Recapping The Voice Season 7 Knockout Rounds, Pt. 3: Reunited and it feels so good

The final round of knockouts.  Many songs with parentheticals, one abbreviated performance, and one last steal re-adoption.

Fans of Matt McAndrew, like me, were cheated as his segment was shortened down to 30 seconds.  It's hard not to jump to the conclusion that his opponent must have really laid a giant atonal turd on stage and there was no question who the winner was. If that's not the case, then The Voice owes Rebekah Samarin a huge apology because that's the assumption their cutting her out of the episode left, not to mention relegating her to montage status for each of her performances. If you want to see Rebekah's performance, she has it here on Instagram. If you want to hear more of Matt's take on Train's Drops of Jupiter it'll cost you a mere $1.29 here to get it as your very own.

Blake Shelton put his two retro country crooners, Alison Bray and Taylor Brashears, up against each other.  Alison was the one who had come back after failing to turn any chairs in her first blind audition. This time, she and her matching platinum blonde teeth and hair were saved from two-time disappointment when Blake turned his chair around.  Alison was not a standout this season and had continued along during these early rounds more by default than by any memorable performances.

Taylor Brashears completed the talented Taylor trifecta on this season and had made a strong showing with a three-chair blind audition turn around twanging her way through a convincing version of "You Ain't Woman Enough." But she was part of the worst battle round pairing when she and her opponent showed that neither was woman enough to tackle a Linda Ronstadt song.  Taylor won that round for being less atrociously bad than her teammate, but she had a lot to prove.

Alison strutted around and belted out the Dixie Chick's "Sin Wagon."  She had attitude and command of the stage, but still her vocals fell short.  Taylor gave herself the ultimate gift, taking Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" - the song, like "Mad World" or "Hallelujah," that instantly makes you sound good whether or not you an sing. Hell, Billy Corgan made it sound good.  Taylor could have rested on the strength of the song, but she actually put her heart into the performance, having her strongest vocal in the competition, and made Blake's choice a very easy on.

Next up was Gwen Stefani.  She pit lantern jawed Ryan Sill against Beth Spangler.  Ryan was one of the few artists to have the right reaction to seeing Taylor Swift as their guest mentor, admitting he was about to pee his pants.  But despite his excitement, during the rehearsal he was solid.  He has a perfect voice for radio and can easily tackle any of the music coming out these days.  He's a little too clean cut and earnest and probably should develop a little edge, but there's no doubting his vocal talent.

Beth Spangler was a recent addition to Team Gwen, having been rescued after her tough battle round loss to Mia Pffirman.  Beth has a great voice, lots of power and a great tone.  But there's something missing, it's a bit bland and disconnected.  I don't see performer when she's on stage.  I won't sink to saying it's the kind of voice you'd hear on a cruise ship, but let's just say her screechy performance last night was "Too Little Too Late."

I want to dislike Ryan just because he's so God-darn fresh faced and boy band-ian.  But his take on "Miss Independent" (sadly, not the Kelly Clarkson song) was spot on.  He has an amazing range and doesn't miss a note. He's Justin Bieber without the douchiness.  And he's a great person to have on your team as he really listens to the advice and applies it on stage.  I'd like to see him get a neck tattoo or a nose ring before the live shows, just to mess with everyone.

Pharrell Williams was up next and he put two former Team Gwen members - Jean Kelley and Melnik Zergabachew - head to head.  Jean had lost her battle against Sugar Joans and was then fought over by both Pharrell and Adam. Jean has an exceptional voice and it was a shock when she lost in the last round.  Melnik has an interesting look and style, but there is nothing current or marketable about his singing.  This was not a close race.

Melnik brought his Reggae sound and distractingly swinging arm to "Could You Be Loved" and it was a typical Melnik performance.  Boring, flat, uninspired,  He has a nice voice, but nice isn't goig to cut it,.  Not tonight.  There's really not much to say.

Then Jean came up and destroyed, killed, mutilated, ripped apart the stage.  She chose the "beautifully sad song" "Chandelier" by Sia.  During rehearsals, Taylor Swift sat mouth agaipe, eyes wide open, in awe of Jean's emotional performance.  Her response, "Oh my god," said it all.  It was a game changer. On stage, Jean was even better.  Raw, vulnerable, touching.  It was the easiest choice of the night.

The next knockout was only slightly less lopsided.  Adam Levine put what-decade-are-we-in Blessing Offor up against young, James Taylor lookalike Chris Jamison.  Blessing would have been a great pick had The Voice aired fifteen years ago, but now he looks like he should be leading the band, not trying to get his big break.  His style of singing was outdated twenty years ago.  Chris has a bit of an accent, something with how he forms certain words that can sound sloppy when he's singing. I wasn't terribly hopeful for this round, especially when I heard that someone was doing (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay, a song almost as old as I am!

Blessing, probably did not make a lot of points with Taylor Swift, choosing John Mayer's "Your Body is a Wonderland."  But the awkwardness was ignored, helped perhaps by the fact that he completely ditched the original and put his own spin on the song.  The little "hehs" and "huhs" Blessing throws in at the end of every line is really distracting to me and sounds like something from a revival meeting and it leaves me waiting for him to ask for an "Amen."

Chris was surprisingly good tackling the Otis Redding standard.  He had some really good runs, some nice adlibs.  He also showed great range.  I can't explain while his twist on the original felt fresh and dynamic while Blessings sounded so old, but I was captivated enough to actually consider shelling out money to buy his studio version.  Chris is a sleeper in the competition, he hasn't been on the radar before last night.  But he's got a good trajectory going.

Blake was back with a tough knockout choice, the battle of the high schoolers - Grant Ganzer against Reagan James,  We had a sixteen-year-old who looks like he went through puberty between rounds against a preternaturally mature fifteen-year-old who exudes confidence and poise.  They both have the chops, but they're miles apart as far as stage presence and "readiness."

