As you may recall, I was really excited last year when the show “The Voice” debuted. I felt it was about time that there was a show that gave artists of varying ages and appearances a fair shot at being “heard” as a singer. Since the judges’ chairs are turned away from the contestants during the “Blind Audition” rounds, they must decide only by what really counts: the voice. People can not be discounted simply because they may be perceived as “too old”, or because they may not “look the part” for whatever reason. ( yes, it’s sad to say that even in 2012, some people still judge others based on first impression/looks – hard to believe some are still that shallow/superficial ) This show caught our attention because it was different, and focused on the singing.
Season 2 began a few weeks back, and I have been so busy recently that I’ve had to play “catch up”, watching taped episodes. A couple nights ago, we finally watched the first of the Battle Rounds, which was interesting. The teams are led by Christina, Adam, Blake and Cee-Lo again, and they each have 12 singers. Now that we’re into the Battle Rounds, each team will go from 12 down to 6 via weekly duet battles. ( over 4 weeks ) Once again, the artists work with both their coaches, and celebrity advisors to prepare. This year, they are: Lionel Richie, Jewel, Alanis Morissette, Robin Thicke, Miranda Lambert, Kelly Clarkson, Babyface, and Ne-Yo.
Each coach hand picks 2 members of their team to “battle” by singing a song together, then they must decide who goes home at the end of the round. Last week, Christina’s team saw Chris Mann vs. Monique Benabou singing “The Power Of Love” ( Celine Dion ), and Christina felt that Chris did a better job. We felt that Monique showed more emotion, but it’s not up to us. The best battle of the night, by far, was when Anthony Evans and Jesse Campbell sang “If I Ain’t Got You” ( Alicia Keys ). Christina chose Jesse as the winner of that round, which we also disagreed with. That one was pretty close, but we felt that Anthony did a better job. Either way, it was definitely the most interesting part of the whole show that night – both guys really “brought it”, with power and emotion, and connected with the audience – beautiful stuff.
Adam pitted Tony Lucca against Chris Cauley, and they sang U2’s “A Beautiful Day”. Tony came out on top in that round – again, a fairly close one, but we felt Tony was slightly more “polished”, so we agreed with Adam. We felt the song choice was kind of boring, though. ( don’t get me wrong – I like U2 – I just feel they have a lot of much better songs )
Blake decided that Adley Stump and RaeLynn from his team would sing “Free Falling” ( Tom Petty ) ( another song we aren’t crazy about ) and he chose RaeLynn as victor. We felt he made the right choice: Adley definitely has a bit stronger voice, more experience, stage presence etc. but RaeLynn has this incredible quality to her voice. She is also just so young and fresh and brimming with promise. I’ll be interested to see how things go for her. Next, he paired Jordis Unga with Brian Fuente on “Ironic” ( Alanis ), and Jordis took that round. ( as an aside, I have to say that I absolutely loved the scarf that Brian was wearing !!! )
Cee-Lo chose Cheesa ( pronounced “Chessa”, despite the spelling ) to perform with Angie Johnson, doing “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” ( Bonnie Tyler ). Both ladies did well, but Cheesa came out on top in that one, which we felt was correct, as well.
So, we basically agreed with all of the judges’ decisions, with the exception of Christina’s, on this particular night. It was a good show – again, some song choices were rather – how can I put it – not very exciting, but that’s all a part of it, I guess. If you can make even a somewhat “dull” song sound interesting, then you have something special, right?
The Battle Rounds continue for 3 more weeks, and the Live Rounds begin Apr. 2nd. The Official NBC site for “The Voice” is here. Please check out the show, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on how things are going.
