Thursday, November 1, 2012

The Voice 3: Knockout Rounds Part 2

After this week,  I think it's pretty clear that the judges have their own favorites and have done the best they could to ensure that those people will go far unimpeded. I mean, a LOT of talented contestants got the shaft in favor of lesser talented singers, in my opinion. Kayla, Nicole, Caitlin, Aquile, MarissaAnn, Suzanna and so on. Instead, we have a clusterfuck from MacKenzie to Devyn, to Julio to Sylvia and so on. Oh well.

Anyway, recap after the jump!

TEAM CHRISTINA

10. Chevonne
Dancing With Myself
ELIMINATED (vs. De'borah)
Horrid. That is all.

09. Sylvia Yacoub
Fighter
WINNER (vs. Aquile)
One, borderline karaoke. Two, rough transitions. Three, off key singing. Four, annoyingly shaky runs. Sylvia sucked.

08. Alessandra Guercio
Take A Bow
ELIMINATED (vs. Dez Duron)
Eh. I never really liked Alessandra. She was trying WAY too hard that it almost felt like desperation more than anything else. Her movements looked staged, the grit she added to her voice sounded forced and everything came off really fake. She's fine as a singer, I just don't think she's anything special.

07. Devyn Delora
I Have Nothing
WINNER (vs. Laura Vivas)
Devyn has a decent voice, but she's not really that good of a singer to tackle something from Whitney Houston's catalogue. I don't know. Her performance just didn't feel right and I felt like her interpretation was a little too staged.

06. Laura Vivas
I Need To Know
ELIMINATED (vs. Devyn Delora)
I admit, her version of this Mark Anthony hit was a over-the-top and parts of her vocals hit some rough spots, but Laura was definitely way more entertaining than her opponent. She's feisty and I like that. Oh, and that little dance towards the end had me grinning the whole time. Not necessarily appropriate, but fun.

05. Aquile
Grenade
ELIMINATED (vs. Sylvia Yacoub)
How did Aquile get eliminated to someone like Sylvia? Seriously? Aquile was one of the best singers on Christina's team. Now, she's left with a bunch of loud screechy generic singers, De'Borah and Dez. True, Aquile's performance wasn't mind blowing by any means, but he was consistent with his pitch and his tone was just great. Plus, he looked effortless singing a Bruno Mars song. Sigh.

04. Adriana Louise
Already Gone
WINNER (vs. Celica Westbrook)
Adriana's vocals were good, but I felt like she was just shouting at me the whole time. Where's the dynamics or the nuance? She was SO loud, I wanted to slap her in the face just for her to calm down and be quiet. I did find her incredibly marketable - in the veins of Katy Perry and Jessie J - but she needs to know when to pull back her vocals. Even Kelly Clarkson didn't sing her song like that.

03. Celica Westbrook
Never Say Never
ELIMINATED (vs. Adriana Louise)
Justin Bieber? Haha. I was a little iffy with her song choice and her vocals went too screechy towards the end, but I thought her version wasn't as bad as I expected. Her tone made the song sound fresh and her verses were actually quite good. Just for that, she's slightly better - I mean, by a hair - compared to her rival, which got her eliminated eventually.

02. De'Borah
You Found Me
WINNER (vs. Chevonne)
I've been a fan of De'Borah since her blind auditions. I find her tone very interesting and she actually has good control of her pitch. Her version of the song was a little underwhelming, but better than most of the people in Christina's team. 

01. Dez Duron
Stuck On You
WINNER (vs. Alessandra Guercio)
No, Dez is obviously NOT the best singer on this show, but in a group of diva belters - at least on Christina's Team - he clearly stands out. He still had this hitch in his voice that's relatively annoying,  but I think he sang this Lionel Richie tune in earnest coupled with his smooth tone and surprisingly clear runs. Definitely vanilla, but he's one of the most improved.

TEAM BLAKE

10. Julio Cesar Castillo
Somebody To Love
WINNER (vs. MarissaAnn)
We lost good singers for this? Oh, and Blake's rationale for choosing Julio over MarissaAnn was DUMB.

09. Rudy Parris
Forever
ELIMINATED (vs. Terry McDermott)
HAHAHAHA. Rudy lost me on his song choice alone. Waste of space.

08. Collin McLoughlin
Breakeven
ELIMINATED (vs. Michaela Paige)
Zzzzz. Collin can carry a tune, but he's nothing special.