Grant did a great job with "Apologize." True, it's almost in the "Landslide" category of a song even I could make sound good, but Grant sold the emotion (it helped that he looked like he was going to throw up during his performance) and nailed the notes.  Once his stage presence and belief in himself catch up to his vocals, Grant will be a force to be reckoned with.

Reagan James is already the complete package.  She has the looks, the talent and the self-assurance of someone who's been doing it for fifteen years, not someone who's only been on the planet for that long.  She sang "Hit 'em Up Style (Oops!)" by Blu Cantrell and it was a standout performance.  She's a front runner in this competition.

The last battle of the night was an odd couple pairing of Reggae singer Anita Antoinette competing against country rocker Craig Wayne Boyd.  This was Anita's second go-around on the Voice, having failed to turn around any chairs back in Season 3 and she was back with a vengeance.  She has a great look and strong voice and her style is reminiscent of Gwen's No Doubt era.  Craig has started on Team Blake but had lost his battle of the three named country singers to James David Carter.  He was lucky to be taken by Gwen who decided to do an less than extreme makeover to bring his style into this century.  Getting him to jettison the fringe jacket and lop off a few feet of hair was a move in the right direction.

Admittedly, Reggae is not everyone's bowl of ganja. There's a Mexican restaurant near me that plays Reggae music and I either wolf down my food or get it to go to avoid listening to Bob Marley and everyone who thinks they're Bob Marley.  So considering I'm not a fan of her genre, I thought Anita did a great job with "Rude" by Magic!   She has a strong voice and really commands the stage.  And she's great at channeling real emotion into her performance,  Not surprisingly, Gwen picked her.

But all was not lost for Craig.  We were already tipped off that Blake was hoping to get Craig back on his team and as this was the last performance of the knockouts, we knew where this was was going.  Craig did a serviceable version of  "Can't You See" by the Marshall Tucker Band.   I'm not a big fan of his vocal idiosyncrasies and cringed every time he sang, "can't you sheee."   All male country rockers who sound like that and look like him are starting to blend together for me and I'm looking for something different, like someone with clear pronunciation. And no facial hair.  Maybe in a blue serge suit.  But for rock fans, beggars can't be choosers and it's great having someone with musical knowledge from the early 70s Allman Brothers/Black Oak Arkansas/.38 Special era.  Blake got his boy back and he was mighty happy.  And maybe I'll get to hear a Creedence Clearwater Revival song next week. That would make me happy.

So there you have it, the knockouts are over and the teams are set.  Next week we start the live shows.  Here is how the teams break down.

Team Adam: Chris Jamison, Damien, Matt McAndrew, Mia Pffirman, Taylor Phelan
Team Gwen: Anita Antoinette, Bryanna Salaz, Ricky Manning, Ryan Sill, Taylor John Williams
Team Pharrell: DaNica Shirey, Elyjuh René, Jean Kelley, Luke Wade, Sugar Joans
Team Blake: Craig Wayne Boyd, James David Carter, Jessie Pitts, Reagan James, Taylor Brashears

These teams are about as evenly matched as can be (putting aside that Team Pharrell is hanicapped by being Taylor-less).  Gwen may have the overall strongest team, Pharrell the weakest, but I can see Matt or Taylor from Team Adam, or Reagan from Team Blake, lasting till the end.  Should be good!

The Voice Season 7, Knockout Rounds, Pt. 1& 2: Some surprising choices, great moments

Two nights of knockout battles and too many good singers.  Couldn't some of these contestants try out for American Idol instead; this is getting to be a really crowded field of top notch talent.  Rather than a recap of all the battles, let's focus on some of the front runners going into the live rounds.

But first.  How effing awesome is Taylor Swift as a guest mentor?  What are the chances we can get her to come back as a full time coach?  Her advice is spot on, her suggestions are impeccable, her instincts are unerring, and her knowledge of what works and how to make something good even better is preternatural.  If she gives up mentoring, she could have a really solid career in music.  

This also begs the question, how can you be so good at everything and yet not so great at picking boyfriends?  One of the mysteries of life.  On to the contestants. 

The best female singer on the show has got to be DaNica Shirey.  She may look like Red from "Orange is the New Black," but she sings like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey had a fifty year old love child.  I don't know if coach Pharrell Williams can do anything to update her look, but vocally she is solid gold.  She easily won her knockout round showing both power and control as she (apologies to Randy Jackson) made Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love for You" her own.

Fans of indie/folk/rock male singer-songwriters (also known in American Idol circles as "White Guys With Guitars" - i.e., winners David Cook, Phil Phillips, Lee DeWyze) have too many good choices.  Two Taylors, Phelan and John Williams, Matt McAndrew (who will be in next's week's knockout), Luke Wade, James David Carter would all be front runners in any previous American Idol season yet threaten to split the votes when it gets to the live rounds.  Which is too bad, because they are some of the strongest competitors this year.

Luke Wade won the battle against Taylor Phelan, yet both will continue on in hopes of becoming America's Next Top...wait, I watch too many reality shows.  Luke is a bluesy soul singer who looks more like a substitute teacher than a musician. He chose Hall & Oates "Rich Girl" and now I've had that horrific song stuck in my head since Monday.  He did a great job considering he has lousy taste in songs and picked one of the most annoying songs in the history of music.  But he was up against Taylor Phelan, whose version of "Sweater Weather" was the best blind audition of this or any year.

Phelan sang "Rather Be" and he assaulted the song, commanding the stage like he's been doing this for forty years.  While his vocal was not as strong as either his blind audition or the battle round, he is still a front runner for his stage presence, comfort, ease and unique vocal styling.  Having seen all their performances, it was clear who Pharrell would pick, until he said Luke Wade and the other judges realized that their winning The Voice ship had just come in.  They all hit their buttons to take the diminutive singer over to their teams, but it was Adam who begged and pleaded and ultimately claimed the prize he's wanted since the blind auditions.

