The Voice Season Fourteen Knockout Round Power Rankings

I got a press release this week that season three’s Amanda Brown will be releasing her debut album soon. She was a staple in my Best of the Voice list until the best orginals list since she had not released anything despite her season aring in 2012. It is nice to see she is finally releasing her own music.

I bring this up now because nothing that happening on the current season of the show is worth mentioning. Yeah, I am officially out on this season. I am kind of surprised I made it this far. But before I go, here is my final ranking of this subpar season.

1. Spensha Baker (Team Blake) – Can we just advance her to the finals? I fear America’s dislike of black chicks may hurt her. But if anyone can do it, Blake probably can.

2. Terrence Cunningham (Team Alicia) – He was so subtal on Stars it seemed like he went way too far in the other way this week. And that song is too repetitive for a singing competition.

3. Tish Haynes Keys (Team Kelly) -After all the RnB singers who over did it this round, Tish was actually kind of understated, at least at first.

4. Kelsea Johnson (Team Alicia) – Kind of boring, but let’s be honest, no one really stuck out this round.

5. Kyla Jade (Team Blake) – I have liked Kyla, but that was a bit much.

6. D.R. King (Team Kelly) – Again, a way bit too much.

7. Rayshun LaMarr (Team Adam) – Again, just way too overdone.

8. Gary Edwards (Team Adam Blake) – Kind of boring.

9. Mia Boostrom (Team Adam) – I have been waiting for Mia to sing a song that did not suck and while this song is not bad, it is repetitive.

10. Brynn Cartelli (Team Kelly) – Sure, good for fourteen, but I do not grade on a curve.

11. Sharane Calister (Team Alicia Adam) – Wait, who was she again? Did she just show up this round? I have no idea what songs she did in the first two rounds. Or why Adam used his Steal on her.

12. Jackie Foster (Team Kelly Adam Alicia) –I believe this is the second or third time Evanescence has been on this show and yet no one has done My Immortal which seems like it would be great for a singing competition. As for Jackie, she did nothing to take this away from boring karaoke and anything worthy of a Steal.

13. Johnny Bliss (Team Alicia) – Alive is one of those songs that is alright the first time you hear it but gets annoying with every successive listening. And Johnny did nothing to improve it. Actually he made it worse by screaming at the end.

14. Britton Buchanan (Team Alicia) – That was kind of breathy. And nothing more annoying than someone leaving their instrument during the middle of a song. Nothing says this I just a prop than that.

15. Dylan Hartigan (Team Kelly Blake Kelly) – Did he really try to turn a Ray LaMontange song into a slow jam baby-making song? Weird.

16. Christiana Danielle (Team Alicia) – The most overrated this season, I was right for Alicia to cut her loose.

17. Alexa Cappelli (Team Kelly) – Maybe one of the least memorable singer to ever make the Live Shows. I am not saying Jorge was good or anything, but at least I remember him.

18. Drew Cole (Team Adam) – Drew really needs to be banned from picking the songs he sings. Dude just has horrible taste in music.

19. Pryor Baird (Team Blake) – His weakest performance but lucky for him he was going up againsta lay-up.

20. Kaleb Lee (Team Blake Kelly) – When the Caleb / Justin was announced I thought it was going to a bloodbath with Kelly’s vaunted Block going against someone who did not even deserve a Steal. And though Caleb did not really deserve to advance on its own merit, wow, did Justin bomb.

21. Reid Umstattd (Team Adam) – Montage win… yawn.

22. Jackie Verna (Team Adam) – Well that was boring.

23. Wilkes (Team Blake) – What the flying fork was that? Sad thing is I do not even think he was the first dude to sing this shirty song on the show. Hopefully he is the last.

24. Austin Giorgio (Team Blake) – When the Steal was introduced, Blake made some of the most dumbfounding Steals, but eventually started Stealing some worthy contestants. Now with the introduction of the Save, he is back to making dumbfounded decisions again.

But who cares what I think, here is how they ranked by their highest iTunes ranking.

1. Brynn Cartelli (58)
2. Kyla Jade (81)
3. Caleb Lee (94)
4. Reid Umstattd (107)
5. Kelsea Johnson (129)
6. Spensha Baker (135)
7. Johnny Bliss (181)
8. Britton Buchanan (180)
9. Christiana Danielle (197)
10. Wilkes (205)
11. Rayshun LaMarr (250)
12. Dylan Hartigan (272)
13. Terrence Cunningham (280)
14. Mia Boostrom (280)
15. Pryor Baird (281)
16. Tish Haynes Keys (318)
17. Jackie Foster (321)
18. Drew Cole (323)
19. Sharane Calister (333)
20. Austin Giorgio (338)
21. Jackie Verna (406)
22. Alexa Cappelli (422)
23. Gary Edwards (492)
24. Livia Faith and Terrence Cunningham (513)
25. Brynn Cartelli – Beneath Your Beautiful (866)
26. Britton Buchanan and Jaclyn Lovey (836)
27. Brynn Cartelli and Dylan Hartigan (933)
28. D.R. King and Jackie Foster (1227)
29. Terrence Cunningham – My Girl (1357)
30. D.R. King (1306)

And if you average the peaks in each round (of those that charted all three of their songs):

1. Brynn Cartelli (121.3)
2. Terrence Cunningham (138)
3. Britton Buchanan (155)
4. Christiana Danielle (164.6)
5. Drew Cole (226)
6. Rayshun LaMarr (301.6)
7. Reid Umstattd (312)
8. Kelsea Johnson (324)
9. Dylan Hartigan (341.3)
10. Pryor Baird (343.3)
11. Wilkes (353.5)
12. Sharane Calister (400.6)
13. Spensha Baker (433.3)
14. Kaleb Lee (450.5)
15. Jackie Foster (524.5)
16. Jackie Verna (538)
17. D.R. King (801)

The Voice Season Fourteen Battle Round Power Rankings

Well that was an utterly boring Battle Round. Every time there was a Steal, I thought… why? And then realize, oh, they were Stolen because there was not anyone better. At least it was boring until the final episode where the top four singers on my Blind Audition Power Rankings were left to perform. Or so I thought. We finally got someone worthy of a Steal. Except Livia was on Team Alicia and Alicia was the only one who had a Steal left so we knew that was not happening.

This has been my main complaint since they have introduced the Steals is that it screws over anyone who goes late because clearly the coaches use their Steals early. I have long thought the solution is to give the coaches unlimited Steals with the caveat that they can only take two of them into the Knockouts (and from the Knockouts, one Steal to the Playoffs). Then after the round, you set it up like the Twitter Save where all that coach’s Steals in rapid succession perform one last Save Me song then the coach picks two. So win-win, we get the best talent advancing (assuming the coaches pick wisely which is not always the case) and hopefully no one goes home prematurely.

But after Livia was inexplicably was sent home, you would think that was the last bit of fireworks of the season because we knew Alicia was going to Steal whoever last the last Battle, but first we got I thought would be a routine Montage, the first ever transgendered dude on the show got montaged off the show after an awkward three second clip, Blake picked between two novelty acts, then the big shocker was left for the end, Carson announced Hannah Goebel left the show “for personal reason.” Wait, what?

Hannah was number two on my Power Ranking, and when the pairing was announced, I though Hannah vs. Alexa was the biggest mismatch on Team Kelly. The thing is, this has only happened once with someone leaving the show and that turned out someone left to enter rehab and that singer ended up dying not much later. Hannah did mention on social media that night that she is well and still has her voice but it is vague on what exactly made her leave. She did stay around late enough to record her Battle song for iTunes so whatever happened did happened quickly. So hopefully she is truly doing well. And if the personal reason was something out of her control they let her try out again because she was one of the few standouts this season. But here is my rankings of those that will be going to the Knockouts.


1. Terrence Cunningham (Team Alicia) – He topped my list after the Blinds and no reason to have him fall even if this performance was quite subdued. I may have even picked Livia instead.

2. Spensha Baker (Team Blake) – Blake’s black chick who wanted to sing country last season came off as a novelty, but Spensha comes off as much more genuine. She can win.

3. Drew Cole (Team Adam) – I wrote Drew off as a novelty in the Blinds, but that was really good.

4. Wilkes (Team Blake) – A couple seasons ago Lauren Duski sang a cool country version of a nineties song and then Blake had her sing mostly boring country songs. Wilkes auditioned with a nineties rock song but I hope does not make him sing boring country songs every week.

