On Monday night, the second season of the immensely popular NBC series, The Voice, begins the second phase of its competition, The Battle Rounds.
This is my favorite part of the entire show because each judge must choose one of two members from their team to advance to the solo performance component of the show.
And, it is always an emotional experience for both the judges and singers. The judges have hopefully invested personal energy in all twelve members of their Team, so it can’t be easy sending one home.
Or can it? Personally, I feel there are a number of singers that were robbed this season and some that should not have made the cut. I’ll just leave it at that.
I wonder if the judges do play favorites during this part of the competition? It’s natural – you are going to be drawn to some singers more than others. Truth be told, the entire package wins the day in the end. The visual component is underestimated – it is integral to a singer’s success.
Do you agree that the visual is an important aspect to the performer’s success? Whose team is stronger – Team Adam Team Blake, Team Cee Lo or Team Christina?
Enjoy the show. It’s going to be quite a ride. I am on vacation but I do hope to add live updates tonight. So, come back during the commercial breaks!
Battle Sneak Peek: Angie vs. Cheesa.
Live Update
Team Adam begins. First up is Tony Lucca and Chris Cauley performing U2s “Beautiful Day”
Adam brings in Alanis Morrisette to work with Tony and Robin Thicke to work with Chris.
Tony begins quickly followed by Chris. Out of the box, Chris seems more invested in the performance. Tony quickly catches up though. Problems with the lower range with both singers. Great harmonic cohesion and wonderful teamwork. Loads of energy. I think, in the end, Tony has more star power.
Adam selects Tony as the winner
Team Blake is up next. The first pair is Adley Stump and RaeLynn performing “Free Falling” by Tom Petty.
RaeLynn and Adley begin rehearsals. Adley is really gifted for someone who has performed for only 10 months. Miranda Lambert is brought in to work with Rae Lynn and Kelly Clarkson (good choice) to work with Adley
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They prepare to sing. My gut says Adley is the better singer but methinks Rae Lynn will win this battle. Commercial break.
RaeLynn begins with pitch problems. Then Adley joins in and their harmonies are not good. RaeLynn is having a difficulty with her lower harmonies, although her solo voice is pretty good. This is not a good duet. Adley was the stronger vocalist so…..
Blake chooses RaeLynn because she told her story in a more believable manner. Personally, she is more marketable, but she needs to work on her vocal support.
Team Christina is up next. She is bringing in Jewel and Lionel Ritchie
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Chris Mann and Monique are the first pair and they will sing Celine Dion’s “The Power Of Love”
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Chris is sticking to his classical roots and Monique is understandably intimidated by Monique. Chris has the opportunity to work with Lionel Ritchie. Lionel tries to relax Chris’ rigid classical training.
Jewel is brought in to work with Monique. She doesn’t have Chris’ vocal training but she has a genuine heart and passion when she sings, something that Chris realizes is missing from his singing.
They will perform after the commercial break. But, from the quick preview, Chris’ mouth and jaw seems awfully tight for someone who has received vocal training. Rule #1 – never sacrifice technique to push out a vocal performance. It’s all kinds of wrong.
Monique begins with a sultry, controlled sound. I like it! Then Chris comes in and he sounds just beautiful. Excellent harmonies and teamwork. A few pitch problems from Chris’ end. Overall this is the strongest group tonight. Really exceptional. I would pick Chris because he is so different than any singer that has been on this show.
Christina selects Chris
Team Cee Lo is next after the blessed break.
The first pair to perform from Team Cee Lo is Chessa and Angie Johnson who will perform “Total Eclipse Of The Heart.
Chessa and Angie are not getting along. Range dispute alert! Babyface is brought in to advise Chessa and NeYo is working with Angie. Perfomance after the commercial break.
The face-off begins. Chessa and Angie begin together. Right off the bat, I am falling in love with Chessa’s voice. She is a strong, gritty and powerful performer. Angie has more nuance in her voice, though – it is overall a lighter voice and she is not afraid to use her head voice. I think Chessa is the better overall performer.
I changed my mind – I love the purity in Angie’s voice.
CeeLo selects Chessa for the live shows
Team Blake is up again. Brian Fuentes and Jordis Unga are up next. They will be singing Alanis Morrisette’s “Ironic”
Brian is paired with Kelly Clarkson. Nice. Jordis rehearses with Miranda Lambert. Jordis seems very desperate to win – she has really been struggling in the music business and feels it is her last chance. Commercial!
