In the first three seasons of The Voice I pretty much made it all the way through the seasons (I did skip the season two finale due to lack of interest of who made it) but for the first season Usher and Shakira joined the show, I was out after the Live Playoffs when American choose to save only country and RnB singers, along with the female Taylor Hicks. But that was further than last season when I stopped watching half way through the Knockout Round. But I actually had singers I invented in early who just did not go as far as their talent would suggest, this season really lacked that one stand out moment which would get me excited for the season that followed. I do not think any of the Blind Auditions would make the list of the ten greatest in the history of the show. Hopefully someone has a breakout moment in the Battle Rounds (which might not be likely considering I can count the number of great Battle Round performance on one hand) or I may be out earlier than I was last season. But I did make it through the Blind Auditions and here is how rank those that turned chairs.
1.
Audra McLaughlin (Team Blake) – Back in season four I wanted to like
Sarah Simmons, she had a great voice but she was always just way too much. Audra has a voice like Sarah but unlike Sarah, Audra has control. And since she is on Team Blake, I do not have to worry Adam railroading her for his chosen one or giving her a head scratching bad song to sing. But then again last season Blake made the worst decision in The Voice history when he dumped
Holly Henry right before the Live Shows.
2.
Sisaundra Lewis (Team Blake): There is definitely an Aretha quality to her. There was a point where I thought she was going to come off the rails and do a bunch of unnecessary vocal gymnastics but she stepped up to that line but never crossed it and that is a great quality for a soul singer. Could this be another
Jermaine Paul situation with her going with Blake? (I am sure the producers shudder at the thought, the guy still has yet to release an album.)
3.
Ddendyl (Team Shakira): Speaking of interesting voices, “quirky” have done fairly well on this show and no one this season, possibly ever than Ddendyl. If the show does not work out, give that family their own reality show.
4.
Madilyn Paige (Team Usher): Oh Blake, where were you on this one. Nurturing this is the kind of voice that made you the best coach in the first two seasons. Then season four you go all country, and these last two seasons… who knows what you are doing. I really have no faith that Usher knows what to do with Madiyn and it may be a quick exit for her. Hopefully Blake at some point steals her.
5.
Kaleigh Glanton (Team Blake): First off I am down with any chick who will bust out some Creedence on stage. But better yet, she has a very interesting voice.
6.
Josh Kaufman (Team Adam): The show has had a bad age problem the last two seasons where only one singer over the age of thirty has made the live shows after they made up two thirds of the finals back in season three. Despite not having an age limit, the plus thirty crowd seems to be getting less Blind Auditions (while the under-twenty seem to populate the no chair turn montages littered throughout the seasons) and those that do make it through always seem to be gone by the Battle Rounds without a hint of a Steal. If Josh (38) or Sisaundra (44) does not make it through to the Live Shows than it will be extremely clear that there is a new unspoken age limit because in a fairly weak field this season, there is no way anyone could not think they not one of the top twenty-four singers. I would also say Patrick (35) and Ryan (33) Biff (45) are worthy of the Live Shows this season.
7.
De'Shawn Washington (Team Shakira): How did this guy only get one chair to turn? This is the kind of guy who Cee-Lo could have taken from being the only guy to hear what is special to very far in the competition. Hopefully Shakira has the same effect on him. I love old soul music and this guy just embodies it.
8.
Sam Behymer (Team Adam) – Sam reminds me a lot of
Juhi from last season because I really want to like her, but both were a bit… much. They also both obviously have winning personalities. I do have high hopes for Sam because Juhi was the only contestant last season who got better with each of the pre-taped round, hopefully with the right coaching, she can improve with every performance and actually go further than Juhi did. Unfortunately Adam dumped Juhi for someone on a downward trajectory so she may have to jump to Usher’s team (or Blake or Shakira who I thought would have been a better fit than those that turned around) to go further. On a side note, you really need to go to graduate school to become a librarian?
9.
Morgan Wallen (Team Usher): In an off season for dudes, his voice gruff stands out and sets him apart from the bland blue eye soul men populating Usher’s team this year.
