The Voice: The Battle Rounds

Another week went by, and with it, another chapter of The Voice. After the Blind Auditions, each coach paired two of their artists on what is known as The Battle Rounds. The paired artists will perform a duet of a song picked by their coach. After a live performance, it's up to the coach to select one of the artists to stay in the competition, while the other goes home.

Overall, the Battle Rounds were a mixed bag. First, as opposed to the Blind Auditions, there were several very impressive performances in this rounds. On the other hand, there were several odd, surprising, and irksome choices made by the coaches. One gripe that me and my wife have is the fact that either the producers or NBC decided not to air all the battles. I know it would mean a lot more screentime, but then what's the point of picking up more artists, and making bigger teams, if you're not going to give them a glimpse of the spotlight anyway?

Also, one of the new spins of the show is the ability of the judges to "steal" an artist after his coach chooses not to take him during the Battle Rounds. This is a great opportunity for great artists to remain on the show, considering the penchant the coaches have for pairing two great artists together.

But anyway, here's my take on what I considered to be the most notable battles of this round:

Terry McDermott vs. Casey Muessigmann ("Carry On Wayward Son")

Great opener for thr the battles. Ironically, Terry was also the first audition to be shown during the Blinds, and one of the few that really surprised me. Plus, I love this Kansas song. Terry was practically flawless and won, but I'll be damned if I wasn't surprised by country-boy Casey. He took the challenge and brought it, making the decision more even than I would've thought.

De'Borah vs. Nelly's Echo ("Message in a Bottle")

Yet another song that I love on the voice of one of the singers that impressed me the least. Like I wrote on my earlier entry, I thought De'Borah was pretty weak in the Blind Auditions. Nelly's Echo, on the other hand, was pretty good. During the rehearsals, I thought Nelly had it. His voice was perfect for the song and he seemed to sing it perfectly. But on the night of the performance, I don't know what got into him, he was a mess. I think he actually felt threatened by De'Borah and tried to do way too much. I actually liked some of the improvisations and counter-vocals he did, but overall, his performance was too over the top and disorganized. De'Borah wasn't that great either, but I thought she was better than in the auditions.

Trevin Hunte vs. Amanda Brown ("Vision of Love")

Trevin Hunte made a name for himself during the Blind Auditions. His powerful performance turned the chairs of all four judges, and was one of the most featured in promotions for the show. Amanda, on the other hand, slipped by with an average performance and just Cee Lo's chair turned. However, their rendition of Mariah Carey's "Vision of Love" was one of the best and most powerful battles of the whole show. So great was it that even after Cee Lo picked Trevin, the remaining judges all chose to "steal" Amanda. Ultimately, she chose to be a part of Team Adam.

Julio Cesar Castillo vs. Terisa Griffin ("Conga")

This battle had one of the results that baffled me more. My respects to Julio, but Terisa sang her way around him. That's not to say that Julio's performance was bad. He held his own, but just wasn't on the same level as Terisa. Blake still decided to take Julio, I suppose for the novelty (or rating?) of having a Latin artist. Luckily for Terisa, Cee Lo "stole" her.

Sam James vs. Benji ("You Give Love a Bad Name")

This was a pretty cool battle. Both artists went at it with the right attitude, and vocally, both killed it. I know most people, including the coaches, were praising Benji's performance, but I thought he relied too much on his "waaaaaaaah!" moments. Sam seemed to be more versatile, and had a cleaner voice, so I agreed with Adam's decision. Still, I was surprised that no one "stole" Benji, after all the praise he got.

Nicholas David vs. Todd Kessler ("She's Gone")

This one could easily be one of my favorite performances of the whole battles. Competition aside, the pairing of Nicholas and Todd was so perfect, their voices blended so well together, that I can even say their rendition of the song was better than Hall & Oates'. I think I kinda liked Todd a bit more, but Nicholas was just as good. So Cee Lo picking him was still a great choice. However, I'm pissed that nobody decided to "steal" Todd. He had a great voice.

Other random notes on some of the battles:

• I'm happy Domo was eliminated. She was really, really annoying.
• Dez Duron continues to surprise me with how much he has grown from last season.
• I wasn't happy with Christina picking Sylvia Yacoub. Didn't like her performance. But thankfully, Blake "stole" her rival, Joselyn.
• Avery Wilson was yet another performer that was excellent.

