One thing I really liked about The Voice is that it seemed like they were auditioning artists straight from my iPod. Season two had six contestants that I already had in my library before the show even aired. Last season was down to one, the eventual winner Cassadee Pope. Season four: none. Epic Fail The Voice. I only even recognized one singer, the chick from The Sing-Off who was relegated to the montage segment. But there were some decent contestants this season, so on to the Power Rankings.
2. Caroline Glaser (Team Blake) - I have not been this transfixed by a voice on the show since Xenia back in the first season. I cannot confirm nor deny that I spent most of Tuesday on her YouTube channel (but if I did I could give her bonus points for multiple City and Colour covers).
3. Sarah Simmons (Team Adam) – I hate One of Us, like an irrational hatred of the song, that is how much I liked her voice that I did not mind hearing coming from her. I look forward to her singing a song that does not suck massively,
4. Ryan Innes (Team Usher) – It is too easy to compare him to Nicholas David, who my favorite from last season, but I will hold off that comparison until I hear how good Ryan is at singing Huey Lewis. Which begs the question is Usher cool enough to be down with Huey Lewis?
6. Jess Kellner (Team Usher) – Such a transfixing voice, I am really interesting to hear what she does next.
7. Holly Tucker (Team Blake) – I am not sure I will like her enough if starts doing pure country songs like it sound like she wants to do (who knew there was a Garth Brooks version? I only knew Bob Dylan, Sdele and Billy) but I kind of hopes she sticks to more adult contemporary.
8. Cáthia (Team Shakira) – I could note understand one word, but I think I loved every minute of it.
9. Danielle Bradbery (Team Blake) – Very apropos that she did a Taylor Swift song because like Taylor, she may not have the best voice around, but just has this likeability quality you cannot deny. But I fear for her longevity because last season Blake said he made a strategic decision to only take one country artist to the Live Show and this is definitely his strongest country contingent to date and I already have her in third in that group.
11. Kris Thomas (Team Shakira) – I remember in the first season they actually hit the faces of some contestants until they turned around. It is a shame they stopped that because I wonder if I would have mistaken him for a chick if I did not see him.
12. Jessica Childress (Team Usher) – She may not have the best voice of the RnB chicks this season, but she is the most fun, and that counts for something in my book.
13. Judith Hill (Team Adam) – In a power rankings of backing singers (just based on their Blind Audition) I have Amanda Brown, Sasha Allen, Jermaine Paul, then Judith.
14. Grace Askew (Team Blake) – To be honest I am not sure what I made of her performance but I am thinking I liked it.
16. Jacqui Sandell (Team Blake) – For those keeping track at home, four seasons for Blake and four female Warped Tour veterans including one the won and a runner up.
17. Amber Carrington (Team Adam) – It is almost distracting how much she looks like Carrie Underwood with shot hair. And she may be lucky that Blake had a full team because he already had plenty of strong country artists. Then again, he may end up stealing her anyway.
18. Taylor Beckham (Team Usher) – I did not rally like her voice at first but it really grew on me the longer I listened.
19. Luke Edgemon (Team Shakira) – I am a little surprised he went with Shakira instead of Usher given his gospel root, it will be interesting what the Latin singer does with him.
21. Brandon Roush (Team Shakira) – I thought with the inclusion of Shakira, they would finally get someone who respects rock. Hopefully Brandon opens up the grunge songbook for his song selection going forward.
22. Patrick Dodd (Team Adam) – Over does it at times but still a strong performance.
23. The Swon Brothers (Team Blake) – They are no Shield’s Brothers but entertaining enough.
24. Garrett Gardner (Team Shakira) – I guess going up against fellow rocker Brandon would be the most obvious Battle Round pairing and my opinion of Shakira would skyrocket if she has them sing Would? by Alice in Chains. Though whoever got the Laine Stanley part would have an unfair advantage.