10.
T.J. Wilkins (Team Usher): Biz Markie pretty much killed
Bennie and the Jets for me and it has been hard to listen to a “clean” version of the song ever since. But T.J. was very smooth and really hit those falsettos well. The world could use more pure RnB singers.
11.
Cierra Mickens (Team Shakira): Maybe it was the song (you really have to try hard to ruin
Crazy) but I really enjoyed her performance, but I would like to heard her do something with a higher degree of difficulty next time out.
12.
Clarissa Serna (Team Shakira): I had an irrational fear of Zombie when I was younger; it probably was because of Dolores O’Riordan banshee wail. I am not sure if it is a plus or minus that Clarissa lacked that intensity. But I am intrigued to hear what she does next. But I am surprised that Shakira’s weird war metaphor worked.
13.
Biff Gore (Team Usher): Oh Biff, your wife is about to give birth and you are trying out for The Voice? Although after five kids, maybe he is ready to get out of there. But another strong pure RnB singer. Unfortunately he also went with Usher like T.J. so that is a fairly obvious Battle Round match up.
14.
Lindsay Bruce (Team Shakira): It was a bit rough at the beginning because the
Will Hoge vocals were a bit too low for a female voice, but once she got into a range more comfortable, the performance became much more enjoyable.
15.
Patrick Thomson (Team Adam): His growl really teeters between awesome and annoying. Hopefully he can keep in on the side of awesome.
16.
Dawn & Hawkes (Team Adam): Duos have had a hard time on the show until
The Swon Brothers made the finals. But Co-ed duos had had it rough.
The Line were early front runners who were railroaded by Christina in the Battle Rounds. That is also where
Elenowen were unceremonious dumped for a lesser artist. These two were good, but they seem to be way too subtle to go far in this competition.
17.
Ryan Whyte Maloney (Team Blake): I did not get the Steve Perry comparison aside from singing his song, Steve’s voice is bigger while Ryan’s is higher.
18.
Bria Kelly (Team Usher):
Steamroller Blues is my second favorite
James Taylor song after
Fire and Rain so I was looking forward to someone polish off this lost gem (or as lost as a song on his Greatest Hits album can get), but Bria was a bit… much. There is promise there. Unfortunately it seems like Usher would be the worst possible coach for her of the four. She could have won with Blake and still could have contended with Adam or Shakira. There is always a Steal.
19.
Emily B (Team Shakira) – I am not sure if she has a great voice or not, but Wicked Game is one of those rare songs where you have to try to ruin it. I am not sure if she will make it far (but she wisely picked one of the weaker coaches) but this performance was solid.
20. Melissa Jimenez (Team Usher) – A nice clean and clear voice, but is just lacking something special.
21.
Paula DeAnda (Team Blake): I have to admit I missed the original Paula DeAnda era. The reboot was a bit iffy. It was a good but unremarkable voice and she somehow managed to suck most of the fun out of the
Ariana Grande song.
22.
Jeremy Briggs (Team Shakira): I am not completely convince that this is not
Mark Andrews, who was coincidentally also on Team Shakira. Granted I think Jeremy will make it about as far as Mark did in season four, not past the Battle Round because both are pretty benign rock singers.
23.
Brittnee Camelle (Team Usher): Song selection is so important so it is hard to take someone seriously when they are covering
Demi Lovato. I did sort of like her voice so I would be interesting hearing her sing a song that is not absolutely horrible. I am not sure I can trust Usher to find one, most of his Battle Round selections last time were pretty lame.
24.
Kat Perkins (Team Adam): Great song selection, but like a lot of performances this season I still want to see more to decide if I really like the voice or not.
25.
Alaska & Madi (Team Blake): Loved the song selection but the performance came off as way too nice. Having two teenage girls trying to tackle the sexual tension and angst of
The Civil Wars is hard enough, but it is impossible to do with a smile on your faces.
26.
Deja Hall (Team Shakira): Just another reason why The Voice should raise its age requirements, Deja was decent but the performance was extremely shaky. More years of experience could have ironed that out. Instead she probably peaked as a teenage getting a round to or two on a reality show.