All in all, the Battle Rounds were pretty solid. Now, coaches will continue chipping away five more artists. Let's hope that the best ones stay.

(All pictures belong to NBC and its affiliates)

The Voice: Blind Auditions

Last weekend, The Voice finished its Blind Auditions with each coach completing a team of 16 artists. For the untrained eye/ear, The Voice is a singing competition whose most notable feature are its auditions, where singers of all ages and genres perform blindly to potential coaches Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, and Adam Levine. If a coach is interested enough in the voice, he/she will push their button turning their chair around to watch the artist. This is pretty notable, considering how much an artists "image" is taken in consideration by other singing competitions. So, after four weeks of auditioning lots of singers, each coach ended up choosing 16 artists they would coach and train en route to a finale.

Right off the bat, I can say that none of the artists has really blown me away so far. On the past two seasons, I can say that some singers left an impression from the first time I heard them. Jared Blake, Nakia, Javier Colon, Jamar Rogers, and Tony Vincent are some of the past contestants that I remember being great from the get-go. I haven't gotten that this season. Not sure if it's the fact that the talent bar has been raised so high that there is more consistency, and hence less peaks within the talent pool, but after watching more than 100 artists audition, I can barely remember a handful. I guess I'll have to watch some bits of the auditions again; I'll be right back.

....

Scottish singer Terry McDermott

Ok, I'm back. So, seriously now, one of the things that kinda irks me about the show is how inconsistent or random the criteria to push the button seems to be. Sometimes you will hear a perfectly good singer, and coaches will not push their buttons or wait until the last second to do it; but then another singer comes and sometimes before they even finish a verse, they'll all be pushing their buttons. This happened with the first two singers auditioned. Scottish rocker Terry McDermott did a perfect, clean-voiced rendition of "Baba O'Riley", and even though three coaches turned around, they waited until the last second to push their buttons. Then, right after him, Chicago singer De'borah went out to sing "Hey Soul Sister", and she hadn't even completed the first verse, and they had already pushed their buttons. In the end, her rendition was very weak. I thought she had pitch problems, and couldn't carry the flow of the lyrics effectively.

That one kinda stuck with me, because I think Terry had one of the best voices in all the auditions. Bryan Keith and Trevin Hunte were others that shined in that first episode. Bryan had a unique, cool rasp to his voice, and Trevin was just a powerhouse. Adriana Louise, Aquile, and Mackenzie Bourg were other solid singers from the first batch of auditions. On the other hand, Cee Lo picked returning singer Daniel Rosa, and I was left wondering why. His rendition of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" wasn't that great, and I really didn't see much difference in the singer from last year to this. Cee Lo also picked up Domo, and from her introduction I knew I would hate this girl. And damn, was I right. Her performance was weak, and her attitude made her the most annoying singer to audition this season.

Bryan Keith on The Voice

The second week opened with a solid performance from quirky singer, Melanie Martinez. Her rendition of "Toxic" was pretty cool, but her voice reminded me to much of Dia, from the first season. As a matter of fact, there have been so many singers trying to emulate that quirky, gasp-like, off-pitchy style that its getting tiresome at times. Brian Scartocci, Avery Wilson, and Nicholas David were others I liked. As for the not so great, Blake picked country singer Liz Davis, who I thought was pretty weak; and Christina picked duo Beat Frequency, who wasn't that impressive either. For what it's worth, the guy could sing, but most of the lyrics relied on his wife, and she wasn't very good.

The last two weeks were okay, but nothing that spectacular either. Bank teller Michelle Brooks, soul singer Brandon Mahone, and Caitlin Michelle were among the best from those auditions. I was also surprised by returning singer Dez Duron who, unlike Daniel Rosa, showed some great improvement from his audition on the second season to this one. Maybe it was also a matter of what song you choose. Last year he auditioned with a Backstreet Boys song; this year, he chose a Hall & Oates song.

So, like I said, nothing has actually blown me away so far. Lots of good singers, but I still haven't heard something that makes me go "Whoa!". Strongest team, IMO, is probably Adam's, and the weakest could be Blake's or Christina's. One thing that has piqued my interest is all the talk abut the "steals" in the show. We'll see when the battles begin this weekend.

(All pictures belong to NBC and its affiliates)