The Voice

[lizbabe09]

The voice is a singing competition on NBC hosted by Carson Daly and feauters coaches Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton.

I thought it was going to be like American Idol at first but I was so blown away because these are real singers with real talent. They don't have the awful singers that we see just to be entertained. I think this is THE singing competition

 

[Empress Merel]

Fakers, you have to see some of the auditions of the original Dutch version. They're awesome.

The winner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAYiJBxHDB0 (the amount of tattoo's are insane)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huvVvTnkT2M&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNtl0CkZnBA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbHwUb0RhvY

 

[hedur]

The majority of AI contestants are real singers with real talent. Having said that, the reason why I was excited for The Voice was because it was a blind audition based on voice alone. Too often one of the AI judges will reference how it's a "singing competition" at some point during the season when, in reality, they sometimes choose a person for the top 24 based on looks and NOT on voice. That's annoying to say the least.

As with AI there were some decent singers and some not so good. The thing I didn't like is it was painfully obvious on a number of occasions (especially with Christina) that even though the judge pressed their button, after seeing the person and hearing the rest of the performance, they weren't enthusiastic about having them on their team anymore. Totally awkward.

We'll see how the rest of the episodes pan out. My favorites so far are the young kid and the guy who covered Cyndi Lauper...both on Adam's team.

 

[lizbabe09]

I know AI has real singers but most of the time we spend seeing okay singers and their looks have a lot to do with their selection, so I agree about the blind audition.

 

[nothingless]

I loved the original Dutch show, and am hoping the American version will be as good - I certainly love the idea behind it.

 

[lizbabe09]

I've never watched the Dutch version, I'll have to find links to it. The blind auditions ended last week, I'm excited to see the battle rounds now.

 

[ChrissyM]

i'm actually impressed with this show so far... it's nice to have talented judges who are entertaining and still relevant musically (rather than a washed up 80s hasbeen like Paula Abdul on American Idol)

I do think it's interesting when they turn around and change their opinion based on looks, especially when they're mad they didn't pick someone who turned out to be cute/attractive

also, is christina some sort of producer on the show or something?
i feel like when she talks sometimes or turns the conversation in a certain direction that she's a bit scripted. like, when they were giving some singers a second chance... she totally knew about that beforehand and the way she was speaking felt really rehearsed. She almost seems like more of a host than carson on some occasions...
like when she prods a singer to make their choice when more than one judge has pushed the button

will be interesting to see what happens from here on out now that blind auditions are over.

 

[Empress Merel]

I've never watched the Dutch version, I'll have to find links to it. The blind auditions ended last week, I'm excited to see the battle rounds now.

You can youtube it. The Voice of Holland. Or this link can be of help: http://www.herhaling.nl/The-Voice-Of-Holland/308/?u_page=8

I watched ep 1 and I dunno, I liked it but it also felt less genuine than the Dutch version. Seems more fake and tried.
Adam Levine is awesome though.

 

[lizbabe09]

^Thanks, I will watch this as soon as exams are over.

 

[cheepmunk]

i'm actually impressed with this show so far... it's nice to have talented judges who are entertaining and still relevant musically (rather than a washed up 80s hasbeen like Paula Abdul on American Idol)

I do think it's interesting when they turn around and change their opinion based on looks, especially when they're mad they didn't pick someone who turned out to be cute/attractive

also, is christina some sort of producer on the show or something?
i feel like when she talks sometimes or turns the conversation in a certain direction that she's a bit scripted. like, when they were giving some singers a second chance... she totally knew about that beforehand and the way she was speaking felt really rehearsed. She almost seems like more of a host than carson on some occasions...
like when she prods a singer to make their choice when more than one judge has pushed the button

will be interesting to see what happens from here on out now that blind auditions are over.

I think she's just not a very natural actress. The decision to bring back contestants was obviously scripted. They probably all knew about it beforehand, and she was the one chosen to sell it as a spontaneous idea that just popped into her head. Maybe the producers think she's more relatable because she's a woman?

Adam Levine's comment that even the rejects from this show were a cut about American Idol contestants was kind of obnoxious. There have been a lot of crappy, unsuccessful AI winners, but there have also been some genuine successes to come out of that show.

Plus, now that the blind auditions are over, the thing that distinguished this show from American Idol is gone. Part of me wishes that the battle rounds had been blind, too. At some point, the contestants have to be judged on stage presence, but by letting the judges see the contestants so early and eliminate the ones they don't want, they're allowing them to fix any mistakes they made in the blind auditions.

Having said all that, I love this show. AI is kind of tired after ten years. Plus, the judges on The Voice all have great chemistry. I know it won't happen, but I would love it if they all sang together again. Their version of Crazy was, well, crazy.

 

[hedur]

Plus, now that the blind auditions are over, the thing that distinguished this show from American Idol is gone. Part of me wishes that the battle rounds had been blind, too. At some point, the contestants have to be judged on stage presence, but by letting the judges see the contestants so early and eliminate the ones they don't want, they're allowing them to fix any mistakes they made in the blind auditions.

Having said all that, I love this show. AI is kind of tired after ten years. Plus, the judges on The Voice all have great chemistry. I know it won't happen, but I would love it if they all sang together again. Their version of Crazy was, well, crazy.

I agree, cheepmunk. I actually am finding the battle rounds as gimmicky as anything AI ever did. As a singer, I have issues with them doing a "battle" duet to decide who stays and who goes. For one, people have completely different ranges. So if an alto and a soprano are chosen to battle, the one who gets the song in their key would obviously come out on top, at least vocally. Another thing is the battle aspect has caused some to think as long as they sing louder and do more obnoxious runs that "outshine" their competitor, they should be the winner. Thankfully the judges have seen through this and some of them were not chosen. While it was nice to see some overcome this battle nonsense and actually do a good duet that complemented both the contestants and the song, many just couldn't bring themselves to rise to that level.