The winner for the oddest pairing of songs has to go to Team Gwen's Troy Ritchie taking on the fun, silly "Hey Ya," by Outkast against indie artist Taylor John Williams singing the hauntingly beautiful "Mad World."  This is not apples and oranges, it's the Three Stooges versus Shakespeare.  Blake Shelton put it best when he said that Troy performed with the "enthusiasm of Richard Simmons" and the "seriousness of Napoleon Dynamite." In any other setting, under other circumstances, that would be the most talked-about performance.

But Troy was followed by Taylor John Williams who gave one of the most mesmerizing performances in the show's history.  Take an exquisite song, give it to a real performer who connects with it deeply, and you have an unbeatable combo.  Taylor three names felt the song, changed it up just enough not to be a copy cat, and left everyone with chills.  As Gwen said, for her it was like watching a peer.

Blake Shelton called James David Carter's blind audition, the best country audition he'd ever heard, and he had the edge against the pop singer, Griffin, who Blake had taken during the battle rounds.  Carter took on the mellow, sleepy "You've Got a Friend" and was sitting down, plucking away, as if he were in an intimate club playing to twenty people and not on national TV. It looked like he might get overshadowed in his knockout battle against Griffin, who chose the more energetic Justin Bieber's "As Long As You Love Me,"  But Carter's voice was impossible to ignore and he won on the power of sheer vocal ability alone.  Griffin did everything asked of him and gave a great performance, and I lahlahlahlahloved him, but sadly this was the end of the line.


I was disappointed to see Toia Jones not stick around and thought she did a great job with "Crazy in Love," but coach Adam Levine went for Damien, who did a serviceable, but not memorable, version of  "How Do I Live."  Coach Gwen Stefani had a really difficult choice between two strong singers who gave equally strong performances, Bryana Salaz taking on - and almost outdoing - Demi Lovato's "Heart Attack," and Sugar Joans singing "Love on Top."  But coach Pharrell tipped his hand that if Sugar were available, he'd be hitting his steal button faster than I hit an all you can eat buffet, so in the end each judge, and probably each contestant, got what they wanted. 

Another super-close match was Alessandra Castronovo versus Mia Pfirrman.  Alessandra sang "Next to Me," by Emeli Sandé while Mia took on "Human," by Christina Perri.  Alessandra has a crystal clear voice that she controls well, but she lacked that intangible star quality.  When Mia Pfirrman sang, her voice has such a beautiful tone, it gave me chills (aka JLo's "goosies").  She trusted her lower register, and softer tones, letting the song build effortlessly to the big, powerhouse moments.  Coach Gwen made the right choice going with Mia.

The shocker of the night came when Pharrell chose Elyjuh René, who did yeoman's work with Chris Brown's "With You," over smoldering Ricky Manning who crushed, pulverized, demolished and otherwise wreh-eh-ehcked both Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" and the audience.

Elyjuh is an adorable, immensely likeable kid with a strong voice and bright future.  But no one can say he out-sang Ricky (not even Pharrell).  As with his inexplicable choice of Luke Wade over Taylor Phelan, it seemed that Pharrell was abandoning the one who gave the best performance over who he thought he could do more with, who could most benefit from  his tutelage. But fear not, as Gwen swooped in to steal reh-eh-ehscue Ricky from a life on New York's streets playing for quarters and slices of pizza.  Now on Team Gwen, Ricky is the dark horse in this competition, getting better with every performance.  If he continues on this trajectory, he will peak at just the right time to give the new girl coach their first victory. 

Next week we finish with the knockouts and then the final 20 will convene for the live rounds where we can stop sitting by and bitching at other people's decisions and get in on the action.

The Voice Season 7 Final Battle Rounds: Some surprises, some predictability

After tonight's episode we can say goodbye to the steal, the inaccurately named second chance button that gives contestants another shot at making it to the live rounds.  Going in, Gwen Stefani was the last judge who could hit her button and give one of the losing contestants another shot.  For all the judges, that meant that when they picked a winner, in all likelihood, that was the end of the line for the other contestant.  So, not much at stake.  Just the hopes and dreams of the remaining contestants who all believe that this show is their big chance to have a career in the music business, not realizing that the seventh place finisher of Nashville Star is doing better than any of the Voice winners.

Team Pharrell: Ricky Manning v. Brittany Butler
The first battle of the night was Joaquin Phoenix lookalike Ricky Manning and "weirdo" Brittany Butler.  Brittany had grabbed Pharrell Williams' attention during the blind auditions with both her strange song choice, the kitschy "Girl from Ipanema," as well as her oddball, retro jazzy style.  When he turned his chair, he must have been pleased to discover that the possessor of such unusual musical instincts was quite the looker.  Ricky Manning had a more current, relevant song choice and did an okay job with "Love Me Again," benefiting more from a good song than soaring vocals.  When the judges turned around, they might have been a little surprised to see Commodus from Gladiator standing there. 

Pharrell put the jazzy scary singer against the R&B scary singer and gave them a song that split the difference between the two, "On Broadway."  The George Benson version of this song is beboppy and scatty and can be a good showcase for improv.  If you're not familiar with that version, maybe you remember the instrumental version that was in American Beauty.  Ricky sounds good in the rehearsal, right on pitch, solid in the lower register.  But he's less comfortable improvising. Brittany has a more idiosyncratic sound and punches up the song with her own melodic choices.  She shines when given the chance to go off page.  Pharrell gives her permission to jazz it up even more and now I'm worried.

Ricky sounds great as he opens the song, and even earns a "Damn" from Blake Shelton.  Then Brittany comes in with her deep voice and attitude and mops the floor with him.  They are completely different, and every time it seems like Ricky will take this, Brittany just comes in and wrecks it.  Both Adam Levine and Blake seem to agree with me that Ricky was far better this time around and really showed something special tonight.  He took chances and changed up the song in what seemed like an effortless, spontaneous moment.  It's going to be so sad to see him go....and then Pharrell picks Ricky!  Okay, I'm surprised.  I thought he'd go for the cool, unique, jazzy girl with the rich deep tones but he went for "most improved" which clearly was Ricky.  Nice choice!  That Pharrell guy may have a future in music.