Jordis begins. And it is a very strong beginning. When Brian comes in, she overpowers him. Interesting. His solo is pretty shaky and breathy. Hmm. I think Jordis’ performance was the stronger one.
Blake chooses Jordis.. No surprise here. The alternative would not have made sense.
Team Christina is up next with a powerhouse team comprised of Anthony Evans and Jesse Campbell performingAlicia Keyes’ “If I Ain’t Got You”
They are both very strong and very similar in style. Lionel Ritchie is brought in to rehearse with Jesse and Jewel is mentoring Anthony. Anthony has a very expressive voice, lots of nuance. Jesse is a technically more gifted singer. This is a difficult pairing because both are strong singers.
Anthony and Jesse are both driving it! Their voices are smooth, the harmonies even smoother. Jesse is doing some crazy expressive vocals and Anthony catches up to him big time. I do love Jesse’s upper range. It is crystal clear. I would select Jesse on this fact alone but both are deserving.
Christina chooses Jesse
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Hi MCL. I think one of the strongest singers in the entire blind auditions was the woman who was Whitney Myer who went to Adam. I’m still also a fan of Jesse Campbell from the 1st Audition round & I think he went to Christina. On the final show, I also liked Lee Koch. He won’t win but I thought he was cute & the harmonica added “flair” to his performance. I hope he lasts for a while. And Christina’s final pick, Sera Hill, was very strong.
Can I just share too that I remain ambivalent about Chris Mann (I just listened to his performance again)? Yes, he’s got a wonderful voice – but there is a part of me that thinks “you don’t belong on this show – go “man-up” & be an opera singer because that’s what you are”. But it’s a free country.
My favorite singer on my mancrush’s team (Team Blake of course) is Gwen Sebastian. Jermaine Paul is a strong contender.
On Team CeeLo, I was charmed by Wade – what a cutie & in my opinion what a brilliant song choice. And I just re-listened to James Massone. he’s kind of a rough gem but with some polishing he could do well. He has a great smooth voice. Angie Johnson is someone who, if she makes it through to the voting rounds, could do well because she has patriotism appeal. But I don’t think she’s one of the best singers even I personally do like her.
It’s hard for me to make a global judgment regarding whose team is strongest at this point because it would require me to listen to all the singers again & compare/contrast & I just don’t have that kind of time right now :). But if I HAD to pick I think I might go with Team Christina.
And I do agree with you, MCL, that some of the singers who “got through” were not that strong and some who didn’t get picked were good. But some of the ones who got through are really really good & I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.
Thanks!
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Hi Darlene. Well, I have to say that you have done your homework. You really know these singers and have strong assessments. I can barely put the names to the faces and I think this is where The Voice loses ground to American Idol. Having five weeks of Blind Auditions is brutally long.
In contrast, I can remember the majority of names and faces in Idol’s Top 24 and the show started a good 3-4 weeks before The Voice.
And, I know, names, faces, voices of the entire Top 13.
But, maybe It doesn’t matter with The Voice. After the Battle Rounds, half these singers go home and we are left with 24 I think? Were the teams this large last year? I don’t think so, but who knows.
I remember Novocain though – he was a crazy good singer and not one chair turned around. Wow! The judges are over-thinking or the lack of the visual spect is messing with their head. And last year, they had Wild Card rounds but nada this year.
All in all, this is going to be a brilliant show tonight. I can’t wait. I would love to add your assessment as a blog topic if you like. No pressure. 🙂
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Yes, it did turn out to be a good evening of singing. Quite entertaining overall! I agree with you Darlene that Team Christina seems to be the strongest. Anthony Evans and Jesse Campbell did an outstanding job on Alicia Keyes’ “If I Ain’t Got You”. WOW! They both were outstanding and made a great duet. What a hard decision to make.
Adley Stump and RaeLynn didn’t have the chemistry some of the others did. RaeLynn was offkey and clearly the weaker singer. Blake does feel she is more marketable.
I really did enjoy the chemistry between Chris Mann and Monique. I felt he was holding back so he wouldn’t overpower her. Too bad someone had to go home. I really do like Chris’ voice.
I was surprised to see Angie eliminated so soon. She seemed to struggle tonight, so I wasn’t surprised Chessa went through. I also feel Jordis Unga seemed a bit desperate, although she is a good singer.
The judges probably do know who they will pick even before the show starts. The commercials are ridiculous. These rounds seemed so dragged out, but I will say I did enjoy what I saw. So happy the judges don’t put each other down or the contestants!
