Thoughts on The Voice: Final Four

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Good evening, Voice fans! Tonight is the final performance night! For me, it’s been a roller coaster of a show. My favorites have been changing with every episode. At this point, I’m rooting for two of them. Will either deliver, or will their opponents surprise me once again?

Team Adam: Tony Lucca
Team Blake: Jermaine Paul
Team Cee-Lo: Juliet Simms
Team Xtina: Chris Mann

Each contestant performs three times: one solo, one with their coach, and one coach tribute.

Here are the contestants in order of their appearance on the show.

1. Jermaine Paul – “I Believe I Can Fly” Damn. Of all the R. Kelly songs he could have picked from…. Before he sings a note it’s so much inspiration bait. Anyways, Jermaine kicked out run after run like they were so many motivational talking points, but he overdid it by the end. His vibrato/hold bit at the end was almost comedic. To his credit, he really tapped into the emotional potential of the song about a third of the way in. This could have been a pose-and-belt, but for the most part it wasn’t. He had a solid, humble presence and he almost sold me on the song. If he didn’t indulge himself in the runs quite so much and worked a little harder to connect with the audience, then he might have won me over. Oh well, two performances left.

2. Juliet Simms – “Crazy” Juliet wasn’t crazy enough. She stayed in her range, no complaints there, but there was no risk. She didn’t throw herself into the performance vocally or with her stage presence. She was stiff in her measured pacing around the stage when she could have jumped around the stage or stayed in one spot and gradually built up in menacing intensity. She showed out none of the power growls that have powered her recent success. She displayed no connection to the defiantly solo lyrics. All in all I found the performance underwhelming.

3. Chris Mann with Christina Aguilera – “A Prayer” Chris has to play Andrea Bocelli and Xtina has to play Celine Dion. I’ll say one thing, these two harmonize really well together. Chris’s lower range provides a solid foundation for Christina’s vocal acrobatics. However, poor Chris didn’t get nearly enough opportunities to shine on his own and it’s his ass on the line. Plus I think he was buried in the mix a little bit. Also, I was worried that poor Ms. Aguilera would have a bit of a dress malfunction as the song wore on. I think Chris should have worn a bow tie and a mankini to spread the risk.

4. Tony Lucca – “99 Problems” Tony smartly sang a set of lyrics which if they weren’t his own were at least more relatable to his onstage persona than Jay-Z’s trifecta of hatred for being famous, racial profiling, and revenge violence. If he played it straight he would have come off as insensitive at the very least. And I totally got why he censored himself on the chorus – his family is right there in the audience! I also get why Christina might have called him out on the song choice itself, since anyone familiar with the song knows what goes in that vocal rest. Still, while I found the instrumentation to be solid, I thought that Tony’s vocal performance was underwhelming and short of breath.

5. Chris Mann – “The Voice Within” I figure that Chris picked this song to match Jermaine’s inspiration bait choice, but calculated or not this fell flat for me. Chris’s singing just sounded off-key and ugly against the orchestral backdrop. His onstage persona seemed tonally appropriate, if a bit bland. Towards the bridge things got a bit rocking and Chris cut loose, but before he could take off he went right back to so-so hook. “Not Myself Tonight” would have been a more fun tribute.

6. Juliet Simms and Cee-Lo Green – “Born To Be Wild” Why isn’t Juliet belting? Every good vocal performance I have heard of this song features some vocal effort in the verses and she has shown she has that kind of vocal staying power. She just needs to try! Meanwhile Cee-Lo just kind walked around and stayed in key. When they tried to harmonize with each other, they did runs on different syllables so they ended up with messy results. Juliet and Cee-Lo can wear all the leather and spikes they want, they still sounded complacent. I was really hoping they would kick ass like how Cee-Lo and Vicci Martinez kicked ass on “Love Is A Battlefield” last season.

7. Tony Lucca and Adam Levine – “Yesterday” I think this was a choice for Tony and his “faded idol” back story. Both he and Adam had the matter-of-fact sadness emotional content down pretty well. Vocally they were better together than they were solo (both Tony and Adam flubbed a tad on their solos) but I was actually kind of happy with this performance. It was a good tonal fit with minimal overindulgence and a good balance of emotion and execution.

8. Jermaine Paul – “God Gave Me You” Another inspiration bait coach tribute? Yeesh. I know next to nothing about Blake’s catalog, but given his onstage persona he has to have some songs with more jamming power. Instead this felt plodding even with Jermaine hitting some cool falsetto notes at the end. Personally I think he did the best he could with that song.

9. Chris Mann – “You Raise Me Up” Don’t get me wrong, Josh Groban seems like a good guy. I’m just not a fan of this kind of music, though I’ll concede that a lot of people are. Also, I thought he totally nailed this performance with a level of execution and conviction that rose above mere bait. It looked like he believed in what he was singing. I also like the little teary bit towards the end. Dare I say it, that was one of the night’s better performances. Nice job, dude. Kathy says he has a future in Disney movies and I agree. If Zachary Levi didn’t already do his own singing, Chris could totally be his singing voice.

10. Jermaine Paul and Blake Shelton – “Soul Man” Jermaine and Blake sounded a little light in the mix, but otherwise this was a fun performance. Blake looked a little bit stiff onstage, but really it’s not his ass on the line. If he can make Jermaine look and sound good, then he has done his job. And he did do his job. Jermaine looked confident, cool, and in his element. He got to do some crazy R&B runs, some crowd vamping, and a little call and response with the band. I’d totally watch more of that.

11. Tony Lucca – “Harder To Breathe” Tony has Adam’s high-end vocals down early on, but he fizzles out earlier than I would have liked. He also forgets the lyrics at several points in the second verse, a sin that would have gotten him the boot on another show. When it comes to stage presence I think he was solid, but I wish he would have brought the house band to the forefront so he could have fed off their energy. I think it would have improved his rocker charisma.

