Idol Chatter & Voice Views

What did we learn from the first two nights of The Voice.

That the show learned nothing – absolutely nothing – from its mistakes of Season 2.

In Season 2, way back in the spring, the show expanded the judges’ teams from eight singers to 12. The result: Singers disappeared for weeks at a time.

So what did The Voice do for Season 3. They expanded the teams to 16. That means a very selective group of 64 will make a team on Season 3.

I can only guess that means more hours of airtime for The Voice to fill this fall. Like the three straight nights of blind auditions this week, the third so the show can go head to head with The X Factor on Wednesday.

Nor has the show solved its audio problems from Season 2.

If our four star judges sounded as crappy as they did on “Start Me Up” Monday night, they never would have won a single one of those many Grammys they’ve accumulated over the years.

The good news is that the show still has Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera, the four most entertaining judges on any of these singing shows.

And they appear to have rounded up some pretty impressive talent once again, mostly among the male contestants we’ve met so far.

On Monday’s opening episode, Bryan Keith earned the only four-chair turnaround with an impressive rendition of Bruno Mars’ “It Will Rain.” The 22-year-old from Bronx, N.Y., is the son of Ray De La Pa, a singer with the Grammy-winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Bryan, determined to prove he can make it as a musician on his own, wound up on Team Adam.

The other Monday standout was 18-year-old Trevin Hunte, who admits he lacks confidence but demonstrated so much vocal skill singing “Listen” that Cee Lo was prompted to ask: “What planet are you from?” Well, he’s now on Team Cee Lo, and determined to prove wrong an 8th-grade teacher who once told him he’d go nowhere if he pursued a singing career.

The guys shined again on Tuesday. Aquile got three judges to turn their chairs around with a smooth performance of Elton John’s “Your Song.” The good-looking 24-year-old grew up in Wyoming and hinted that he faced some problems with prejudice because he’s biracial. He’s now a full-time musician in San Diego. He landed with Christina, who says Aquile gives her “the chills” and jokingly suggested she’d like a private concert.

Then there was Mackenzie Bourg, 19, Lafayette, La., who overcame a near deadly virus a couple years back. He turned in a quirky sounding version of “Pumped Up Kicks” that was one of my favorites from the first two nights and landed on Team Cee Lo. He’s one of the many contestants we’ve encountered so far who have overcome an obstacle to pursue their musical career. “Too many people take waking up every morning, breathing every morning for granted,” he said.

As for the ladies … well, no need for blind auditions, because three beauties have been among the most impressive — Adriana Louise, 22, of Brooklyn, who got all three judges to turn around for her version of “Domino,” then decided to go with Team Christina; Devyn DeLoera, 20, of Snyder, Texas, who admitted she might be committing musical suicide by auditioning with a Christina Aguilara song, then wound up on Team Christina; and Gracia Harrison, 18, of Yarden, Ill., the first singer to yodel on The Voice.

Guess whose team she landed on?

That’s right, Team Blake, though Adam tried his best to lure Gracia his way by calling her “the best country singer we’ve ever had on the show.”