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Thank you MCL…I loved reading your thoughts about the Voice!!!
I really like this part of the show too…but my favs never seem to go through, last night none of the one’s I liked made it to the next round, LOL, Oh well…!!!
I thinks Adams statement last night was spot on, when he was talking about how you pair these two people and them someone steps up in the battle rounds…and then you have to send someone really good home!!!
Darlene,
How can you remember all of those names…I can’t even remember the names of the ones who sang last night, LOL…that is awesome!!! 🙂
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Hi, Vonnie, hi MCL, hi Kariann. I didn’t remember the names LOL. I spent a fair amount of time looking at the teams on the Voice website & matching them with what I remembered liking. Because Jesse Campbell was one of the very earliest, I’ve remembered him all along. I haven’t watched any of the Battle Rounds yet but it’s OK to have read some “spoilers” because it matches (to somewhat extent) what I would have predicted before hand :). Kariann, for the record I love Chris’s voice too, I just don’t think he belongs on this show.
I do think there should be Wild Card rounds. They have them on America’s Got Talent & they’re fun. “One last chance” is good in this type of situation.
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mcl, yes, a lot fewer last year. they announced that this year they would have more people (now that the show is a proven commodity).
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Vonnie
Just for you I watched last night’s The Voice! I actually recorded it because I was watching something else, but checked it out today. Now I am a newbie with this show. I have seen bits and pieces of it during the first season, but nothing yet this season. So this was my first time seeing anybody. I am way behind, as I see from some of the comments about people’s faves.
What seemed so odd to me was the sing-off between these pairs of singers. That struck me as so odd. They are both singing the same song, a kind of duet in which each of them has their separate moments and they also harmonize. Very interesting for someone who has not seen this kind of process.
I did come away with some strong opinions. (What a surprise! :))
I did agree with much of what MCL said. For the first pairing, I did think that Chris had a compelling emotional approach that I really liked. They did both have their problems during the performance. I do think that Tony was picked based on star power.
I really wasn’t sure about Adlee and Raelynn. I didn’t love their duet. I do think that Adlee was the better pure singer, but Blake liked Raelynn. Is it marketability? I do think she needs work on that voice. I also sense a lack of confidence and she is very young.
Chris and Monique were great together and a wonderful contrast of singing styles. Chris’s classical training shows, but I kind of agree with Darlene. What is he doing on this show? Maybe he feels this is a better commercial bet? I don’t know. He really stands out with that voice.
I found myself going back and forth with Chessa and Angie. This is not easy, picking from two well-matched singers! Angie does have a beautiful quality to her voice, a nice timbre and tone, but Chessa can really connect emotionall with the audience! I can agree that Angie has the better pure voice, but it was really hard for me to choose. I was going back and forth the whole time they were singing.
Brian and Jordis was no contest. This was one of the easiest to pick. Yes, there is a real sense of desperation in Jordis, since she sees this as her last real chance to make it in the music business, but she brought the goods. Brian seemed to be having some trouble right from the start. This was an easy choice of Jordis.
Oh, the best for last! Anthony and Jessie! What can one say! Absolutely brilliant from both young men! I actually rewound it a few times to hear it again and again. What a duel of voices, both guys having their moment. One guy would wow us and then the other would come up with something even better. Talk about hard choices! For me it came down to loving the sound of Jessie’s voice more. There was a tone, a timbre, a clarity that I absolutely loved. This was the toughest, because both were so deserving. But I think Christina made the right choice in the end.
So now I have seen my first show of the The Voice all the way through! I really have no idea how the show works, where we are in the competition and what will happen next. I will just keep watching and maybe check out the posts here to see what kind of format they have.
I am a sucker for great voices and heard a lot tonight! I enjoyed it!
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Mindy, so glad you are checking out this show!! Just for the record, I am totally in love with Blake & have been for quite some time now. I just think he’s a charmer! I don’t know that he knows as much about singing as Christina or Adam but he’s such a warm, direct & funny person. And his singer last year, Dia Frampton, was my personal favorite & came oh so close to winning. I ended up watching the whole show tonight. I was absolutely bowled over by the Jesse/Anthony duet & was so so sorry to see Anthony go. I also watched the Adley/RaeLynn pairing twice. The first time I was sort of mystified (although perhaps not) as to why Blake would go with RaeLynn vs. Adley – to my singer’s ear Adley was SO much better. But when I watched the 2nd time, there were moments of true brilliance from RaeLynn. So I got Blake’s choice better the 2nd time. I don’t think Jordis is going to last long but I could be wrong. And I liked Chessa better this time through than I did in the blind auditions & I liked Angie less. So I got that choice too. I did not get Tony’s being chosen over whoever the other singer was (see it’s late & I blanked).
