The first live show of The Voice kicked off last night with a special performance by the coaches for the second time this season! Adam Levine started the much anticipated Queen medley with “Bohemian Rhapsody” which led into Cee Lo and Blake Shelton coming on stage to sing “We Will Rock You.” Shelton owned that song. In fact, it would have been more exciting to have seen Shelton rock that entire song by himself or even see all of the coaches simply perform “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Christina Aguilera started out the final song of the medley, “We Are the Champions” as the other coaches joined in to close it out. Overall, the performance may have been more exciting in my head than what it turned out to be, but it was still very satisfying.
So after a brief recap of the journey so far, Host, Carson Daly explained how the voting works and also gave some very important information about “saves.” There will be one viewer save and one coach save, which makes sense considering how involved both parties are in this competition.
As for the voting, fans can vote for their favorite artists on NBC.com, by calling the phone number on the screen after the show, and by downloading the studio versions of the songs that the artists perform each week via the iTunes Store. Voting begins at the end of each Tuesday night show and doesn’t close until the following Monday night! That is incredible. Fans are not restricted to 2 hours after the show airs, or 2 days but essentially have time to vote up until the day before the next live show. Though they can only vote up to ten times per artist, per method. Still, the voting process is very convenient time wise and social media wise – and it also gives time for fans to conduct weekly voting campaigns. So the results shows should be very interesting, especially with two artists from Team Christina and Team Blake being sent home next week.
The Voice’s V-Correspondent, Alison Haislip also introduced viewers to “The V Room” early in the broadcast. The V Room is where viewers can stay connected to the artists and coaches live through Twitter and Facebook. While those on the West Coast without an East Coast feed will be left out of this portion of the show, integrating social media this way into a (live) show is so original and so fun to see play out. So far, the messages that are read live are solely praising the artists. It would be refreshing to see respectful criticisms as well since every performance cannot be perfect.
Music advisors are gone and choreographers are now in. At this stage in the game, it is all about the performances from the Top 16. The song choices for the live shows were significantly more fitting for the artists individually than they were in the battle rounds and even blind auditions. Aguilera pointed out last night that we know that these artists can sing so now it’s about the performance. Which of these artists have the whole package? Which of these artists can sing, dance, work the crowd, and do everything else that it takes to be a great performer? Can The Voice camp ditch those terribly distracting dancers from the performances? And most importantly, will the voters take the whole package into consideration or simply vote based on “the voice?” Hopefully, the whole package is what will factor into the majority of the votes. Every aspect counts.
From Team Christina… Raquel Castro proved that she cannot sing and dance very well at the same time but she did blow “Blow” by Ke$ha. It’s up for interpretation as to if she blew it in a good or bad way. Levine and Aguilera had quite a playful tiff after Beverly McClellan’s beautiful performance of “I’m the Only One” by Melissa Etheridge. If there wasn’t so much talk of her singing with a cold during rehearsals, I would have never known. She was that good. Lily Elise took on Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry” which was another perfect song choice last night. Though as Levine mentioned, the performance was much more engaging without the dancers who came out around her in the beginning. Also, Elise was pitchy quite a few times but she brought the performance to home base well enough and was much better than Castro as far as catching herself pitch wise. Also worth pointing out is that Elise attempts to be more sexy than she needs to be. If she tones it down a bit, she could gain more votes! Last to represent Team Christina was Frenchie Davis with “When Love Takes Over” by David Guetta featuring Kelly Rowland. Davis is already a star and showed everyone why she is in last night’s performance. It was perfect.
Kicking off the second hour of the broadcast were Aguilera and her team with a fantastic group performance of “Lady Marmalade.” This was truly the best performance of the night. Yes, that includes the coaches Queen medley. Of course, this performance came after footage was shown of the ladies out for dinner at Geisha House with Aguilera. Oh, what us diehard 90s pop fans would do for a dinner with Aguilera. Anyway, it is so heartwarming to see the coaches so invested in not only the artists but the artists as individuals. Seeing the coaches take the time to have dinner with their artists was a beautiful thing and will make the viewers appreciate the coaches and their work all the more.
Shelton took his team out for a casual meal before performing Maroon 5′s “This Love” with them live last night. The smile on Levine’s face said it all. It was quite exhilarating watching Shelton take part in performing a song by another coach instead of one of his own songs. Whether that has to do with the mainstream audience or not, it was a fun choice. But I really think not choosing one of his own songs says a lot about his character as well.
So the group performance was fun but Xenia proved that she is more boring than watching paint dry. Xenia, Xenia, Xenia. Poor Xenia. The girl has no rhythm or stage presence. I’d be the first to buy her album but would not go to a concert of hers if anyone paid me. Her solo performance of Jessie J’s “Price Tag” was the only bad song choice of the night. She gave without a doubt the most boring and lifeless performance of “Price Tag” ever. Xenia is clearly not a performer. Perhaps next time around, Shelton will give her a Norah Jones song, cut the awkward choreography, and call it a day. That is, if she makes it to the next round.
As for the rest of Team Blake… Levine took the words right out of so many viewers’ minds saying, “That was the perfect song for you” to Jared Blake’s performance of “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon. And Dia Frampton really came alive behind the piano while singing her own rendition of Kanye West’s “Heartless.” For music lovers not a fan of the song, Frampton may have changed their minds! And last to represent Team Blake was Patrick Thomas with Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance.” While this song has been heard on countless other music competiton shows and is quite boring at this point, it was a bit refreshing to hear it performed by a male.