27.
Christina Grimmie (Team Adam): After two lackluster singers, I was really hoping The Voice would go back to bringing more ringers. YouTube stars is not really what I had in mind. Much like the guy a few seasons ago who boasted being the most subscribed artist, Christina is just mediocre. I really cannot see Adam keeping her around very long so she may have to hope for a save so her two million subscribers can vote for her.
28.
Ria Eaton (Team Blake): Shut it down, someone did
Anna Kendrick on the show. Awesome. But I was extremely disappointed that Ria did not break out some cups while singing. How do you do a performance of Cups without actual cups?
29.
Megan Rüger (Team Blake): started out well, but when she hit the pre-chorus she went into this head space that got annoying really quick.
30.
Delvin Choice (Team Adam): No one last season really deserved a second shot except for
Malford Milligan, but I guess if you had to bring someone else back from season five, Delvin may be the next choice. But he ended up ruining one of my favorite songs ever by oversinging at the end.
31.
Cary Laine (Team Adam): Before the season aired, the show was hyping that this season had the most four chair singers ever. Of course this was not due to the talent this season but because Shakira just had to push her button right after someone else did and Usher seemed to push his button at the last second just to be an irritant. Half of those four chair turners did not deserve the honor especially Cary who is the least worthy four chair singer of all time after
The Morgan Twins. There is probably a reason why Blake seemed to be fighting for the country singer the least. Best case scenario for Cary is probably the last, and only, country singer Adam beat Blake out for
Warren Stone who won his Battle Round even though his opponent was better and got dumped in the Knockout Rounds when Adam realized he had four significantly better singers.
32.
Jake Barker (Team Usher): His voice is alright, especially in the falsetto, but dude really needs to tone down the oversinging.
33.
Caleb Elder (Team Adam): Is he entertaining? Yes. Was it an inspiring song choice? Definitely (really the song selection was a definite improvement over last season despite some cheesy pop songs and a couple overused soul songs). Was the actual performance any good? Eh.
34.
Stevie Jo (Team Usher): Wait, both of his parents were in heavy metal bands and look like random people at the local PTA meeting? I remember back in the first season they actually had a couple contestants that we did not see until a coach pushed their button, they should have done that with Stevie. But it was severely disappointing that he sang Usher instead of
Judas Priest.
35.
Brothers Walker (Team Usher): Other than the novelty of being twins, there really is not much interesting about them. Much like The Morgan Twins a couple seasons ago (who inexplicably got four chairs to turn around) I do not expect them to go very far. But then again I thought the same about The Swon Brothers. But it is never a good sign when Blake does not turn around for a country act.
36.
Noah Lis (Team Blake): An alright voice, just really boring.
37.
Jake Worthington (Team Blake): I always seem to scratch my head as some of the singers they have brought back for a second chance but Jake is the least worthy ever to be brought back.
38.
Kristen Merlin (Team Shakira): Yeah
Kacey Musgraves just sang a pro gay country song on the Grammy’s but it is hard to think a lesbian could make it in a genre that only sings about beers, trucks, and dirt roads these days. But this is the Voice, and when it comes to Kristen’s voice, there is just too much vibrato to the point it got really annoying.
39.
Lindsay Pagano (Team Shakira)
40.
Tess Boyer (Team Usher)
41.
Joshua Howard (Team Adam)
42.
Lexi Luca (Team Blake)
43.
Austin Ellis (Team Adam)
44.
Josh Murley (Team Adam)
45.
Cali Tucker (Team Blake)
46.
Music Box (Team Shakira)
47.
Dani Moz (Team Shakira)
48.
