The Voice, Episode 12: "Live Rounds - Part 1"
Does Adam Levine have this season won before the live rounds have even begun? I know it's early and things can change, but after watching this first group of live performances and I have to say, Adam's team is pretty awesome. I'm not sure any of the other teams have contestants that can take on the one-two punch of James Wolpert and Tessanne Chin. That's not to say there aren't any other talented vocalists on the other times. There are. This is maybe the best season to date, but Team Adam will be tough to beat. After the jump, we'll look at the performances.
Blake chose Reba McEntire's "Fancy" for Shelbie Z. It is a hard song to sing, but by golly, Shelbie acquitted herself well. She sounded great and looked gorgeous. The song is pretty high intensity all the way through, and Shelbie sort of petered out towards the end. She redeemed herself with that glory note at the end and she did dirty the song up and put her own spin on it. Good job, Shelbie.
Adam chose Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" for James Wolpert. When I first heard this I scoffed. Sure, James. You'll do great. I was rolling my eyes and preparing to hate it. How wrong I was. It was awesome. This performance is the type of performance that you get at the end of the show, not as the second. James' voice was clear and he really interpreted the song. He started of soft, growing as the song grows. I also got a Tracy Chapman vibe from him, which is high praise.
Nic Hawk. The novelty of you has officially worn off. I can sort of understand Blake's thinking with giving you Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines", but on stage it was a horrible, hodgepodge mess. There was that jacket, that looked like you had skinned Chester Cheetah. The rapid fire rap portion was so garbled that I wanted to mute the TV. The singing wasn't much better. The song seemed to really accentuate the whiny, Nick Carter part of your voice. The coaches "critiques" were tantamount to every kid getting a trophy at a Little League tournament.
Ray Boudreaux brought his swamp rock stylings to Marc Broussard's "Home." I love Ray, but this wasn't my favorite performance of his. I love his southern rock, blues rock voice, but I felt like the beginning of the song was a little rough. As he loosened up, the song got a lot better and by the end I was swooning along with the majority of the audience. Xtina made a good point, which is a shock, since normally the coaches offer nothing once th elive shows start. Ray is very authentic.
I really like Austin Jenckes. I'm not a huge fan of Blake's song choice for him. The Black Crowes "She Talks to Angels" is a great song, but I feel like I've heard it in the context of reality singing competitions a thousand times. I liked Austin's take on the song. He has this affable quality that really makes you want to root for him. The beginning of the song was my favorite. He really excels in the quieter moments of the song. When he hit the apex, he did hit a handful of wonky notes and it did get a little out of control.
Poor Grey. She looked so confused, scared and a little manic during her cover of Paramore's "Still Into You", that I'm not sure how she even remembered to sing. The tempo of the song seemed to be sped up and Grey could not keep up. I kept thinking of the original and how much better it was than this mess. Not a good sign. Let's not even talk about the coaches and their comments. Oy.
Will Champlin suffered a little bit from the musical boner his coach, Adam Levine, seems to have for Ryan Tedder and his band OneRepublic. Will's cover of "Secrets" wasn't his strongest of the competition, but I didn't hate it. I liked the arrangement and the '70's soul vibe that Will gave it. There were a handful of bum notes and his last glory note did veer into "sort of hurts my ears" territory, but I'm still rooting for Will.
I really like Preston Pohl. His blind audition was one of my favorites. I'm not sure about Adam's choice to give him B.o.B's "Nothing On You." It's not really a song for a singer. Preston sounded great on the hook. He really dug in with that gritty tone that his voice has that I love. I did think the rapping was a little weak and took something away from the overall performance.
I'm pretty sure my undying love and devotion for Cole Vosbury knows no bounds. I love this kids. I have been a fan ever since his blinds cover of The Jefferson's theme. It's nice that others are finally coming around. His cover of Rod Stewart's "Maggie May" is effortless and amazing.
Tessanne Chin is not just the hands down best female singer in the competition, she is one of the best singers period. Chills. Her cover of Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross" is stupendous. She really pours her heart into it and it is a nice tribute to Jimmy, who Tessanne used to sing background for. So beautiful. It really almost brought me to tears. Get it, girl.
Amber Nicole was given previous winner, Cassadee Pope's "Wasting All These Tears." I had never heard this song before. I liked the softer parts of the song, but it felt like she was on one level the whole time and it was just like it was loud. It was almost like Amber was a speaker that turned all the way up the entire time. It made her start to go flat a little bit, which is not fun.
Jonny Gray was given the Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony." Jonny's preformance wasn't great. He looked like someone who was in the pit during a Dave Matthews Band cover band concert. He sounded off pitch the whole time. It was muy disappointing and not very good. I was pretty surprised when Adam brought up the attitude. For me, the only attitude I saw onstage was "meh."
Tamara Chauniece was saddled with Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive." Seriously, Cee Lo. You realize that this is Tamra's first live performance for America's vote, not her trying to cheer up a friend who just got dumped at a karaoke bar. Seriously. I'm so annoyed. I love Tamara. She is so much better than this song and this performance. Ugh. I need to end on something nice. She sounded great, even though the song sucked.
Kat Robichaud. She was given Macklemore sampled "She Keeps Me Warm" by Mary Lambert. You can file this under "P" for pretentious. The whole thing was just ridiculous. Kat was trying to make it a rock song. Then when she was like molesting the audience -- er, excuse me-- trying to connect. The whole thing just made want to vomit.
Watching Caroline Pennell perform is like watching a baby. You know that eventually they will do something precious and adorable, but unless it's your baby, it's not that exciting. The White Stripes "We Are Going to Be Friends" is right in Caroline's wheelhouse, but she is still too precious by half. I know everyone loves her and I'm weird, but I'm fine with it.
So, Josh Logan. What is there to say about Josh's performance of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." Well, I liked the jazzy arrangement. That's about it. There is so much vibrato and so many runs that I can barely understand what he is saying. There is so much it is barely intelligible. Damn. No bueno.
Xtina gave her only country diva, Olivia Henken, a honky tonk version of Katy Perry's megahit, "Roar." How can I put this delicately. It was horrendous. There was nothing good about it. She was off key the entire time. I'm not sure if she couldn't hear herself, but everytime I looked at the screen, I kept expecting to see a cat being strangled. Sorry, Liv.
Stephanie Anne Johnson continued her string of superb jazz performances to the stage with Ray Charles' "Georgia on My Mind." This song really showcased everything that is awesome about Stephanie Anne. I love the inflections and the interesting phrasing that she brings to the songs that she sings. She is so much better than a cruise ship singer. I like.
Xtina chose a surprising song for Matthew Schuler. Matthew was given Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball." Matthew is a great singer and he didn't hit a bum note in the whole song, but there was something about it that really left me cold. The whole thing was so overwrought. It's like his idea of emoting is just to put a pained look on his face and scream.
Where the hell did Jacquie Lee come from? Really, I did not expect that. Xtina gave Jacquie Screamin' Jay Hawkins "I Put a Spell On You." The song really showcased how mature Jacquie really is. Not many girls her age could sing a song like this with the conviction that Jacquie shows. I had sort of wrote her off, but I was wrong. I was so, so wrong. Jacquie is a contender. In fact, the one two punch of Matthew and Jacquie may prove my whole Team Adam theory wrong.
So, what did you guys think? Who was your favorite? Which coach do you think has the edge? Let me know.
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