Tonight is the season finale and unlike last season where I checked out early but still tuned back in for the finale, there is really no reason to watch tonight. The finalists are all lackluster and even the musical guest are just as uninteresting (when will programmers learn Lady Gaga makes more people turn off the television than actually tune in to see her). And it is clear as why the last two seasons were not as good as the first three: a lack of talent. Those first three seasons saw a slew of semi-professionals (and a few actual professional) but the last two seasons have been for the mostly armatures. I do not know if they are just unable to recruit the semi-professionals (although I sure there are still some Warped Tour veterans and Alicia Keys backup singers out there even though there were none of them for the very first time this season) or if they are making a conscience effort to pluck someone straight from their bedroom (which is a horrible idea; let American Idol be the amateur hour). If there is a lack of talent out there, the solution is simple, start bringing back contestants from previous seasons that should have gone further than they did. Mark Burnett loves All-Star seasons; six of the last eight Survivor seasons featured returning players. Unfortunately the Blind Auditions for season six have already filmed, but here are twenty-five contestants that deserve a second shot at being The Voice sometime in the near future.
2. Caroline Glaser (Team Blake and Adam, Season 4): You will not see too many people who made the live shows on the list because if you are rejected by the voters, that is that, but there were a few extraneous situations. Caroline gave my favorite Blind Audition that season and at the time it seemed like she wisely picked Blake as her coach considering how well he did other young female singer-songwriters like Dia Frampton and Cassadee Pope. But unbeknownst to Caroline and the viewing public at the time, Blake for the first season decided to pit all his country singers against non-country singers in the Battle Round with all the country singers moving on. Caroline went up against Danielle Bradbery and I would have given the match to Caroline (and I am not the only one, Caroline’s version of Put Your Records On outperformed Danielle’s. But Caroline did get Adam and Usher to fight to Steal her and despite Adam had the much stronger team, Caroline did manage to make it to the Live Show. And when she got there, Adam stuck her with The A-Team (a subdued, somewhat obscure song about a heroine addicted hooker; not something that would be endearing to potential voters) yet still was the fifth or sixth best selling song of the round. The only problem was two of the singers that outsold her were on Team Adam. Except it was Amber Carrington, who was the best selling of the bunch, and Judith Hill, who barely cracked the top 100 on iTunes were America’s Saves and Caroline, who was probably sold the second most songs on iTunes through the first four rounds (and the only person that week who had all four of their songs on iTunes Overall Chart), was stuck in the bottom two with the only person who outsold her up to that point that season, Sarah Simmons. Adam saves Sarah, Caroline goes home, and yet ten contestants she out sold that week advanced. And let us not forget the “voting irregularities” that happened that week. On a none-country season, Caroline could have been a real contender.
3. Jesse Campbell (Team Christina, Season 2): Another singer who made the Live Shows except Jesse went home not because the voters did not save him. Season two saw the advent of the Instant Elimination where during the second week of the Live Shows, after every performed, each coach would eliminate one of their contestants before they have the chance of being saved by the voting public. Blake went diplomatic, sending Jordis Unga home because she did not relieve the fans votes the week before. Cee-Lo and Adam cut their weakest performers James Massone and Pip respectively. Christina had a couple option, she could have, like Blake, sent home Ashley De La Rosa who she had to save the week before. I was hoping she would send Chris Mann packing because he was utterly boring. She could have even cut Lindsey Pavao loose after giving an uninspiring performance of a Katy Perry song. Nope, Christina cut her frontrunner leading to GIF-able reactions from her fellow coaches. This started off a chain reaction that put Chris Mann into the finals and was the weakest finalist in the show’s history until Michelle Chamuel unseated him. And the conspiracy theorist in my would hypothesize that all the RnB singers voted for Jermaine Paul out of spite of Jesse’s premature ousting leading to a lackluster winner. And I am pretty sure Jermaine and Chris making the finals despite being crushed by RaeLynn and Pavao every week had something to do with the addition of the iTunes bonus starting the very next season.
