Bryan Olesen, lead singer for the band VOTA, listens to the coaches’ feedback along with his daughter Jadyn on Monday’s episode of The Voice. (NBC Photo)
The Voice introduced viewers to nine more members of its Season 25 cast Monday night.
Only one turned four chairs. That would be Madison Curbelo, who was returning to the show after failing to turn a single chair in Season 20.
Quite a turn-around, right? She opted to join Team Dan + Shay, the first four-chair turn artist they’ve landed this season.
Also earning spots on the show were Bryan Olesen, Asher HaVon, Corey Curtis, Ashley Bryant, Frank Garcia, Kamalei Kawa’a, Jackie Romeo and Rivers Grayson.
The Voice showed so little of Rivers performance he might as well be montaged.
Which made absolutely no sense since The Voice decided to give us much more complete introduces to three artists who didn’t make the show! Ugh!
Follow the links below and you’ll find profiles of the individual artists, complete with information about music they’ve already released.
BEST OF THE NIGHT
Bryan Olesen, 49, Lincoln, Neb., “Love Runs Out” by One Republic: His excellent a capella opening earns three chair turns in a heartbeat. Bryan rocks out on stage with confident, vocally impressive performance, but can’t budge Chance for some reason. No idea why he wouldn’t turn for that performance. It was certainly four-chair turn worthy. Reba said it was a performance she could feel without seeing anything. She called Bryan absolutely incredible. John called it the best audition we’ve seen and said Bryan has all the tools he needs to be a superstar. Bryan’s daughter joins him on stage and they even sing a bit together. Brian opts to join Team Legend.
RUNNERS-UP
Asher HaVon, 31, Selma, Ala., “Set FIre To the Rain” by Adele: Really nice tone from the opening note from Asher. And that prompts quick chair turns from Chance and then from Dan + Shay. Asher eventually lures a chair turn from Reba as well. And Asher continues to turn in a passionate performance, but can’t quite get that fourth chair to turn. Reba says he has an “incredible voice” with plenty of range and power. John compliments him on having a powerful voice. Chance says everything he did was phenomenal. Asher opted to join Team Reba.
Madison Curbelo, 21, Westfield, Mass., “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King: She’s turning in a really nice acoustic performance of the song. This is a young lady who failed to turn a chair the first time she auditioned for The Voice coaches. Now her joyful tone is turning chair after chair. There goes Reba. That gives Madison a four-chair turn. Talk about a turn-around. Madison says she’s more confident and more secure in her artistry now. John says she’s “ready now.” He likes the brightness and charisma in her voice. Shay calls the performance “phenomenal” and says she radiates joy. Chance calls her an “awesome” talent. Madison decided to join Team Dan + Shay.
ALSO MADE THE SHOW
Jackie Romeo, 20, Massapequa, N.Y., “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus: Really unique tone from Jackie. Very impressive opening. And that’s enough to get a chair turn from John Legend. Jackie’s got some power behind those vocals too. This is one of the better vocals we’ve heard tonight. A big note gets Dan + Shay to turn as well. Shay called it “unbelievable” and a phenomenal performance. Dan said the vocal kept getting better and better. John said he liked the song performance and the way she made the song her own. Jackie joined Team Legend.
Ashley Bryant, 26, Louisville, Ky., “Last Name” by Carrie Underwood: She’s showing off really nice stage presence, but the backing music is too loud on this sound mix. It’s drowning out some of Ashley’s vocals. Ashley belts out some glory notes at the end and that sparks a chair turn from Reba. Ashley’s clearly thrilled by that development. Reba said she did a great job with the song. John loved her energy and enthusiasm. Chance complimented her on a great performance.
Frank Garcia, 19, New York, N.Y., “Love in the Dark” by Adele: Frank shows off nice range from the opening note. And that entices a quick chair turn from Dan + Shay. Frank’s performance is a bit theatrical and frill filled, but he has a nice tone. Nice ending too. As it turns out, Dan + Shay are the only coaches to turn. Dan says he was blown away by the performance and loved his confidence. He also said Frank carries himself like a star.
Kamalei Kawa’a, 26, Maui, Hawaii, “Redemption Song” by Bob Marley and The Wailers: Dang, Chance turned around on the opening line. Kamalei shows off a nice clear tone and some pretty nice range as well. Late in the song, Reba turns, joining Chance. Chance loves the song choice and says it’s important to have someone like Kamalei on the show. Reba said the song touched her heart, as did Kamalei’s spiritual performance. Kamalei opted to join Team Chance.
Corey Curtis, 22, Summerville, Ga., “Waiting on the World To Change” by John Mayer: Chance turned in a heartbeat. Personally, I had trouble making out anything Corey sang on that opening verse. Enunciate, please. Corey is turning in a pretty passionate performance, complete with a growl here and there, followed by a tender ending. Chance turned out to be the only coach to turn. Reba said she loved his voice and his performance. John liked the character in his voice.
Rivers Grayson, “Babylon” by David Gray: John called his performance subtle and said he executed it with “beauty and precision.” He also called his tone “gorgeous.” Of course, it’s tough for those of us watching to judge since we only heard 20 seconds of said performance and got to learning nothing about Rivers.
Asher Havon Ashley Bryant Bryan Olesen Corey Curtis Frank Garcia Jackie Romeo Kamalei Kawa'a Madison Curbelo Rivers Grayson The Voice
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20 Comments
That’s terrible for Rivers Grayson.
People think the contestants just show up for the coaches.
The contestants go through a long process beforehand.
Where is the rage about all these montages?