5. Britton Buchanan (Team Alicia) – Had he had been doing Christian death metal, I may have thought it was Landry Clarke up there.

6. Rayshun LaMarr (Team Adam) – That was one of the Battles where it not even worth picking, they were both good, enough to advance, but neither will make much dent in the Live Shows.

7. Tish Haynes Keys (Team Adam Kelly) – Yeah it was even, and neither deserved to go home, but that shows Kelly’s inexperience but it is not like Tish will go far.

8. Jordyn Simone (Team Alicia Adam) – Was I supposed to be able to tell these two apart?

9. Kelsea Johnson (Team Alicia) – Seriously, why did they dress and style them the same? Toss a coin.

10. Johnny Bliss (Team Alicia) – Montage win… yawn, and yet another Asian chick gets montaged off the show.

11. Dallas Caroline (Team Blake Alicia) – Maybe one of the more deserving Steal’s this season, but what really hurt her was going right after Livia who actually deserved a Steam much more than Caroline.

12. Pryor Baird (Team Blake) – Tom Petty is one of the greats and has a large enough catalogue that he should be sung every season, but this song really is not made for competition show. I am still waiting for someone cool enough to sing It’s Good to Be King.

13. Mia Boostrom (Team Adam) – Interesting voice but needs better songs.

14. Reid Umstattd (Team Adam) – Well that was kind of shocking but Reid actually benefited from having to sing out his comfort zone, made it look like a high degree of difficulty.

15. Jaclyn Lovey (Team Alicia Blake) – Kind of boring but in a weak season I guess it was worthy of a Steal.

16. Miya Bass (Team Adam Alicia) – I thought she over did it at time, but there were not many people really worthy of Steals this season so I guess it was good enough.

17. D.R. King (Team Kelly) – Nothing more disappointing than hearing someone singing Sign of the Times and turning out not to be the Prince song. Not only that, this was the second straight season for the song, which is not worthy of a crappy song like this. I guess D.R. did as well as he could.

18. Kyla Jade (Team Blake) – Poor Kyla. Usually whenever Blake picks a crappy pop song in the Battles it usually gets montaged especially when it is a mixed matched one Kyla would have been better off having people seen ten seconds or less of this.

19. Brynn Cartelli (Team Kelly) – Well that was kind of creepy giving a song about sex to a twenty something dude and a fourteen year old girl.

20. Dylan Hartigan (Team Kelly Blake) – Not the most head scratching Steal Blake has ever made, probably not even in the top five, but I was still puzzled. Maybe Blake felt sorry for his situation.

21. Gary Edwards (Team Adam) – Montage win… yawn. And probably for the best, the three seconds we saw was extremely awkward.

22. Jackie Verna (Team Adam) – Honestly, I kind of wish both singers in the Battle went home.

23. Jorge Eduardo (Team Kelly) – I think knocked Kelly for being inexpienced by going with her heard over her head, but picking the boring dude with the guitar is the most shroud thing you can do on this show. Meh.

24. Alexa Cappelli (Team Kelly) – Montage win by forfeit… double yawn.

25. Kaleb Lee (Team Blake Kelly) – That was a pretty wasted Steal.

26. Justin Kilgore (Team Kelly) – I am not sure what was more shocking, that Kelly picked him or that Blake did not Steal Molly.

27. Jackie Foster (Team Kelly Adam) – I did not get the fuss.

28. Christiana Danielle (Team Alicia) – It is weird Kings of Leon does not get used very often on the show, Sex on Fire was sung the first season but I cannot remember anyone since. As for the performance, I was kind of meh on both, too sleepy.

29. Sharane Calister (Team Alicia) – I was not familiar with that song and hope never to hear from it again.

30. Austin Giorgio (Team Blake) – Montage win… yawn.

31. Jamilla (Team Kelly) – Double montage win… yawn.

32. Jaron Strom (Team Blake) – Montage win… yawn.

Alright, let’s go ahead and put these ranking into a mathematical equation to see who has the strongest team:

Alicia – 155
Adam – 150
Blake – 131
Kelly – 92

Yeah Kelly’s inexperience is showing with one of the weakest teams in memory. I like Tish, but she is going nowhere. Caleb was the biggest waste of a Steal. Plus there was a couple of questionable Battle Round pairing and picks But Alicia pairing two of her five Blind Auditions do not seem to be hurting yet. But all you need it one person to win, and she has the best of the season right now. But who cares what I think, here is how the Battles ranked on iTunes.

1. D.R. King and Jackie Foster (57)
2. Britton Buchanan and Jaclyn Lovey (59)
3. Livia Faith and Terrence Cunningham (85)
4. Justin Kilgore and Molly Stevens (91)
5. Brynn Cartelli and Dylan Hartigan (95)
6. Davison and Reid Umstattd (108)
7. Christiana Danielle and Shana Halligan (153)
8. Amber Sauer and Jorge Eduardo (181)
9. Drew Cole and Miya Bass (182)
10. Rayshun LaMarr and Tish Haynes Keys (190)
11. Jordyn Simone and Kelsea Johnson (228)
12. Jordan Kirkdorffer and Wilkes (297)
13. Kaleb Lee and Pryor Baird (332)
14. Jamai and Sharane Calister (335)
15. Jackie Verna and Stephanie Skipper (390)
16. Dallas Caroline and Spensha Baker (492)
17. Genesis Diaz and Mia Boostrom (519)
18. JessLee and Kyla Jade (653)
19. Terrence Cunningham (966)
20. Christiana Danielle (1000)
21. Brynn Cartelli (1075)
22. Jaclyn Lovey (1086)
23. Alexa Cappelli and Hannah Goebel (1387)
24. Austin Giorgio and Brett Hunter (1401)
25. Livia Faith (1441)

And if you average the peaks of those who charted on both the Battles and the Blind Auditions, here is how they rank:

1. Terrence Cunningham (67)
2. Britton Buchanan (142.5)
3. Christiana Danielle (151)
4. Brynn Cartelli (153)
5. Jaclyn Lovey (166.5)
6. Justin Kilgore (168.5)
7. Drew Cole (177.5)
8. Jorge Eduardo (203.5)
9. Rayshun LaMarr (327.5)
10. Prior Baird (374.5)
11. Dylan Hartigan (376)
12. Reid Umstattd (414.5)
13. Kelsea Johnson (421.5)
14. Wilkes (428)
15. Sharane Calister (434)
16. Dallas Caroline (526.5)
17. D.R. King (548.5)
18. Spensha Baker (582.5)
19. Jackie Verna (606)
20. Jackie Foster (626)
21. Kaleb Lee (629)

One shocking thing about this list, the two people who sat atop the Battle Round iTunes chart, D.R. and Jackie F. are both in the bottom five of the combined list. Then over ten singers who either did not make the top 1500 for either their Battle of Blind Audition seem pretty high. Here is how the teams rank mathematically:

Alicia – 61
Kelly – 54
Blake - 52
Adam - 43

Alicia is dominating with the top three spots. If those three are her team going into Top 12, she could dominate the Live Shows too. Of course keep in mind last year’s winner Chloe did not make a dent in iTunes until the Knockouts. Speaking of the Knoutout Round, the show did not release the pairings this year (other than the three you can spot in the promos). But we are getting a new twist where Coaches can “Save” an artist they did not pick which sounds like the Coach’s Comeback but it happens in real time and much like the Saves, the people who perform late get screwed.

The Voice Season Fourteen Blind Audition Power Rankings

As an avid watcher of Survivor, Mark Burnett’s other competition show juggernaut which seems to have one new stupid twist per year; I am a bit surprised that The Voice has pretty much been the same since season three. Sure the Knockout Steal was later introduced that was just copycatting the Battle Round Steal. The other changes since were pretty innocuous, they tried two Battle Round once which was stupid, same with twice not allowing voting during the Playoffs. The biggest twist was the Comeback Artist but really that is just the Knockout Steal for your own team. The Twitter Save was just a shameless brand integration.

