Thursday, June 9, 2011

The Voice: Live Performance Part 1

Hmm. I don't know what to make out of this first live performance episode. Haha.

Ok. Let me say the positive things first. I thought the song choices were fantastic and most of them were actually very current. It's quite refreshing to hear songs that aren't 40 years old. I also liked the fact that the mentors performed with their contestants. That was very interesting. Oh, and I admit, Christina and her team rocked Lady Marmalade.

As for the not so positive things to say about the show? Umm, Christina Aguilera forgot her pants, Cee-Lo Green's extremely short arms, the Queen medley was a mess - except for Blake Shelton - and, say what you want, but the contestants weren't as good as I expected them all to be. I don't know. Lily Elise wouldn't even be good enough for a Las Vegas spot on American Idol.

But whatever, I enjoyed the show and I found it extremely entertaining - trainwrecks notwithstanding. I have to wonder though whether the show can break a “star” with the focus so squarely on the judges and with the judges performing every week.

Raquel Castro
Team Christina 
Blow

Who said a Ke$ha song can't be performed on a singing competition? Haha. While this wasn't the best vocal performance EVER, I really enjoyed this. For the record, I never really liked Raquel - there's just something annoying with her - but I really thought she pulled this off really well. I mean, to sing a pretty recognizable, over produced dance/pop track complete with choreography LIVE was already tough, and then she decided to take on some more vocal liberties with the song to make it more "challenging" than the original. Sure, the execution was rough around the edges, but I doubt Ke$ha could pull this one just as good. I don't know. I just sincerely found this whole performance kind of refreshing for a singing competition. Sue me. 7.5/10

Jared Blake
Team Blake
Use Somebody

I just don’t care for this dude. Maybe because all I got from his performance was a wannabe rockstar vibe? Yes, his tone worked well with the song, but everything just came off as a pale imitation of the original. He didn't do anything to make it less karaoke. Mediocre at best. Oh, and that sparkly headband didn't help him in any way! Haha. 6/10

Beverly McClellan
Team Christina
I'm The Only One

There's something about Beverly that scares the freakin' bejesus out of me. Ok. I thought she sounded really good, her notes were almost always on point and her voice suited the song quite nicely. I also liked the fact that she eased up a bit on the screaming. That said, could her song choice be anymore predictable? I mean, this Melissa Etheridge song was an extremely obvious choice for her and totally in her wheelhouse. But whatever. 7.5/10

Dia Frampton
Team Blake
Heartless

So, the judges/mentors acted like this was the first time someone changed this song into something stripped down? And did Cee-Lo really say that this was the greatest rendition of Heartless? Umm, no! Dear judges, look up for Kris Allen's rendition HERE. I admit, her tone and phrasing were awesome and I did like some of her inflections, but her version of the song was just decent at best. I think what made Kris Allen's version so good was the fact that even if it was acoustic, his voice commanded the song with conviction. Dia, on the other hand, sounded weak on some parts. In general, I do like Dia. I just don't think her performance was THAT good. 7.5/10

Xenia
Team Blake
Price Tag

Xenia's about as thrilling as a pond water! Haha. To be honest, I really love her tone and her phrasing, but this performance was absolutely boring! She seemed incredibly uncomfortable on stage that somehow took away from her singing and she sounded weak and hesitant, which, to me, just didn't work with this song. I mean, it needed a great deal of sass and I didn't get it from her. Such a shame. Sorry. 6.5/10

Lily Elise
Team Christina
Big Girls Don't Cry

I was told before that if I couldn't think of ANYTHING nice to say, I wasn’t allowed to say the bad stuff. Therefore, my critique of this song is over. Haha. 3.5/10

Patrick Thomas
Team Blake
I Hope You Dance

True, Patrick's voice sounded very generic, but I thought he did a serviceable version of this song. He looked surprisingly comfortable on stage and although he struggled a little after the key change, he managed to pull it off quite nicely. But that's all I'm going to say about the performance. 7/10

Frenchie David
Team Christina
When Love Takes Over

Possibly one of the strongest performances in this episode. Of course, it wasn't vocally flawless - she missed a couple of notes and some of her higher register went a little shrill - but to nail a dance anthem like this with great vocal control was actually pretty impressive. I also liked that even if she didn't move alot on stage, her presence was still there. 7.5/10

PREDICTION

TEAM CHRISTINA
Frenchie Davis and Raquel Castro

TEAM BLAKE
Patrick Thomas and Dia Frampton

13 comments:

Samuel said...

Like, Love, and completely agree with the prediction.

Lucas said...

Completely agree with the prediction, but I actually loved Dia, thought it was the best performance of the night by far (Ok, you're all probably gonna want to kill me but i actually liked it better than Kris' version), Frenchie was also pretty impressive
I always end up hating myself for liking Raquel's performance but it was very entertaining... but she's so annoying! haha
I just don't know who would I pick to complete Blake's team because while i love Xenia's tone she has -10 stage presence :S Patrick was good, but that's it, I thought that Live Like You are Dying was much much better... idk...