07. Michaela Paige
Love Is A Battlefield
WINNER (vs. Collin McLoughlin)
To me, Michaela needed to belt it out more with this song. The performance felt a little lightweight with her interpretation. She sounded good, but it was lacking.

06. Cassadee Pope
Payphone
WINNER (vs. Suzanna Choffel)
Maybe Cassadee can defecate on stage and she will still win this whole thing no? Haha. Her rendition of this Maroon 5 hit was passable at best. Her delivery was odd, her pitch was inconsistent, and her voice warbled on every line. To be honest, I just don't see what's great with her. Really.

05. Liz Davis
Gunpowder And Lead
WINNER (vs. Gracia Harrison)
Can't she do something with her black eyebrows? It's seriously bugging me because it just doesn't match her blonde hair. Haha. Liz sounded quite nice, but she was lacking a certain amount of sass and attitude especially with a song like this. Plus, she came off as a very sophisticated actress playing a country singer instead of an actual country artist.

04. Gracia Harrison
I Don't Want To Miss A Thing
ELIMINATED (vs. Liz Davis)
While I did cringe at her song choice - another overdone song! - I thought she sang it REALLY well. She mostly on key, her vocals soared and I just find her as a more authentic country singer than her opponent. I guess, Blake's looking for a country singer with an edge? Beats me.

03. Suzanna Choffel
Could You Be Loved
ELIMINATED (vs. Cassadee Pope)
She got robbed! Not entirely a big fan, but between her and Cassadee, I thought she had more presence and a recognizable voice to boot. Her tone was exquisite on the Bob Marley song and despite the fake accent, she sold it to me. Disappointing.

02. Terry McDermott
Maybe I'm Amazed
WINNER (vs. Rudy Parris)
Very nice. I was never a fan of Terry, but this was quite impressive. I thought his tone was perfect for the song as it had enough character to pull it off. He did hit a couple of rough spots especially when he hit that falsetto, but other than that, this was a nice vocal performance.

01. MarissaAnn
Lady Marmalade
ELIMINATED (vs. Julio Cesar Castillo)
BLAKE REALLY FUCKED THIS ONE UP. IT WAS IGNORANT AND A TOTAL TRAVESTY. I'm not saying MarissaAnn is the best singer in the competition, but when Julio - who performed an ridiculously mediocre version of a Justin Bieber song - advanced into the live shows over someone as vocally strong as MarissaAnn, you'd know that there's seriously something wrong in this world. Her version was a little overwrought in parts, but she sang the hell out of that song. Enough said.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

while i do agree that there were major stupid decisions (particularly on adam and blake's teams, i do think that what the voice and the world needs now is a viable female solo act in the lines of kelly clarkson or christina aguilera. enough of the "artists" that sound different and r&b (which doesn't sell as well as it used to as in the late 2000's. and while i think aquile is a splendid singer, do we really need someone technically good but has no appeal, do we really want the voice to be a producer of black r&b dudes (as AI is to WGWG)? i do not like sylvia though haha =p

SNAPPS said...

The knockout rounds part 2 was another damaging night. I’m surprised with Blake and Christina getting rid of half their team. I love when the competition goes head to head and it was another great night for The Voice. You never know what’s going to happen on a reality show like this one and that’s what keeps my attention. I record The Voice and some of my other primetime favorites using the PrimeTime Anytime feature in my Hopper DVR. I’m glad my coworker at DISH told me about this sweet feature, I’ve been able to use. Everyone’s happy now that I don’t have all the DVRs tied up recording my shows while the wife and kids get stuck watching recordings. My primetime shows record to one TV and lets everyone else watch what they want.

X said...

Wow... what was Blake thinking. MarissaAnn won that "battle" by a long shot. Not sure about these judges sometimes.

Oh, and I wouldn't necessarily call Chevonne horrid. She definitely didn't have the greatest singing voice... her stage presence was pretty great and I found her performance entertaining because of it. She still lost that "battle" without a doubt.

I don't think I really agreed with much of anything Christina did (or I just didn't care).

Overall, I'd say that this group of finalist is better than last years. All the judges made some clear mistakes (in my opinion), but last year there were TONS of mistakes.

I've got to admit... I am looking forward to the season being over already. I wish they would focus more on the live shows. It's been like this every season: by the time the live shows come around, I'm tired of it.

destinyscayin said...

Wow I can't believe Dez is still in and Aquile is out... Christina would've picked Sylvia regardless of who she's up against so why pair her with Aquile? What was she thinking??! Oh and Blake.. Julio? Seriously?

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