4. The Shields Brothers! (Team Cee-Lo, Season 2): I feel bad for the Shields Brothers, they seemed to revel in being on the losing end of the worst decision ever in the history of The Voice, but now have to settle for number two. But where Holly could have went on to win, the Brothers Shield probably go out the very next round. But still, they did not deserve to lose to Erin Martin. No one deserves to lose to Erin Martin. A dying cat should not have lost to Erin Martin. But The Shields Brothers can rest in the solace of still being the most entertaining contestants in the history of The Voice.
5. Rebecca Loebe (Team Adam, Season 1): Adam has stated in interviews that he sabotaged his own team the first season to make sure Javier Colon had an easy path to the finals. With that knowledge, it is hard to not think of Rebecca. She gave the most interesting Blind Audition of the first season with a haunting rendition of Come as You Are. She seemed poised to win her Battle Round, but Adam chose the unmemorable accountant looking dude (I cannot even remember his name and do not even care enough to look it up but think may have changed his name to James Wolpert and tried out again this season).
7. Jamie Lono (Team Cee-Lo, Season 2): Sometimes it seems like makes his decisions by just flipping a coin. The pairing of Jamar Rogers and Jamie Lono maybe the dumbest pairing in Voice history. I do understand pairing two strong contestants together to keep your team diverse, but Jamie and Jamar shared nothing in common except their boy parts. Making things worse is that Cee-Lo Live Show team featured Erin Martin, Tony Vincent, James Massone, and Chessa, who made it two rounds before being eliminated. With no team quotas, they may have been the first four out that season. Jamie was way better than those four. And since there was no Steal back in season two, Jamie went home way sooner than he should have.
8. Nelly's Echo (Team Christina, Season 3): Christina’s team the third season was laughably bad, they just were all boring pop singer. The two exceptions were De'Borah and Nelly’s Echo. Of course she paired them together. And though De’Borah deserved the win, Nelly’s Echo deserved a Steal. Though I am not sure there were any left because if my memory serves me correctly Carson did not give his obligatory, “Let me remind you coaches, Nelly’s Echo is available for a Steal.” I do have a suggestion how to get around the lack of Steals for latest Battles below.
9. Jane Smith (Team No One, Season 4): Despite the plain name, Jane was anything but, she gave a fun performance of a Florence + The Machine song. Usually Florence should be a stay away for karaoke performance, but Jane did a great job. I fully expected to see her back for season five because Cee-Lo would have been a much better fit than any of the coaches from season four. Except instead they only brought back the unmemorable Matt Cermanski and James Irwin. Really, aside from Daniel Rosa, the only people that have gotten a second chance were cute boys.
10. Charlotte Sometimes (Team Blake, Season 2): Another iTunes head scratcher, for the first Live Show of the season, Charlotte was just spots behind RaeLynn on the charts, yet when America’s Saves were announced, RaeLynn was joined by Jermaine Paul and Erin Willett who barely even made the charts that week. Then for some reason Blake decided to save Jordis Unga over the much more interesting Ms. Sometimes.
11. Juhi (Team Cee-Lo and Adam, Season 5): Juhi was one of the rare singers on the show who improved in each of her first three performances. Her version of Heard it through the Grapevine was sassy, fun, thoroughly entertaining, she was the first stolen artist to ever perform a song specifically aimed at their former coach (and Cee-Lo seemed to eat it up). She ended up losing to James Wolpert who could not hit the most important notes during his cringeworthy rendition of More than a Feeling.12. Emily Earle (Team Cee-Lo, Season 3): Emily was montaged during her Blind Audition and when that happens I assume it is for one of two reasons: 1) the performance just was not good, or 2) they are about to lose to someone they should not lose to. I am inclined to believe Emily got the montage treatment for reason two. She was at a disadvantage forced to sing a cheesy pop song but she bought in one hundred percent and wiped the floor with MacKenzie Bourg who squeaked through the whole performance. Adam and Blake thought Emily was better, Christina just talked about how MacKenzie looked, yet Cee-Lo in another stupid decision picked MacKenzie. Maybe he thought the teen girls would vote for MacKenzie, but as soon as the public got to vote for him, he was gone.
