, I think Kelly was definitely an option. She could have been a smart choice too. She has a small team and she's proven to be very good at coaching on this show. Picking Adam at least has the virtue of showing loyalty. I did enjoy that LB milked to moment and made it sound like he was doing Adam a favor. Nice way to take Adam down a yet another peg.

I'm actually really surprised Kelly lost so much of her team. I didn't like Jej's performance, but he came in with a lot of hype. It's funny that after Kelly spent the blinds complaining she gets no men on her team, she ends up with an all male team going into the top 13.

I was annoyed that they had Blake’s team go last, therefore making his team performances the most memorable and Kelly’s the least. I’m sure that had a factor in votes along with people blinding voting for only people on Blake’s team. I felt actually Kelly had some of the strongest contestants on her team, so it was sad to see them go and getting LB would have made up for that somewhat. Also, she has proven success, so she definitely would have been a better choice as Adam has done awful in recent years.

11 hours ago, sarkygal said:

I haven’t watched tonight’s episode yet but based on yesterday’s, I think I know who the TPTB want in the finale. 

I’ve never cared enough to make a prediction about this show but it somehow seems even more artificial and rigged this season. I think the finale will be Jej, Maelyn, Gyth and possibly Shawn or the pretty long haired boy on Blake’s team. 

Or when I get round to watching tonight’s results, I’ll find I’m wrong. 

I think definitely Gyth and Carter in the finale for sure and probably Maelyn.

[Booklady1017]

11 hours ago, MzLiz said:

Oy.... I’m stoked that my fave Gyth is thru and was the top streamed artist.

I cannot believe Beth was not the artist for the comeback performance. LB was prob my second choice but she was far in front for me. Not sure the comeback is totally fair though. This person gets to skip a round and go thru.

I’m really bummed overall though. So many of the ones I like were eliminated. Matthew, Rebecca, Abby, and Pressley. 

Kelly, really, Jej was your save. He was the last of the 5 I would have chosen. I totally would have thought she would have picked Matthew or Pressley.

Sending 12 home just sucks

You know the reason no one does exceptionally well after the voice is because once they go live there are like 3 shows and they drop a ton of people at the time. For the most part you just don’t have time to really get invested in someone. Idol USED to have a lot be really successful because it went longer with only 1 or 2 people go home a week and you got a chance to really become a fan.

I agree Beth should have been picked and she probably would have picked Kelly, would would have been good. 

I like Matthew and Presley a lot too and disappointed she didn’t pick one of them.

Great point about sending so many home early, so it’s tough to get invested. Why not have an extra week or two and not send them home all at once. 

[Booklady1017]

10 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

Yeah this was a heavily DVR'd showing at my house I whipped through it in nothing flat.

I'm annoyed that Celia is still here but John kind of spoiled that at the beginning so not shocked, but still pissed.

Not happy about Blake taking Oliv over Kendra.

Picking from all of Kelly's choices (and she had to be gutted to end up with as many people as Adam...) my last might have been Jej. Given the way they talked him up previously I wasn't shocked there either.

I agree that Mari is heads above anyone on Team Adam so I was happy he didn't choose one of his bromances as he tends to do.

LB was one of two weak options imho. They both knew people would be voting for them so why not do something fun and uptempo that would get the crowd into and people running for their iPhones? Both did slow 'showy' range songs and they did say that was of their own choosing. Two bad choices sonwise left us without much to decide on, basically a coin flip. I don't trust that ANY votes were tabulated actually as they couldn't even bother to show us the percentages at any time so I just assume LB was chosen by Bebe and/or TPTB. Two years now they've done this throw someone back at the end format and neither has produced a viable contestant. Let's nix that AND this 24->12 cut next season whihc starts in about a month right?

I think, in my opinion the saves by the coaches were not the best choice too. 

I didn’t like either Comeback artists song choice too. I didn’t get either why they didn’t show the votes either, only maybe because LB was so far in the lead? I think  they should only invite the contestants from the last round (Knockouts or Cross Battles) to battle it out before the live shows. We’d be more invested in them and they’d have a better shot to win. Also, they should have started earlier. Not sure why they started this season so late. They’d have a few weeks at least to gradually widdle down contestants to the live show. 

[Booklady1017]

6 hours ago, JMarie99 said:

I really like and admire John Legend, but when he saved Celia, that was it for me. I’m done for the season.

And I’m sick and tired of this entire “voting for the judges” thing. Are there actually people who are voting for Blake’s entire team just because they like Blake? Or because they hate Adam?!