Team Blake: Kensington Moore v. Reagan James
The next pairing was between Kensington Moore, a high school senior who we'd only seen in a brief montage during the blind auditions, and fifteen-year-old Reagan James who shined in an impassioned performance of Ed Sheeran's "Give Me Love."  Kensington is a fresh-faced guitar playing country girl, Reagan is a preternaturally self-possessed indie singer who hails from the same small town as Kelly Clarkson. Blake gave them Lorde's "Team" to tackle and if we know anything about how Reality TV show editing works, Kensington will be back to school in time for midterms.

Kensington was tickled pink to meet her idols, Little Big Town and I was happy for them that someone recognized them and were happy to meet them.  Reagan was a lot more excited about the song choice and she immediately took to the Lorde hit.  She has the same sound as Lorde, which can be both a blessing and a curse and she's expected to nail this performance.  Kensington has lowered expectations and could sneak in with a stellar vocal.  Reagan sounded great during rehearsals, though Blake warned her about pitch problems.  Kensington was concerned that the high notes were slightly beyond her reach and her new BFFs LBT told her to go up to the falsetto and once she did it sounded amazing.

For the final rehearsal, Kensington was a no show.  She was laid up with a bout of kidney stones and so a last minute sub (the poodle haired Kimberly from LBT) stepped in to take over her part during Reagan's rehearsal.  But they did have one final chance to work together and get Blake's last minute coaching (Reagan, enunciate!).  When they started, Reagan forgot about that piece of advice.  But Kensington seemed to forget the melody. I felt for Reagan, bravely trying to get the song back on track as Kensington kept trying to slow it down. But by the end, they sounded beautiful together.  Blake wisely took Reagan who has a much cooler sound while the Jewel lookalike Kensington was good but not particularly special.

We saw a montage of battles with Blake picking Alison Bray over Fernanda Bosch and Gwen choosing Anita Antoinette over Mayra Alvarez as well as Bryanna Salaz over Gianna Salvato.

Team Adam: Beth Spangler v. Mia Pfirrman
This is a battle of the four-chair turn arounds with Beth Spangler going up against Mia Pfirrman.  Being two of the strongest vocalists, Adam gave them quite the challenge - Christina Aguilera's "I Turn to You."  Beth had impressed during the auditions with a powerful performance of "Best Thing I Never Had." Mia showed great range and control with her take on "Unconditionally." The two have the potential for nailing the big moments and giving them a Xtina song is risky as they can easily fall into  oversinging.

During rehearsals, exercising restraint and building to the big moments, is the focus.  What Adam and his guest mentor Stevie Nicks doesn't want the girls doing is getting into a scream fest of who can sing the loudest or hit the highest notes and I hope they take that advice or my thumb will be hitting the skip button.  Both girls sing well and mostly keep the histrionics out of the song, but Beth is a bit blander to me, a bit more calculated.  I'd pick Mia who seems more natural.  Blake agrees with me, Pharrell chooses Beth which causes me to question myself, and then Gwen picks Mia and I stop worrying knowing that there's still a steal save and Gwen has it.  So if Adam picks Beth, Mia should be okay.

But Adam picks Mia and it looks like Beth is on her way out of the competition except, we know there's a steal lifeline left, there's only a few minutes left in the show, and the producers would of course save the steal rescue to the end.  So as Beth goes in for her goodbye hug from Gwen, Gwen hits her button and keeps her in the competition. Shocker!

Next week the knockout rounds begin but there's a twist.  The steal is still in play??  Stay tuned.

The Voice Season 7 Battle Rounds: Day Number Two

Let's get the poop jokes out of the way first.

When Team Pharrell singer Jordy Searcy was backed up, unable to get any movement as he tried to bear down on The Script's "Breakeven (Falling to Pieces)" Pharrell's number two, guest mentor Alicia Keys, pushed him to sing the crap out of the song, telling him to "push your belly out as if you're gonna go take a poop."  After she dropped that brick of wisdom, it was easy to guess that bloggers would be sitting on their stools, dumping a load of puns on tonight's episode. 

And that's too (#2?) bad, because it may have eclipsed some very good performances from the second day of battle rounds.  The Jordy battle against Taylor Phelan was far closer than expected and showcased two strong vocals.  Jordy has a sweet, clear voice that blended beautifully with Taylor's grittier, heartfelt vocals.  But Taylor has that certain something that makes him more memorable, while Jordy falls into the nice voice but forgettable category.

Going in, Taylor was the clear favorite and Jordy seemed clearly outclassed.  But, again showing how important a good mentor is, after rehearsals Jordy had really upped his game.  He sang powerfully, holding his notes and hitting strongly in his upper register.  Pharrell Williams' fellow judges did not envy him having to choose, but it was clear that Taylor was the winner (putting two Taylors into the next round).  He looks and sounds like a performer, not a contestant, and he's one of the few whose performances I listen to repeatedly and look forward to seeing in future weeks.

Less obvious was the duel pitting Alessandra Castronovo against Joe Kirk.  My personal preference was for Joe as it takes far less time to type his name and it doesn't cause spellcheck to go nuts.  The Team Adam members battled on Rihanna's "Stay" a touching, gentle, melodic song that gives you nowhere to hide.  Going in, I thought Joe would be the clear winner as I did not even remember Alessandra from the blind auditions.  Like Jordy, she was only seen briefly in a montage of "others" who had made it through the blind auditions.

During rehearsals, it seemed as if Alessandra felt like the underdog as well. She worried that even if she sang her best, it wouldn't be enough.  She was up against a cute, freshly scrubbed Jonas brother lookalike with a young, current sound.  Did the world really need another Haley Reinhart?  But something happened to Alessandra when her life on the show was on the line and she sang with passion and power and eclipsed the occasionally flat youngster.  She was as solid on her deeper tones and she was on the high notes showing great range and consistency.