A few things worth pointing out… all of the coaches had time to critique every artist but do we really need to hear what every coach thinks of every performance? And after the first season, do we really need two hour episodes at this stage in the competition? The first live show was exciting, but two hours seems unnecessary after seeing the fill in segments. Also, Daly said in the beginning of last night’s broadcast, “We’re in Los Angeles and we’re live” but will he go into detail as to where the show is set on the night of the season finale? Sitting in the audience last night were a number of eliminated contestants. It would be quite a thrill to see them back on stage during the finale. But I am getting ahead of myself. Next week, artists from Team Cee Lo and Team Adam will perform. Stay tuned for some of the best performances of the season!
Watch The Voice Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.
So after a brief recap of the journey so far, Host, Carson Daly explained how the voting works and also gave some very important information about “saves.” There will be one viewer save and one coach save, which makes sense considering how involved both parties are in this competition.
As for the voting, fans can vote for their favorite artists on NBC.com, by calling the phone number on the screen after the show, and by downloading the studio versions of the songs that the artists perform each week via the iTunes Store. Voting begins at the end of each Tuesday night show and doesn’t close until the following Monday night! That is incredible. Fans are not restricted to 2 hours after the show airs, or 2 days but essentially have time to vote up until the day before the next live show. Though they can only vote up to ten times per artist, per method. Still, the voting process is very convenient time wise and social media wise – and it also gives time for fans to conduct weekly voting campaigns. So the results shows should be very interesting, especially with two artists from Team Christina and Team Blake being sent home next week.
The Voice’s V-Correspondent, Alison Haislip also introduced viewers to “The V Room” early in the broadcast. The V Room is where viewers can stay connected to the artists and coaches live through Twitter and Facebook. While those on the West Coast without an East Coast feed will be left out of this portion of the show, integrating social media this way into a (live) show is so original and so fun to see play out. So far, the messages that are read live are solely praising the artists. It would be refreshing to see respectful criticisms as well since every performance cannot be perfect.
From Team Christina… Raquel Castro proved that she cannot sing and dance very well at the same time but she did blow “Blow” by Ke$ha. It’s up for interpretation as to if she blew it in a good or bad way. Levine and Aguilera had quite a playful tiff after Beverly McClellan’s beautiful performance of “I’m the Only One” by Melissa Etheridge. If there wasn’t so much talk of her singing with a cold during rehearsals, I would have never known. She was that good. Lily Elise took on Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry” which was another perfect song choice last night. Though as Levine mentioned, the performance was much more engaging without the dancers who came out around her in the beginning. Also, Elise was pitchy quite a few times but she brought the performance to home base well enough and was much better than Castro as far as catching herself pitch wise. Also worth pointing out is that Elise attempts to be more sexy than she needs to be. If she tones it down a bit, she could gain more votes! Last to represent Team Christina was Frenchie Davis with “When Love Takes Over” by David Guetta featuring Kelly Rowland. Davis is already a star and showed everyone why she is in last night’s performance. It was perfect.
Kicking off the second hour of the broadcast were Aguilera and her team with a fantastic group performance of “Lady Marmalade.” This was truly the best performance of the night. Yes, that includes the coaches Queen medley. Of course, this performance came after footage was shown of the ladies out for dinner at Geisha House with Aguilera. Oh, what us diehard 90s pop fans would do for a dinner with Aguilera. Anyway, it is so heartwarming to see the coaches so invested in not only the artists but the artists as individuals. Seeing the coaches take the time to have dinner with their artists was a beautiful thing and will make the viewers appreciate the coaches and their work all the more.
Shelton took his team out for a casual meal before performing Maroon 5′s “This Love” with them live last night. The smile on Levine’s face said it all. It was quite exhilarating watching Shelton take part in performing a song by another coach instead of one of his own songs. Whether that has to do with the mainstream audience or not, it was a fun choice. But I really think not choosing one of his own songs says a lot about his character as well.
So the group performance was fun but Xenia proved that she is more boring than watching paint dry. Xenia, Xenia, Xenia. Poor Xenia. The girl has no rhythm or stage presence. I’d be the first to buy her album but would not go to a concert of hers if anyone paid me. Her solo performance of Jessie J’s “Price Tag” was the only bad song choice of the night. She gave without a doubt the most boring and lifeless performance of “Price Tag” ever. Xenia is clearly not a performer. Perhaps next time around, Shelton will give her a Norah Jones song, cut the awkward choreography, and call it a day. That is, if she makes it to the next round.
As for the rest of Team Blake… Levine took the words right out of so many viewers’ minds saying, “That was the perfect song for you” to Jared Blake’s performance of “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon. And Dia Frampton really came alive behind the piano while singing her own rendition of Kanye West’s “Heartless.” For music lovers not a fan of the song, Frampton may have changed their minds! And last to represent Team Blake was Patrick Thomas with Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance.” While this song has been heard on countless other music competiton shows and is quite boring at this point, it was a bit refreshing to hear it performed by a male.
A few things worth pointing out… all of the coaches had time to critique every artist but do we really need to hear what every coach thinks of every performance? And after the first season, do we really need two hour episodes at this stage in the competition? The first live show was exciting, but two hours seems unnecessary after seeing the fill in segments. Also, Daly said in the beginning of last night’s broadcast, “We’re in Los Angeles and we’re live” but will he go into detail as to where the show is set on the night of the season finale? Sitting in the audience last night were a number of eliminated contestants. It would be quite a thrill to see them back on stage during the finale. But I am getting ahead of myself. Next week, artists from Team Cee Lo and Team Adam will perform. Stay tuned for some of the best performances of the season!
Watch The Voice Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.