I gave it a good try but I do not like this show. Unfortunately Am Idol has voted off my favorite contestants. Maybe that Songwriter show they have been advertising will be good. But I’m not getting my hopes up. 

I don’t get the appeal of Celia. John has a bad first season this year. First he doesn’t save Beth. I think he should have picked Jimmy at this point over Celia.

4 hours ago, Lily H said:

Ugh. First Kelly picks Jej and then John picks Celia? Those are the LAST 2 I would have thought deserved saving. This show must have a really high yokel viewership since Blake's team gets through so easily. Whenever someone does a country song I just mute the TV and read until it's over.

I don’t feel to that extent about the country singers but there are definitely way too many in the finale, but where are the people who like the R&B, Rock and Pop singers? Are they voting?

[observer]

Oh my goodness, I just started watching this last episode, and it is not two minutes into it, Carson is talking to Blake.  Blake says the word "advice" and that Adam once again has to be the asshole, as you hear from side left off camera, "ad-viiiiice" in a mocking faux country accent.  Adam, you suck.  Grow up.

And by the way, Adam, I truly think you should go take Katy Perry away from Orlando Bloom (which I am sure you have no doubt you could do).  The two of you could live together in a house with mirrors on every surface to enable you to live without missing one second of your imaginary wonderfulnesses.  Two people with such fantasies about how cute people think you are could probably spend all day bemoaning the lack of intelligence of those who do not share your view.

But I do applaud you for choosing reggae as far as Mari goes.  Perfectly suited for her voice and vocal style, imo.

[JunebugWA]

I'm not really surprised by the outcome. Blake seems to have a very strong team. If people vote by judges' popularity, Kelly's team would have more because people seem to LOVE her! But Kelly's team's performances on Monday were unforgettable. I remember telling my husband that her team seemed to be so flat on Monday. 

The performances did kick up a bit afterward. Surprised that John did not have more people going through than he did. But Adam's team -- I feel bad for them because it seems like they are being punished for being in his team - Adam is a huge disadvantage to his team. I kind of like this new format. 

[Mystery Author]

Quote

 It really seems like the talent pool is becoming more and more generic.  All GOOD singers, no great/memorable ones.

THIS!

I'm impressed that so many of you actually know names. I remember Oliv because of the spelling, but I don't even know the names of the "long-hair kids." I thought the long-hair kid who looks like David Cassidy would get more tweenie votes than the one who sang Elvis <yawn>.

[Kaiju Ballet]

14 hours ago, sharifa70 said:

I got through two of Legend’s performers and realized I still can’t name any of these people. In spite of my having watched all the episodes this season, my Team Kelly viewing experience was dominated by “Wait, there’s a Pressley/Abby/That Guy?” Followed by “Ugh, Jacob and That Other Guy are so bland.”

This was my experience too. I still couldn't tell a lot of the singers apart, unless they had been singled out as ones to watch from their auditions or because they were inexplicable judge choices (and discussed here as such.)

I can understand Kelly picking Jej--he had previously been voted in before, so there's definitely a fan base out there. I also thought he was given a pretty prominent placing in the Marshall's video, which was a good foreboding on how well he could do in his own videos.

But picking Celia is absolutely inexplicable. She does have a special sound, but it hasn't been coming through in the live performances since the auditions, which suggests that she's someone who does best in the studio, or when audio conditions are technically perfect. Not in competition with the other singers who are obviously rising above the band volume and other issues. I also agree with @Wandering Snark and @JMarie99 that her interpretation of The Chain wasn't optimal. It's rare that I recognize and like a song that's used, so I will have higher expectations of its performance wowing me when that happens.

5 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

Surprised (although not really given his save track record over all the seasons) that Blake went for Oliv instead of Selkiii

Both Adam and Blake were savvy enough to choose people who were the most likely to get votes over their personal faves.

I hated the song that Kelly performed. Not her singing--just the song itself. And while Is This Love was a great selection for Mari, as @observer noted, Adam seemed to leech all the joy out of it.

On a more positive note, hooray for Carson's shoutout to a Pharrell team member --Koryn Hawthorne --for her Billboard nominations! Even though she didn't win her season, I remember her, because show actually gave me time to learn who she was.

LB,  I hope despite the huge mistake in choosing Adam, you still find success after the show.

[realdancemom]

26 minutes ago, JunebugWA said:

I'm not really surprised by the outcome. Blake seems to have a very strong team. If people vote by judges' popularity, Kelly's team would have more because people seem to LOVE her! But Kelly's team's performances on Monday were unforgettable. I remember telling my husband that her team seemed to be so flat on Monday. 