MadAboutPia said...

Lucas, I agree with you on Dia's version of "Heartless". I liked it better than Kris' version.
I also LOVE Xenia's voice. Who cares about her stage presence? It's a SINGING competition. Those type of comments about stage presence always bothered me about American Idol also. It's _supposed_ to be about the voice (hence the name of the show).

Overall, I thought Team Blake stomped all over Team Christina (speaking of Christina... I find her annoying as hell... everything about her - look, voice, attitude, singing. She used to be good, now it's just all pointless runs and notes that don't belong anywhere near the song she's _trying_ to sing).

My personal picks (even though I'm sure to be wrong):
Team Christina: Beverly and Frenchie,
Team Black: Dia and Xenia

Anonymous said...

Stage presence is important 'cos this is a television show more then anything... If you really think it's just about THE VOICE (regardless of the name of the show) then you're being naive. If this show is just about the voice then why did they pick Patrick Thomas over Tyler Robinson or Deven over Rebecca Loebe?

If this competition is on the radio Xenia would win this but its not. Stage presence is important because you need to perform in front of people... You're not forever be just on radio or in your record... You have to PERFORM! Duh!

ann said...

I absolutely loved Dia's performance. I also think that it's better than Kris Allen's. And if anybody should be credited for this strip down version of the song, it should be The Fray and not Allen. I really love Xenia's voice and I would like for her to stay despite having little to no stage presence.

As of the moment, the only songs that are charting on the iTunes top 100 are Dia's Heartless and Xenia's Price Tag. I think that's saying a lot. Dia's currently sitting at 21st spot while Xenia's at 58.

I think Frenchie and Beverly will stick around for Team Christina while Dia and Xenia/Patrick for Team Blake.

Lucas said...

I L O V E Xenia's voice, however as Anonymous said, they have to perform regardless of being a competition about the voice, and to be fair, even though I would love to listen to her album I would probably get really bored in a show of hers...

And MadAboutPia (btw LOVED your name) everything in Xtina is sooooo fake that I end up liking her, instead of hating her try to have fun in the spents of her "fakiness", her looks, her attitude, haha It's much better ;P
However, I actually like her singing, and I'm always amazed about how can a voice so deep and strong can come out of such a tiny creature (she looks like a dwarf next o blake) enven though I agree that she sometimes gets all over the place and end up overdoing it :S

And yeah, Blake completely crushed Christina's team even though Lady Marmalade, for me, was one of the highlights of the show. And he's such a better couch than her, you can see that he really cares for each of his team members :)

and please, stop reminding me of Rebecca, I get pissed everytime I remember that Chicken Little took her out ¬¬

By the way, does the results come out in the nexto episode??? i didn't quite get it :S
and sorry about my poor english =x

Derry said...

OMG.. your prediction is the same as my favorites.

I'd love Raquel, Frenchie, Dia and Patrick to move forward.

I think Dia gave a very refreshing and orginal performance with "Heartless". I love the 'dark' feeling Dia gave to the song. My favorite performance of the night.

I know that Raquel performance was not vocally perfect. But she looked and performed like a star! And given the right direction she could be one..

Very surpised with Patrick performance. Not only it was vocally great.. but I can feel his emotion as well.

Frenchie is one of the most seasoned contestants and I love her power vocal, calm-fierceness and poise.

I also enjoyed Xenia and Beverly performances..

Arggh.. Just wished they don't have to cut so many contestants each week..

Nice review DAM!

Eric said...

like Dias version of Heartless. it was almost power ballady in that it was midtempo and piano based. Kris’s version had a ton more soul tho.

i think Kris’s version worked better because he at least sounded tough and it still worked with the theme of the song.

grey74 said...

Team Blake:

Jared Blake and Patrick Thomas move on

Team Christina:

Lilly Elyse and Frenchie Davis move on

grey74 said...

Why does everyone rave about xenia. She has the stage presence of a cold cucumber. I think I took a nap when she was on stage, seriously ever other performer on theat stage blew her out of the water

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZMHz9BR9Yk

hate on her, haters <3 If you thing Raquel is better than Lily I'm assuming you're deaf...?

Co de Naam said...

I loved this live show. Personally I liked the performance of Beverly McClelland the best, but they were all great. I can really see though that Dia Frampton is considered on the blogs to have performed the best on this live show. I also write about it at http://nbcthevovicefan.com where you can read more about it. It is cool to see you have put so much time and effort in your coverage of the first live show! Can see you love it too, just like me!

Anonymous said...

Dia sounded kinda pitchy, I didn't really like it that much. Xenia was actually a bit better than her. It's just that Xenia is awkward up on stage. Jared sounded pretty pitchy too, but my fave from Blake Shelton's team was Patrick,his voice was really awesome with good range. I would've wanted Dia/Patrick to move on, but Xenia made it. A little shocked by Blake's decision, but it's a good oppurtunity for Xenia to sing.

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