The Voice Season 5

[mercfan3]

Speaking of Jacquie, I thought she might have been influenced by Haley's HOTRS during the battle. (Thanks Himm2, although I like Haley Outlasting Randy's Stupidity too. )

She apparently had done a cover before the show. There's no question it's influenced by Haley. (And IMO, much better than the battle.) Her note choices, dynamics choices..and everything (I think she even tries to growl a little..)..and she tried to fit it into the original format of the song. Really Really excited to see this little girl grow.

[Himm2]

HORTS? Haley Outlasting Randy's Talent Stupidity? oh you mean HOTRS.

I'm quite pleased with the top 12 that were narrowed down last night. (YAHOO BLOG):

TEAM BLAKE

America's picks: Austin Jenckes, Cole Vosbury
Blake Shelton's save: Ray Boudreaux
Going home: Shelbie Z., Nic Hawk

My thoughts: Austin is a solid singer, but I don't know if he has true star quality. However, I knew America would root for a regular-guy rocker like Austin, so his victory came as no surprise. I was thrilled that Cole, one of my favorites in the competition, rocked the popular vote (also not a surprise), and I endorsed Blake's pick of Ray, who has real potential.
I'll miss Nic's sass, but I'm not surprised that he didn't go far; his peacocking performance of "Blurred Lines" was just too polarizing. There was a time when I thought country diva Shelbie had a chance to win this whole show, and I thought Blake may have had her back…but I guess this season will not be country-dominated like Season 4. Apparently when Blake said he chose to save the contestant he could "affect change with the most," he meant he didn't want to mentor yet another country singer.
But threepeating champ Blake is still playing to win, obviously, because this year, he has built a team of formidable WGWGs.

TEAM CEELO

America's picks: Caroline Pennell, Jonny Gray
CeeLo Green's save: Kat Robichaud
Going home: Amber Nicole, Tamara Chauniece

My thoughts: I'd predicted that Amber and Tamara — who'd been so blatantly thrown under the bus with their respective song assignments, their performances may as well have been sponsored by Greyhound — would go home. Such a prediction hardly makes me Miss Cleo; those two were set up as fodder to begin with, and were lucky to get as far as they did.
I was a little shocked that Jonny's underwhelming "Bittersweet Symphony" performance garnered more votes than Kat's fearlessly rockin' tour de force, but then again, Jonny was the only boy on CeeLo's team — and a cute boy at that. So there you go.
CeeLo made the right call by saving Kat, but I worry about her future. With Caroline gaining momentum, is there room for two quirky alt girls on Team CeeLo? I sincerely hope so.

TEAM CHRISTINA

America's picks: Jacquie Lee, Matthew Schuler
Christina Aguilera's save: Josh Logan
Going home: Olivia Henken, Stephanie Anne Johnson

My thoughts: It was obvious that Jacquie and Matthew were Team Xtina's strongest two players; that's why they sang last on Tuesday's show, to end the episode with a double-bang. America got this one totally right.
As for Christina, I don't know if she got it right. Josh is talented, but I think he lacks charisma. Please note, he only came in ninth back when he was on another Mark Burnett Productions talent show, "Rock Star: Supernova." Basically, I am not sure if he's a rock star or a supernova. I was hoping perpetual underdog Stephanie would get a shot; she seemed to be peaking at the right time, coming out of nowhere this week with a fantastic "Georgia On My Mind." Oh well.
As for Olivia, I thought the country audience might vote her through, but apparently all those people who bought Cassadee Pope's album and put both Danielle Bradbery and the Swon Brothers through to last season's finale have stopped watching "The Voice." Olivia's elimination made it official: There are NO country singers left on "The Voice" Season 5, unless you count Austin (which I don't, really). What a difference a season makes.

TEAM ADAM

America's picks: James Wolpert, Tessanne Chin
Adam Levine's save: Will Champlin
Going home: Grey, Preston Pohl

My thoughts: This was the one cut I knew was going to hurt. With Adam having the most talent-packed team, I knew it was inevitable that at least one stellar contestant — someone who, on any other team, may have had a real chance — would sadly go home. And that person was Preston. Seriously, Preston could have won this thing, under different circumstances.
It's not that Adam made a bad call here. Will's "Secrets" was one of Monday's standout performances, and Will earned his spot. But as Adam put it, speaking for me and probably every other "Voice" viewer at home, "There was really no scenario that I was going to be happy with...This is terrible." Sigh.
Of course, I knew James was a lock, and deservedly so. His cover of "A Case of You" was the only performance this week that made the top 10 on iTunes chart (thus giving him that all-important "iTunes Bonus"), and it was flat-out amazing. Tessanne was amazing as well, morphing from former Jimmy Cliff backup singer to centerstage superstar with her rendition of Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross" in a true feelgood, goosebumps TV moment.

