‘The Voice’ Battle Rounds, Pt. 3: What Annoys A Legend Most?
Man, what a difference a day — or a pronoun — can make. Up until this Monday’s Voice Battle Rounds, Kawan DeBose had seemed like a frontrunner. His coach, Adam Levine, had even once compared him to Prince! But after Kawan struggled during rehearsals — even screwing up the lyrics to “Love Me Now” by John Legend in front of team advisor John Legend — he quickly went from a Prince to a pauper.
“When you change a pronoun, it changes the meaning of the song. It’s ‘Who’s gonna kiss you when I’m gone?’” John grumbled. (Kawan had accidentally sung, “Who’s gonna kiss me?”) “You want to get those pronouns right.”
Kawan’s
Battle partner, Malik Davage, didn’t have a totally easy time of it
either, and John, usually such a sweet and mellow fellow, griped that
the duo’s performance was not tight — and that their second day of
rehearsing was even worse than the first. “I expected them to have made
some progress … but they did not; it was almost like they regressed,” he
said. Adam was even more disgruntled, and in what Malik called a “tough
love moment,” he barked at the pair: “You guys are great singers, but
it seems to me you aren’t totally prepared. That’s what it sounds like
to me. And that upsets me, because that’s a big deal.”
Wow. This was a rare moment of harsh, almost Simon Cowell-style criticism for The Voice —
usually a coddling, everyone-gets-a-cookie show on which the wimpy
coaches tend to lavish praise on everyone, even the auditioners who fail
to turn any chairs. But I was glad that Adam and John were so brutally
honest with Kawan and Malik. This is Season 12 already. At this point,
there is no room for singers who don’t take rehearsals seriously or
can’t figure out the difference between you and me.
“This
was definitely not easy to get this together,” groused Adam, grumpy in
his grandpa sweater and red-tempered in his red chair. “It didn’t work
really the first day, and it didn’t really work the second day, and I
was worried … We have a lot of people to work with on the show, and how
people collaborate, that’s A-number one, you know? There’s a lot of
talent out there, but when you want to make it and you want to
succeed, the way you collaborate with people dictates so much of what
happens in your life and in your career.”
Honestly,
Adam didn’t seem like he wanted to collaborate any further with either
singer — but eventually he picked Malik, who he noted had the better
attitude. However, unless Malik has a major turnaround the next time he
enters the rehearsal room, he will likely be eliminated in the Knockout
Rounds by his grudge-holding coach. And in the meantime, Kawan, someone
I’d had pegged as a shoo-in for the top 12, is already out of the
running. Who’s going to love him when he’s gone, indeed.
Thankfully, Monday’s other Battles — those that were not montaged, that is — went much more smoothly.
TEAM BLAKE: Josh Hoyer vs. TSoul
I’ve been a TSoldier ever since he auditioned with Al Green’s “Take Me to the River,”
and I knew he’d be amazing doing Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight
Hour.” Josh was no slouch — the throwback song suited his bar-band
style, and he was a solid vocalist throughout — but he just didn’t have
TSoul’s charisma and sparkle. TSoul was such a flashy, thrilling
performer, while Josh’s approach was more workmanlike, frills-free… and
ultimately forgettable.
Gwen
Stefani did praise Josh’s stage presence, and Blake Shelton praised
Josh, who normally plays piano, for getting out of his comfort zone.
(“You need to spend a little more time out here. Maybe we can get you a
keytar,” Blake said — a suggestion I wholeheartedly co-signed. I still
want a subscription to the Keytar magazine Alicia Keys was reading on that fake Voice sitcom!) But to be honest, by the end of the song, I barely even noticed that Josh was still in the ring. This Battle was all about TSoul; poor Josh, with or without a keytar, never stood a chance.
But
when it came down to it, another pronoun was the real problem here.
Apparently Kawan and Malik really did think there was an I in Team Adam.
They shared very little chemistry and seemed too absorbed in their
individual performances to gel either in the rehearsal room or onstage.
While their actual “Love Me Now” in the Battle Rounds ring was much
better than their disastrous rehearsals might have foretold, it still
didn’t feel like a dynamic duet. Their lack of teamwork made the overall
performance fall flat.
WINNER: TSoul
TEAM ALICIA: Autumn Turner vs. Vanessa Ferguson
Alicia
described the younger Autumn as “R&B/pop” and Vanessa as
“R&B/soul,” so “Killing Me Softly With His Song” seemed a better fit
for the latter, more-experienced singer. Vanessa even mastered both the
Roberta Flack melodies and Fugees-inspired reggae/rap adlibs; she
simply oozed laid-back, Lauryn Hill-circa-’97 cool. Meanwhile, Autumn,
though she possessed the bigger and boomier voice, came across as a bit
miseducated — with a shaky start and none of Vanessa’s originality or
swagger.
Interestingly,
though, while Alicia rightfully saved Vanessa, both Adam and Gwen
fought to steal the rather unexciting Autumn. Autumn ultimately went
with Adam, and then Alicia’s bizarre Adam Levine puppet
(which looks absolutely nothing like him, I might note) came out of
nowhere and Adam got all freaked out. I’m convinced that this is
Alicia’s crazy new strategy: shake Adam’s confidence by preying upon his
pupaphobia. However, with someone as great as Vanessa on her team,
Alicia may not have to resort to such random tactics to win this season.