12. Juliet Simms – “Freebird” This is what I was waiting to hear all damn night! Juliet was holding back for her first two performances. It turns out that she was saving her sawed-off shotgun of a voice for the song. She had a solid build during the verses, holding back a little but still sounding fuller than her other two numbers. When the big chorus with the monster guitar solo came in, she stepped up and fulfilled her potential. When she nails her lower range runs she can bring me to the verge of tears. I wish she had a more consistent body of performances, but within the boundaries of this song this was well-played.

My Performance Rankings (Based on all three performances. Everything counts, Carson Daly.)
1. Jermaine Paul (#2 in tribute, #1 in duet, #3 in solo)
2. Tony Lucca (#1 in tribute, #2 in duet, #4 in solo)
3. Juliet Simms (#3 in tribute, #4 in duet, #1 in solo)
4. Chris Mann (#4 in tribute, #3 in duet, #2 in solo)

I understand with a final round that I should expect to see a lot more saccharine garbage. Still, it doesn’t change that I’m not into it. Compared to the past few weeks of performances this felt like a bit of a letdown. I thought every contestant brought at least one top-shelf performance, but if they want to be successful artists then they will need to be able to sustain star power for more than three minutes. See you tomorrow for the results show!

Thoughts on The Voice Top 8: Final Four Reveal

Image edited from original by Mike Licht, Notionscapital.com via Flickr, used under Creative Commons

Ok, we have eight contestants in the semi finals. Six of them gave pretty good performances on Monday night. Plus there’s the return of the judges’ scoring gimmick (because it wouldn’t be The Voice without some kind of crazy gimmick), so we’ll see how this shakes out.

Here are the guest musical performances!
– Dia Frampton and Kid Cudi – “Don’t Kick The Chair” I didn’t know Dia had this kind of catchy indie-sounding dance pop thing in her. She didn’t do much in the way of vocal tricks back in Season 1 and she’s not about to right now, but she sounded really, really good (even if I detected a hint of prerecorded vocal track.) As for her performance, it was like a “Pumped Up Kicks” with, you know, good singing. Even Kid Cudi’s rap verse complemented things. Well done, Dia!

– Vicci Martinez and Cee-Lo Green – “Come Along” While this is more chill than I expected from Vicci, this performance had a classy blues swagger to it. It was like Joan Osborne meets Moby. Vicci and Cee-Lo harmonized really well together. They were also on their best behavior. She didn’t try to punch through every note and he didn’t hog the mic time like he did with the Goodie Mob performance from a few weeks ago.

– Beverly McClellan and Cyndi Lauper – “Money Changes Everything” I’ll concede that I don’t know this Cyndi Lauper song, but Beverly sounds a lot better singing it. Cyndi looked like she was having trouble with her earpiece, and she may have suffered for it. She did recover in time for her big note about 4/5ths, which was decent. Meanwhile Beverly was in the same top form she demonstrated on Season 1, complete with the wide-eyed hammy stage presence.

– Javier Colon – “A Drop In The Ocean” This has to be the most boring performance I have seen tonight. Javier’s only signs of growth and risk taking are ditching his acoustic guitar for a piano. He still failed to engage me with his empty and somewhat depressing singing style. While I respected his Season 1 win, now I’m not so sure. Zzzzzz….

The Final Four

1. Chris Mann (Xtina score 50, voter score 54): I didn’t see that coming. He pulled out ahead on a worship song that’s as old as it gets. The lesson: Never underestimate this show’s lite-pop demographic, which I never knew existed (or thought they all stayed with Idol.)

2. Tony Lucca (Adam score 60, voter score 48): That Adam score took him over the top despite losing the popular vote. I’m chalking this up to producer favoritism since he has that Mickey Mouse Club vengeance story. He’s been improving week to week, but he didn’t perform as well as Katrina did.

3. Jermaine Paul (Blake score 50, voter score 73): Note for note Jermaine has consistently been the best performer on the show this season. He had one flub in top 24 week, but otherwise he’s out on top. He’s been one of the few to balance raw power and genuine emotion on such a professional level. In my opinion, he’s the one to beat.

4. Juliet Sims (Cee-Lo score 60, voter score 61): Yay! We don’t have a four-man final! Juliet definitely gets the trophy for Most Improved. Her performance style was half attitude and half hot air, but she gradually replaced that hot air with melodic snarl. It was definitely enough to knock my predicted Chosen One out of the game. If she brings the soul like she did for the past two weeks, she’s got my vote.

The Losers
– Lindsey Pavao (Xtina score 50, voter score 46): She found her indie groove for her last performance, but it was too late. Weeks of awkward gimmicks and lazy singing obliterated any goodwill she earned in the early rounds.

– Katrina Parker (Adam score 40, voter score 52): Well, she won the popular vote on Team Adam so she can take that consolation. Her performance was catchy, graceful, and pleasant to hear. I guess it wasn’t as desperate.

– Erin Willett (Blake score 50, voter score 27): Ouch. I’ll concede that Erin didn’t bring her best last week, but she’s been one of the most dynamic and charismatic performers this show has had. It’s just a shame she had to go up against Jermaine.

– Jamar Rogers (Cee-Lo score 40, voter score 39): Wow! I won’t say I didn’t see this coming because as good as Jamar’s performance was, Juliet’s was way better. He got kind of cold in his last few performances, and maybe it was enough to swing enough voters to other contestants.

Finally, free Christina Milian! I want to see a “Dip It Low” performance next week!

Thoughts on The Voice Top 8

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All right, Voice fans! We have reached the semi finals! It’s been nearly three months, but the home stretch is in sight. We have a fairly decent Top 8 for the show, but it remains to be seen if they can deliver. Let’s do it!

Here are the contestants in order of their appearance on the show.

1. Tony Lucca (Team Adam) – “How You Like Me Now?” This was a slow starter.
Tony was flat as a pancake during the stair descent (“but he had to balance those models hanging off of his shoulders!”) Then he found his inner dance dork and cut loose. He was a bit bleaty from time to time and his dancing was silly, but he managed to project over the big brassy sound and showed great vocal control. I appreciated his big buildup and sense of fun. Dare I say it, this guy is growing on me.