Surprisingly, Blake Shelton called Joe's the best performance on the show thus far and Pharrell guaranteed him that he'd have a future in the music business while calling Alessandra a "diva" in the great vocalist, not demanding princess, sense of the word.  Gwen Stefani called it a tie and it appeared that Adam Levine would choose the more marketable one. Adam agonized about his choice, going so long that Blake quipped he'd had a birthday during the wait.  But it didn't seem for show and when he went against the obvious choice, picking the girl over the boy band cutie.  

If you thought I was rooting against Alessandra, you know I had a clear favorite in the duel involving Team Gwen members Menlik Zergabachew (gesundheit).  We might as well have former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski try out for The Voice.  But I digress.  Menlik was matched up against Troy Ritchie and there was no clear favorite going into the battle.  It was a clash of styles and genres with a Reggae artists taking on an alt/pop singer on a song that is one of the most annoying, trite, silly, cheesy and tuneless songs ever to be recorded.

Troy's karaoke version of "Out of My League" by Fitz and the Tantrums during the blind auditions did not seem worthy of even the single chair that Gwen turned around for him.  Menlik had a better audition with Sublime's "Santeria" and Gwen had to win him over Blake to the great disappointment of all of us who were dying to see what Blake would do with him.  What would happen when two mediocre singers took on a god-awful song?

It was a painfully boring performance that was not unlike two drunk groomsmen on the dance floor near the end of the wedding reception.  Winner of the battle gets to go home with the bridesmaid who is currently sobbing under Table No. 7.   Troy had slightly more stage presence, as the extent of Menlik's move is to swing his arm around him like a tether ball.  But neither vocal was particularly on point.

Still, the judges managed to wring drama from the duel as Gwen agonized over this tough decision (which reminded me of the old days when Blockbuster was still around and on a Friday night you had to pretty poor choices as all the good new releases were already gone).  Her choice of Troy made some sense in that there is zero market for Reggae, the last Reggae artist from the show has sold 28 records, and the most impressive thing about Menlik is the Scrabble value of his last name.

What was surprising was that Adam and Pharrell both hit their buttons to steal appropriate, take, assume, redeem, reclaim, save, rescue, retrieve, salvage Menlik from obscurity.  Not surprising was Menlik's decision to go with super-producer extraordinaire Pharrell. 

In addition to these full battles, we saw montages of other battles.  If we've learned anything about the rules of Reality TV, the "winners" of those battles will shortly be cannon fodder, never to be heard from again, so no need to waste our time on them.  You can catch their few moments of screen time on the video below.

We're about halfway through the battle rounds with two more episodes to come.  Check out The Voice next Monday at 8 on NBC to see if a song even worse than "Maneater" is selected, if Alicia Keys has any more suggestions on how to deal with creative blockage, or if  someone singing a genre even less in demand than Reggae (Rock perhaps?) makes it through. 

The Voice Season 7: Battle Rounds

The first battle round episode of this season's The Voice managed to stretch a mere fifteen minutes of musical performances over a fast-paced, engaging two-hour show.  The show has certainly hit its stride with its best combination of judges yet, a impressive array of special guest mentors, and a talented diverse group of performers.  While the first battle of the night was one of the weakest, the rest had unexpectedly strong performances by underdogs, close contests that were tough to call and a few worth re-watching moments.

Let's break them down.

My favorite battle of the night pit Team Gwen members Amanda Lee Peers against Taylor John Williams singing Dolly Parton's "Jolene."  The fact that neither singer was in any danger of some woman taking away their man made the simmering emotion of their duet even that much more impactful.  Amanda, the underdog coming into the round, gave the best technical performance.  She may have been just a one-chair turnaround in the blind auditions, but she belted and emoted the hell out of that song, dropping to her knees at one point as her voice raged with passion.

Taylor took a more restrained approach to the song, a la The White Stripes, and was in danger of being buried beneath Amanda's thunder.  But a simple yodel (at 1:49) and his clear angelic voice, which had earned a four-chair turnaround with his Heartless blind audition, gave him the narrow victory.  While Adam praised Amanda's engaging, believable performance and Blake said he'd pick her the winner for her heart-felt performance, neither picked her up when Gwen let her go, choosing to keep Taylor on her team.

Two questions.  One, does Amanda get to keep her Team Gwen tee shirt now that she's been cut?  Two, does it bother anyone else (besides my husband) that when a judge lets one of their players go and another judge picks that person up it's called a steal?  He gets apoplectic each time the button is pushed and Carson Daly shouts that there is a "STEAL."  My husband, like me an attorney (unlike me, wildly successful and actually still practicing) will tell you that stealing involves someone taking without permission the property of another.  Saving someone's cast off from obscurity (or a life slinging grande frappuccinos) is not a steal.  It's a save, a rescue, an adoption, a reclamation but not a steal.

The second best battle of the night had Team Pharrell's Griffin taking on Luke Wade.  Luke was an four-chair favorite with extensive on stage experience as a blues singer.  Griffin was a Michael Buble sound alike who looked like an extra on the Sopranos.  During their rehearsal, Team Pharrell guest mentor Alicia Keys proved herself to be more than a stunningly beautiful face by giving some great advice as the two men squared off on the Paul McCartney classic "Maybe I'm Amazed" from way before either of them was born.  Sing the "Aretha Franklin" version she told them.  Their soulful take on the pop classic elevated it from karaoke to inspired.

On stage, it was another close race.  Luke has a gravelly voice that is bluesy and soulful and unexpectedly zigs and zags around a melody.  Griffin is more direct, but where in his audition he was a Frank Sinatra-era throwback, last night he had grit and power channeling Adam Lambert more than Tony Bennett.  His performance was so unexpected, bold and powerful it was a difficult choice for Pharrell.  He went for experience and a more broken-in sound, taking Luke, but it was no surprise that someone picked up Griffin.  The only surprise was that it was country bumpkin Blake who took the Jersey Boy looking, high note piercing, crooner. 

