May 11, 2011
Battle Rounds, Phase 1
The Battle Rounds are a very interestingly devised elimination process in which each of the four coach’s pair up their eight team members for a duet face-off. The two contestants then sing the same song on the same stage, and ultimately their coach chooses which contestant will be eliminated. The judges may have made their initial picks based purely on The Voice, but now that it's getting down to the nitty-gritty of the singing competition, all of the typical rules apply–with beauty and stage presence winning the day.
Christina's Team:
Tarralyn Ramsey and Frenchie Davis were the first in the battle rounds, singing Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”.
Sia joins Christina to help advise the pair, and advises Frenchie that she has a tendency to sing sharp. Tarralyn vows not to do her best during the rehearsal because she wants to keep her best tricks in her back pocket. Christina tells the duo they should be helping each other and singing to compliment each other.
Although not physically at each other’s throats, Tarralyn and Frenchie were very competitive towards each other, struggling to out-sing each other. All the coaches agreed that the battle was very entertaining, fun, and didn't seem like a singing competition. However, Tarralyn seemed to be doing more screaming and ultimately it cost her a one and only opportunity to advance.
Christina chooses Frenchie Davis to advance to the live performances.
Watch the Battle Round:
Blake's Team:
Patrick Thomas and Tyler Robinson were the second in the battle rounds, singing “Burning Love” by Elvis.
Blake brings in his adviser, Reba McEntire, and together they offer their advice and suggestions. Tyler admits that he has never heard the song “Burning Love”, while Patrick states he knows the song well. Blake admonishes Tyler not to overdo the runs, despite his excellent vocal range. Patrick only seemed interested in knowing how to remain focused while on stage when he asked Reba what she’s thinking about when she sings. Reba explained to Patrick that she thinks of the words.
When the battle begins Patrick's rich country voice is a perfect fit for this classic Elvis song. Despite the fact that Tyler kept the runs at bay, he seems to be off pitch in this very crucial point of the singing competition. All the coaches were pretty impressed with both of the contestants, and Blake was happy that Tyler took his notes.
Blake chooses Patrick Thomas to advance to the live performances.
Watch the Battle Round:
Adam's Team:
Casey Weston and Tim Mahoney were the third in the battle rounds, singing “Leather and Lace” by Stevie Nicks and Don Henley.
Adam Levine brings in Adam Blackstone to advise the contestants. 18 years old and relatively new to singing, Casey admits that she has never heard “Leather and Lace”, but Adam refers to her as a bad-ass, nevertheless. Adam tells Tim his voice has to be "smooth" like butter. Probably one of the most objective things mentioned by any of the coaches was when Adam stated that, "No matter who I liked before, or who I like more now, I'm going into it with a completely clear head."
Both singers were good and this duet harmonized very well. However, Casey appeared to have the stronger, more intriguing voice as Tim appeared to be struggling to perform better.
When it came to making the choice between Casey and Tim, Adam didn't even think twice when he announced that Casey Weston would be advancing to the live performances.
Watch the Battle Round:
Vicci Martinez and Niki Dawson were the fourth and final contestants in the battle rounds, singing Pink’s “Perfect”.
Cee Lo brings Monica on as an adviser, and Monica admits that it will be challenging to pick between these two awesome and confident singers.
As the battle began it was very clear that both of these contestants could easily qualify for the live performances, and perhaps Cee Lo may be thinking that coupling these two singing contestants was a bad choice. Vicci and Niki get a standing ovation, and Adam opines that it was by far the best duet of the evening.
Cee Lo compliments that Niki did an exceptional job but stated, "Vicci, you’ve got this war dance… you have this gut wrenching affect on me.”
Cee Lo chooses Vicci Martinez to advance to the live performances.
Watch the Battle Round:
May 9, 2011
Is The Voice the Best Reality Singing Competition?
To me “The Voice” is supposed to be a show that is all about real talent, the best voice, the right attitude, and performance that makes a lasting impression on the audience. From that standpoint the producers truly succeeded in bringing in all musical styles to this new reality singing competition. But what else does the show offer?
In a way, it's almost unfair to judge a show this early, but the fact is that like American Idol, which was also finessing ratings for their first few episodes a decade ago, there are a lot of factors to weigh when launching a show with such star power.