We finally got our first real big twist in a while this season with the Block. Much like every Survivor twist, the Block was mostly lame and poorly executed. And really kind of cruel because if a singer really wants to be mentored by a coach that turned around, forcing them to pick a coach which may not a good fit kind of hampering their chance of making a run (unless they just happen to get Stolen later). I also find it conspicuous that each coach just happened to be Blocked once. Why wouldn’t everyone Block Blake from getting a country artist? Seriously, Adam always complains about everyone with twang going with Blake yet he ends up Blocking some Spanish singer from picking Kelly?

But I guess they really did need something to spice things up (though half the Blocks were burned in the first episode) because this may have been one of the bottom five talent pools in the show’s history. Maybe The Voice should copy another Survivor tradition and bring back former contestants. Until then, here is how I rank those who made this season:


1. Terrence Cunningham (Team Alicia) – I cannot confirm nor deny he is number one on my list solely because of his hair.

2. Hannah Goebel (Team Kelly) – What a smooth performance. Complete and utter shame she could not pick Alicia.

3. Spensha Baker (Team Blake) – People like to go gaga of belters, but this was just simple and beautiful.

4. Dallas Caroline (Team Blake) – Is this the first time someone has done Willie Nelson on this show? I believe Amber Carrington did Crazy which he wrote but mostly is considered a Patsy Cline song. Such a sweet song you would think someone would have done it before.

5. Wilkes (Team Blake) – Finally someone cool enough to sing The Wallflowers. But it is weird that this is the second country singer recently Lauren Duski being the other) who auditioned with a nineties pop-rock song.

6. Amber Sauer (Team Kelly) – A piano version of Shape of You was really interesting.

7. Kyla Jade (Team Blake) – I was surprised it took so long for anyone to turn. After three underwhelming performances to start the season, I thought the first compitant singer of the season was not going to turn any chairs.

8. Davison (Team Adam) – Decent voice but I was still kind of bored.

9. Johnny Bliss (Team Alicia) – There was a stretch of three seasons coinciding with Shakira being a coach where they had a bunch of Latin artists (this was in the early days when they had a bunch of shocking auditions instead of today’s where everyone fits into four different categories). So it was nice to get some diversity, even if was just shamelessly because there was a huge Latin hit last year.

10. Jackie Verna (Team Adam) – Overdid it in a few places but I mostly enjoyed the performance.

11. Molly Stevens (Team Kelly) – Another decent but utterly boring performance.

12. Jackie Foster (Team Kelly) – Another alright but kind of boring performance.

13. D.R. King (Team Kelly) – Going outside your genre is usually interesting, but RnB doing alt rock rarely works (except Maxwell doing Nine Inch Nails, look it up kids) he was fine, but never really came completely together.

14. Dylan Hartigan (Team Kelly) – Again, mostly boring but I guess that was slightly better than bad.

15. Livia Faith (Team Alicia) – One of my biggest pet peeves of this show is when singers try to do a song that someone already did a definitive version of. Amy Vachal’s version was one of the five best Blind Auditions of all time and Livia is no Amy Vachal.

16. Mia Boostrom (Team Adam) – has an interesting voice, but that was not a very inspiring song selection. I would be interested in hearing her try a better song.

17. Jaclyn Lovey (Team Alicia) – If she is going to be this season’s token indie young girl, I hope she has something a lot more interesting than what she did in the Blinds.

18. Genesis Diaz (Team Adam) – She needs better taste in music.

19. Sharane Calister (Team Alicia) – I was kind bored for this.

20. Pryor Baird (Team Blake) - There has been a rash of guitar playing blues men who are probably better guitarist then singers, and he may be the weakest singer of them.

21. Shana Halligan (Team Alicia) – I usually like singers like this on the show but but she was a little too weird for me. Maybe it was the weird song.

22. Alexa Cappelli (Team Kelly) – Well that was mostly boring.

23. Rayshun LaMarr (Team Adam) – A little too over the top for me. And by a little I mean way too much. Very show choir.

24. Jamai (Team Alicia) – He seems much more interesting than his song selection.

25. Kaleb Lee (Team Blake) – Interesting gravelly voice, boring song seletion. Unfortualy since I is Team Blake, he will probably do more boring country songs all the way to the final.

26. Brynn Cartelli (Team Kelly) – She was fine, probably mostly because the song selection, but fourteen is way too young. I would say fodder, hopefully Kelly does not have the creepy obsession with teenagers that Gwen Stefani does.

27. Brett Hunter (Team Blake) – Novelty acts have a very short shelf life on this show(I bealieve Cole Vosbury is the only one who did a novelty song and made it out of the Battle Round) so this was fun, but dude is clearly fodder.

28. Tish Haynes Keys (Team Adam) – So many good RnB singers, Tish performind so late n the Blinds was just too hard for her to stand out. Doing an overused Areatha Franklin song did not help

29. Reid Umstattd (Team Adam) – I have spent a lot of time this season blasting song selection by people with interesting voices. This was the exception where an mostly annoying voice sang an inspiring song.

30. Christiana Danielle (Team Alicia) - Meh, she is no Amy Vachal. I am actually a little offended Adam turned around.

31. Gary Edwards (Team Adam) – I really did not like what he did with that song.

32. Megan Lee (Team Alicia) – The Voice has a weird bad track record with Asians in that they get montaged at a very high percentage. I also find it weird that they finally put no chair turns on YouTube but not the montage singers.

33. Bransen Ireland (Team Blake) – Tulsa Time was a song on an Eric Clapton so I got excited when I saw that was the song he was singing. Unfortunately I did realize it was also a country song. Yawn. Seriously people, more Clapton on this show.

34. Teana Boston (Team Kelly) – Her voice just sounded off, like too nasally.

35. Drew Cole (Team Adam) – Though the bluesy twist was somewhat interesting, Sex and Candy is maybe the second worst one hit wonder of the nineties after What’s Up.

36. Jorge Eduardo (Team Kelly) – Obvious fodder.

37. Kelsea Johnson (Team Alicia) – Horrible song selection, and she was oversinging too.

38. Stephanie Skipper (Team Adam) – I have to wonder if anyone would have turned around had she not been singing a Kelly Clarkson song.

39. Austin Giorgio (Team Blake): It has been a while since we had a crooner on the showprobably because they rarely made the Live Shows. A good reason for that.

40. Justin Kilgore (Team Kelly) -Boring country dude alert!

41. Britton Buchanan (Team Alicia) – Tony Lucca was one of the best Blind Audition ever and this performance was not even half that. But it was wise for Blake to Block because sadly this is the same type of boring white dude that goes far.

42. Jordan Kirkdorffer (Team Blake) – Ugg, this seems to happen once a season, Adam turns for a horrible country singer that did not deserve a chair turn, then Blake turns just out of spite upping the number of crappy country singers.

43. Miya Bass (Team Adam) – It is hard to find a song we need less than a shouty version of that horrible song. I guess Adam needs fodder.

44. Jamilla (Team Kelly) – Montage, yawn.

45. Jordyn Simone (Team Alicia) – Montage, Yawn.

46. JessLee (Team Blake) – Montage, yawn.

47. Angel Bonilla (Team Adam) – Just how bad do you have to be to be the first every transgender dude on the show and get montaged? Listening to the studio version, it apparently is really bad.

48. Jaron Strom (Tea Blake) – Seriously Blake, what the fork?

Alright, time to see how each team stacks up in my patent pending ranking formula:

Kelly: 328
Alicia: 297
Blake: 289
Adam: 262

So much like Miley last season, the newer token pop coach seems to have the same taste in music with me. It does seem Blake and Adam pander to the bored housewife voting block and stocks their teams with boring white dudes. But who cares what I think, here is how the iTunes buyers rank the singers at the highest peak on iTunes.