The performances did kick up a bit afterward. Surprised that John did not have more people going through than he did. But Adam's team -- I feel bad for them because it seems like they are being punished for being in his team - Adam is a huge disadvantage to his team. I kind of like this new format. 

I didn't like this format because I'm not a country fan.  Instead of a Legendary season, we got a Blake season which I knew would happen.  Even though I do think coaches play a factor, it's also the genre.

I also agree with you that Kelly's team was not good on Monday.  Pressley did the best and she's not even technically the strongest.  Matt and Jej are technically stronger but they tend to choose boring songs or sing songs that way.  Shawn gets through because he chooses songs that the audience likes.  I thought Rebecca would have a really good chance of making it before Monday.  She's country and was my favorite country singer but she wasn't good this week.  I don't even remember Rod's performance except that I didn't like it as much as his cross battle performance.

I'm o.k. with John choosing Celia.  She was better this week.  Jacob is a no.  Jimmy is a good performer but hit some flat notes.  Lisa did a good job and she's toned it down quite a bit.  But she's still a little too much in her style.  I'm mostly glad that Maelyn made it and Shawn is a good singer too.

I feel bad for Adam's team.  I thought both Mari and Betsy performed really well.  Domenic was good too.  But they're not country and their coach is Adam. 

It's difficult for me to judge Blake's team since I'm not a country fan.  I did like Kendra's performance and wished she was saved.  I also liked the young kid last week and he was decent this week.  But he doesn't sing country even though he's a country singer.  Gyth is o.k.  and probably going to win.  I keep reading that he's good looking but I don't see it.

I hate how this show is eliminating so many contestants at once.  I agree that it's hard to get to know them.  I think it's going to be Maelyn and country guys for the finale.  I'm voting for Maelyn.

[Gel]

Disappointed Kendra did not get through. I found her to be one of the more interesting performers, even though I did not care for the song she did this week, I would have been interested to see what she came up with next.  

Also would have preferred Team Kelly’s Abby over Team Blake’s Andrew, and I say this as a country music fan. Of the bunch my favorite is Dexter. Gyth is okay, but for me he over-emoted that song nasally and I prefer the original Shenandoah recording. It’s one of my favorite songs, so I am biased to think he benefited from the song choice.

Jej and Maelyn run the danger of being too one-note as the competition goes on. 

I irrationally like Rod for his ability to hit the correct notes with enthusiasm. 

[DaphneCat]

3 hours ago, realdancemom said:

I hate how this show is eliminating so many contestants at once.  I agree that it's hard to get to know them.  I think it's going to be Maelyn and country guys for the finale.  I'm voting for Maelyn.

This happens every season when they go to the lives.  They went by teams of six and America always voted in 2 and the judges saved 1 so it always went from 24 to 12.  The only thing different this season is that the teams are not uniform.  I think the cross battles were an interesting idea as they got the voting public involved earlier and good singers weren't necessarily eliminated because they weren't a particular judges favorite.  One problem was apparently they set up the voting by judge not by battle - this didn't make it easy for people to vote for performers but easy to vote for your favorite judge.  I think the biggest problem for me personally is there just don't seem to be any standout performers.  And, yes, I am old, but I didn't recognize quite a few of the songs, making it harder to associate someone (good or bad) with a particular favorite.

[realdancemom]

22 minutes ago, DaphneCat said:

This happens every season when they go to the lives.  They went by teams of six and America always voted in 2 and the judges saved 1 so it always went from 24 to 12.  The only thing different this season is that the teams are not uniform.  I think the cross battles were an interesting idea as they got the voting public involved earlier and good singers weren't necessarily eliminated because they weren't a particular judges favorite.  One problem was apparently they set up the voting by judge not by battle - this didn't make it easy for people to vote for performers but easy to vote for your favorite judge.  I think the biggest problem for me personally is there just don't seem to be any standout performers.  And, yes, I am old, but I didn't recognize quite a few of the songs, making it harder to associate someone (good or bad) with a particular favorite.

I meant in general not just this season.  It seems once we go Live, the season ends so quickly.  The other time, they eliminate so many at once is right before finals.  This is where three go straight to the finals, three automatically get eliminated, and then three fight for the last spot.   I read that next week, five contestants will go home.  That's a lot since we just barely got down to 13.

[peachmangosteen]

1 hour ago, realdancemom said:

I read that next week, five contestants will go home.  

So the first week of the Top 13, 5 people are gonna be eliminated? That's ridiculous. 