What do you get when a mediocre song is sung by two guys with solid pipes?  You have the battle between Craig Wayne Boyd and James David Carter of Team Blake.  Craig has a heavy country twang and sounds like he has the dog in the back of his truck next to the gun rack while James is more new country with a crossover voice that could fit nicely in the LA and NY markets as well as Nashville.  They were lucky to have Lady Antebellum as celebrity guest mentors as those four know how to blend their voices and make the weak sauce they're forced to record actually sound pretty good.

Craig, with his distractingly perky hair, has a more traditionally country look and sound.  James could pass for former American Idol David Cook (after a hair transplant).  They had a nice duet going until near the end (1:57) when James put a Vulcan death grip on his rival.  The song went on wave on wave and it was a toss up whether Blake would go old school or new wave (on wave).  "How do you choose," Pharrell noncommittally and asked as he declined to weigh in.  Gwen and Adam called it a tie as well. It was forcefulness versus melodic, flouncy golden hair versus closely coiffed, and ultimately Blake went for the more mainstream James.

Being such a twangy, blue-grassy, old school country guy, of course none of the other judges took him on their teams and he went off stage to a life of disappointment and regret...but wait!  Gwen hit her button and Craig was given a second change.  We didn't see it, but I'm sure he ran backstage and grabbed the Team Gwen shirt from Amanda.

Team Gwen's other match-up was between curly-haired cutie Jean Kelley and Elvira tousled Sugar Joans (not her stripper name, surprisingly).  Jean has a strong, if uninteresting, voice while Sugar is a cookie-cutter Christina who has never met a note she didn't want to beat into submission.  They yelled and screamed at each other to the tune of Survivor.  This was another battle that was evenly matched, but more because neither was exceptional.  Jean has a better natural voice, Sugar is a stronger performer.

Gwen went for the "effortless, natural" performance of Sugar and I was disappointed to see Jean go, not just because I love hearing Carson Daly introduce her ass Jean Kelley (and her not being a deceased famous movie star) but because I thought she has a more versatile voice that, if given the right coaching, could really work.  As Carson is starting to chat with Jean, as the other judges decide whether or not to choo choo choose her, Adam has his funniest moment of the show, interrupting Carson with "blah blah blah" while hitting his button.  Only, Pharrell has other ideas of where Jean belongs and he hits his button too.  She wisely chooses the producing genius and let's hope he can help her find her Voice.

One of the least difficult battle to choose was the first of the night, when Team Pharrell put be-braced teenager Elyjuh Rene against the Maiya Sykes.  There was enough scenery chewing between the two of them to make Kirsten Wiig's Mindy Elise Grayson character seem subdued.  Elyjuh has a great natural voice and if someone can get him to tone down the facial expressions and the urge to do more runs than a running back at the NFL Scouting Combine, he could go far.  Maiya has a great voice but her age and style are out of sync with what's on the radio today.

Pharrell compliments to two for making his job hard and acknowledges there are significant differences in where they are in their lives and what that brings to the stage.  In the end, he takes the younger singer who he will be more able to mold over the long haul than the more polished, but also more stuck in her style, Maiya.  Sadly, for those of us who love her pluck and personality if not her genre of music, Maiya is not taken, picked up, salvaged, retrieved or rescued (and certainly not stolen) and her run on the show is as short as Elyjuh's runs in the song were long.

The most uninspired pairing was from Team Adam.  Despite both being four chair turn-arounds, neither Chris Jamison nor Jonathan Wyndham could do much with the song Adam picked for them, Young Girls by Bruno Mars.  Chris had more trouble with the notes and his mouth couldn't seem to get around most of the vowel sounds in the song very well.  But Jonathan, who had sparkled in the blind audition, was absolutely lackluster on stage. 

During their meeting with guest mentor Stevie Nicks, Chris had been warned about being too timid, Jonathan told not to come on too strong.  So, of course, it was Chris who blew out the speakers and Jonathan who faded into the background, his powerful, pristine voice seeming weaker and less bell-like than the first time we heard it.  Chris out-performed him and seemed to care more and perception being reality, Adam surprised even himself by picking Chris to move on.

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For me, the standouts from tonight were Taylor, who has both the look and the sound to make a deep run, Griffin, who was a surprise, and former front runner Luke.  I'm also keeping my eye out for Jean to sneak her way to the top if Pharrell is the miracle worker I think he is. 

Recap: NBC's The Voice, Battle Round #3

Tell me that didn't just happen.  I know that the rules of the recap are that I'm supposed to go in order of what occurs on the show, but I'm still in shock.  Rebecca Loebe is out?  Gone.  History.  Toast.  Kaput.  She was my #2 pick.  Her mesmerizing take on Nirvana's "Come As You Are," was a revelation and she seemed poised to be the only singer in the competition likely to give Javier Colon a run for his money. 

And she was beaten by the second coming of Kevin "Chicken Little" Corvais???  Someone who should be in the customer service area of Best Buy, backing up your old computer files??  Not on stage singing a Radiohead song HE'S NEVER HEARD BEFORE.  One of the most iconic songs of this generation -- and he's unfamiliar with it????

Okay, let me regroup.  So, welcome back to The Voice.  It's time for Round Three, where the coaches cut their roster of acts till we end up with four from each who will head off for the live voting rounds.  Who won't be making it is Rebecca Loebe, despite being served up a softball of an alternative music classic right in her wheelhouse.  But, I digress.

First up is Christina Aguilera.  She picks 16-year-old Raquel Castro to go up against middle aged (i.e., twenty-something) Julia Eason.  They're going to sing Rihanna's "Only Girl in the World."  In the auditions, Julia blows Raquel away -- she has a strong, powerful voice that grabs you.  But on stage, Raquel comes alive.  The fireplug with the Snooki poof just takes over and you don't even see there is anyone else there with her.  Is she the greatest vocalist, the possessor of the best "voice?"  Well, no.  But she has that certain something that makes her instantly watchable and interesting and her voice is solid enough to back up the performance side.  And with that the previously all-bald Team Christina has it's newest, follicly well-endowed, member.