Having said that, AI is completely tired and done after 10 years and I am glad to be able to watch a different singing competition. I haven't checked out the Dutch version so I have no idea what's coming. But I'm definitley looking forward to it and will continue watching.

Oh, and I think Adam's team is the best so far.

 

[lizbabe09]

I wish they would have done two weeks of the battlerounds in 2-hour episodes instead of four weeks. I'm ready for the live shows.

 

[cheepmunk]

Overall Blake's team is my favorite. [Disclaimer: I'm shallow as hell, and this is only reality TV, so I feel no shame in saying that part of the reason I like his team more is that Blake is hotter than Adam. Sorry, Adam! ] But the only two I'm really, truly excited about in the whole competition are Jeff and Xenia. Jeff sounds like he was made to sing Elton John covers until the cows come home, and Xenia's voice has a raspy quality that reminds me of Norah Jones, if Norah Jones were timid.

I think where Adam beats Blake and the others (even though Cee Lo is almost as good as Adam at it) is in the ability to coax good performances from his team members. He also seems to have a talent for picking songs that will push both singers out of their comfort zone while still being culturally relevant that Blake does not. Blake has yet to give his team a song that was written during my lifetime, and I'm not exactly a little kid. I mean, I don't mind too much because his song choice last time resulted in that awesome WTF look on Christina's face as Serabee started to go crazy with the singing, but still. There is such a thing as being too old school.

lizbabe09, I totally agree. If they didn't want to start the live voting until Idol was over, it would have been better to do one more week of blind auditions and cut the battle rounds shorter. Watching the judges try to pick singers without seeing them was much more fun than watching singers battle it out in a stupid boxing ring with at least one singer at a huge disadvantage and the other singer missing the point of performing in a duet.

Randomly, I'd always heard that Adam Levine was a giant douche, but the one thing I liked about him was that no matter how uninterested he was in an artist or how little he liked them when they were singing, he never showed it once the chairs turned around. Of course, they'll see it when they watch later on TV, but it's the thought that counts, I guess.

 

[elytrae]

Is anyone still watching this? I thought Dia Frampton's performance of Heartless was just incredible, like something I'd see on the Grammy's or AMA's. So far, I've preferred the "voices" on Team Blake over Team Christina. Looking forward to next week's ep.

 

[lizbabe09]

I'm still hooked! I think Blake's team has more variety than Christina's because all her girls have a similar style as her. I can't wait to see Cee-lo and Adam's team next week.

 

[Zann]

Is anyone still watching this? I thought Dia Frampton's performance of Heartless was just incredible, like something I'd see on the Grammy's or AMA's. So far, I've preferred the "voices" on Team Blake over Team Christina. Looking forward to next week's ep.

I still get chills when I watch her performance. BUT I am uber disappointed that her iTunes version is a completely different performance than the live show

 

[elytrae]

I still get chills when I watch her performance. BUT I am uber disappointed that her iTunes version is a completely different performance than the live show

Yeah, I prefer her live show performance over the studio version as well, but I still bought her iTunes version. I checked iTunes today and she still seems to be the top seller from the show, although Javier and Vicci are not too far behind, and behind them are Casey and Xenia. It'll be interesting to see if next episode's eliminations (or rather, the "saves") parallel iTunes sales because this week's eliminations certainly did. Speaking of which, my fav moment from this week's ep was Team Cee Lo's performance of Everyday People. That was fun to watch and sounded great too.

 

[cheepmunk]

I can't believe Dia has managed to stay so high on the iTunes chart for so long. I'm excited to see what she'll do next week.

I'm also surprised at how well Xenia managed to chart. She's pretty much the only contestant where I feel like the studio version is much, much better than the live version, but I'm surprised that so many people were even willing to check out the studio version given how awkward she was onstage. Still, good for her. I hope the contestants are seeing a least a little bit of the money from the downloads.

I didn't love Casey, but i hope Adam picks her over Jeff next week. I loved Jeff at the beginning, but his last performance wasn't very good and, at the risk of sounding like a b*tch, I'm tired of hearing about his dead mother.

Cee Lo is amazing and awesome and should have his own variety show set in a spa. Seriously, what was that? And how come he was the only one who got to not wear a robe? Do they keep a special red-and-black outfit set aside for when Cee Lo comes to visit? Enquiring minds want to know!

 

[lizbabe09]

I'm not a huge fan of Dia but I think she'll get far seeing as how so many people already knew her outside of the show. I was so confused as to why Blake would pick Xenia, she makes me nervous on stage because she looks so nervous. I get that he really likes her and he feels like he can mold her but it's still a competition and there's no way she's winning unless she does a complete 180 and becomes incredibly charismatic. I hope Adam picks Casey also. I have a feeling people will save Javier and Adam will pick Jeff though (since all the coaches turned around for him he seems like a front runner) though Adam seems to like Casey. I think Cee-Lo will end up with Nakia and Vicci on his team.

 

[cheepmunk]

I think Adam is going to pick Jeff, too, but I really wish he wouldn't. If nothing else, Casey has much better taste in music than Jeff does. KT Tunstall >>>> Carrie Underwood, and that's coming from someone who like country music.

Xenia is still outselling most of this week's performers on iTunes so regardless of what he says, Blake (and the producers) might have kept her around just for the sales. But also, I think he has put all his eggs in Dia's basket-- Patrick and Jared didn't have a chance against Javier and Vicci-- and he said when he picked her that Dia and Xenia are friends and Dia does better with Xenia around. So that might have helped save her, too.