There's the issue of pacing the singing competition to draw out the interest factor, and of course you need some laughs and compassionate moments while providing the best talent imaginable. In my point of view The Voice is moving along too swiftly. Granted, American Idol goes through the whole audition process and perhaps NBC didn't think this was entertaining enough to hold the audience’s interest, but I believe that the blind competitions could have been drawn out for one more week so the audience could learn more about the contestants on a personal level. Even when you visit the NBC The Voice website, the profiles of the contestants are very short, vague, and they don't really provide much history. Another real good example is when they showed the season premier with the debut of Patrick Thomas. Having never heard of this young country singer I wanted to know more about him because I really enjoyed his performance. You know I couldn't find anything about him on the internet; no website with a profile, bio, fan page. NBC couldn't afford to put something together for this kid? And what’s really sad is that Patrick Thomas still doesn't have a website! It appears that producers were either not very prepared for this show, or they simply feel that details about their contestants do not matter? To me the NBC Producers dropped the ball on this one...
Now, as far as the judges/coaches, opposite the premier of the "mean" judges on American Idol, The Voice coaches appear to have a great rapport and compete rather nicely -- for the most part. To me this is where The Voice differentiates from Idol the most and really makes the show more entertaining. Although it appeared as though the coaches were fulfilling their roles, for whatever the reason NBC has decided to fortify their celebrity cast with Reba McEntire, Monica, Sia, and Adam Blackstone for what will next be The Battle Rounds. I'm truly looking forward to the battle rounds, but I really hope that the pace of the show slows down a little bit and we, the audience, are afforded the pleasure of seeing more and learning more about these young, aspiring contestants is this great new reality singing competition?
In a way, it's almost unfair to judge a show this early, but the fact is that like American Idol, which was also finessing ratings for their first few episodes a decade ago, there are a lot of factors to weigh when launching a show with such star power.
There's the issue of pacing the singing competition to draw out the interest factor, and of course you need some laughs and compassionate moments while providing the best talent imaginable. In my point of view The Voice is moving along too swiftly. Granted, American Idol goes through the whole audition process and perhaps NBC didn't think this was entertaining enough to hold the audience’s interest, but I believe that the blind competitions could have been drawn out for one more week so the audience could learn more about the contestants on a personal level. Even when you visit the NBC The Voice website, the profiles of the contestants are very short, vague, and they don't really provide much history. Another real good example is when they showed the season premier with the debut of Patrick Thomas. Having never heard of this young country singer I wanted to know more about him because I really enjoyed his performance. You know I couldn't find anything about him on the internet; no website with a profile, bio, fan page. NBC couldn't afford to put something together for this kid? And what’s really sad is that Patrick Thomas still doesn't have a website! It appears that producers were either not very prepared for this show, or they simply feel that details about their contestants do not matter? To me the NBC Producers dropped the ball on this one...
Now, as far as the judges/coaches, opposite the premier of the "mean" judges on American Idol, The Voice coaches appear to have a great rapport and compete rather nicely -- for the most part. To me this is where The Voice differentiates from Idol the most and really makes the show more entertaining. Although it appeared as though the coaches were fulfilling their roles, for whatever the reason NBC has decided to fortify their celebrity cast with Reba McEntire, Monica, Sia, and Adam Blackstone for what will next be The Battle Rounds. I'm truly looking forward to the battle rounds, but I really hope that the pace of the show slows down a little bit and we, the audience, are afforded the pleasure of seeing more and learning more about these young, aspiring contestants is this great new reality singing competition?
May 3, 2011
Blind Audition Shootout
For most of us watching The Voice on NBC over the course of the past two weeks, we have seen a lot of very good contestants in this awesome singing competition. The blind auditions have been a painstaking process of elimination, sometimes with the judges regretting they did not chose the contestant, but that was not necessarily the end of the road for them...
Tonight we watched as the judges chose their final members for their teams. However, as predicted there came the point in time when there were no more contestants left to chose from. Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, and Christina Aguilera had yet to fill their eight spots for each team. Blake needed one more team member, Adam needed two more team members, and Christina needed one more team member. Thus began the blind audition shootout!
Essentially The Voice personnel determined that eight of the contestants from the singing competition who were not originally chosen during the two blind audition phases, were now going to be contestants in what was dubbed the blind audition shootout. Although only five of those eight shootout contestants made it to the stage and we may never know the identity of them all, four of them were lucky enough to have this second chance and were ultimately chosen for one of The Voice teams.