1. Terrence Cunningham (49)
2. Christiana Danielle (149)
3. Molly Stevens (156)
4. Livia Faith (168)
5. Drew Cole (173)
6. Brynn Cartelli (211)
7. Jorge Eduardo (226)
8. Johnny Bliss (239)
9. Justin Kilgore (246)
10. Britton Buchanan (266)
11. Jaclyn Lovey (274)
12. Davison (347)
13. Pryor Baird (417)
14. Rayshun LaMarr (465)
15. Jordan Kirkdorffer (474)
16. Shana Halligan (508)
17. Brett Hunter (513)
18. Stephanie Skipper (530)
19. Sharane Calister (533)
20. Hannah Goebel (538)
21. Wilkes (559)
22. Dallas Caroline (561)
23. Kelsea Johnson (615)
24. Dylan Hartigan (657)
25. JessLee (671)
26. Spensha Baker (673)
27. Reid Umstattd (721)
28. Gary Edwards (739)
29. Jackie Verna (823)
30. Kaleb Lee (926)
31. Genesis Diaz (989)
32. D.R. King (1040)
33. Amber Sauer (1046)
34. Jackie Foster (1195)
35. Bransen Ireland (1245)

Now time to see who has the strongest team according to my formula:

Alicia: 230
Kelly: 140
Blake: 136
Adam: 124

Oh, wow, Alicia is dominating. The only problem is, as you will see from the Battle pairing, four of Alicia’s top five ranking singers on iTunes are in the same Battle pairing. I wonder if we will have another situation like last where three of the four finalists start out on Team Miley but Blake gets the win and Adam comes in second. Speaking of those pairing, The Voice YouTube page already announced all the pairings and also “leaked” a pretty uninspiring Battle of a lackluster Reputation track. I guess the loser will end up being Stolen and the promo for next week so allude to a Kelly Battle being the recipient of a three coach Steal. Ugg, these coaches are stupid. So here are the pairing with the singer who I think will win being listed first and ranked by how confident I am that I am right (which is not very confident because how overwhelming mediocre this year is).


Team Adam

Gary Edwards vs. Angel Bonilla
Mia Boostrom vs Genesis Diaz
Drew Cole vs Miya Bass
Reid Umstattd vs. Davison (Steal)
Jackie Verna vs. Stephanie Skipper (Steal)
Rayshun Lamarr vs Tish Hayes Keys


Team Alicia
Johnny Bliss vs Megan Lee
Kelsea Johnson vs. Jordyn Simone
Christiana Danielle vs Shana Halligan
Terrence Cunningham vs Livia Faith
Britton Buchanan vs. Jaclyn Lovey (Steal)
Jamai vs Sharane Calister (Steal)

Team Blake
Kyla Jade vs JessLee
Bransen Ireland vs. Jaron Strom
Austin Giorgio vs. Brett Hunter
Pryor Baird vs Kaleb Lee (Steal)
Jordan Kirkdorffer vs. Wilkes
Dallas Caroline vs. Spensha Baker (Steal)

Team Kelly
Hannah Goebel vs. Alexa Cappelli
Brynn Cartelli vs. Dylan Hartigan (Steal)
Molly Stevens vs. Justin Kilgore
D.R. King vs. Jackie Foster
Teana Boston vs Jamella (Steal)

Jorge Eduardo vs. Amber Sauer

The Fifty Best Post-The Voice Songs

In honor of the tenth season of The Voice I counted down the best Blind Auditions in the history of the show and each subsequent season I tackled a new round until last season when I did the best Live Show performances. Instead of cycling back, I thought I would check in with past contestants and count down the best songs they have released since being on the show.

Sure we have heard for thirteen seasons the show has yet to launch anyone’s career, but let’s be honest, the music industry as a whole is not very good at creating superstars anymore. Adele was arguable the last and Rolling in the Deep was released in 2010, five months before The Voice launched.

Since then the thirteen winners of The Voice have released ten full length albums, only eight on a major label, and half of those were by Daniel Bradbery and Jordan Smith. So less than half of the winners put out an official major label album (granted that last three are supposedly still working on theirs).

The good thing about the modern music it is easy to get your music out there. The bad part is that it is hard to get anyone to listen if you do not have a major or even minor label pushing your songs. I tend to prepare these lists by listening to Spotify and most of the stats are pretty abysmal, especially when an average of ten million watch The Voice and many of its contestants do not have many if any songs above Spotify dreaded “< 1,000” designation. So I will do what I can to give a little shine to my favorite Post-Voice songs which you will give a listen to. Note, I did not consider any cover songs for this list.

1. Sway - Danielle Bradbery

2. Trapeze - Dia Frampton

3. I Hate That Part - Caroline Glaser

4. I Alone Have Loved You - Hannah Huston

5. Snapshot - Xenia

6. Half a Mile - Elenowen

7. Blue – Reagan James

8. Dreams - Caroline Glaser

9. Today - Amy Vachal

10. Hello Summer - Danielle Bradbery

11. I Need You - ARCHIS (Dia Frampton)

12. Go Forth - Suzanna Choffel

13. Don't Look Back - Dia Frampton

14. My Confession - Tony Lucca

15. Don't Kick the Chair - Dia Frampton featuring Kid Cudi

16. Here so Far Away - Nicholas David

17. Young - RaeLynn featuring Leeland Mooring

18. Lovesick - Caroline Pennell featuring Felix Snow

19. Golden Boy - Amy Vachal

20. Never Gonna Let You Go - Tony Lucca

21. Red Wine + White Couch - Danielle Bradbery

22. You Can Have Me - Amy Vachal

23. Money Tree – Caroline Glaser

24. Stonewallin' - Jane Decker (Jane Smith)

25. Manipulation - Jacquie (Jacquie Lee)

26. Flames - Mathai

27. Cannonball - Rebecca Loebe

28. Wait - Amy Vachal

29. Not a Fool - Xenia

30. Buffalo Stars - Lelia Broussard

31. Walk Away - Dia Frampton

32. Where Did You Go - Queen Hilma (Andi and Alex)

33. Love Triangle - RaeLynn

34. The Ghost - Holly Henry

35. For the Taking - Elenowen

36. Say It in the Silence - Caroline Pennell

37. The Old Me - Jacquie (Jacquie Lee)

38. Sink - Holly Henry

39. Lonely Call - RaeLynn

40. Bullseye - Dia Frampton

41. Better Than This - Reagan James

42. Morning Light - Caroline Glaser feat. Liz Longley

43. Right On Time - Tony Lucca

44. Ruin - Jane Decker (Jane Smith)

45. Tears Fall - Jacquie Lee

46. 2 Times - Nicholas David

47. Once Again - Mathai

48. Hands (Piano Version) - Paxton Ingram

49. Summertime.Fin - Darius Scott

50. Holy Water - Reagan James

The Voice Season Thirteen Not So Live Playoffs Power Ranking

What the fork!?! Back in season six, the show realized taped Playoffs with coaches picking all three singers was an abject failure and when back to Live Playoffs… until this season. Which begs the question why? Is it simply because NBC did not want to preempt This Is Us? There were plenty ways around this, push This Is Us to 10:00. Or just do two hours on Wednesday. Just push The Blacklist episode back a week.

So we are left to wonder what would have happened had America voted. I think Jennifer’s team would be the same with America saving Noah and Chris and then Jennifer inexplicably saving Shi’Ann (even though Hannah deserved for making a horrible song almost listenable; seriously, Jennifer did really horrible job picking songs making me wonder if there was intentional bussing). Blake is slightly more questionable. Red probably would have (sadly) gotten America’s vote, and Chloe charted high on iTunes, then Blake could have saved Keisha. But America loves boring white guys so Mitchell could have very likely gotten the second spot with a bored housewife catnip of a song selection, but then again he charted very low. But if it counts as a votes, are the bored housewives more willing to part with their cash?

Things get interesting with Adam. Addison far and away charted the highest, but Jon, Emily, and Adam were all bunched up. I think Adam gets through with the country vote, and then Adam saves Jon. But how many people who would have downloaded Emily’s song if it was for a vote but didn’t since she did not advance. That may have been a bit of a change. Miley is probably the most questionable with all her singers bunched up together.

But I have reached that point of the season where I stop caring. I will probably catch Addison on YouTube and vote for her if I remember. So here is my final Power Ranking.

1. Addison Agen (Team Miley Adam)
2. Adam Cunningham (Team Blake Adam)
3. Noah Mac (Team Blake Jennifer)
4. Chloe Kohanski (Team Miley Blake)
5. Jon Mero (Team Adam)
6. Davon Fleming (Team Jennifer)
7. Janice Freeman (Team Miley)
8. Brooke Simpson (Team Miley)
9. Ashland Craft (Team Miley)
10. Keisha Renee (Team Blake)
11. Shi’Ann Jones (Team Jennifer)
12. Red Marlow (Team Blake)

Ugg, I hate these coaches, my top four are the four Steals left In the show. Miley in particular, her team would have been much better if it were Karli, Addison, and Chloe. Brooke and Ashland never lived up to their buzzed about Blind Auditions and though Janice improved I still find her mostly boring. But who cares what I think, here is how the top twelve charted on iTunes.

