The Voice

You know, I had a much longer writeup about this planned but got sidetracked, as I mentioned in my last post, and at this point, it's 1 AM and I just want to throw some stuff down and not have to think of any interesting title.

The Voice is a singing competition on NBC. If you've never heard about it, there's plenty of stuff about it online, it's cool, you should check it out.

Like I said, this is pretty much just random stuff I wanted to remark on...starting with the intro to the show.

I really enjoyed episode 1 when the coaches (Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera, CeeLo Green, Adam Levine) came out performing "Crazy." I thought that was pretty neat. This week's Queen medley however, not so much. In my opinion at least. So take that with a grain of salt. Which is interesting, because I spent two semesters writing for the A&E section at ASU primarily doing album reviews and interviewing artists, but I would still consider myself to be not very knowledgeable when it comes to music and that kind of thing, although I think I've come a ways from when I started. But that's neither here nor there.

(Actually, I realized I am going to reference that again at least once so stay tuned)

I had been wondering how they were going to fit 16 performances in the live shows, so I was happy to hear that only 2 teams (Blake and Christina's) would be performing tonight. In my mind, the artists tiered themselves out a bit on Tuesday, and it was more clear who really had potential and who didn't, although judging from various recaps/internet comments I've read, it might not have been as clear as I thought.

To start, there were a couple singers who performed who hadn't impressed me during the battle rounds. Lily Elise and her rendition of "Big Girls Don't Cry" was glaring in this regard, as it was just an awkward performance with four male dancers up there with her. I thought Cherie Oakley clearly outsung her and that she didn't have much to offer other than random runs and wailing...but then it made sense why Christina Aguilera picked her.

The other young Team Xtina (I hate myself for using that) member, Raquel Castro, likewise didn't impress me much with "Blow." To be fair, Ke$ha wouldn't really top my list of songs I'd think of to showcase one's singing ability. Raquel is a sparkplug, a mini diva, Cee Lo's "Lil Mama" and she brings a lot of energy, but I just didn't think she was that good. Her battle round was okay, although I think you could have made a case that Julia Eason was better, and I think Raquel was helped a lot by her youth and potential. But she doesn't strike me as anything beyond a middle of the pack Disney star. Maybe that would fit her better. After all, she was in Jersey Girl.

The third person who didn't impress me was Team Blake's Patrick Thomas. His performance was good, I guess, but it just seemed rather boring to me. His battle with Tyler Robinson was tight, the other three coaches actually thought Tyler won it, but in the end Blake went with Patrick the country boy, who Christina had asked to take off his pants during the blind audition. She did it AGAIN (a couple times I think) after this performance, and I know she was just trying to be funny (I hope), but it came across as really strange and kind of creepy and desperate. I can't imagine the backlash if one of the male judges said something like that to a female singer, although CeeLo's been ogling pretty much every girl up there.

Also about Christina, what the heck was up with her wardrobe? Her eyeshadow looked like it was applied wrong or something (I have no idea if that's even possible, I know nothing about eyeshadow believe it or not), and she was wearing super short short shorts. As in I could see her thighs. I'm not altogether sure she looked in the mirror before coming out.

As far as the other singers, I have to say Jared Blake kind of bored me too. He's alright, but his "Use Somebody" was nothing special, and I think he was pretty lucky to have made it through the battle rounds when Elenowen crapped their pants (in a LeBron Finals 4th quarter fashion) and had a terrible showing. If he had been matched up against Tyler or Serabee, I'm not sure he would have made it through.

Frenchie I thought did well. A lot of commenters were saying she was flat or missing notes, but I didn't really notice, although that probably says a lot more about me than anything. She's performed on Broadway, and that earns a ton of respect in my book. Blake said she has the strongest voice in the competition. I don't know if I agree with that (as in I really don't know as in I forgot what some of the others sound like), but she's definitely in the running.

Bev McClellan might as well be the poster child for this show. She's so easy to judge based on her looks as a bald lesbian who's clothing choice for the live performance was compared to a Nazi by more than one person (something like a leather jacket and checkered red kilt). But boy can she sing. She irritates me sometimes as she walks the singing/wailing/screaming line, but she's very confident in what she does and I think that has a lot of value.

Then there was Xenia. Boy...you know I really don't know if I like her or not. On one hand, her tone (you really can't talk about Xenia without talking about her tone. Or her lack of a last name) is incredible. It's sultry, smoky, and just overall very pleasing to the ear. That's a unique trait that has the potential to carry her far. On the other hand, her battle round was pretty terrible. She and her opponent Sara O were missing notes left and right and that potential (and maybe she sucked a little less) made the difference in the end. She looked and sounded a bit uncomfortable performing "Price Tag" and it was just kind of awkward. And yet the way she sounds when she's singing is so infectious, I think simply performing more is going to help her a lot. But there was just one thing I couldn't get out of my head. With Xenia standing up there with a mic stand, a band and blue lights behind her, I really imagine her true calling to be a lounge singer. It just seems to fit so perfectly.

And finally Dia Frampton. You know what, I'm not even going to try to hide the fact that I'm biased. She is probably my favorite in this competition (favorite as in personal favorite, not betting favorite). Back in my freshman year I had reviewed one of her band's albums and I loved it. Don't think of this as some weird kind of self-promotion. There are plenty of artists/groups I've reviewed that would not interest me at all on this show. But Dia's voice, which I had described as "distinct and diverse" which I think was code for "I have no idea how to describe this but I like it," has a really smooth, earthy quality that's just so easy to listen to (Check out their YouTube for more).

Her singing style is a lot less aggressive than many of the others in this competition, and I think that's mistaken for shyness or a lack of confidence. You can always tell when people haven't heard of her before because they'll say things like, "Oh, if only she had more experience she would be so much better!" Hate to break it to you, but Meg and Dia was formed in 2004 and have received critical acclaim (Rolling Stone's "New Artist You Should Know About") so at this point it's take it or leave it.

Her performance of "Heartless," which had cracked the top 30 on iTunes last I checked, should have dispelled those notions, as she really got after it, which Christina really noticed, calling her a "fighter"...although she also said she wanted to curl up with her on the couch. I think she might have been slightly drunk before coming on the show.

It was easily the standout performance of the night. I would be absolutely shocked if she did not make it through to the next round. As for the others, I really don't know. Either of the remaining 3 Team Blake members I wouldn't have a huge problem with. I think Frenchie and Bev should go on from Christina's team, but audience voting can be so random, and Christina's proven that her selections can be as well.

Well now, I guess this wasn't as short as I would have liked. But hey, maybe you should watch the show so you can know what I'm talking about. It's probably not the greatest show I've watched, but it's pulling down monster ratings so it must be doing something right.

Next week is a great week to jump in on as it has, by my reckoning, four of the top five (Dia as the fifth) singers on the show: Vicci Martinez, Nakia, Jeff Jenkins, and Javier Colon. Looking forward to it!