The Voice Season 4

[Outcast]

Those four, to me, where the first tier singers and performers on idol. They were the best singers from a technical standpoint and from a "feeling a song" standpoint. It was also just natural with them. IMO, had Candice, Haley, and Adam been season 2, 3, and 4 winners of Idol..they'd be as big as Kelly.

I disagree. As for commercial success, that's totally dependent on luck and circumstance, talent and hard work has nothing to do with it. These are the factors that helped Kelly to break out:

1. She was the first winner
2. Idol was the only singing show at the time
3. She had the right sound at the right time
4. She had well written and well produced hit material
5. She got a crap load of promo
6. She broke out before the decline of album sales and over consolidation of terrestrial radio
7. She broke out before the crowning of Taylor Hicks, when Idol officially started to be viewed by many as a joke

Kelly is talented and does work hard, but the same can be said for many other working musicians who haven't achieved superstardom, so those factors play no role at all. The stars must align for you, there's no other way.

[mercfan3]

What I simply meant was that Kelly was an out of this world talent, and won when Idol was relevant in the music industry.

Ruben Studdard, had huge first album sales. It was really his fault for not promoting to the point that he should

Fantasia is actually a pretty big star in R&B

and Carrie is Carrie.

If the next three winners were Adam, Haley, and Candice (Instead of Ruben, Fantasia, Carrie)..I think you see greater success than two of the three (obviously, no one is beating Carrie). It just so happens that 3 of, IMO, Idol's greatest talents happened to come when it was harder for an Idol contestant to break into the music industry. And of course, 2 of the 4 didn't win..

[Outcast]

I think Candice would've definitely had a better chance as Beyonce and a few other similar singers were huge back then.

With Haley it's very tricky. These retro jazz/pop artists like Amy Winehouse and Duffy tend to pop out of nowhere one at a time, so you just have to be at the right place at the right time in order to piggyback off them. It was too late for Haley to piggyback off Adele, by the time she released Adele wasn't the hottest thing on CHR. If she released in 2011 it could've worked. P2 was lucky to ride the folk rock wave last year but his new single GGG isn't doing as well cause M&S, Lumineers, ect. are not getting CHR airplay anymore.

With Adam it would've made no difference whatsoever. First off he was 27 when he came off ldol, that is way too late to start out in either pop or rock (it's fine for country though). Next he bit off more than he could chew with his AMA performance, and it appears he's never gonna recover from that. And lastly him being gay means most of the audience at pop radio (which is predominantly female) can't identify with him as an artist. It's not homophobia, they just can't click cause they don't get him.

[mercfan3]

I think Haley would have been forced into pop rock. She's actually more of the model of the original winners. A great versatile singer. So I think she would have been successful, but she wouldn't have been able to make Listen Up...so it's better she came later, IMO. Although Listen Up had so many missteps...if she had gotten proper promotion and released "Oh My' as a first single, we might have a different story.

Adam, you may be right. But I'd argue Clay did quite well until he had that issue with Kelly Ripa (and basically got a little weird, publicly.) And although he wasn't out...he was in the glass closet. And Adam gets the female reaction from his fans, despite being gay.

Obviously, nothing is guaranteed. But What I think hurt those three more than anything was the irrelevance of Idol by the time they were on the show. Not so much as a television show, but rather as musicians.

I'm interested in how Danielle does. The Voice badly needs a winner to be successful. And I really don't see it being Cassadee. Danielle really is a mini Underwood, IMO. (Although, maybe even a little more comfortable on stage.)

And Michelle, I think will depend on what she wants and how genuine Usher really is. The mainstream music is all about marketing. Usher's (and his partner) excellent at that. And he's obviously got a good feel for what type of music radio is playing. (actually, he just has excellent taste in general. )If Usher is going full throttle with her, I wouldn't bet against her.

[mercfan3]

Seems like Michelle is thinking about whether she wants to remain independent versus signing with a label. Personally, I think it would be her benefit to sign with Usher, but I don't know that she even wants to go for fame. So it'll be interesting to see what direction she goes in. I'm glad I live close by though, just in case she wants to stay an indie local product.

So, I'm not too surprised, because when I heard her sing "When the World Was Young" I could hear some of those classic tones that actually you can hear with Haley (in Jazz and Christmas songs) But Michelle has some Jazz roots. Pretty good scatting. I'm probably just drawn to singers with jazz tones.

http://indaba.us/rOeJ

[Himm2]

[mercfan3]

Danielle is so adorable.

As much as I was team Michelle, I wanted her (and Amber...god what a voice) in the finale. And I think it worked out best for everyone that Danielle won.

[mercfan3]

Wow, Danielle's single is already #3 on Itunes. (as compared to Fifth Harmony, whose #24..and many think actually will be the XFactors break out star.)

You know, I got the impression during the Voice that Michelle actually had the larger fan base, but Danielle's fanbase...being country and Blake fans, just bought more. But I'm really starting to think it's more like the James/Haley/Lauren fan base versus the Scotty fan base.

Scotty's was a lot bigger than everyone elses...they were just quiet about it.