2. Erin Willett (Team Blake) – “Without You” She’s doing that thing where she purposely sings way off the beat. I think it was meant to show emotion, but it came off as messy. I should give her points for doing something different with a popular song, but she went the wrong way. I’ve liked Erin the best when she brings the uptempo power show. Instead she sang only the boring parts from this David Guetta hit. When this song comes on the radio, I’m willing to deal with the beatless Usher verses that sound like a crummy photocopy of “With Or Without You” for the sake of Guetta’s visceral Fuck Me I’m Famous beats. There was no payoff to this performance – not even her vocal runs, solid as they were.

3. Chris Mann (Team Xtina) – “Ave Maria” My knowledge of opera is limited to when I interned in the marketing department of an opera company in college, but this sounded ok. Straight-up worship/performance songs like this don’t lend themselves to the performance rubric beyond technical execution (as opposed to songs or arias that relate to the actual plot of an opera, where the emotion is key.) I think Chris sounded decent within the conventions of performing stuff like this, but those conventions made it kind of boring. And that piano was way too high in the mix. Its countermelodic playing was jarring.

4. Jamar Rogers (Team Cee-Lo) – “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” Does Cee-Lo wish he was a judge on Idol (or Jimmy Iovine?) Why is he picking such stodgy songs? Jamar’s retouched arrangement isn’t as radical as he thinks it is, but he sure can sing. He managed to stay grounded in his spot on the stage, but still made use of the space with the strength and variety of his vocal moves. The way he projected was intense without oversinging, and that crazy downshift at the end was pretty hot. To cap it off, he managed to have the emotion of last week’s performance with the solid singing of his early performances. Props for making the best out of a difficult situation.

5. Team Adam and Team Cee-Lo – “All These Things That I’ve Done” They have to pad this show out somehow. Juliet continues to sing on-key. Katrina was a crackly hot mess early on but righted herself quickly. Jamar tries to steal the show and succeeds for 15% of his mic time. Tony’s Bruce Springsteen impression was a tad anemic.

6. Jermaine Paul (Team Blake) – “Open Arms” Jermaine’s execution is flawless – seriously he missed not one note. I was a little nervous about this performance since this song in the wrong hands has the potential to be way too plodding and saccharine, and for the first verse it was. Then the rock parts kicked in and Jermaine found his emotional levels. His emotion matched the power of his belting. I felt passion. I felt commitment. I felt strength. I was almost at the crying level. Well played!

7. Katrina Parker (Team Adam) – “Killing Me Softly” I kind of wish Katrina would get into the performance a little and bop to the beat (the backup singers were getting into it more,) but we’ve established that swagger just isn’t her performance style. She prefers to stay grounded. That said, this is The Voice and that performance was really fun to listen to! It was crazy catchy and Katrina nailed the torchy sensuality that a proper vocal performance of this song demands. She was on key and unwavering, and her commitment as she hit note after note was quite charming. Way to bring the A-game!

8. Blake Shelton – “Over” Blake sounded buried in the mix, which really detracted from any vocal performance he brought. Not that his singing was that hot to begin with. It was bleary, off-key, and just a bit hunger-dunger-dang. Look at how the other coaches were reacting. Christina was doing that robotic head nod thing combined with a stare that looked like she wanted to set Blake on fire with heat vision. Meanwhile Cee-Lo looked confused and disconnected, the way I probably look upon seeing the controls to a Madden game or when someone tries to explain the concept of a “standard deviation” to me. Why is this guy a coach?

9. Lindsey Pavao (Team Xtina) – “Skinny Love” I should have seen this coming – the indie singer does the song from the whiny indie band. “Say Aah” this is not. At least she’s singing more coherently than Justin Vernon and his band of Civil War reenactors when they were on SNL. To her credit, Lindsey sang with a delicateness that was pleasant to hear and moderately engrossing. She managed to be dialed back and restrained and still execute with some coy emotion. She was a bit mushy on the mic, but I suppose that’s to be expected.

10. Team Blake and Team Xtina – “Edge of Glory” Jermaine sang too high. Lindsey sang too low. Erin sang too quietly. Chris oversang. There you have it, four ways to get to the same result: Wrong.

11. Juliet Sims (Team Cee-Lo) – “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World” Even with all the negativity I’ve written about Juliet on this site, any doubts I had about her abilities were gone after that performance. Her snarly emoting gave Jamar a run for his money. In the past three weeks she developed the sheer stamina to sustain those growl holds, which seem difficult to nail in the first place. She also stayed on key despite all the soul power poses and vocal swan dives that would have turned a lesser performer (which was her in the Top 32 and earlier) into a scratchy trainwreck. She wins because she went for difficult material, avoided overindulgence, and came off as charismatic and entertaining. Way to stick her in the end, producers!

My Performance Ranking
1. Juliet Sims
2. Jermaine Paul
3. Jamar Rogers
4. Katrina Parker
5. Tony Lucca
6. Lindsey Pavao
7. Chris Mann
8. Erin Willett

Tonight was a pretty good night. There were maybe two performances that I didn’t care for. Otherwise we had a solid mix of standout performances. I kind of feel bad for having to rank Tony and Lindsey as low as I did, but it’s all relative. Here’s hoping for a smashing final four. See you for the results show!

Thoughts on The Voice Top 16: Team Adam vs. Team Cee-Lo Voting Results

Image edited from original by Mike Licht, Notionscapital.com via Flickr, used under Creative Commons

Last night’s Voice was a disappointment. There were too many slow songs and underwhelming performances. Other than a few upset performances from contestants I was rooting against up until now, the bright spots were the sudden eliminations of Pip and James Massone. Let’s see who else has to stop appearing on my TV.

Here is the guest musical performance….

Florence and the Machine – “No Light No Light” I haven’t been too keen on the music from Ms. Welch and co. (too square and stuffy), but this sounds pretty cool. There’s darkness and urgency here and I can get behind that. Flo’s no slouch on the mic either. She rocks hot power belts all over the place and that note hold towards the end was killer! Nice booking, Voice!

Now for the vetted teams….

Team Adam
1. Tony Lucca: He won the vote because he’s starting to reconcile his crazy backstory and halfway decent singing ability. He shouldn’t take himself too seriously. Also, he shouldn’t preen. Preening dropped Pip and it will drop him.