Tanner James (Team Usher)
Like I always do, it is time to rank the teams to see who is the strongest. I gave a corresponding number to each with number one getting forty-eight while the last got one and so on; then added them up by team. And here are they came out to be:
Shakira – 304
Usher – 302
Blake – 300
Adam – 270
I was a bit surprised that Shakira was on top (she did pick up two of the best one chair artists, but just by a small margin over Usher and Blake with Adam pulling up the rear. But who cares what I think, here is how the contestants rank by how high they charted on the iTunes chart. Please note I did not contribute to this list for the first time since the first season which remains the only other time I did not buy at least song from the Blind Audition. And looking at the list I may not have been the only one. Only 31 of the 48 contestants moving on made the top 1500 this season compared to 39 last season. And there is also an enthusiasm gap as both
Holly Henry and
Preston Pohl spent most of the Blind Auditions in the top 200, as I write this, no Blind Auditions from this season is in the top 1000. Granted last season only had six montage contestants while this season had ten, so that did not help. That is a lot of fodder.
1. Dawn and Hawkes (24)
2. Christina Grimmie (73)
3. Clarissa Serna (86)
4. Bria Kelly (126)
5. Josh Kaufman (136)
6. Jake Worthington (140)
7. Madilyn Paige (175)
8. Morgan Wallen (184)
9. Alaska and Madi (220)
10. Emily B. (239)
11. Audra McLaughlin (252)
12. Delvin Choice (416)
13. Kat Perkins (451)
14. Kaleigh Glanton (482)
15. Stevie Jo (503)
16. Sam Behymer (551)
17. Biff Gore (602)
18. Caleb Elder (645)
19. Ddendyl (656)
20. Kristen Merlin (688)
21. T.J. Wilkins (714)
22. Sasaundra Lewis (740)
23. Jake Barker (754)
24. Cary Laine (755)
25. Ryan Whyte Maloney (917)
26. Megan Ruger (1131)
27. Deja Hall (1190)
28. Brothers Walker (1259)
29. Cierra Mickens (1262)
30. Noah Lis (1373)
31. Lindsay Bruce (1482)
Like I did my Power Rankings, here is how the teams stack up based on iTunes
Adam – 165
Usher – 133
Blake – 114
Shakira – 84
Despite have the most singers in the top 1500, Blake is a distant third (Paula being the only non-montage singer not to make it on the chart) but Adam (who had one more montage contestant this season; Patrick was his only non-montage not to chart) did have three ahead of Blake’s top charter. No one, on the other hand wanted to buy half of Shakira’s team as six of her twelve failed to chart (three were montage). Of course all you need is one to win and Clarissa was the third best charter this season. But keep in mind last year’s champion,
Tessanne Chin failed to make the top 200 once in the three pre-show (she ranked 7th, 14th, and 10th overall in those initial rounds) which is probably why her debut single flopped. People may have voted for her, but had not much interesting to buy her music when it did not count as a vote. But anyway. Unlike last season, there were a few singers that did not get anyone to turn that are worth another (blind) look at next season, here is how I would rank them.
Second Chance
1. Allison Bray
2. Karina Mia
3. Keith Shuskie
4. Brendan Ryan
5. James Caveron
Now it is prediction time, here is an extremely premature prediction of who will make the Live Shows (I was 16 of 20 last season). I am assuming there will be a top 20 again like last season (but supposedly; we are getting a big twist this season). There could very well be less since they have already announced there will be less live rounds this season. But we do not know if they are just going to eliminate more singers each week. I have ranked them by how confident I am in my prediction. Just for fun I will bold those who I think will be the final three and put a dark horse in parentheses.
Adam:
Josh, Christina, Delvin, Patrick, Dawn and Hawkes (Sam)
Blake: Sissandra, Ryan,
Audra, Jake, Megan (Ria)
Skakira: Clarissa, Kristen, DeShawn, Ddendtyl, Deja (Emily B.)
Usher:
Bria, TJ, Morgan, Jake, Melissa (Madilyn)
Now I am going to get a little spoilery as I predict how the next round plays out. Last year most of the Battles were revealed prior to the start of the round, this season, all of them were revealed. So if you do not want to know who is battling who, you will want to stop reading right now. I have listed each Battle with who I think will win listed first and ordered them in how confident I think I am right. Even though each season since season two has featured a montage contestant make it to the Live Shows, I cowardly did not pick any of them. But this season I am going to predict some Steals which will be designated by an S (although these usually really hard to pick because most coaches seem to purposely waste their Steals as for fodder in the next rounds; although last time, Shakira took both of her Steals to the Live Show and Usher did the same for one).