Next round pits two members of Team Blake -- Dia Frampton vs. Serabee.  They are given "You Can't Hurry Love," by The Supremes. Dia is a soft, gentle folk singer, Serabee is a gospel belter who never met a note she didn't want to pummel into submission.  During rehearsals, Blake Shelton stresses to Serabee that she needs to exercise some restraint when she's singing.  "Keep all the tricks down," he says, then tells us that he hopes she listened to what he said. 

Well, guess what, Blake?   Just like you will discover after you and Miranda have your first child, you can give all the good advice you want, but people still have to make their own mistakes.  And Serabee makes a big fat one right on national television doing exactly what Blake told her not to do -- she oversang possibly worse than she had in rehearsal.  But Blake showed that he may indeed make a great parent, telling her, in effect, just because you can doesn't mean you should. 

Dia has some weird vocal quirk that makes it sound like she's a Transylvanian vampire devouring every note (she sounded a little like Graham Parker -- not known for his vocal prowess as she glug-glugged through her part), but at least she didn't defy her coach.  And so Serabee, and her ironic hat, were kicked to the curb.  By the way, kudos to Cee Lo for the most apt description of the duel: "that was...bizarre."

Okay.  It's time.  Third pairing...the lustrous Rebecca Loebe against the anemic Devon Barley.  When their coach Adam Levine tells them the song he's chosen is "Creep" by Radiohead, Rebecca gasps knowingly.  She loves this song (who doesn't...oh wait, I can name someone).  Devon looks confused.  But, in his defense, when Adam tells him he's going to have to get in touch with his inner creep, Devon quickly responds, "Done" and I'm liking him a little bit. 
 
In rehearsal, Rebecca nails the beginning of the song while Devon doesn't even know the melody.  It looks like it'll be a romp.  Like any MLB team against the Dodgers this year (ouch).  But Devon learns the song and gets in touch with the lyrics and what they mean to him.  Then it's time for the duel.  Devon starts, instead of Rebecca, and he sounds good -- a little menacing and, yes, creepy.  Rebecca sounds a little off.  She's going for pretty, not weird, but it doesn't sound quite right.  When she comes in "I want a perfect body, I want a perfect soul," she is basically squawking off key, as if she's going through puberty right then and there.  Her voice completely falls apart and she never puts it back together.  A Chernobyl-like meltdown.  Adam looked shocked; I don't think he expected that to happen.  Based on the performance he had no choice.  And with that, Devon moves on and Rebecca heads back to her car.

Okay, with that out of the way, we can move on to the last duel of the night, Kelsey Rey vs. Tori and Taylor Thompson, from Cee Lo Green's team taking on Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten."  All three girls are cute and can sing.  Do the sisters have an advantage? Duh. Two cute girls are better than one.  They actually sang pretty well (as if that mattered, I'm so naive!!) as Kelsey seemed to have some a mini-breakdown of her own (not of Rebecca-esque proportions), her voice turning strangely raspy and weaker than in her audition.  She tried her hardest, but the sisters were an impenetrable force of nature and she was ultimately powerless to overcome their adorableness.
 

Next week is the final battle round and then we the people get to exercise our right to vote.  See you back here then.

NBC's The Voice -- Episode 4: The Battle Continues, Rd. 2

Tonight was the second round of battles pitting two of the coach's team members against each other to see who would make it to the live voting rounds where the very discerning American voters will of course make the correct choice and not, for example, vote out the really talented kid with the big heart in favor of the boring, copycat country singer.  Wait, sorry, wrong show.

First up is the big, lovable teddy bear, Nakia, against the owner of the world's greatest Afro, Tye Austin.  I think the last time that much hair has been on one stage must have been the Poison/Warrant/Quiet Riot reunion tour.  They're singing Nee Yo's "Closer" and it seems more in Tye's wheelhouse.  He has such smooth, silky vocals and a perfect recording voice.  I could listen to him sing all night.  But he is up against a force of nature in Nakia.  He has the power, the emotion, the showmanship to really sell the song.  You can't take your eyes off of him on stage.  I would have gone with Tye, being the vocal purist that I am.  But Cee Lo takes "Kia" an interesting nickname for someone who would appear to outweigh his namesake car.

The next duel is actually a threesome, but much less sexy than it sounds.  It's the so cute you want to puke couple of Josh and Nicole Johnson who inexplicably go by the stage name Elenowen.  The folk-pop duo look like they could be third cousins of Kings of Leon and I want to take up a collection to buy Josh a full sweater or jacket so he can get rid of that gnarly vest.  They're going up against bald, rocker Jared Blake who I did not remember from the audition rounds.  Apparently, he did "Good Girls Gone Bad" and everyone passed, so he got a second chance with "Not Ready to Make Nice."  That time, Blake Shelton took him.

Now the folk-pop duet and the rocker dude are going to battle it out on..."Ain't No Mountain High Enough."  Really?  Strange song choice.  Jared started out all gruff and edgy, and then Elenowen came in and they were hardly a presence on the stage, just two lovebirds singing to themselves, somewhat unaware that they needed to engage the audience.  It was weird, Gertrude Stein-esque ("no there there').  I wonder if they knew this wasn't a rehearsal.  I think Blake may have wanted to go with them -- they're cute and marketable.  But Jared brought it and there was no way to ignore that he went after the song like it owed him money.  So he's the next member of Team Blake. 

Poor Angela Wolff.  She is cute as a button (although she should probably consider visiting a cosmetologist who can tame those formidable eyebrows before they take over her face), has a terrific figure and has a really nice voice.  She is as the saying goes, the complete package.  Just one teensy problem.  She's up against someone who may have the best voice to ever grace a reality TV singing competition in Javier Colon.  This guy gave me chills and while my memory of some of the other auditions may be a bit shaky, I will never forget the first time I heard him sing.