25. Amy Whitcomb (Team Adam) - Got to rep my girl from The Sing-Off even if she was montaged.
Even though it only takes one singer to win, it is always fun to see who has the strongest team. I went ahead and ranked all 48 contestants (I even listened to the iTunes previews of the montage contestants) with the worst getting one point and the best given 48 and here is how the teams stack out:
Team Adam - 276
Team Blake - 271
Team Shakira - 270
Team Usher – 249
It should not be surprising that the self proclaimed “Mr. Four Chairs” Adam (he won four of the eight this season) edges out his nemesis Blake. It is a bit surprising that Shakira was nipping on their heels. But looking at it as a whole, there are no real standouts (unless you love Latin music) but she does not really have any stickers either while the other teams have some fat to trim. And where last season, Christina Aguilera stocked her team with interchangeable bland pop singers, half of Usher’s team is interchangeable bland RnB dudes. He really needs to choose wisely in the Battle Rounds if he wants to keep up with the veterans.
He will also want to use his steals wisely, unlike every coach last season but Adam who was the only one who took his steals to the Live Playoffs last season. I wonder if anyone will give Blake the shaft twice again this year like Caitlin Michele did last season. And I wonder if they are adding steals this season. I assume everyone will get two steals in the Battle Rounds which will put each team at eight going into the Knockout Rounds. But means there will only be four going to the Live Rounds unless they add a Steal to the Knockout Rounds which I suggested they do last season’
As usual, there were a few artists that slipped through the cracks, and the three worth mentioning I think really shot themselves in the foot with poor song selections.
1. Jane Smith - I have long said singing Adele is the kiss of death on this show because no one is going to out-Adele Adele. Florence Welch is another artist you should proceed with caution with. With that said, Jane is probably the most egregious no chair contestant ever to audition on the show (either her or Ducky) and would have been in my top ten of my power ranking had she made it. I wonder if she auditioned late because from Blake’s comments (which seemed heavily edited) that maybe he would have turned his chair but maybe did not have any slots left. I really hope she auditions again next season. But she may want to avoid Florence + The Machine.
2. Abraham McDonald – A note to all the future contestants, it is a very bad omen to sing a song when the last line is “sucks to be you right now.” It is fated to end badly.
3. Betsy Barta – Like I said above, stay away from Adele, I actually liked her street performance better.
Speaking of returning contestants, what happened to the hot hairdresser with flowers in her hair from last season? Certainly she deserved a second chance more than that chick that got montaged this season. And where was the reggae chick that sang acapella after her Blind Audition that all the coaches were adamant about returning?
As for predictions, this is the hardest season to handicap who will win. And who know, they may go back to having each team represented in the finals and who knows what kind of tweaks they will do to the voting system this season. I could see Blake finally having a successful country artist who could win this season, but will it be Savannah, Holly, and Danielle could be a dark horse. Adam has his two power house back up singers. And I am sure some people have already written off Shakira, but I would not sleep on her Latin artists or Cathia could sneak in there (or she could be this year's Adriana Louise who is pushed through the first three rounds and met with a resounding yawn when the public starts voting). My sources tell me American Idol made a conscious avoid to boring white dudes after almost a decade of duds whose albums bombs; so that bored housewives voting block that pushes those artists may move to The Voice where they can push guys like Warren Stone, Christian Porter, or Josiah Hawley (though The Voice's voting limits seems to keep the bland but cute boys like Chris Mann and Dez Duron from winning). But if we were to go back to the team formats, here would be my predictions for the final four (with a back up pick in parentheses):
Adam - Judith Hill (Sara Simmons)
Blake - Savannah Berry (Christian Porter)
Shakira - Cathia (Brandon Roush)
Usher - Ryan Innes (Josiah Hawley)
Next up are the Battle Rounds and here is a sneak preview:
My eye spies battles between:
Christian Porter vs. The Swon Brothers (Blake)
Cathia vs. Mary Miranda (Shakira)
Judith Hill vs.Karina Iglesias (Adam)
Midas Whale vs. Patrick Dodd (Adam)
Jess Kellner vs. Taylor Beckham singing You Know I'm No Good by Amy Winehouse (Usher)
Jeff Lewis vs. Josiah Hawley (Usher)
Sasha Allen vs. Amber Carrington singing Try by Pink (Adam)
And I think that is Sara Simmons's shoulder next to Agina Alvarez (Adam)
But I am scratching my head trying to figure out who Michelle Chamuel is battling. The arm looks like a white person's, but Jeff and Josiah and Jess and Taylor are battling each other, Audrey Karrasch is wearing a different top, and it looks to skinny to be Ryan's. Maybe Chelsea M? And yes, I spent way too much time watching this video.
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