Adam
Josh K. vs. Austin
Christina vs. Joshua
Dawn and Hawkes vs. Josh M.
Delvin vs. Caleb
Patrick vs. Kat
Sam vs. Carey (S)
Blake
Jake vs. Lexi
Ryan vs. Cali
Kaliegh vs. Noah
Sissandra vs. Paula (S)
Megan vs. Ria
Audra vs. Alaska and Madi (S)
Shakira
Deja vs. Music Box
DeShawn vs. Dani
Ddendtyl vs. Lindsay P.
Kristen vs. Lindsay B.
Clarissa vs. Jeremy (S)
Emily B. vs. Ciera (S)
Usher
Bria vs. Tess
Madilyn vs. Tanner
Melissa vs. Brittnee
Morgan vs. The Brothers Walker (S)
Jake vs. Stevie (S)
Biff vs. T.J. (S)
1. Sheezus – Lily Allen (May 5): Forget Yeezus, 2014 will be the year of Sheezus. After teasing new songs for the past four months, Lily Allen finally announced her comeback album which will feature the previously released Hard Out Here, Air Balloon, L8 CMMR, Out Time (as well as the Somewhere Only We Know cover on the Bonus Track Version). I am most interested in the title track, if it is half as good as her takedown of Window Shopper’s Window Shopper off her debut, it will be a great start for the new album.
2. Ghost Stories – Coldplay (May 19): The band has always been considered the poppier version of Radiohead, but it still came as a shock when their first new music was the non-pop song Midnight which sounded like Radiohead by way of Bon Iver. A week later the released a more conventional Magic but with its throbbing bass and drum machine mixed with Chris Martin not in falsetto, it still was one of the least Coldplay songs the band has ever recorded it. It should be interesting to hear what the rest of the album sound like, will they be pushing their limits even further or is the rest what we have come to expect from the band?
3. A Dotted Line – Nickel Creek (April 1): 2013 was the year of the reunion and that has seeped into 2014 with the first new album from the Afghan Whigs in sixteen years and Outkast headlining basically every festival this summer. I am more interested in the reunited Nickel Creek who will be putting out the first album in almost ten years. Where most reunion albums are just an excuse to go on a more profitable reunion tour, the album's first single Destination is as good as anything in the band’s library. 
4. Supernova – Ray LaMontagne (May 6): Ray started out as the folk guy but on his last album he recruited a full band for a fuller sound and produced the album himself. The Pariah Dogs are sitting the new album out and benched himself when it came to production. Instead The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach is doing the producing the album and if first single, and title track, are indication, Ray is going for a seventies pop-rock vibe.
Today
– Foster the People
– John Oates
– Enrique Iglesias
– Johnny Cash (Lost 80’s Album)
- Shakira
– The Hold Steady
– Sleeper Agent
– Boy George
– The Colourist
– Barry Manilow
– Elton John
– The Dandy Warhols (first live album)
Himalayan – Band of Skulls
– Leon Russell
– Manchester Orchestra
– Kaiser Chiefs
– Linda Ronstadt
– Eric Hutchinson
Rivers in the Wasteland - Needtobreathe
– The Afghan Whigs
- Jessica Lea Mayfield
– Ingrid Michaelson
– The Oak Ridge Boys (first live album in 37 years)
– Illmatic XX - Nas (twentieth anniversary rerelease)
– Neon Trees
– Eels
– G. Love & Special Sauce
Most Messed Up – Old 97's
– Damon Albarn
– Wye Oak
– The String Cheese Incident
– Sarah McLachlan
– Natalie Merchant
– Lykke Li
– Tune-Yards
– Dolly Parton
– California Breed
– Billy Joel
- Sharon Van Etten
Platinum – Miranda Lambert
– Lucy Hale
- Soundgarden