2. Katrina Parker (Adam save): She’s hot in a sparse arrangement or crazy vocal run but cold when singing against the big sounds. I feel cooler with her than I do with Tony, but I wish her straight up singing was stronger.

Team Cee-Lo
1. Jamar Rogers: I’ve been cool with this guy up until now, but he must try to have more fun. If he’s the predicted winner for this season, then his march to victory should be as engaging and entertaining as possible.

2. Juliet Sims (Cee-Lo save): During her desperation song, her vibrato was bleaty like a goat. But other than that mistake, she was at her best this week. Juliet picks decent songs, but is only just now figuring out how to sing them. That makes me uneasy.

The One-Name Losers
– Mathai: I’ve been watching too many of these shows. I say this because this was the reaction I had to her desperation song: “She’s talented, but so inconsistent. She’s all over the place and can’t decide on a performance style.” It was even in the voice of Randy Jackson. By the end of Mathai’s run her performances were getting annoying.

– Cheesa: She demonstrated some of the strongest singing of the top 16 and she had the power stances down pat. If she won it would be a validation of the show’s emphasis on vocal abilities. So why didn’t she move forward? I respected her performances, but other than “Don’t Leave Me This Way” I didn’t like them. Perhaps the voting audience felt the same way? Regardless, I felt she got robbed in the Cee-Lo pick.

Thoughts on The Voice Top 16: Team Adam vs. Team Cee-Lo

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The quarter finals continue tonight, Voice fans! On teams Blake and Xtina, some of the probable winners unexpectedly choked and were sent packing before the voters could save them, making the show way more interesting. Will we see similar upsets happen to the shoo-ins on Teams Adam and Cee-Lo? Let’s see….

Here are the contestants in order of their appearance on the show.

1. Jamar Rogers (Team Cee-Lo) – “It’s My Life” Whoever decided to run this song in half time made a bad call. The sludgy beats alone made the song feel plodding. Even though Jamar sang pretty well and with a surprising amount of restraint (for him,) the bad arrangement made me anxious. His stage presence was solid, blue collar emotion, but the bad arrangement undercut it. So far Jamar has been at his best on songs that rock hard and never let up. This could have been one of those songs, but it came out boring. It was good and Jamar executed well, but this early on in the show I just wasn’t feeling it. It’s not his fault.

2. Katrina Parker (Team Adam) – “Jar of Hearts” This song choice seemed fairly predictable for me. Katrina went for the time-honored practice of singing against a sparse piano in order to give her voice maximum wiggle room. As a result, I kind of felt like she was going though the motions. To me she started out strong but got lukewarm about halfway into the piece. It’s not that she was coasting, for she seemed committed to beaming the song out until the end, but the end result felt flat. It was a solid effort.

3. Team Cee-Lo – “Dancing In The Street” Juliet fell flat. Cheesa oversang. Jamar held his own. James sounds good on this kind of song (though Kathy noted that he gave off quite the Mickey Mouse Club vibe.) Cee-Lo dominated the proceedings in terms of execution and mic time. Carson Daly gave a “tribute” to Dick Clark that felt more like a poor-taste parody.

4. Mathai (Team Adam) – “I’m Like A Bird” Mathai actually had a solid performance with this song. She felt mostly on key and used her vibrato to fit the quirky tone of the song. However, after a few more neat vocal runs her voice did a weird vocal shift that was both too high and too low and by the end Mathai was singing like Danny Elfman on a bad day. Also I wasn’t quite feeling her hamming it up in the stiff way she did. I saw Nelly Furtado live at the peak of that song’s popularity (summer 2001), and when she hammed it up she bounced around like an athlete. It was fun instead of awkward like Mathai’s stage presence.

5. James Massone (Team Cee-Lo) – “Just The Way You Are” I don’t know where to begin. The musical arrangement was incredibly dated and cheesy with its anemic drumming and stale keyboards. The persistent saxophone just took it over the top. Meanwhile James tried to go for the teen idol thing with his varsity jacket and singing to some girl with a chaste distance. He wasn’t just singing on the Mickey Mouse Club, he took things right back to the Annette Funicello era. Billy Joel couldn’t have sounded this ersatz.

6. Goodie Mob – “Fight To Win” OK, where did these guys get their costumes – from Madonna’s halftime show this past Super Bowl or from The Black Eyed Peas halftime show from the Super Bowl the year before? Also, it’s clear that any group dynamic this group once had has been obliterated by Cee-Lo’s individual star power. The other guys in the barely got any mic time. I expected to hear some solid Southern hip-hop that had Cee-Lo’s voice as one part of the appeal. The beatless, indulgent classic rock arrangement felt like so much wankery from the Lady Killer. Hopefully this isn’t indicative of future material these guys come out with.

7. Tony Lucca (Team Adam) – “Baby One More Time” Hey! Speaking of the Mickey Mouse Club, Adam and Tony take the audience to Metatown on this Britney cover. It had kind of a bluesy feel, almost like if it were covered by Tracy Chapman or the Black Crowes. Tony performed rather well here. He had some good wailing that was on-key and tonally appropriate. He also dialed things back for the verses and amped things up on the build to the chorus, which is evidence of great control. In my opinion, the is the best performance Tony has given since the audition.

8. Cheesa (Team Cee-Lo) – “I Have Nothing” I thought that this might happen. To be fair, Cheesa carried this song way, way better than Shannon Magrane did back in Whitney/Stevie week on Idol. She had some fabulous power belting at quite a few key moments throughout the song. This song just feels so overdone that what little emotion Cheesa showed in the performance was quickly negated by the song’s depressing arrangement and trite nature. This was so much pageantry, and just because Cheesa comes from that background doesn’t mean she should do throwbacks to that era. Zzzzzz….