Ultimately, with Chris, I think it will unfortunately come down to marketability & in spite of his amazing voice, I don’t think he has the edge at all over someone like Jesse. But again, I could be wrong.
Another really good thing about the Voice is that voting is limited once it goes to live shows. I think it’s limited to 10 votes. So none of that crazy insanity of Idol.
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Mindy,
So glad you watched!!! There are some great Voices on this show!!! They will continue the battle rounds until each team is down to six, then they will have a top 24 and then it will go much like an Idol competition…but please keep watching, this was only the first battle round and there are some stellar voices left to sing!
I too think the voting then is limited to a small amount of votes.
Darlene,
I love Blake too! I also love Adam, I think these two are great judges and they also have great chemistry together; I also think they have a bromance going on they are so cute when they are chatting each other up!!!
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Darlene,
So great to be chatting with you! I love reading your thoughts! Your knowledge is amazing and I learn so very much when we chat.
Thanks for the comments about Blake. As I said, this is the first time I have watched an entire show of The Voice. So I don’t know how each judge’s decision making, what they are looking for, where they are coming from, all of the little things that you learn if you have watched for a while.
I agree that there were some moments of brilliance from Raelynn. I do believe that she has a great deal of potential. There is raw talent, but she needs to develop much more confidence and deal with some technical issues. I am sure she will get some good advice.
I agree with you about Jordis. I left out one important comment about her duet with Brian – it was the weakest of the night. Brian just didn’t bring the vocals, so all she had to do was stand up there and not fall apart completely. Even she realized that this was far from her best. So she won by default. I don’t know that her voice can stand up to the kind of talent in this group.
I really battled with Angie and Chessa. I thought Angie had the purer voice and you know how I love that, but Chessa’s raw emotion and passion won me over. I did rewind and watch some of the performances again and these two were one of them. I do get the choice of Chessa.
I am not really feeling Tony all that much. I though that Chris brought the emotion and feeling much more. So now that impressed with Tony yet.
I appreciate your concerns about Chris. You know that I love a classically trained voice. It makes my ears so happy! 🙂 But I just find him to be out of his element here. In fact, I wonder if the classical training might be a slight disadvantage in this competition. I don’t think the vast majority of the viewers are necessarily looking for this kind of voice. He was given some good advice by his mentor – don’t get caught up in the technical skill, give it some emotion and connect with the audience.
I love, love, love Jessie! Oh, that voice! See, now I agree with you that Jessie can outdo Chris, no question. Jessie has the technical prowess, but he has a few other things, too. He has the ability to move people with the power and sheer emotion in his voice. Also, that head voice as MCL pointed out. Oh my goodness! It gave me the chills. He is simply phenomenal. It was very hard to see Anthony and Jessie have to go against each other, do so amazingly well and know that one of them would leave. I get why Christina did it, though. They are both very similar and she would want to have different voices for her team.
Thanks for the info about the voting! Now that is so nice to hear.
You know that you are my hero! I look forward to talking about the show with you every week!
Vonnie,
My dearest girl! Yes, I watched it and I love the show! Yippee! So you and I will get to share our thoughts on not one, but two, shows every week. Don’t worry about it being time consuming. That’s why they have dvr’s. I can always record it and watch it the next day, which is what I did this week. I am hooked, thanks to you.
I am so glad that you urged me to watch. You are so wonderful!
Thanks so much for explaining the process going forward. This sounds so interesting.
I agree with Darlene that Adam and Christina have more vocal expertise, but Blake is a charmer.
I also have to say that I love the mentors! So pleased to see these great singers stepping up to work with these young people.
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Blake is a charmer, but I also think he has some vocal expertise to add, he will make comments that makes me think he has some training! He is just so stinkin’ cute, I love him and Adam!!!
Love this show…after watching Idol last night, I realized just how much I love this show!!!
Glad you are on board Mindy!!! 🙂
MCL…I still need to go back and watch to see who Novocain is…I think that I remember from what you were saying but am not sure!!! There were two guys that sang, one was bald and the other had shocking blond hair or bleach blonde!!! i think they both sang older rock songs, so that is what has me confused, but I don’t think that either of them made it through!! i have a few minutes here today, I will go check that out!!!
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