Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The remaining singers from Team Blake and Team Christina take the stage tonight.

And, in a bit of a twist, two will be instantly eliminated by their mentors at some point this evening.

From Team Christina, we’ll hear from Lindsey Pavao, Chris Mann, Jesse Campbell and Ashley De La Rosa.

From Team Blake, we’ll hear from Jordis Unga, RaeLynn, Erin Willett and Jermaine Paul.

And, yeah, I’m still sulking a little over the fact that Blake did not save Charlotte Sometimes last week. Her vesion of “Misery Business” was my absolute favorite performance of the evening.

Oh, well, maybe he never heard the Paramore version of the song.

In true Idol Chatter fashion, I’ll grade each performance as it occurs.

Earlier today, I picked my favorites from the two teams. Go here for that blog.

And here for four reasons why I think The Voice has lost its way in Season 2.

Team Blake:

RaeLynn:   The teen with the twang will sing “She’s Country” by Jason Aldean.  RaeLynn says she’s “country to the bone,” but doesn’t have a boyfriend.  “I’m a heartbreaker,” she says.  She also thinks she might have an edge because she’s the show’s only country artist.  If this gal could sing as well as she can perform, she’d be downright dangerous.  There’s a heck of a lot of sassy in this teenager.  This might be her best performance of the competition.  Not great vocally, but a decent way to start the night.  And she gets great reviews from the judges.  Prediction — she’ll be one of the two singers to survive on Team Blake.  Grade: B-

Jordis Unga:   She’s going to sing “A Little Bit Sronger,” a country song.  Hold it.  Isn’t she a gal rocker?  That’s The Voice, for you.  Jordis got saved last week after singing “Wild Horses.”  This is what happens when you jolt a singer out of her genre.  You get a half-baked performance.  Nothing about this feels or looks or sounds natural.  Very average.  And I’d say she’s done.  Grade: C-

Erin Willett:  The former waitress from Maryland will sing “Set Fire to the Rain.”  Could we have a two-month moratorium on Adele songs on reality shows?  Pretty please.  Oh well, this will be the end of Erin Willett.  If you want to hear a tortured, mostly shouted version of Adele, welcome to The Voice.  Do they have an applause machine on this show?  That certainly couldn’t have merited that boisterous a reaction.  Grade: D-

Group train wreck number two as Team Blake tackles “Heartache Tonight.”  Yep, they wrestled that song to the stage floor and stomped it to death.  Sad thing, RaeLynn sounded horrible, and she’s a country singer.

Jermaine Paul:  Alicia Key’s backup singer will sing “Against All Odds,” a song he says fits his story lyrically. Well, he’s singing it with lots of emotion.  Not sure the song was a good match for his voice.  But he hit a couple of nice glory notes and ended with a flourish.  And, again, on a night of subpar performances, that might have to pass as the closest we’ll get to “a moment” tonight.  For once, the judges’ feedback doesn’t feel like pure rubbish.  Adam’s right, though, he overembellished a little more than needed.  Oops, typed the rubbish line too soon.  Blake just traveled into rubbish zone by calling that OK performance a “superstar” moment.  Grade: B.

Shocking elimination:  Blake eliminates Jordis Unga on The Voice.

Team Christina:

Jesse Campbell:   The guy who was homeless for a while kicks off the evening for Team Christina.  She’ll be singing “Halo” by Beyonce.  Should be interesting.  Sorry, Christina, not sure this is a good match for Jesse’s voice.  Oh, isn’t that a nice touch:  Photos of Jesse’s daughter in the background as he performs the song.  Strong ending, and one heck of a glory note helps salvage what started off as a very rough performance.  The judges are being overly kind, swayed by the admittedly killer ending.  Grade: C+

Time for a group number from Team Christina, which is rocking down with a couple of male strippers, with Christina dressed like a stripper and with a high school choir singing background.  One word:  Bizarre.

Ashley De La Rosa:  Here’s the teen who was so impressive last week.  She belted it out twice, showing not the slightest hit of nerves.  OMG.  She is going to try to sing a rock version of “Foolish Games,” which is simply one of the best vocals ever recorded thanks to Jewel.  And someone deserves a swift kick for that idea.  That was just horrible.  We heard one big note.  That was it.  The rest was an absolute train wreck.  Again, the coaches are uttering nonsense.  Grade: D.

Lindsey Pavao:  She ditched a Rihanna medley and instead is going to sing Katy Perry’s “Part of Me.”  Unlike some contestants who shall remained unmentioned, Lindsey has dressed the part of a star without overdoing it.  OK, that song was a better fit for the singer.  And it resulted in what was probably the best performance of the night.  Adam’s right though, she went pitchy on the big notes.  Still, on a night of poor performances, she’s a star.  Grade: B.

Chris Mann:  The guy who specializes in opera is singing Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida.”  Well, they’ve got him performing last, so I guess they think this is going to be pretty good.  Oh, well, if so, they were wrong.  This is sorta like Erin Willett singing Adele.  Chris’ classical training is seeping in and a couple of big notes won’t  hide the fact that this was not a great rendition of the song.  Not by a long shot.  Grade: C.

Shocking elimination:  Christina sends home Jesse Campbell.  Hold it, wasn’t he supposed to be the favorite?

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