9. Pip (Team Adam) – “Somewhere Only We Know” On paper this is a good song choice for Pip. The original has a sweet, lilting, emotional quality that makes me well up inside even though it’s supposedly whiny wuss rock. It’s both soft and urgent. Pip’s performance was neither. His stage presence was preening like a Glee-era high school show choir, which is not how he should have conveyed the vulnerability in the lyrics. Meanwhile his singing was ass from beginning to end. On the soft intro he went low on each of his phrases way too early, resulting in an off-key sound. He blew a lot of the big notes in the middle and end which just annihilated any speck of emotion that was standing after those stage moves. What a waste!

10. Team Adam – “Instant Karma” Mathai redeemed herself quite nicely. Katrina seemed a little lost. Tony was a bit flat. Pip phoned his performance in and still managed to be the second best singer on the stage. Adam stuck to playing the drums and didn’t sing at all, which (like Blake last week) was pretty cool since it’s his job to coach and not dominate. Take note, Cee-Lo Green.

11. Juliet Sims (Team Cee-Lo) – “Cryin’” There have been too many ballad performances tonight. That said, Juliet managed to find that balance between her powerful growl and the musicality necessary to win a show like this. For once she found the notes and it was good. She still held on to her power and desperation from past performances. For a 90s-era Aerosmith song, you need to have a little bittersweet desperation to convey the song’s intent. The big solo note about two-thirds in was super flat, but otherwise this was her best performance this season. Way to turn things around!

My Performance Ranking
1. Tony Lucca
2. Juliet Sims
3. Jamar Rogers
4. Mathai
5. Cheesa
6. Katrina Parker
7. James Massone
8. Pip

The Sudden Losers
• James Massone (Team Cee-Lo): Poor little guy! He started off so promising with his R&B pop performances. Then he tried to go the slow song route and made musical Velveeta. If he stays with music, he should stick to what he likes and what he’s good at. The ladies will come later, bro.

• Pip (Team Adam): Pip had some potential with his sense of showmanship and dynamic raw singing ability. It’s just a shame that he displayed the charisma of an annoying theater kid (and this is coming from a former annoying theater kid) and couldn’t even keep his pipes in tune. Let’s give him three cheers: Pip! Pip! See Ya!

Thoughts on The Voice Top 24: Team Adam vs. Team Cee-Lo Voting Results

Image edited from original by Mike Licht, Notionscapital.com via Flickr, used under Creative Commons

Last night’s Voice was quite the scattershot show. One side was the steady Team Adam who delivered a range of fairly decent to below-average performances, with one contestant ending up in my bottom 3. One the other side was the all-over-the-place Team Cee-Lo, who had three contestants in my top 3 and two contestants in my bottom 3. Let’s see who moves on to the top 16.

Here is the guest musical performance:
– Jessie J – “Domino” So British Katy Perry is a coach on Voice U.K., huh? Well, at least she sings with real backup singers instead of a pre-recorded vocal track, unlike a lot of dance pop guests on shows like this. On the other hand, when Jessie J did sing solo she seemed either uncomfortable or uncommitted. Good thing she regained her composure when the chorus came on. Also, I think this song is pretty catchy. If her first radio single was this track instead of that horrendous “Price Tag” song, I might have given her a chance early on.

Now for the vetted teams….

Team Adam
1. Mathai: Her balladeering is like tissue paper. She should stick to the punchier tracks.
2. Tony Lucca: I admit this guy has a “story” and all, but yeesh, he should at least try to sing songs in his range (and try to sing fun songs,)
3. Pip: He has solid stage presence and pretty hot singing skills, but he treats every song like a middle school pageant.
4. Katrina Parker (Adam save): She gets better every time she gets onstage. With more experience she’ll improve her vocal stamina for better results. Good pick!

Team Cee-Lo
1. Juliet Sims: Now that her commitment to her performances is validated, she can focus on keeping up with the backing band and hitting her notes. Oversinging alone does not make a rock star.
2. Jamar Rogers: Once again, did anyone not see this coming? He’s the fire to Jesse Campbell’s ice. Of the probable chosen ones on this show, I’m most ok with him because he brings the rock signs every time.
3. James Massone: I’m ok with his success based only on past performances. He’s hot with contemporary R&B, but after last week I’m not sure he can get beyond that genre.
4. Cheesa (Cee-Lo save): First, she was breathing into the mic way too much during her desperation song. Second, if she goes back to ballads like she did tonight I’ll be bored to tears.

The Losers
– Kim Yarbrough: Aw man! Based on her desperation song and overall dance commander, she would have been a proper dance commander! A clunker of a song choice may have brought her down.
– Karla Davis: Karla’s performance style was a weird fusion of country and soul that seemed kind of cool, but her inability to project onstage effectively killed her run. Get thee to a studio!
– Tony Vincent: His range was like a rough Adam Lambert at best but his theatrical experience and willingness to pose himself like a supervillain made him endearing. It’s a shame to see him go (and a damn shame that Christina Aguilera forgot his name when he was right there.)
– Erin Martin: Her gnarled, raspy singing was hot for the slow songs and cold for everything else. Those vocal tics of hers may have been adorable on Idol, but not on the vocally rigorous The Voice.

Thoughts on The Voice Top 24: Team Adam vs. Team Cee-Lo

Image by stacyjclinton via Flickr, used under Creative Commons

Last week when Blake and Christina’s teams squared off, I ended up disappointed in a lot of contestants I was originally rooting for. Coming into this week I was rooting for fewer contestants on Adam and Cee-Lo’s teams, so I was expecting some better results. Let’s see how the teams performed.

For this week, contestants from Team Adam and Team Cee-Lo will square off. Here is the second group of contestants in order of their appearance on the show.

1. Katrina Parker (Team Adam) – “Tonight, Tonight” I wondered how Billy “King of the Nasal” Corgan’s singing would translate into a competition like this. At the start Katrina’s vocal sounds buried, kind of like a lot of contestants last week. But when the first chorus hit, her voice took off like a rocket. She was hitting those soaring “toniiiiiight” notes with comfort and poise. She kind of fizzled for the second buildup and chorus so the song ended anticlimactically in my opinion. I’ll concede that last note she hit was good, but I wished she did it during one of the big musical moments instead of waiting for things to fade out before striking out. The performance was a good start to the show, but not Katrina’s best work. Bonus from Carson Daly: “Christina, some tharts on Katrina.”