13. Lelia Broussard (Team Blake, Season 3): Lelia does not have the kind of voice you would expect to find in a singing competition which is exactly why the show needs her voice. Unfortunately she got montaged and was put up against stiff competition in the Battle Round and disappointingly did not get stolen despite deserving to get stolen over everyone else that did that season not named Amanda Brown.
14. Nicole Nelson (Team Adam, Season 3): As I stated earlier, Adam has admitted to sabotaging his own team and that may be the only reason Nicole, who was one of his best singers that season, got sent home prematurely by a fodder contestant who got montaged twice. Had there been steals in the Knockout Round that season Nicole would have undoubtedly been snatched up. (Well she should have but the coaches have made some head scratchingly bad steals before).
15. Elenowen (Team Blake, Season 1): This duo shocked everyone because, well, they were a duo. But the problem with duos is they make the Battle Rounds awkward (or even more awkward then they already are) which may be why only two have ever won their. I thought Elenowen deserved to win theirs.
17. Kameron Corvet (Team No One, Season 3): Here is a guy who did a cool version of Seal’s Crazy but for reason he did not get anyone to turn around. And he definitely deserved a second chance more than Garrett Gardner, who was the only season three reject asked back.
18. Suzanna Choffel (Team Blake, Season 3): For the first three seasons I agreed with Blake almost one hundred percent of the time (the last two, not so much). And though you cannot fault Blake for choosing Cassadee over Suzanna since she went on to win the whole season, but these two should not even been put together. Suzanna could have easily went further than some of the people who made Blake’s Live Show that season including Michaela Paige, Julio Cesar Castillo and Liz Davis who were all eliminated in short order. What is worse there was no Steals in the Knockout Round this season so reprieve for Suzanna.
19. Julia Eason (Team Christina, Season 1): Christina’s team during the first season is quite easily the weakest team in the show’s history in part because she took the girl from Jersey Girl over Julia, who gave a bluesy twist on Mercy during her Blind Audition. Of course Christina picked the poppier Rachel who then performed Ke$ha (seriously, Ke$sha was sung for a singing competition) and was off the show right after that. Julia would have been better diversity for Christina’s team and the show that season.
20. Whitney Myer: (Team Adam, Season 2): Another early front-runner that just got railroaded by Adam in the first two season, losing a Battle Round to someone who made a quick exit but should have gotten a Steal if there was one in the second season.
22. Ryan Innes (Team Usher, Season 4): Most everyone on this list were screwed by the coaches, Ryan’s wound was self-inflected. After one of the best Blind Auditions and best Battle Round performance, for his Knockout Round, Innes sounded drunk and his soulful voice turned into shouting which resulted in one of the most cringeworthy performances of the season. Usher then dumped who I thought at the time was Usher’s best chance of winning that season for Cáthia who made a quick exit at the Live Shows. Mark Burnett has done few seasons of Redemption Island on Survivor and if there is anyone one on The Voice that needs redemption, it is Ryan.
23. Malford Milligan (Team No One, Season 5): The only reject this past season that is worthy of a second chance, unfortunately he probably is not young enough to get one.
24. Savannah Berry (Team Blake, Season 4): Another self infected wound. When I thought Blake would still go with only one country singer in the Live Shows that he had done with the previous three seasons, I gave Savannah the slight end over Danielle Bradberry for that token spot because her Blind Audition was much stronger. Then she chose to sing Justin Bieber. Never chose to sing Justin Bieber if you are given the choice in a singing competition. Ever. lBake instead picked some dude who gave a lackluster performance over her and Danielle went on to win season four. Again, never pick a Justin Bieber song. Ever.