1. Noah Mac (19)
2. Addison Agen (31)
3. Red Marlow (62)
4. Chloe Kohanski (67)
5. Emily Luther (94)
6. Davon Flemming (95)
7. Jon Mero (100)
8. Adam Cunningham (104)
9. Janice Freeman (127)
10. Ashland Craft (152)
11. Noah Mac – Hold Back the River (164)
12. Chloe Kohanski – Landslide (171)
13. Brooke Simpson (169)
14. Keisha Renee (179)
15. Karli Webster (262)
16. Adam Pearce (266)
17. Addison Agen – Beneath You’re Beautiful (300)
18. Mitchell Lee (326)
19. Moriah Formica (337)
20. Anthony Alexander (363)
21. Noah Mac – Way Down We Go (486)
22. Red Marlow - Outskirts of Heaven (512)
23. Shi’Ann Jones (591)
24. Lucas Holliday (612)
25. Hannah Mrozak (637)
26. Natalie Stovall (655)
27. Addison Agen – Jolene (656)
28. Addison Agen and Karli Webster (684)
29. Emily Luther – Glitter in the Sky (773)
30. Chloe Kohanski – The Chain (862)
31. Keisha Renee – I Hope You Dance (904)
32. Esera Tuaolo (978)
33. Keisha Renee and Noah Mac (1031)
34. Davon Flemming - I Can Only Imagine (1112)
35. Chris Weaver (1191)
36. Whitney Fenimore (1434)
37. Emily Luther – Summertime (1434)
38. Janice Freeman – I’m Going Down (1487)

I have been saying Noah and Addison are the front runners for a couple rounds now in that they have been constantly recharting past performances. Both had all four in the top 1500 last week. Chloe and Keisha had three. Though if I were a betting man, I would still pick Red to win after two strong weeks on the charts. If you averaged the peaks of all four rounds, here is how everyone would rank (Janice, Chloe, and Shi’Ann all failed to chart one round and I gave them 1500 for the missing song).


1. Addison Agen (76)
2. Noah Mac (131.75)
3. Karli Webster (160.3)
4. Ashland Craft (163.25)
5. Brooke Simpson (191.5)
6. Davon Flemming (248.25)
7. Adam Cunningham (259)
8. Jon Mero (332)
9. Mitchell Lee (334.75)
10. Moriah Formica (339)
11. Keisha Renee (346.5)
12. Emily Luther (359.25)
13. Natalie Stovell (437.6)
14. Anthony Alexander (448.75)
15. Janice Freeman (501.75)
16. Red Marlow (518)
17. Chloe Kohanski (535.75)
18. Hannah Mrozak (547.25)
19. Chris Weaver (557.75)
20. Lucas Holiday (571)
21. Adam Peirce (701.5)
22. Shi’Ann Jones (719)
23. Esera Tuaolo (749.25)
24. Whitney Fenimore (755.6)

Wow, four of the top five were all on Miley’s team at the start of the season, though the top two are no longer on her team. I do wonder what would happen if we pulled an Olympic rull where you toss out the lowest score because Janice and Chloe had one bad performance but their last two were strong (same with Red who no one cared about his first two performances).

Weirdly, despite coaches getting to pick instead of he public, I went eleven for twelve on my picks (Mitchell instead of Chloe being the one I got wrong). Except Mitchell was one my finalist. So here are my revised picks:

Elimination Order: Shi’Ann, Janice, Brooke
Eliminated During Bloodbath: Chloe, Jon, Addison, Keisha, Davon
Finalists: Adam, Ashland, Noah
Winner: Red

And I just realized there is a lot of country and RnB this season, with only three (Chloe, Addison, and Noah) not fitting into that category. Five RnB, four country is way too much. If you are going to have the coaches pick the top twelve they need to do a much better job coming up with a more diverse sound. Shi’Ann has no right being here. Adam , Whitney, and or Moriah could have added some pure rock (Noah is more in the alt-rock vein). Clearly iTunes purchaser would have included Karli who is more of an old school pop singer compared to Addison’s newer take on the folk pop genre. Seriously, The Voice, white people can sing more than country on this show.

The Voice Season Thirteen Knockout Round Power Ranking

Usually coming out of the Knockouts, I rave about how Blake’s post-Blind team is average at best, but since he made the most strategic pairings and wisest winners, he goes into the Live Shows with the strongest teams. Except this season he is just abysmal. Sure the person he Stole is high on my list but his other four are in the bottom half of my list including the bottom two. Making things worse, two of his castoffs, Adam and Noah, have much brighter futures.

Speaking of questionable decisions, Miley, who has hosted my favorite team up to this point, does not seem to know how to play the game. A quick spoiler for the iTunes chart below, the top two people on the list were on her team at the start of the season, but now or on Adam and Blake’s team, two guys who have been here since the beginning. And that does not even include Karli Webster who did not have a chance to chart this round despite doing well on the charts the previous two rounds because Miley sent her home and she was inexplicably not stolen even though the other three Miley Knockout winners ranged from meh to just bad. Added to that she had the worst Steal of the round.

Imagine Miley could be going into Live Shows with Addison, Karli, Chloe, then take your pick between Brooke or Ashland, and then maybe Stolen Lucas or even gotten Hannah instead of Jennifer, that would have been one of the strongest Live Show teams even, instead, her team is just… meh. Oh well, it may be time for me to check out. Unless the comeback artists are Karli, Lucas, and, um… oh goodness, Blake and Adam really do not have much to bring back. I wonder if they could bring back Ignatious and Shilo, two people Jennifer and Miley should not have dumped in the Battles.

1. Addison Agen (Team Miley Adam): With Karli out, Addison is my token girl whom I am going to be irate when she is eliminate in favor of a bunch of boring white dudes this season. Well either that or Adam will force to sing Shania Twain.

2. Hannah Mrozak (Team Adam Jennifer): The most head scratching decision of the season. Sadly not even the top five worst Adam decisions of all time.

3. Adam Cunningham (Team Blake Adam): Blake is usually the most obvious coach, but I would have to put this second most shocking Blake decision after Nic Hawk over Holly Henry. But now on Adam's team, I have to onder what is worse, Blake's boring country songs, or Adam's bizarre song selections?

4. Chloe Kohanski (Team Miley Blake): Twice she has picked her songs and twice she has gone with Fleetwood Mac, usually not a good sign. Granted The Chain is a rock song and Landslide a ballad. Although if given the chose, Karli would be the better Steal in the long time. Which again shows the flaw in the Knockouts (and Blinds) in that when Steals are gone, they are gone leaving more deserving singers going home. This should be an easy fix.

5. Chris Weaver (Team Jennifer): A Knockout between songs that should be retired. But why is Zombie the only Cranberries song that is ever sung on this show. In fact, Linger, Ode to My Family, and When You’re Gone are better songs too.

6. Janice Freeman (Team Miley): I love my divas on this show, but c’mon, Karli has a much better chance going further. Karli was the iTunes leader while Janice barely sold any at this point and will likely go nowhere during the Playoffs. Seriously, Karli’s Battle performance was not the far two weeks later than Janice’s Knockout this round. If they were doing the stupid Coach’s Comeback again, Karli should be the obvious choice. But then again I remember people thinking that stupid twist was created during the Andi and Alex season, other big iTunes selling, and yet Adam brought back some nobody instead.

7. Davon Fleming (Team Jennifer): That was another fine performance but you really cannot help but roll your eyes at the song choice an think, could you pick something less cheesy next time?

8. Noah Mac (Team Blake Jennifer): Nothing says, this is just a prop more than walking away from the piano during a performance and no one notices the music change.

9. Brooke Simpson (Team Miley): Fine, I guess, but I really do not need to hear another person sing this song, especially a teenager.

10. Shi’Ann Jones (Team Jennifer): Wait, Lucas lost to like a high school freshman? What?

11. Esera Tuaolo (Team Blake): Like I said before, Blake is the most obvious to the point I did not even think I needed to see this Knockout. Adam is a finalist contender (at least on Team Blake, Adam’s track record with country artists is not good), Esera seems like Playoff fodder unless Blake saves him.

12. Jon Mero (Team Adam): From what they shows, it looked kind to montage Jon because what they did show was mostly embarrassing. Make me wonder if the other guy just happen to be worse or they montaged it to keep Adam from looking bad for picking him.