2. Cheesa (Team Cee-Lo) – “Don’t Leave Me This Way” Aw shit, I love this track! This arrangement wisely plays to Cheesa’s diva inclinations by opening with a sparse intro that allows her to do a few solid note holds before the dancefloor fire kicks in. Cheesa’s voice suffers a little during her walk down the stairs (and those dorky “second string at Disney World” backup dancers don’t held either) but she quickly commands the stage like a disco queen of old. Her belting was both raw and on point (even when her voice was starting to give out, she still sang in key.) Bonus points for the little disco dance at the end. I only wish she dialed back some of her ad-libbed belting in the middle of verses (it relied too much on the backup singers for cushioning) and tried to do more dancing onstage. Nice one!

3. Tony Lucca (Team Adam) – “In Your Eyes” This performance was rough for me. Tony was alternating between oversinging and running out for breath for most of the first verse and the main part of the chorus. He had a decent go in the buildup, where his power belting really matched the emotional crescendo of the piece, but he couldn’t quite sustain it. I give him points for trying to connect with the crowd. He was mad dashing all over the stage trying to hit seemingly every area of the front row, but when he came prancing back to the center he looked like a clown.

4. Kim Yarbrough (Team Adam) – “Rolling In The Deep” Kim has guts, because any reality show contestant knows that taking on a current artist as overcovered as Adele will bring them jeers of fury from all around unless they nail the piece. Kim also displays good knowledge of her abilities, because I was not disappointed with this. She wisely stuck to the center of the stage and emoted from there. She matched the Adele original pretty closely and conveyed the disappointment and dry anger in the song quite well. However, I think she should have taken more risks with the piece. I never thought I’d say this about a contestant, but Kim almost seems beyond this sort of song, and I don’t mean in terms of era. She seems to be one of the few modern singers I know of who could top rival Adele in her genre, so this feels almost safe.

5. James Massone (Team Cee-Lo) – “Don’t Know Why” This was a tough sell for me. On paper I see why Cee-Lo picked the song for James. In previous rounds he excelled at midtempo R&B bangers because of his youthful charisma and respect with which seems to approach the material, so he should try out a more mature-sounding ballad to widen his range. Vocally he was hit and miss. All too often I felt like he was backing away from notes that he should be sustaining. Plus his singing was just a little too shrill for me. At times it felt like he was whining instead of crooning. He also needs to drop that “judo chop” thing he was doing with his non-microphone hand. I gesticulate when I talk, but I know my hands do different things to emphasize my points. The chop was just one thing. I’ll concede that he did a good job hamming it up to work the crowd, but it just may have cost him his pipes.

6. Juliet Sims (Team Cee-Lo) – “Roxanne” I appreciate the risks that Juliet and Cee-Lo took with this arrangement. It played with space and tempo in a different way than the Police original and Juliet’s scenery-chewing growl reminded me of “El Tango de Roxanne” in Moulin Rouge. During the minimal opening and big musical crescendos, Juliet sounded really good…when she was on key and when she was keeping pace with the band. Sometimes she got to her lines faster than the house band and she got lost. Other times I was hearing more flubs than her competitors. Juliet gets tons of points for emotionally investing herself in the material and crumbling into herself at points in the song. She should work on hitting her notes.

7. Mathai (Team Adam) – “Ordinary People” I’ll admit my bias, I will tear up whenever I hear this song. To do it right, Mathai had to sing with headstrong optimism cut with world-weary dread of both her own frailties and of those around her. If you think that sounds tough, this is why John Legend has a career. Mathai sang quite in her range and nailed the optimism part, but didn’t sell the heft a song like this carries. She was more like Jesse Campbell last week, only this was tonally inappropriate. It made her come across as immature.

8. Tony Vincent (Team Cee-Lo) – “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” I normally think of Tears For Fears songs as so bassy, that it was a breath of fresh air when Tony stuck to this in his higher range. He also rose above the lower key nature of the original and added a few more vocal flourishes that stopped just short of oversinging. While I liked the dictator speech stage gimmick, I feel that the limiting space of the podium may have undercut his stage presence for 25% of the song. When Tony did finally come down for the joyous bridge he may have stalked around a little too much, but he stayed pretty engaging throughout the performance. Props for sustained vocal goodness (even on the staircase descent.)

9. Karla Davis (Team Adam) – “Airplanes” If Karla can do both the Hayley Williams and B.o.B. parts, then she could steal the show. To her credit, Karla displayed a surprisingly good flow for the verses and didn’t rely too much on the chorus. She also tried to inject some melody into the rapping parts, but it came at a great cost. She wasn’t off key and she didn’t lack for stage presence. I just couldn’t hear her, and in an aspirational song like this, where the performer is casting his or her hopes and dreams into the sky, she needed to PROJECT! Cheers for originality, jeers for execution.

10. Erin Martin (Team Cee-Lo) – “Walk Like An Egyptian” For such an uptempo rocker like this, Erin sure is taking things relaxed. This was a time where she needed to dork it up and really ping around the stage. Her theatrical costume and the performances spectacle with backup dancers (which she did get into at the end) downright demanded more vocal and physical abandon than Erin provided. I suspect she may have been afraid to belt because of the unique color of her voice, but that hasn’t stopped Nelly Furtado or Bjork and it shouldn’t have stopped Erin. She sounded anemic at best and coasting at work. This was a missed opportunity.

11. Pip (Team Adam) – “When You Were Young” This was quite an improvement for Pip. He really got into the material emotionally (check the facial expressions) and didn’t compromise his vocal abilities. He pulled out a few small vocal runs in the first verse and in the bridge that were subtle enough that I wasn’t as annoyed with him as I was with other oversingers. Still, it totally undercut the vocal fireworks at the end since there was less of a buildup. I think Pip was as least as engaging as Tony V., but this felt like less of a risk to me, so Tony rates better.

