Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Competition began in earnest on The Voice Tuesday night.

And, suddenly, the voice didn’t matter quite so much.

At least that was my take on the judges’ decisions about which singers to send packing.

Remember, The Voice began with blind auditions, and made a big deal of the fact that judges couldn’t see the contestants they were choosing for their teams.

Tuesday’s pre-taped episode featured duets by dueling contestants, by which point the judges had met and mentored them.

In the one decision of the night I disagreed with, Christina Aguilera picked Frenchie Davis over gospel singer Terralyn Ramsey, who displayed the better voice. Then again, the Frenchie Davis plot line is probably perceived as too good for The Voice to pass on.

Frenchie, 32, was booted from Idol way back in season two for topless photos taken when she was 19. She succinctly summed up the plot line: “America finally gets a chance to vote for me,” she said, after advancing to the live shows.

Hey, I imagine The Voice wants to draw as many of Idol’s viewers as possible.  Having Frenchie around might help.

And I imagine appearance and marketability had something to do with the selection of country singer Patrick Thomas and his boyish good looks over nerdy Tyler Robinson, who informed his dad that he’s gay on national TV last week.

Ditto for the selection of lovely 19-year-old Casey Weston and her little blue dress over 38-year-old Tim Mahoney, who dubbed himself the “King of Almosts” for coming so close to having something big happen in his musical career so often.

Both were close calls. Both were wise calls by judges who want to help groom a contestant viewers will embrace later on. Casey competes for Adam Levine; Patrick for Blake Shelton.

The night’s other winner was Vicci Martinez, of Tacoma, Wash., who ripped into Pink’s “Perfect” with a passion and energy unmatched by any of the other contestants. You could tell she’s been singing and performing for years. She was rocking to the song even when it wasn’t her turn to sing.

“You do this war dance. It’s like you’re about to tear this whole room down,” was the way judge Cee Lo Green described it.

That, too, is something you can’t appreciate with your back turned on the contestant.

Oh, yeah, Cee Lo just might have something special on his hands.

Editor’s Note: Battle rounds on The Voice continue Tuesday at 10 p.m. To meet team members and hear pre-Voice music, go here for Team Adam, here for Team Blake, here for Team Christina and here for Team Cee Lo.