13. Keisha Renee (Team Blake): Yeah diversity I guess, but that was boring.

14. Emily Luther (Team Adam): Is she a late addition to the show because I do not remember her from the first two rounds. Maybe I nodded off like I fell asleep while watching this performance.

15. Adam Pearce (Team AdamMiley): Deep Purple on The Voice? Surprising, what’s not surprising: how much money… a coach on the show wasting a Steal. And that was twice Miley ruined Herstory with an underserving male.

16. Moriah Formica (Team Miley): I really liked Moriah’s first two performances, but that was just bad. Clearly a sign of Miley knowing who was going to win before anyone sang a note. Maybe Miley should have pitted her with Karli with the latter advancing, that would have made a much stronger team.

17. Ashland Craft (Team Miley) – Well that was kind of boring and bland.

18. Anthony Alexander (Team Adam): Seriously, what was Adam thinking? The coach’s banter has become unwatchable so I just watch the YouTube clips, but I may have to go back and watch that segment just so I can hear Adam’s absurd explanation.

19. Red Marlow (Team Blake): Oh, Blake, you are killing me this season with your most bland brand of country singers in the history of the show.

20. Mitchell Lee (Team Blake): Fork this guy. I actually saw Hootie and the Blowfish and Edwin McCain back in ’95 and this boring soft rocker to ruin both of them. Seriously, fork this guy.


oh wow, the top four are all Steals. Some bad decisions all around. But I mentioned how Blake and Adam know how to play the game since they have been here since the beginning, but apparently her years on The Voice UK gave Jennifer some need experience. Sure her team is a bit homogeneous with Chris and Davon being interchangeable. But to me she has the strongest team followed by Adam, with Miley dropping to third after a bunch of bad decisions and Blake following up the rear with his most boring team ever. Which probably means he will win. But let us look at the iTunes results:


1. Chloe Kohanski (11)
2. Addison Agen (34)
3. Noah Mac (40)
4. Red Marlow (96)
5. Emily Luther (99)
6. Davon Fleming (118)
7. Esera Tuaolo (130)
8. Adam Cunningham (141)
9. Janice Freeman (154)
10. Keisha Renee (159)
11. Mitchell Lee (163)
12. Chris Weaver (169)
13. Ashland Craft (189)
14. Addison Agen and Karli Webster (198)
15. Brooke Simpson (261)
16. Moriah Formica (263)
17. Hannah Mrozak (421)
18. Chloe Kohanski – The Chain (450)
19. Shi’Ann Jones (510)
20. Ashland Craft – You Are My Sunshine (589)
21. Noah Mac - Way Down We Go (704)
22. Adam Pearce (760)
23. Addison Agen – Jolene (744)
24. Anthony Alexander (828)
25. Jon Mero (837)
26. Keisha Renee and Noah Mac (924)
27. Ashland Craft and Megan Rose (1132)

So Addison, Ashland, and Noah are the only three that charted all three songs this round (Chloe being the only one to chart two of them).  Are these your front runners?  Here is how they would rank if you average their three peaks:

1. Addison Agen (91)
2. Ashland Craft (167)
3. Noah Mac (169.3)
4. Brooke Simpson (199)
5. Davon Flemming (299.3)
6. Adam Cunningham (310.6)
7. Mitchell Lee (337.6)
8. Moriah Formica (339.6)
9. Chris Weaver (346.6)
10. Jon Mero (396)
11. Keisha Renee (402.3)
12. Emily Luther (447.6)
13. Anthony Alexander (477.3)
14. Hannah Mrozak (517.3)
15. Red Marlow (670)
16. Esera Tuaolo (673)

There were four who either did not chart their Blind Audition or Battle, but if you average the two that did chart, it would go Janice Freeman (190), Chloe Kohanski (288), Shi’Ann Jones (392.5), and Adam Pierce (520). If you put the top twenty in a formula to see who has the best team, here is how they rank:

Adam – 63
Jennifer – 55
Miley – 54
Blake – 38

As usual, Adam is the iTunes king, except he kind of lucked into this round with his top two charters are both Steals while his original singers are middling from 10-14. Blake is surprisingly bad. His best is at seven, behind two of his cast offs. Of course these are based on averages, just looking at the most recent round, he has two of the top four. And country voters usually do not start buying in force until the semi-finals, so I would not count out Mitchell or Keisha. Alright, prediction time:

Team Adam
America Saves: Addison, Adam
Adam Saves: Jon

Team Blake
America Saves: Mitchell, Red
Blake Saves: Keisha

Team Jennifer
America Saves: Noah, Davon
Jennifer Saves: Shi’Ann

Team Miley
America Saves: Ashland, Brooke
Miley Saves: Janice

Elimination Order: Shi’Ann, Janice, Brooke
Eliminated During Bloodbath: Jon , Addison, Red, Davon, Noah
Finalists: Keisha, Ashland, Mitchell
Winner: Adam (and it will be even more unwatchable next season hearing how Adam beat Blake with his own singer)

The Voice Season Thirteen Battle Round Power Ranking

Just when you thought Miley’s overhyped all girls team could not get any more annoying, she gave all her Battles girl themed songs. One of them, American Woman, is kind of derogatory to women. But she did get three of her team Stolen. Unfortunately one was not Shilo Gold who deserved a Steal over everyone who actually got Stolen this round aside from Addison. The other seven feel like fodder for the Knockouts. Maybe Noah advances too, but I doubt we will see anymore than those two. Alrighty, here is my power ranking coming out of the Battle Rounds:

1. Karli Webster (Team Miley): My favorite from the Blinds, she did not disappoint and no one else really stood out so she stays on top for another round.

2. Addison Agen (Team Miley Adam): Adam does not turn for them in the Blinds, but he certainly likes Stealing the coffeehouse type females: Caroline Glaser, Amy Vaschal, Lilli Passero. Now if only he can translate these types of singers’ high charting on iTunes to actual votes because they tend not to get very far.

3. Chris Weaver (Team Jennifer) – Ha, have the drag queen sing Dangerous Woman. Clever. And I did like the more rock vibe they did, I just wished Kathrina did not open her mouth to ruin things.

4. Hannah Mrozak (Team Adam): A Battle of two singers who very well may have been montaged during the Blinds, but Hannah really impressed me here. And Brandon probably deserved a Steal over most that did this season even if he overembelished at times.

5. Whitney Fenimore (Team Adam Miley) – I know the Battles were filmed a long time ago but even airing a Tom Petty performance two weeks after his death and doing Stevie Nicks is just something you do not want comparisons of in any circumstance, but she really was herself and refreshing especially considering I do not even remember her Blind Audition at all.

6. Janice Freeman (Team Miley): Most of Miley’s girl power song choices were eye rolling, but this was one of the few that worked.

7. Davon Fleming (Team Jennifer) – Yeah he won, it was alright. Nothing much else worth saying.

8. Moriah Formica (Team Miley) – The song selection being classic rock clearly favored Moriah, but I actually liked Shilo better. Another case of someone who deserved to be Stolen much more that most that actually did.

9. Adam Cunningham (Team Blake): I liked his Blind which had soul to it but now I fear Blake will turn him into a bland country singer.

10. Brooke Simpson (Team Miley) – Pretty even Battle but really, Sophia was much better than pretty much everyone else who got Stolen.

11. Anthony Alexander (Team Adam): All of Adam’s soul Battles just seemed ho hum, this one included. But I guess Anthony deserved it.

12. Keisha Renee (Team Blake) – Blake clearly loves diversity, pushing plenty of non-deserving non-country singers to the Live Shows so Keisha has to be his dream contestant, a black country singer. I think she may actually be the frontrunner. But I have a feeling the longer she is on Team Blake, the more bored I will be of her.

13. Ashland Craft (Team Miley): I was kind of bored, honestly. It was alright.

14. Megan Rose (Team Miley Blake): Oh Blake, you really did not need to Steal any more country singers.

15. Chloe Kohanski (Team Miley): Montage win… yawn.

16. Shi’Ann Jones (Team Jennifer): I did not really care much for her low notes, everything else was fine.

17. Stephan Marcellus (Team Jennifer Miley): Miley ruined her all female team for this guy? Alrighty. But looking at the girls not Stolen, it was slim pickings, Miley had the best unstolen girls.