My co-workers could care less about whether or not someone on the show is montaged. What they are interested in is which coach is going to turn around, which coach is the contestant going to pick, that kind of stuff.
It’s couldn’t care less.
You and your coworkers should support the contestants you like after the season of “The Voice” ends.
Most of them are left to their own devices after the season finale.
I personally support my favorites, but my co-workers are older than me and not as into streaming and downloading music as much as I am.
I hate it when my sentences get cut off
by the margins.
What that says is:
streaming and downloading
When you think about it, none of these shows have produced a real “star” in the last decade. Oh wait, let me correct myself: NBC’s the Sing Off did give us Pentatonix in 2011. (Of course, let’s be honest — does anyone really care about them in the 11 months of the year outside of December?)
One of the reasons? Both The Voice and American Idol have invested more in the judges than in developing real stars.
In addition, they’re more interested in creating family programming. While they don’t call it “family shows”, these shows can be watched with children in the room, with very little in the way of political or sociological intercourse so there’s no controversy in them. So there’s that too.
And many of the Voice contestants are in their late 20s, 30s and some have even been in their 40s. That limits the interest from record companies and radio personnel and, yes, it’s a shame.
(Sure, pop music has usually been a young person’s game. But there was a time when you could have a pop hit even if you were up in years: Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Cher, Phil Collins, Meat Loaf, Aretha Franklin, Peter Gabriel, The Rolling Stones, the Who, the Grateful Dead, the Dire Straits, Huey Lewis and the News — they all had Billboard hits when they were past 30 years of age. And Country music had an even better record: the likes of Alabama, Brooks & Dunn, Ronnie Milsap, Dolly Parton, had plenty of hits past thirty or even forty. Garth Brooks’ career really got rolling after he turned 30. But now? You ONLY hear young country bros on the radio now.)
But also I would submit to you this: These shows are selling something that people just aren’t buying anymore. The Big, Brassy, Show-Stopping, Whitney-Mariah Diva is simply not a commercial force in music anymore.
Yes, I know, Adele. She’s an outlier. It’s quite amazing how she has managed to defy market forces and sell 10M+ not once but twice in the post-Napster Era.
We’re in a time now where there are two dominant commercial music styles: one, the synth driven, whispery, confessionalism of Ed Sheeran, Shawn Mendes and Halsey; two; hip-hop/trap/latin and all the offshoots of that. The music today isn’t beat driven anymore — producers now use atmospherics more than melody or hooks. The music of today is morose and downbeat. Pop music used to be about music to party and dance to; now it’s music for hangovers or just …chilling at home as the young people say these days.
The contestants on these shows are being given songs from 30, 40 even 50 years ago to interpret, and it’s because 1) sure these are greats songs and they’re songs to be sung but also 2) they are recognizable to the Boomers and Gen X-ers watching the show. Thus The Voice & Idol function as sort of a national radio station for all our past classics. That’s great, but again, it doesn’t have a foothold in popular music right now. The Voice is a show for the music business of the 50s or the early 90s. It works as self-referential entertainment in and of itself, but it’s irrelevant to selling records in the year 2024.
In seasons 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19,
the contestants were given original singles to sing for
the finale.
The songs were available to download and stream,
but I never heard them played on radio.
I give The Voice credit for trying. If radio
stations aren’t interested in playing
their coronation singles, that’s not
the show’s fault.
Another reason why The Voice hasn’t produced stars is because the contestants on The Voice don’t have the star quality those on American Idol, X-Factor, or America’s Got Talent and Britain’s Got Talent have had. Randy Jackson made that point a few years back. He said The Voice was for ‘Second Chance People.’ Many contestants and a few of the winners on The Voice had been given opportunities to succeed in the industry before, but they didn’t make it. There’s something the contestants themselves are missing.
I like Randy Jackson.
He wild carded Jennifer Hudson in Season 3 of “Idol”
He was the only judge who would speak out when a semifinalist was robbed or fell prey to the producers’ manipulations. (e.g. Lisa Leushner).
However, some “Voice” alums have gone on “Idol” (e.g. We Ani (McDonald), Hailey Mia).
Are they “second chance people”, as well?
Wendy Moten is a better example. She had a
major label deal and was dropped after
two albums in the 90’s.
When Randy said that, he had been
pointing out that season one winner
Javier Colon had previously held a
record contract with Capitol Records.
When I was still watching American
Idol, I remember people being upset
because Carly Smithson had previously had
a deal with MCA Records under the name
Carly Hennessy. The reason people were upset
is because the show’s gimmick had always been
to pluck talented young hopefuls from
obscurity and make them into recording artists.
Someone like her wasn’t exactly considered
a rookie in the music industry.
Regarding Carly Smithson, both Michael Johns and Kristy Lee Cook also had record deals.
Billy Gilman is another example. Popular country singer when he was a kid but his fame died out after puberty.
I like that The Voice
purposefully differentiates
itself from American Idol
by deliberately casting
more polished
performers. I hated when
American Idol had
embarrassments like Sanjaya
or wasted time showing gag
auditions like William Hung.
I second that.
Wendy’s music came out
at the same time as Whitney
and Mariah. I think she got
overshadowed by them.
This is a list of some famous music stars who were rejected from singing competition shows but went on to make it big.
https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/music/2022/07/19/american-idol-rejects-maren-morris-luke-combs-more-music-stars/10092541002/
Also, Jimmie Allen (country singer) and Lauren Daigle (Christian pop singer) were rejected by American Idol but later became famous.
That goes to show that TV singing shows are not the be all, end all when it comes to success.