It didn't surprise me that Holly went home. She really botched that performance of Creep. She has moments of talent, but is very inconsistent. Oh well.
The thing about the pre-live rounds is that everything is done in a vacuum. If Blake had known Holly would light up iTunes like no one else in season 5, he would've kept her and then pushed everyone else on his team down to prop her up. Not saying that's fair, but when have the coaches ever been fair? Hell, last week CeeLo picked the less talented singer on the basis that he's been working harder at making music a career.
Neither Holly or Nic really impressed me. If I could've sent both of them home at that point, I would've. The only people that have really impressed me has been the Jamaican artist who wants to make it in America. She has a powerhouse for a voice and knows how to use it and Cole, whose song choice yesterday showed off where his niche is.
Cole's single is in the iTunes Top 20 right now. Blake may have lucked into another big seller if they can find the right songs to sing, because he's the one coach who sure knows what songs sell well.
That's absolutely why Blake keeps winning, song choice. Ceelo keeps picking weird 80s songs he likes but are not performable on a current national stage and don't fit the artist at all. Christina picks these weird boyband-ish songs that don't fit her performers. Adam's a little better but he hasn't landed the best people since the first season. It's incredible that the Swon Brothers came in second last year, and they did so because every song they chose was perfect for them.
I agree, song choice seems the most important factor to me. In the live rounds, one bad song choice could get you eliminated even if your talent is above some of the others.
Song choice sure did in Holly Henry and Destinee Quinn in the knockout rounds. I also think James Wolpert has gotten worse since the blind auditions, but fortunately for him, he's with Adam who is known for picking the lesser performance in a battle/knockout on the basis that the singer has more overall talent.
Walk like an Egyptian, walk like an Egyptian! Don't know why Christina thinks that every one of her contestants, no matter what their image or audience is, needs to sing Justin Bieber and One Direction songs. The only elimination I've seen (Missed first half of Monday's show) in the Knockouts where I strongly disagreed with the decision was when the actress got eliminated. They talked about unintentional breaks, I don't buy that, I think they just don't think a Bonnie Raitt type will get votes in the lives.
I wonder how many of these contestants who don't make the live rounds resent and blame their coaches. I know Erin Martin was very vocal about CeeLo's choices. And the girl from The Line was so pissed after Christina picked a rapper over her that she couldn't even do the exit interview. Kaley Cuoco has been putting it out there that Blake's country bias is why he didn't pick Briana Cuoco, even though the buzz seems to be unanimous that Shelbie Z mopped the floor with her (not to mention a lot of people don't think Briana should've gotten any chairs to turn around in the first place). Battle round song choices seem to stack the deck on more than a few occasions, like Blake giving a country singer and a reggae pop singer Jason Mraz, or when CeeLo paired off Juliet Sims and a folk singer with a Rod Stewart rock song.
I would imagine it's a lot like American Idol, even if we don't see it. There are probably plenty of people saying "They don't know me" or "I don't need them, I'm going to be a star!" The one thing that draws me to The Voice however is that the stars seem invested in these people unlike Idol where the stars are simply judges with no personal connection. Count me in the camp that thought Briana Cuoco shouldn't have gotten any chairs to turn. I stated earlier that I thought she may make it far based on her name alone. Shelbie was the clear winner in that battle, country or not. It's sad that Kaley can't find the positives in this, like that her sister got some exposure, that this could be the launching pad to release some kind of album. Just because Blake Shelton didn't choose her, it doesn't mean that her life is over. I'm sure somebody would buy an album if she put it out and Kaley could fund it making a million an episode on Big Bang.
Blake liked her enough to give her a second chance. Perhaps the producers were involved in pushing for that to happen, but he must have seen something there. This was probably her weakest performance, and at this point it is just part of the game that you can't afford any kind of slip ups. I definitely heard the breaks they were talking about, and if my untrained ear can pick up on it then there is clearly something wrong. The only one eliminated this week that I think I'll miss going forward is Ashley DuBois. Tessanne is surely talented, but she has this kind of hard edge to her that is somewhat off-putting to me. I enjoyed Ashley's performance a lot more personally, but alas.
Until this season, no Blake steal has ever advanced so it's pretty obvious he mainly picks them to be fodder for the singers he already has. Adam's the worst when it comes to doing that though, and he even admits it in so many words when it comes time for him to talk.
Seems like Adam uses his steals mostly to pick interesting/unique artists he personally vibes with to see if he can make it work, not so much who he sees as the most talented. If it doesn't work out then no loss, he still has his core group to press on.
I didn't even need to hear Brianna sing. After last week's Big Bang Theory, I took one look at her sister's asset revealing outfit and the first thought that went through my mind was "She already know she's going home".
I finally got around to watching Tuesday's episode. Wow, there were a lot of really bad performances that night. Some were even cut short by editing instead of forcing us to sit through the whole thing. Looking at the teams as they go into the live rounds, I think that Blake actually has the most talented group.
I think Christina has the weakest team, due to her picking "boy-band"-ish people. The rest of the teams are pretty even matched in my opinion.
This performance is one the reasons I hate Christina. She has a hell of a voice, but then she comes out half dressed. And then, when asked about Shelbie Z, she seems lost, like she did a couple shots before tonight. I really dislike people like James Wolpert, who decide "I'm going to give up my future because I love music." Seriously, the ones who are going to be friggin' doctors and they drop out to try out. It must be great when they lose and they've dumped their future.
I dunno, I kind of admire people who are willing to be starving artists, so long as they're actually willing to starve. Just, if they then head down to the welfare office every week or crash right down on their parents' couch, that's when they lose my admiration. Shelbie Z - awesome James - Pretty good, like his idea but some parts were a bit much Nic Hawk - Vomitrociously cheesy
Now that the episode's over, I think there's a huge distance between the good performances and not so good ones. Good: Shelby Z, Cole, Grey, Austin Jenckes, Tessane Chin Not so good: The rest I will be annoyed if all five of these do not advance. And Nic Hawk was the terrible one of the night.