25. Mary Miranda (Team Shakira, Season 4): I never at any point thought Mary would actually win The Voice, but no one that season, or maybe any season, had more star power and Mary had it in a Selena Gomez clone kind of way. She seemed poised to be Shakira’s pet project that season, picking her other the other Latina on the team Cathia in the Battle Round even though I thought Cathia was slghtly better. Then in the Knockout Round she got paired with Kris Thomas, another stand out on the team. Even Blake mentioned his surprised that Shakira put who he thought were her favorites against each other. The pre-package explained why: Shakira hated her song selection of Every Breath You Take. While not as good as Kris, Mary was significantly better than Garrett Gardner and Karina Iglesias who made quick exits when they went to the Live Show, a place where neither had any business being. If you have learned one thing from the last two singers on this list: the coaches on the show want you to stick with the genre you auditioned with.
For the other stats junkies out there here is how they all break down by Team and season.
Blake – 7
Adam – 6
Cee-Lo - 6
No On - 4
Christina – 3
Shakira – 1
Usher – 1
Season 1 - 3
Season 2 - 6
Season 3 - 8
Season 4 - 5
Season 5 - 3
I also have one for tweak to suggest. I was a big proponent of The Steal since a lot of talent was let go in the Battle Rounds during the second season. And though the Steal has saved a few worthy singers, Amanda Brown, Caroline Glaser, Cole Vosbury, but most seem to be wasted (Nic Hawk, MarissaAnn, Chevonne, Anthony Paul, Lina Gaudenzi, Collin McLoughlin, Alessandra Guercio, C. Perkins, Amber Nicole, and Karina Iglesias all should have gone to singers much more deserving). There is always coaches saying I wished I had a Save for so and so, but I am out. The fairest way is to gather all the losing contestants after each round and have each coach fight for two. But that may not be as good of television as pushing a button in the moment. So here is a suggestion to keep the Steal as it is and make it even more unpredictable and a bit fairer: give coaches unlimited Steals. Of course the catch is they will only take two from the Battle Round and one from the Knockout Round. So if they have more than two (or one) Steals at the end of the round, they will have pick who they want to take. Everyone (should) win, the singers going late in the rounds are not penalized, the coaches can take the strongest singers to the next round and not be stuck with a Steal they regret, and the audience wins because they will get to see the coaches fight over contestants because as constituted, as the Steals dwindle, the less likely coaches are going to fight over contestants. And of course with only one Battle left, everyone knows a Steal is coming next ruining the suspense. The show can even bring back the Last Chance Performance from the second season.
Or go completely radical and get rid of the Steal completely. But then when the Live Show starts, open up the show with five chairs as Carson tells to the coaches, “As you may have noticed there is a fifth chair on the stage. It is there because a lot of people on the internet thought you made some horrible decisions in letting go some of their favorite. So did Miranda Lambert* who has agreed to come on the show and coach some of the singers you rejected who are now officially back in the competition.”
*I picked Miranda because she was the first person who came to mind. Who would have not liked to see Miranda last season come on the show and beat her husband with Holly Henry on her team? If Miranda is unavailable, I would also suggest John Mayer, Alicia Keys, or Norah Jones (really if the show wants to completely reboot its judging crew, which it probably should do because the original four are getting stale and Usher and Shakira did not really do a very good job last season, this would be a great foursome). I would suggest bringing back contestants should be based on iTunes sales (maybe even start selling losers songs on iTunes from the Battle and Knockout Round or even the Blind Auditions of those who did not turn a chair), and maybe give Miranda or whoever one coach’s decision save. Just do not let Twitter decide who gets to be brought back. Just do not let Twitter decide anything ever again.
Scooter: my response to you picking Holly Henry as #1 is posting #578 on her fan thread at the Idol Forums. You're ideas are a hoot!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing my link and for the kind words on the Idol Forums. Great minds think alike.
DeleteI agree with almost all of this. Holly was definitely cut too soon. And although I love Caroline, Danielle was the right one to move on. Danielle is amazing.
ReplyDeleteNo shots at Danielle, she was probably my seconds favorite singer from season four, and yeah we can look back now and say Blake made the right choice because she went on to win, but in that moment, I thought Caroline was better in the Battle.
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