Their coach Adam Levine picks "Stand By Me" for them to sing.  I wonder if he thought of giving Angela a blindfold and a cigarette before she went before the firing squad.  As I expected, Angela is terrific.  She has nice stage presence and a lovely voice and is simply adorable.  So I'll be sad to see her go, but when Javier opens his mouth, well, let me quote Blake here:  "Javierrrrr."   He is what makes the music industry so confounding.  There are no guarantees.  You can have a great, really remarkably pure and soulful, voice and yet never make it.  Javier can sing rings around everyone else, but here he stands on the silly boxing-ring stage singing for another chance at stardom.

But sing he does and even though it's just a snippet of what he can do, there is no question he has the quality this show claims to be about...the voice.  And his is as sweet and crystal clear as any I've heard.

The last battle of the night is from Christina Aguilera's team.  She has bald, ballsy, blaster Beverly McClellan going up against some guy who looks like he sells insurance, Justin Grennan.  How cute, their last name's rhyme.  Last week the final battle was Vicci and Niki.  I'm sensing a theme.

They're assigned a song that looks tailor-made for the rocker chick, The Who's "Baba O'Riley," also known by the name of "Teenage Wasteland" and the theme from "CSI:NY."   Considering Justin has been living under a rock for the past twenty years and was totally unfamiliar with this overplayed song, he did a terrific job.  But in proving that heart and desire are sometimes more important than technical skill, Beverly just worked harder and wanted it more and so she fought off his strong opening vocals.  By the end, she was in complete control of the song and the performance and Justin had faded into the background.  Welcome to the live shows Beverly.

Some of these singers already have songs and albums out there, so no need to wait till the end of the show if you want to buy some of their music:

NBC's The Voice -- Episode 3: Let the Battle Begin!

We're back with the third episode in the latest entry in the crowded field of vocal competition reality TV shows.  Are there really that many great, undiscovered singers out there?  Well, apparently, because of the 32 contestants vying for 16 spots in the voting rounds, there are quite a few good voices out there.  If Randy Jackson were judging this show, he'd utter nary a "pitchy."  Which makes tonight's show particularly difficult.

This is the first round of battles, where two of the coach's picks have to go head-to-head, singing the same song on the same stage, with the coach picking the one who will go on.  Christina Aguilera is up first and she puts her two ample divas up against each other -- Terralyn Ramsey and Frenchie Davis.  They take on Beyonce's call to action,  "Single Ladies," and in rehearsal both sound amazing.

Christina is aided by Sia, who gives Frenchie a newsflash -- she has a tendency to go sharp.  First Frenchie heard of this, and, frankly, first for me too.  But she's taking the advice knowing that this is her last second chance...unless it's not too late to try out for the X Factor.  Meanwhile, Terralyn is trying to play mind games by holding back during rehearsal -- as if Frenchie couldn't tell that the powerhouse was not putting out her A-game. 

Well, maybe Terralyn shouldn't have held back, because when she lets it all out its a bit of a screechy mess.  Frenchie shows command of the stage and her vocal and she's the first to move on.

Blake Shelton is up next and he puts country boy Patrick Thomas against pop singer Tyler Robinson, giving them the Elvis song "Burning Love" to compete with.  Blake brings out the heavy guns, no less than Reba McIntire, to help him prepare his singers.  Blake gives Tyler some great advice:  just because you can do a lot of runs doesn't mean you should.  He also gives some a more questionable suggestion -- telling the very young, very innocent Patrick that one of the two needs to convince Blake that they are in fact a hunk, a hunk, a, burnin' love.  Patrick can barely reach a simmer, so I'm worried for him.

But Patrick has a really sweet, clear voice and takes immediate control of the song.  Tyler looks more like Elvis Costello than Presley. He takes the advice and doesn't oversing, but does a really nice thing with some of the notes.  Blake applauds him for his vocal restraint and seems genuinely struggling with the decision.  I would have given the round to Tyler, but, perhaps not surprisingly, the country boy is the choice.

The third battle of the night pits two of Adam Levine's team, Tim Mahoney and Casey Weston, singing the Don Henley/Stevie Nicks duet "Leather and Lace."  Casey sounds like she's been sucking helium since birth when she talks, but all that goes away when she sings.  Tim may not have the best voice for this song as his natural voice is a little high to provide the masculine contrast, the leather, to Casey's lace.  He makes Don Henley sound butch. 

One wonders whether this battle round is really a thinly disguised "face" round.  The premise of the show was that it didn't matter what a singer looked like, it was all about "the voice."  But with the judges facing the stage, knowing that in just a few weeks the future of their contestants will rest on the shoulders of a visually impacted, somewhat shallow America, how much does stage presence and look now factor into the decision?  In other words, without a dynamite vocal, Tim would appear to be on shaky ground.

Casey does an almost perfect Stevie Nicks' impersonation, complete with the raspy, purry vibrato.  Tim's voice is really good, but not blow-my-mind memorable.  And he did a lot of teeth baring that was not real attractive, while Casey just standing there was too adorable.  I think this was the easiest choice and Adam selected Casey.

Last up were Vicci Martinez and Niki Dawson from Cee Lo Green's team singing Pink's "F**kin' Perfect." I'd like to ask that they agree on one spelling of "icki" and stick with it.  This is really confusing!  Vicci had killed it in the audition round, Niki's was not shown so we don't really know what to expect from her.  Niki says, modestly, it should be a great battle since we're both such great singers.  Cee Lo's helper Monica notices Niki's, um, confidence.  So the question is, can she back it up?

Well, yes.  They both do.  Adam did not hyperbolize when he said this was the best duet of the night.  Vicci has a really unique sound, all rough edges, and she is quite the dynamo on stage.  Niki has the most beautiful, sparkling voice.  Crystal clear and powerful.  They sing like their lives, and not just a shot on a TV show, are on the line and one wonders if Cee Lo is regretting his decision to put them up against one another. 

I think it's ultimately the power of her physical presence that has him pick Vicci over Niki.  Niki -- next time you audition, do something about those bangs.  Your voice was an A+, but the hair was tragic and despite the name of this show, there's more to a successful singing career than just having a great voice.