18. Adam Pearce (Team Adam) – Adam only had three females on his team going into the Battles and my thought when he picked Adam over Whitney, was Adam simply going with an all dude team to balance out Miley’s all female team. (He did eventually pick the other two females to win and Stole a third to keep his team at three females.)

19. Lucas Holliday (Team Jennifer) – One of my favorite Blind Auditions, but an absolutely horrible song choice.

20. Esera Tuaolo (Team Blake): There may be nothing more predictable in the Battle Rounds than Blake forcing two very different singer to duet on an extremely cheesy song that inevitably gets montaged.

21. Dennis Drummond (Team BlakeAdam): He should have won, but honestly, this was one of the Battles where I wished both singers went home instead of them both advancing.

22. Katrina Rose (Team Miley Jennifer): It is never all that exciting when someone who was montaged in the Blinds gets Stolen especially after people who you liked both their Blinds and Battles have already gone home.

23. Eric Lyn (Team Jennifer): I preferred the other guy, kind of shocked at Jennifer picking Eric.

24. Jon Mero (Team Adam): I preferred Brandon because Jon over sang his parts but really I did not care much either way.

25. Noah Mac (Team Blake Jennifer): Interesting Blind, yet got screwed on the song selection. Still I have a feeling he got stolen for his look over his singing.

26. Mitchell Lee (Team Blake) – Why was he smiling throughout his performance? Did he not bother to read the lyrics, this song is depressing. If this guy keeps ruining mid-nineties pop-rock I am going to be out on this show pretty quickly.

27. Dylan Gerard (Team Adam): Montage win… yawn.

28. Anna Catherine DeHart (Team Blake): Double montage win… yawn. Will we get to ever hear her for more than two deconds or will she get Rebekah Samarined?

29. Emily Luther (Team Adam): Montage win… yawn.

30. Kathrina Feigh (Team Jennifer Blake): Oh Blake, why? I have a feeling if I were to do a list of the worst Steals in the History of The Voice; Blake would have half of them.

31. Jeremiah Millerr (Team Jennifer): Montage win… yawn.

32. Red Marlow (Team Blake): These two were at the bottom of my Blind Audition Power Ranking; good new, one went home, bad news, the other stayed.

Oh my, as much as I scoff at Miley, she is clearly the best team, here worst is at seventeen and that was a Steal. Her second worst is someone who was montaged, the others were in my top 13. But let’s put these numbers in my patent pending formula to see who really has the best team:

Miley: 189
Adam: 128
Jennifer: 118
Blake: 93

Usually I come out saying that Blake may have had a weak team coming out of the Blinds but he always pit his best vs his worse and picks correctly and comes out of the Battle with the strongest team. Not this season. He did not have much to care about from the Blinds and added a pretty bad Steal and a mediocre one to boot. He would be wise to Steal someone from Miley in the Knockouts who has two strong pairings teased by the promo (Ashland vs. Chloe and Karli vs. Janice). Of course it does not matter what I think because Blake has shown he can win with boring country singers and he still has Mitchell, Adam and Keisha, at least two of those three make the semi-finals easily unless something funky happens. In fact here is how the iTunes buying public ranks the Battles:

1. Addison Agen & Karli Webster (32)
2. Mitchell Lee & Dennis Drummond (147)
3. Eric Lyn & Ignatious Carmouche (147)
4. Keisha Renee & Noah Mac (151)
5. Jon Mero & Brandon Brown (167)
6. Ashland Craft & Megan Rose (208)
7. Brooke Simpson & Sophia Bollman (209)
8. Janice Freeman & Katrina Rose (227)
9. Adam Cunningham & Natalie Stovall (242)
10. Brandon Showell & Hannah Mrozak (265)
11. Shi'Ann Jones & Stephan Marcellus (275)
12. Adam Pearce & Whitney Fenimore (280)
13. Anthony Alexander & Michael Kight (363)
14. Lucas Holliday & Meagan McNeal (395)
15. Moriah Formica & Shilo Gold (424)
16. Davon Fleming & Maharasyi (438)
17. Chris Weaver & Kathrina Feigh (522)
18. Red Marlow & Ryan Scripps (545)
19. Emily Luther & Gary Carpentier (769)
20. Ashland Craft (880)
21. Anna Catherine DeHart & Kristi Hoopes (1316)
22. Addison Agen (1379)
23. Esera Tuaolo & Rebecca Brunner (1389)
24. Karli Webster (1392)
25. Dave Crosby & Dylan Gerard (1402)

See, Mitchell and Keisha are in the top four from Battle placements. Although what I find interesting I further down that list, only three people recharted their Blind Audition songs, all three original Team Miley members. Are these your front runners? I did look back at last season which only had three recharters, Chris Blue, the eventual winner; Hunter Plake, who many people thought was a lock for the finals for much of the season until an unfortunate song selection in the semi-finals; and Casi Joy, an early frontrunner who flamed out in the Playoffs. Let’s take an average of the peak of each singers Battle and Blind Audition and see how they rank now.


1. Karli Webster (109.5)
2. Addison Agen (119.5)
3. Ashland Craft (156)
4. Brooke Simpson (168)
5. Jon Mero (175.5)
6. Noah Mac (234)
7. Anthony Alexander (302)
8. Moriah Formica (378)
9. Davon Fleming (390)
10. Adam Cunningham (395.5)
11. Whitney Fenimore (416.5)
12. Mitchell Lee (425)
13. Chris Weaver (435.5)
14. Keisha Renee (524)
15. Megan Rose (546.5)
16. Lucas Holliday (550.5)
17. Hannah Mrozak (565.5)
18. Emily Luther (622)
19. Dennis Drummond (725)
20. Esera Tuaolo (945)
21. Red Marlow (957)
22. Dylan Gerard (992)
23. Anna Catherine DeHart (1306.5)

(Janice, Shi-Ann, Kathrina, Eric, Adam P., Stephan, and Katrina all did not chart their Blind Auditions while Chloe and Jeremiah did not chart their Battles, those were actually the only two Battles that did not chart). Again, there are the names Karli, Addison, and Ashland. Thrown in a fourth Team Miley original for that position too. While the three Blake singers I mentioned earlier are middling thanks to poor Blind Audition peaks. The most surprising is the last name on the list Anna Catherine who managed to chart both her songs while there were seven singers advancing singers who failed to chart at least once. Let’s see who has the strongest team according to the iTunes average.

Miley: 93
Adam: 78
Blake: 53
Jennifer: 52

Having three of the top four makes it no surprise Miley is on top, but outside those top five, it is kind of dire, she really needs to choose her time wisely for the Live Playoffs. But if the five-some is Karli, Ashland, Brooke, Moriah, and a good Steal (especially if she can get Addison back) that could be one of the bestselling Playoff teams ever. Though she really should ditch the silly themes and just go with great songs.

Really, I am just going to go ahead and make that my prediction for Team Miley. The other teams are harder to guess (especially since the promo only showed six of the sixteen Knockout pairings). Here are my other predictions:

Team Adam
Addison, Jon, Hannah, Dylan (Steal Noah)

Team Blake
Keisha, Mitchell, Adam, Esera, (Steal Chloe)

Team Jennifer
Lucas, Shi’Ann, Davon, Chris (Steal Janice)

Team Miley
Ashland, Brooke, Moriah, Karli, (Steal Megan back)

I Want My Music Videos: 10/23/2017

Sway - Danielle Bradbery


Danielle Bradbery had a reputation of being a robot while on The Voice. She was perfectly fineand her first album was perfectly fine too but ultimately boring country pop. After that they floated an embarrassingly bad country rap song Friend Zone. So I was not too excited when it was announced she was going to be one of the rare Voice contestant to get a second major label album. Umm, actually is she the first? Really sad that I have to ask that considering the shoe just started its thirteenth season. (After some research she is if you do not count EP’s.) But it turns out her new song is really catchy. Not in a county-pop sort of way, definitely not country-rap. If this was released in the eighties, it would be a pop song. Had it been released last decade it would be adult contemporary. Unfortunately modern pop has been taken over by weird computer EDM sounds and adult contemporary is pretty much just Ed Sheeran so I am not sure how this song reaches a wider audience unless the progressive country fans that made Girl Crush a hit accept this song.