12. Jamar Rogers (Team Cee-Lo) – “Are You Gonna Go My Way” This reminded me of that captivating audition round that got me into Jamar in the first place, only with just….more. Jamar had a solid rock/soul foundation from which to work with, only he gave so much more energy, control, and (for lack of a better word) stuff to entertain the audience. It’s like the jump from Rock Band to Rock Band 2. He stayed on key and at the right volume the whole damn time. His “whoa whoa whoa” ad-libs with the music break downs somehow came across as appropriate. His ability to hold notes while engaging the crowd took James and Tony L. to school. Kudos aside, he needs to dial things back from time to time to earn those power runs and do some material with more emotional risk. He’s clearly a chosen one and I feel like a tool for rooting for him, but he actually has the talent to match the accolades.

My Top 3 Performers
1. Jamar Rogers
2. Cheesa
3. Tony Vincent

My Bottom 3 Performers (Remember, #3 is worst)
1. James Massone
2. Tony Lucca
3. Erin Martin

This was quite the improvement from last week’s performance show. Most of the performances I didn’t care for were for what I perceived to be missed opportunities instead of simply bad singing or poor song choices. Meanwhile the top tier performances were true kickass numbers, especially for Cheesa and Jamar.

Thoughts on The Voice: Battle Rounds Part 2

Image edited from original by KellBailey via Flickr, used under Creative Commons

Last week’s battle rounds had too many ballads and not enough excitement. Let’s see if this show can produce some real carnage!

Extra Mentors:
Team Adam: Alanis Morissette and Robin Thicke
Team Blake: Kelly Clarkson and Miranda Lambert
Team Cee Lo: Babyface and Ne-Yo
Team Xtina: Jewel and Lionel Richie

Team Xtina: Geoff McBride vs. Sera Hill – “Chain of Fools”
While I’m a little disappointed that this show is going to the more old school soul that is Idol’s stock and trade, at least it’s upbeat and has a good brassy quality to it. It might lend itself to a more fun battle. Both competitors have the vocal power moves, so this match could go either way. This show feels like it’s trending towards more of a conventional reality show mix, so I predict a win from the younger, more charismatic Sera (plus she got a duet with Aguilera.) Then Geoff will take off his sunglasses and blow a hole through the ceiling. Scott Summers isn’t the only guy with that superpower, Lionel Richie.
The battle turns out to be quite the event. The opening harmony hook is spot on! Geoff and Sera go so well together. They both bring the acting chops as well. Sera goes at Geoff like she has no time to suffer a fool like him (check the head turns and hand raises) while Geoff bears down on Sera like he has taken down punks like her for decades (check the lunges and the removal of the glasses.) Despite their different ranges, damn they play off each other well! Both demonstrated fabulous vocal runs, though Sera fell apart a little at the end. Still, what a great start!
Winner: Sera (Fair! She gave a great performance, though I was rooting for Geoff. Also: Called it!)

Team Blake: Charlotte Sometimes vs. Lex Land – “Pumped Up Kicks”
This song will be a challenge both for its controversy-baiting school shooting lyrics and annoyingly flat and whiny vocals in the original song. It’s your basic indie shit. Who will make this bad song sound good? I predict a Charlotte win, because she got four turns in her audition and Blake will want another vote-puller on his team, whereas Lex is more of an underachieving underdog. That said, Charlotte came across as a bit of a passive-aggressive tool on TV (though I appreciate her sense of spectacle) and Lex has Miranda Lambert as her mentor along with the Kia endorsement.
Charlotte came out low and flat. To her credit she developed a bit of a range to go with her attitude. Lex came out low and mumbly. To her credit she tried to do a few runs on top of the whispering and kind of succeeded. Really the problem is that this is the wrong song for both singers. Charlotte has the punchy, deep vocals that might be better suited to Fiona Apple’s music, whereas Lex can rock the sparse and quirky, like maybe a Yael Naim tune.
Winner: Charlotte (Fair! Though I don’t care for her schtick, I can understand how her singing style will better win over a voting audience. Called it!)

Team Cee Lo: Sarah Golden vs. Juliet Sims – “Stay With Me”
Who can best convey the drunken pathos that is Rod Stewart? I predict a Juliet win, because her attitude and off-key vocal styles will jive better with Cee Lo, based on his past pick history. That said, I think Sarah is just overall a better singer so maybe she can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Her down to earth singing style reminds me a little of Paul McDonald, who was like Rod Stewart part 2 last season on Idol.
This battle is a hot mess. Sarah is off-key and quickly overwhelmed. She also melts in the wake of Juliet’s more aggressive stage presence. Juliet in turn sounds like one of the shaggier tertiary Jim Henson creations, maybe one of Jareth’s goblins singing “Magic Dance.” At least she projected better against the music, so it was like listening to garbage in high definition audio.
Winner: Juliet (Fair! Nobody won that battle, so either pick would have been wrong for Cee Lo. Called It!)

Team Adam: Whitney Myer vs. Kim Yarbrough – “No More Drama”
This could be good. Mary J.’s music is quite vocally challenging, though I haven’t been able to sit through this particular song (Blige’s “Family Affair” is so much catchier.) I feel like both contestants displayed a lot of vocal chops, though their song choices undercut my appreciation. This should be more of the same, but an even fight! I can’t make a prediction.
Throughout the song, I feel like Kim is more in control of her performance. Her steady notes and understated stage presence force Whitney to pull out her crazy moves and unearned attitude. Whitney’s no slouch, and she gets by with quite a few cool vocal tricks. She also had more energy. When Kim finally does pull out the power vibrato 80% into the song, it turns the tide like a Critical Edge in Soul Calibur V. My initial reaction was “aw shit, now she’s pulling ahead!”
Winner: Kim (Yay! Her understated blaster strategy carried the day.)