WINNER: Vanessa Ferguson
STOLEN: Autumn Turner moves to Team Adam
TEAM GWEN: Caroline Sky vs. Stephanie Rice
Caroline
is 16 and from a stable family-band background. Stephanie is 27 and was
disowned by her religious family after she came out as a lesbian. It
seemed pretty clear which singer would bring more pathos, pain, and life
experience to Cat Stevens’s “The First Cut Is the Deepest.” But
instead, Caroline was a totally unexpected revelation. Her tenderness
and fragility of were magical (“Your voice is delicate and beautiful,
and it kind of shreds at the same time,” Blake told her), while
Stephanie’s stylized, affected growling felt surprisingly disingenuous
to me. I was shocked to find myself rooting for Caroline, especially
since Stephanie’s backstory was so moving, and her “Piece by Piece” audition had been one of my favorites of the season. But Caroline’s beyond-her-years poise and passion were undeniable.
In the end, what I was really
rooting for was a steal. And I got my wish! There would be no deep cuts
for these girls tonight. Gwen saved Stephanie, but as Carson Daly
amusingly put it, Caroline “went from Team Gwen to Team Gwen” when she
was stolen by Gwen’s boyfriend, Blake. I was relieved, because I think
Caroline showed some serious potential. She could be Season 12’s dark
horse.
STOLEN: Caroline Sky moves to Team Blake
TEAM BLAKE: Enid Ortiz vs. Valerie Ponzio
TEAM ADAM: Hanna Eyre vs. Sheena Brook
TEAM GWEN: Jozy Bernadette vs. Troy Ramey
OK, these
were the cuts that went deepest — the ones that left hours of rehearsal
room footage on NBC’s cutting-room floor. We didn’t get to see much,
but I was most dismayed that Americana crooner Valerie, a standout in
the Blinds, was eliminated this week without any explanation or context.
And I bet Blake’s old Season 2 protégé, RaeLynn, was bummed out by this
montage as well. (In case you couldn’t tell from the three seconds that
made it to air, Enid and Valerie were singing RaeLynn’s 2016 single
“Love Triangle.”)
But as it turns out, all three of these Battles were posted in full online. (This was not
the case with last week’s two montages, oddly.) Watching them all, I
can see why Valerie didn’t make it. I loved her quirky, reedy vocals,
but I have to admit that Enid dug deeper and went bolder; she just
seemed to want it more, while Valerie came across a little
sleepy and loopy. Still, this was a solid performance from both women,
one that deserved more substantial airtime.
As
for Monday’s other two truncated Battles, Hanna and Sheena’s cover of
P!nk’s “Try” was generic and, for lack of a better word, montage-able;
however, I thought Sheena was just a tad more fiery and should have
stayed. Doing Jeff Healey’s “Angel Eyes,” Troy was supremely soulful and
definitely should have made it to prime time. Hopefully when the
Knockouts come around, all three surviving singers will get more than
just an afterthought YouTube upload for their troubles.
WINNERS: Enid Ortiz, Hanna Eyre, and Troy Ramey, respectively
TEAM ALICIA: Hunter Plake vs. Jack Cassidy
I
would not have expected two worship leaders covering Swedish electropop
provocateur Robyn to be my favorite Battle of the night, but The Voice
was full of surprises this Monday. And back to the subject of pronouns,
kudos to Hunter and Jack for keeping Robyn’s intact. (Well, they did
change “girl” to “guy,” but at least they didn’t mess with the iconic
“watching you kiss her” line in “Dancing on My Own.”)
And extra-special kudos to the exquisitely talented Hunter, my new
favorite, for delivering every heartbreaking pronoun, noun, adjective,
adverb, and verb with such conviction and devastating sincerity. I loved
his haunting, slightly Thom Yorke-ish vocals and storytelling style.
Jack, a member of the Cassidy (i.e., Partridge) family, was more
believable than I’d expected, but he still held back; he just didn’t
have Hunter’s vulnerability, openness, or sense of longing.
For
some odd reason, Alicia picked Jack, explaining she was on a mission to
“untame” the buttoned-up, wholesome Cassidy kid. What a massive
mistake. But that was when Adam and Gwen became untamed themselves, and
they both ferociously went in for the steal. “Hunter, you have
to make a record. I mean, my God, your voice is so beautiful, and you
are so emotional when you sing,” raved Gwen. “Your voice is one of those
things that isn’t around enough and that we need more of,” declared
Adam. But when Gwen pointed out that Adam hadn’t turned around for
Hunter in the Blinds, Hunter’s decision was clear. And Adam’s (and
Alicia’s) loss was Gwen’s gain.
WINNER: Jack Cassidy
STOLEN: Hunter Plake moves to Team Gwen
Come back Tuesday for more Battles — and hopefully fewer montages and
fewer awkward, lyric-flubbing, Adam-infuriating “tough love” moments.
See you then.
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