May I Have This Dance – Francis and the Lights featuring Chance the Rapper


When I first heard the non remix version of this song, I actually thought I was listening to a long lost Peter Gabriel song. As for the remix version's video, is Chance the Rapper and Francis and the Lights trying out for a Napoleon Dynamite remake?


It's a Shame - First Aid Kit


I am a sucker for camera tricks and I really like the subtly of the two members of First Aid Kit walking down the same streets and having slightly different experiences.


Tennessee Mountain Top – Kid Rock


Okay, so Kid Rock’s senate run is obvious a joke, I mean, here is a video with a stuffed raccoon. I mean it is not as wacky as Roy Moore, but c’mon, it has to be a joke right? Please be a joke. And isn’t the song kind of ripping off a Nickelback song?

The Voice Season 13 Blind Auditions Power Rankings

Miley Cyrus is completely unbearable, and it turns out Jennifer Hudson turned out to be much better okay, I did like the nasty look she shot Adam when he turned for a soul singer before her). Add to that the Adam / Blake bromance was old ten seasons ago. So I knew pretty early I was not going to watch the episodes as aired and just watch the YouTube clips of the singing then skip to the end to see what team they join. No overly sappy sob stories (although I may have to go back and see what is up with the balding white dude who sang Maxwell whom you could have convinced me was a member of Steely SDan), no annoying coach banter. But unfortunately there is nothing else on at 8:30 on Tuesday so I would catch the end of those episodes. What really struck me about that last episode was how they kept talking about Miley making “herstory” with the very first all-female team.

Um, why is that something to promote? That just seems extremely sexist to me. Though I am not entirely sure who is to blame. Guys have been very hesitant to join female coaches since the start, I doubt any female coach has had a majority male ever. But then I wonder, at what point did Miley stop turning around for guys so she could have an all-female team? It also makes me wonder if she will try to Steal any boys in the next two rounds or will be taking girls all the way through.

1. Karli Webster (Team Miley)

2. Chris Weaver (Team Jennifer)

3. Shi’Ann Jones (Team Jennifer)

4. Lucas Holliday (Team Jennifer)

5. Adam Cunningham (Team Blake)

6. Moriah Formica (Team Miley)

7. Addison Agen (Team Miley)

8. Shilo Gold (Team Miley)

9. Noah Mac (Team Blake)

10. Ilianna Viramontes (Team Miley)

11. Ignatious Carmouche (Team Jennifer)

12. Dennis Drummond (Team Blake)

13. Sophia Bollman (Team Miley)

14. Anthony Alexander (Team Adam)

15. Davon Fleming (Team Jennifer)

16. Brandon Brown (Team Adam)

17. Janice Freeman (Team Miley)

18. Chloe Kohanski (Team Miley)

19. Esera Tuaolo (Team Blake)

20. Ashland Craft (Team Miley)

21. Hannah Mrozak (Team Adam)

22. Dave Crosby (Team Adam)

23. Stephan Marcellus (Team Jennifer)

24. Megan Rose (Team Miley)

25. Adam Pearce (Team Adam)

26. Jon Mero (Team Adam)

27. Meagan McNeal (Team Jennifer)

28. Rebecca Brunner (Team Blake)

29. Kathrina Feigh (Team Jennifer)

30. Whitney Fenimore (Team Adam)

31. Maharasyi (Team Jennifer)

32. Kristi Hoopes (Team Blake)

33. Emily Luther (Team Adam)

34. Brooke Simpson (Team Miley)

35. Keisha Renee (Team Blake)

36. Gary Carpentier (Team Adam)

37. Michael Night (Team Adam)

38. Mitchell Lee (Team Blake)

39. Dylan Gerard (Team Adam)

40. Anna Catherine DeHart (Team Blake)

41. Natalie Stovall (Team Blake)

42. Alexandra Joyce (Team Jennifer)

43. Eric Lyn (Team Jennifer)

44. Brandon Showell (Team Adam)

45. Jeremiah Miller (Team Jennifer)

46. Katrina Rose (Team Miley)

47. Red Marlow (Team Blake)

48. Ryan Scripps (Team Blake)

Okay, so I spend a lot of time in the intro complaining about how annoying (and kind of sexist) Miley was, but she did put together a pretty good team, same with Jennifer who notched three of the top four. But let’s add things up to see who has the strongest team.

Miley – 382
Jennifer – 310
Adam – 241
Blake – 232

Yep, the ladies are far ahead. I think the problem is that the two guys who have been o the show so long they know who gets votes (boring, mostly white dudes) and gear their team that way. Well at least Blake will mix things up with a few left of center contestants in the Live Shows but Adam goes full pander as the series goes on. Much was made by Miley’s all female team, but Adam only has three and I would not be surprised if none make the Knockouts let along the Live Show. But who cares what I think, what were people buying. Though I feel bad for people who were on the second week because Tom Petty just died and I believe by Tuesday, he had about fifty of the top 200 hundred songs.

1. Ashland Craft (104)
2. Brooke Simpson (127)
3. Jon Mero (184)
4. Karli Webster (187)
5. Addison Agen (207)
6. Michael Kight (210)
7. Anthony Alexander (241)
8. Dave Crosby (241)
9. Ignatious Carmouche (269)
10. Gary Carpentier (272)
11. Noah Mac (317)
12. Moriah Formica (332)
13. Davon Fleming (342)
14. Chris Weaver (349)
15. Natalie Stovall (416)
16. Dylan Gerard (442)
17. Emily Luther (475)
18. Esera Tuaolo (501)
19. Adam Cunningham (549)
20. Whitney Fenimore (553)
21. Chloe Kohanski (563)
22. Ilianna Viramontes (626)
23. Brandon Brown (690)
24. Mitchell Lee (703)
25. Lucas Holliday (706)
26. Jeremiah Miller (821)
27. Hannah Mrozak (866)
28. Megan Rose (885)
29. Keisha Renee (897)
30. Anna Catherine DeHart (1297)
31. Dennis Drummond (1302)
32. Rebecca Brunner (1303)
33. Red Marlow (1369)
34. Ryan Scripps (1379)

A surprisingly good showing by montage victims, half of them actually charted. Should I know who Natalie Stovall is? That is really high for someone who was montaged. Although there were eleven who were not montaged that failed to be one of the 1500 most downloaded song. Sure five could blame Tom Petty, still mostly sad. But let’s see who iTunes downloaders think is the strongest team:

Adam – 213
Miley – 185
Blake – 109
Jennifer 88

Adam really is iTunes magic, I thought his team was pretty weak this year, but being a team of mostly boring white dudes really helps. And he only had two people who did not chart. And though they may not have charted very high, Blake had all but one chart. Then look at newbie Jennifer who over half her team did not chart at all.

Time for predictions. This used to be really easy because they would basically tell you who would make the Live Shows by who they focus on during the Best of the Blinds episode, except there was none this year. Cannot pull This Is Us off the schedule to air a recap show. Suprising they did not pull The Blacklist instead. Oh well, they did give out the Battle pairings so here is who I think will win (they are listed first) in order with how confident I am I right.

Team Adam
Dave Crosby vs. Dylan Gerard
Emily Luther vs. Gary Carpentier
Jon Mero vs. Brandon Brown
Brandon Showell vs. Hannah Mrozak
Anthony Alexander v. Michael Night (Steal)
Whitney Fenimore vs. Adam Pearce (Steal)


Team Blake
Krista Hoopes vs. Anna Catherine DeHart
Adam Cunningham vs. Natalie Stovall
Mitchell Lee vs. Dennis Drummond (Steal)
Esera Tuaolo vs. Rebecca Brunner
Ryan Scripps vs. Red Marlow
Keisha Renee vs. Noah Mac (Steal)

Team Jennifer
Ignatious Carmouche vs. Eric Lyn
Shi’ann Jones vs. Stephan Marcellus
Chris Weaver vs. Kathrina Feigh (Steal)
Jereremiah Miller vs. Alexandra Joyce
Lucas Holliday vs Meagan McNeal (Steal)
Davon Fleming vs. Maharasyi

Team Miley
Ashland Craft vs. Megan Rose (Steal)
Brooke Simpson vs Sophia Bollman
Janice Freeman vs. Katrina Rose
Chloe Kohanski vs. Ilianna Viramontes
Moriah Formica vs. Shilo Gold
Karli Webster vs. Addison Agen (Steal)