[viajero]

Well, they just saved me a lot of time in coming weeks.  I'll fast forward to watch Maelyn and Mari until they are both inevitably eliminated and then I can quit for the season.  I have no real interest in which of the 6 country or country-adjacent bros ends up winning.  And mind you, I'm saying this as someone who doesn't hate country.  Adam Wakefield and Megan Linsey are just two of the past country contestants I really liked.  Its just that this bunch seem no more than competent at best.

I do think that going last was a big advantage for Blake, while going first really worked against Kelly.  Overall, I don't think the performances of his team were better than hers this week and this could of made a difference.  I myself had trouble remembering how Kelly's contestants performed by the time we got to the end of the night.  I would certainly have ranked both Pressley and Mathew above most of Blake's contestants.

I do think its ironic that Adam somehow ended up with an arguably stronger team than Kelly, or at least a more interesting team.  I'd take Mari and LB easily over Rod and Jej.  Not that this will make any difference as viewers are likely to continue punishing Team Adam no matter how well his people sing. In Kelly's place I would have saved Pressley, but at least I understand why she picked Jej.  I just don't think he brings anything all that interesting to the show.

I'm actually okay with John saving Celia.  I didn't really have a favorite among his remaining four artists and you can count on her to at least try to do something interesting (even if she crashes and burns half the time).  In any case, I doubt she'll be around much longer.

The one who I strongly disagreed with is Blake.  No way was Oliv better than Kendra.

I do think its great that Koryn Hawthorne got 3 Billboard Award nominations.  She was one of my favorites her season and her cover of Make It Rain remains one of my all time Top-5 favorite voice performances.  It goes to show that not all Voice contestants end up forgotten.

On 4/30/2019 at 9:13 PM, Wandering Snark said:

LB was one of two weak options imho. They both knew people would be voting for them so why not do something fun and uptempo that would get the crowd into and people running for their iPhones? Both did slow 'showy' range songs and they did say that was of their own choosing. Two bad choices sonwise left us without much to decide on, basically a coin flip. I don't trust that ANY votes were tabulated actually as they couldn't even bother to show us the percentages at any time so I just assume LB was chosen by Bebe and/or TPTB. Two years now they've done this throw someone back at the end format and neither has produced a viable contestant. Let's nix that AND this 24->12 cut next season whihc starts in about a month right? 

I thought LB was significantly better.  Overall, I don't really like the Comeback Stage as I don't think anyone coming out of that process will have much of a chance.  But at least we did get Lynnea Moorer's Wolves out of it.  That turned out to be one of my favorite performances of last season.

[realdancemom]

15 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

So the first week of the Top 13, 5 people are gonna be eliminated? That's ridiculous. 

Yes, I saw articles about this.  Here's one of them.  So we're basically going from 13 to 8.  The following week, it's eight to four for the finals.  This show just goes by so fast.

https://www.nbcumv.com/programming/nbc-entertainment/voice/episodes-schedule

[Wandering Snark]

Damn with this wild rush to the end we'll barely know the "winner". I thought it was crazy when Carson said the finale is in four weeks, but I guess he was right.

[hnygrl]

Eh, I'm over it.

This is officially my last season watching.

[ShellyD]

It does seem like they are rushing the season. 

[peachmangosteen]

4 hours ago, hnygrl said:

This is officially my last season watching.

I keep saying this but I never follow through. I think this time I really will. Or at least I won't watch the entire season next time.

1 hour ago, ShellyD said:

It does seem like they are rushing the season. 

Yea really. Is there some scheduling reason why? Did it start later than usual or something? Or is there something they need to air asap so they're ending this early?

[hnygrl]

I think it was that stupid battle before the lives that screwed everything up. It's just soooo boring now. I felt so sad for Team Adam. it appears that nobody voted for them and they all had to suffer, even though some of his singers were really good...

They won't, but they really need to not-show this show for a season or two.

And AGT should be airing soon. I'm sure they're almost done shooting now...oh come on! Y'all know what "live" means by now.

Not that excited about that one either to be honest. NBC is losing me really quickly as a viewer...

[adhoc]

Ha, when Monday rolled around, instead of The Voice I watched The Show Must Go On: Queen and Adam Lambert. Excellent. Reminded me of the days when singing competitions produced some great singers.

[realdancemom]

I'm staying until it's all country singers.  I start watching them sing for a few seconds and then I FF'd until they're done.  So they have to hook me in before that like Rod, Rebecca, and Carter did during their cross battles.  Rod and Carter didn't sing country songs though.  I'm still hoping that Maelyn makes the finals.

I'm looking forward to Songland to start at the end of May.  It looks like it's a competition for song writers and they do have a lot of good popular artists to help.