1.) Lily Elise performed and was chosen by Christina.
2.) Sonia Rao performed and was not chosen - although Adam Levine displayed deep regret in not pushing his button for Sonia.
3.) Jared Blake performed and was chosen by Blake Shelton.
4.) Casey Weston performed and was chosen by Adam.
5.) Angela Wolff performed and was chosen by Adam.
So now the blind auditions are complete after having the blind audition shootout.
Why not go and see the final four teams:
Tonight we watched as the judges chose their final members for their teams. However, as predicted there came the point in time when there were no more contestants left to chose from. Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, and Christina Aguilera had yet to fill their eight spots for each team. Blake needed one more team member, Adam needed two more team members, and Christina needed one more team member. Thus began the blind audition shootout!
Essentially The Voice personnel determined that eight of the contestants from the singing competition who were not originally chosen during the two blind audition phases, were now going to be contestants in what was dubbed the blind audition shootout. Although only five of those eight shootout contestants made it to the stage and we may never know the identity of them all, four of them were lucky enough to have this second chance and were ultimately chosen for one of The Voice teams.
1.) Lily Elise performed and was chosen by Christina.
2.) Sonia Rao performed and was not chosen - although Adam Levine displayed deep regret in not pushing his button for Sonia.
3.) Jared Blake performed and was chosen by Blake Shelton.
4.) Casey Weston performed and was chosen by Adam.
5.) Angela Wolff performed and was chosen by Adam.
So now the blind auditions are complete after having the blind audition shootout.
Why not go and see the final four teams:
Christina's Team
Cee Lo's Team
Blake's Team
Adam's Team
Don't forget to vote for your favorite team on the
Facebook Fan Page.
May 1, 2011
The Voice Adds Famous Advisers to Aid Teams
NBC announced on Friday that Reba McEntire, Monica, Sia and music producer Adam Blackstone will be joining the The Voice as new advisers who will help "judges" Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton during the "battle" rounds.
With around twelve million viewers and an overall win for its debut last Tuesday, The Voice has finally given NBC reason to smile, even if the contentment was short-lived. With only days remaining until the second blind audition, NBC producers have decided to fortify their celebrity cast with four additional Team Coach "Advisers" who will help bring out the best in each contestant by aiding in song selections and giving professional advice.
Each adviser was handpicked by one of the judges and will serve as an adviser for their respective team.
With around twelve million viewers and an overall win for its debut last Tuesday, The Voice has finally given NBC reason to smile, even if the contentment was short-lived. With only days remaining until the second blind audition, NBC producers have decided to fortify their celebrity cast with four additional Team Coach "Advisers" who will help bring out the best in each contestant by aiding in song selections and giving professional advice.
- Reba McEntire will be partnering with Blake Shelton.
- Monica (Monica Denise Brown) will be partnering with Cee Lo Green.
- Sia (Sia Kate Isobelle Furler) will be teaming up with Christina Aguilera.
- Adam Blackstone will be teaming up with Adam Levine.
Each adviser was handpicked by one of the judges and will serve as an adviser for their respective team.
Sonia Rao and Jared Blake May Get A Second Chance on The Voice?
Although sources to this rumor cannot confirm that Sonia Rao and Jared Blake may get a second chance on The Voice, indicators do suggest that the possibility is there.
If there are only two blind auditions we do know for certain that The Voice coaches must fill the remaining spots for their teams. After The Voice Blind Audition, Part 1, each coach currently has only 3 team members out of the eight members that are needed for each team. Although the prodigy of the American version of The Voice, The Voice of Holland, has four blind auditions, rumor has it that the American version is only going to have two blind auditions. As such, it appears that each coach is going to have to get five more team members.
What we do know about The Voice is that there are going to be two battle episodes and eight live performances.
Stay tuned for the Blind Audition Shootout where emotions and hopes are sure to run high!
If there are only two blind auditions we do know for certain that The Voice coaches must fill the remaining spots for their teams. After The Voice Blind Audition, Part 1, each coach currently has only 3 team members out of the eight members that are needed for each team. Although the prodigy of the American version of The Voice, The Voice of Holland, has four blind auditions, rumor has it that the American version is only going to have two blind auditions. As such, it appears that each coach is going to have to get five more team members.
What we do know about The Voice is that there are going to be two battle episodes and eight live performances.
Stay tuned for the Blind Audition Shootout where emotions and hopes are sure to run high!
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