Team Xtina: Lee Koch vs. Lindsey Pavao – “Heart-Shapred Box”
Ooh! We have a battle of the quirky set to some depressing-ass In Utero-era Nirvana. I predict a Lindsey win. She seems to have more investment in the material and might better be able to pull of the emoting necessary to convey this alternative classic. Meanwhile Lee’s twang sounds more like Kurt Cobain, especially when Cobain sang acoustic. Also, who in ‘94 could have predicted that Lionel Richie would be teaching a competitive singing contestant how to sing Nirvana?
To Lee’s credit, he did a great job of playing the understated, put-upon, and decaying everyman in his emoting and his sonorous singing. In turn, Lindsey’s quiet-loud vocal dynamics and purposeful off-kilter stage presence reminded me of the great Tori Amos, who annihilated Nirvana’s material back in the 90s. Also, check that slow-burning piano + drums backing track and unrelenting blue+green lighting. You aren’t gonna see shit like that on Idol!
Winner: Lindsey (Yay! Both singers nailed the notes and emotions, so either pick would have been right for Xtina. That said, I expect way more fun material from Lindsay in the live shows. Called it!)

Team Cee Lo: Jamar Rogers vs. Jamie Lono – “I Want To Know What Love Is”
Here we have another case of two great singers with impressive auditions having to sing a ballad I don’t care for, partially because it seems to go on and on and on (was “Cold As Ice” taken?) Who can cut through the histrionics with genuine emotion? I predict Jamar. His story likely jives better with the producers and quite frankly I think he can strike the balance between fun and empathy. Jamie’s another low-key guy with an acoustic guitar. He’ll have a tough mountain to climb.
Jamie seems to get 75% of the lead vocal parts, and he chokes like someone who bit off more than he could chew. Just by looking at his facial expression you can see how scared he looks and hear how off-key he sounds. Jamar plays the hand he’s dealt and kicks those held notes’ asses! What a power wail! What a stage presence! What a blowout!
Winner: Jamar (Yay! That was no contest. Called it!)

Overall I think this week’s battle rounds were a huge improvement over last week’s. The songs were overall more upbeat or just more engaging and I either supported or respected all of the picks. This was quite the turnaround.

Thoughts on The Voice: Audition Round 1

Image from yi on Flickr, used under Creative Commons license

When The Voice premiered last April, I did not expect it to become a sensation since:
-It was on NBC, which has been a 4th place network for awhile and
-It was a music competition show when multiple other music competition shows were on, including America’s Got Talent, Platinum Hit, and the 800 lb gorilla that is American Idol (which I will be covering once it announces its top 24.)

However, The Voice quickly differentiated itself. It had gimmicks that were interesting or weird including the blind auditions with Bond-villain rotating chairs and duet elimination rounds in a boxing ring. It focused on current music trends more than its competition, to the point where Top 16 contestant Raquel Castro was singing Ke$ha’s “Blow,” complete with backup dancers. It had judges who were somewhat active in making pop music.

Ultimately a competition show is only as good as its contestants, and The Voice delivered. Its top tier contestants were both diverse and competent. Three of its top four singers (Beverly McClellan, Vicci Martinez, and Dia Frampton) were women and the one guy (Javier Colon) was a person of color. Of course he took the whole thing with his somewhat boring acoustic balladeering, but unlike American Idol’s last 4 winners, he seemed at least competent at performing.

Seven months later we’re at the start of a new season. All four coaches are back as is the host. What remains to be seen is whether the show can remain entertaining if the gimmicks are no longer new and whether the contestant slate can remain diverse and interesting or if it will fall into a bland mix of archetypes.

The last point is especially concerning since each coach must pick a team. It’s perfectly logical that since a high-voiced guy with an acoustic guitar won season one, a whole bunch would come out of the woodwork and each coach would want to have one on his or her roster.

Let’s get to it….

-With success comes a longer show run, so each coach gets 12 contestants instead of 8. Uh oh. I hope I don’t get tired of the show like I get with Idol. On the plus side, maybe the good contestants will get more time to really benefit from the coaches’ guidance.

-We’re off to an ominous start with RaeLynn, an aw shucks farm girl Lauren Alaina clone. She’s also singing a song by the spouse of a coach. As far as song choice goes, “Hell On Heels” is way more fun than “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing.” It’s a pity that Rae never learned to sing from her gut. She’s burned her throat out crashing that song and still got 2 chair turns. At least Blake Shelton had a sense of humor about the whole thing. Let’s just hope he doesn’t make RaeLynn this season’s Xenia – an underachieving teen who gets by on misguided patronage.

-Jesse Campbell does some high-voice plinky plinky piano ballad thing and within 3 notes he gets 3 chair turns. For once I agree with Blake in taking things slowly. Vocal-wise this contestant was soaring, but, eh, I was underwhelmed with his music choice. Hopefully Christina Aguilera can turn him into someone fun.

-During the weaker auditions, the entertainment becomes watching the coaches squirm and grimace like they have to go to the bathroom. Hold it in, Adam!

-Juliet Sims bleated like a sheep, but it was enough to turn two chairs. Adam called her voice gruff. She has some potential, but it may take some guidance to bring it out. Christina kept on interrupting Adam’s pitch by calling him a used car salesman with little feet. It was pretty funny. When Juliet went with Cee Lo Green, Adam gave her a look that said “I’ll have you killed.” It was pretty funny.

-Chris Mann’s audition was very impressive, going with the deeper operatic style, but I wonder how it will translate to the pop-oriented Voice. Once again I agreed with Blake’s hesitance. This is not a good sign. However, when Christina turned her chair it made sense. She totally sang that kind of heavy slow song in the late 90s – the kind that ended up in the credits to Disney animated movies. Too bad they make those anymore, Chris. Also, there can be only one Josh Groban.

-Tony Lucca: OK story, but I take one look at him and…bleh. I was tired of acoustic guitar guys like this on Idol. But sound wise he’s like Javier, and the arms race is on…. Oh well, at least by not mentioning their past, Christina may have tipped us off that the coaches aren’t fed contestant story info ahead of time, so they aren’t influenced by sob stories or other non-musical factors. It’s still cool that someone fed her the info afterward so they got to have a little moment afterward.

So to summarize the first round of contestants:
-Lauren Alaina MK II
-The first move in the Javier Colon clone wars (Co-lone Wars?)
-Bleaty bleat bleat
-You’re not Josh Groban
-Another acoustic guitar-playing white guy or a Mickey Mouse Club alum out for blood?