[mercfan3]

I agree with everything said there. (Almost. I find Kat to be fake and obnoxious, but there is something I like about her voice. I hope Ceelo works with her..) Will is a guy I'm rooting for (and Preston isn't/wasn't) so I'm glad he made it. But it was really a shame that Ceelo or blake couldn't just take one of Adam's contestants. Because IMO, both Grey (despite the poor performance monday) and Preston are better than Blake's whole team, and Ceelo's (Other than Caroline.)

[Tom22]

Appreciated all your guys thoughts. I only buy a handful songs from each season of these shows (and many seasons less) and I've bought couple this week that some people connected less with.... I've come around to really figuring that singing skills are worthless if people don't connect .. .maybe it wasn't so much "come around to" but having occasionally too concerned with "why" they liked it. I've got a peculiar taste for taking things apart.

I've heard lots of places that "all the country acts are eliminated"
actually there seems to be universal agreement on that.

I don't quite understand is what is called country these days. To my ear I'd call what Austin or Ray sings more country than what passes for country these days. Watching parts of the CMA awards there seemed to be some pretty heavy rocking groups interspersed on stage too. Those groups counted as country where they certainly sounded as southern rock as those two contestants to me

When I listen to the lighter cross-over sounds of Taylor Swift .. well, I can see why lots of people in the world really enjoy them as lots of the world really enjoy's pop music and I like what i've heard of her songs a lot better than most pop music (not sure that's a very high bar for me)

Curious if you think Taylor is as much 80's new-wave pop (new-wave light that is) as old style country?

(skip to a minute in on both songs.. the Rem is a bit more up beat so they're not perfect comparisons...for sure even for what i'm getting at)







have the REM guys put on a straw hat and gingham shirts and maybe just a few banjo licks and their song would feel just as much or more coutnry that that Taylor swift song ? !

Then there is
again not the same tempo.. this time with Austin's slower.










What are they calling Ray's if it isn't country?
It's more country than blues ?
I wouldn't call it southern rock.. or it is the most country type of southern rock ?

[mercfan3]

I think they called him "Lousiana swamp pop" which I'd imagine is probably a combination of blues and country.

I think the problem with trying to categorize everyone is that music evolves, and really, it intersects.

I think Folk, Southern Blues, southern rock all sound more like traditional country than what current country sounds like. But I think they were always similar.

[Tom22]

Do any of you watching the show think that Tessane would really make herself look good singing Haley's

"Let's Run Away" > I think Tessane needs an upbeat song with a bit of Reggae but not some completely cliche overdone retread .

Of course it would make Haley a nice chunk of change and would definitely get hundreds of thousands of people to at least look at Listen Up!

Does anyone want to start a Twitter campaign on that ? I don't really trust my judgement right now to get that public about it.

[mercfan3]

I'd love to have a Haley song on The Voice. I always wanted Michelle to sing "Undone." It's such a beautifully written and emotional song, Michelle could have completely thrown herself into it. (Amber probably would have done a good job on it too.)

I think Tessanne has a beautiful voice, but I think it might be too heavy for "Let's Run Away." I think Caroline might do it better. Maybe Tessanne would do "Free" well..I'm not sure if I've heard her head voice though.

And I know Haley doesn't sing on it, but I think Jacquie would do a great job with "Get Yourself Together." She'd also do "Spiderweb" well. I think she might be our best bet for a Haley song. I think she's a fan, with the way she sings similar covers..and some of the inflections she tries to put in her voice. She's also the most active on twitter, so if we're going to do a campaign..we might want to go with her.

[mercfan3]

So Finale time..

I'm still kind of upset that Matthew Schuler left so early. It's probably best for him, because he was losing his voice..but it really wasn't fair that after one poor performance he was in the bottom three, when he had previously completely dominated the competition. (and of course, the next week he's gone.) Everyone is so talented, but Matt..Matt is just everything you could want in a budding superstar. (Good looks, Charismatic, beautiful voice, current.) Also seemed like a sweetheart.

Still the performance of the season, IMO.



But the contestants in the finale. (And it's a very good finale)

I've been rooting for Jacquie since Stompa. She does have a polarizing voice. I love her "banshee wail" some people don't like it. Then again, I love Janis' "ugly" tone too.

I think her best performance has been Cry Baby, although there's still some thing haunting about "I Put A Spell On You." And I'm certainly excited to see what her voice grows into.



Tess, I think is the favorite..and despite being the best vocalist, I think it surprised people. To me, she's got a beautiful voice, but something about her just doesn't connect for me

Her best has been Redemption Song, IMO.



And Will, I've liked Will from the beginning too. I like him better singing R&B and soul classics. But I'm very glad he made the top 3 over Cole.

His best has been "At Last"

[buzzenator]

Tosarge, a long time Floridian Halien, sent me this video of a Florida girl who will be auditioning for the upcoming season of The Voice. A very nice cover of a Taylor Swift song. She has a lovely voice: