The Voice – Down to the wire

Things were alternately interesting and the same for me on The Voice over the course of the two nights this week.

Finishing up business begun the previous week, Cee Lo Green and Adam Levine (and the voters) trimmed two from each of their teams for the semi-finals. Cee Lo’s contestants — Thompson Sisters, Vicci Martinez, Nakia and Curtis Grimes — yielded Vicci as the top vote getter of the evening with Cee Lo making his own choice of Nakia to move on. Being a Nakia fan, I was a bit surprised to see Vicci get the voter’s nod, but justification came with Cee Lo’s Nakia pick and I felt all was right with the world because of that choice.

My little buddy Carson Daly noted the voting times for the audience prior to Thursday’s show: From its close to 10:00 am eastern the following day, voting was allowed. The first thought that came to my mind was the CGI monkeys in the upcoming Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes film must have been the ones responsible for picking that time allotment, because that’s the only thing that made sense to me. But … I digress.

Adam’s team’s turn. Casey Weston, Devon Barley, Jeff Jenkins and Javier Colon resulted in Javier being awarded the most votes. (No surprise there.) Adam’s personal choice got fun, however, when he asked Carson if he could let the host get tossed instead of one of his team, something I was on board with. But, it was Casey who stayed instead. I’ll just have to continue to endure Carson. *sigh*

So, the beginning drama of the night calmed itself and gave way to the semi-final performances by the remaining eight contestants.

Leading things off was “The Powerhouse” (Christina Aguilera’s words, not mine): Frenchie Davis. And nothing says “Madonna interpretation” like Frenchie attempting “Like A Prayer” to muddled effect. Yes, Frenchie’s got *umph*, but her take on the tune was drab and uninspiring. And, for me, uncomfortable.

On “What Do You Want From Me?” Nakia went mad at the piano after building from a soft intro. Okay … he didn’t exactly “go mad” but he did turn in a solid, crowd pleasing performance. “What do I want from you,” Nakia? Just what you delivered.

“This girl isn’t someone who can just sing … this girl is someone with a vision” is how Blake Shelton described Dia Frampton on her “Losing My Religion” take.   Was the vision Blake spoke of a straightforward one, I wonder? Because that’s what Dia gave us — a straight up, no-nonsense and basic go of the song. Nothing really different, nothing outstanding … just plain meat and potatoes. And yet the coaches fell all over themselves doling out praise. Someone tell me what am I missing, please, because I can’t figure it out.

“I Will Always Love You” by Casey Weston. Wow: did I really, really like that performance? My ear heard it as minimalist, the best way for her to have played it out in my opinion. As overblown as that tune can be, though, I was impressed with her rendition.

But wait: Do you hear that? It’s the sound of The Voice: Beverly McLellan. Is she the consummate stage player who knows how to work it in with all her baldness and form? Yes, she is.  “If  someone didn’t allow you to be yourself, you’d kick their ass” Cee Lo told her after her give and go on “The Thrill Is Gone.” And I believe she could make good on that statement.

Javier Colon’s take on Coldplay’s “Fix You” leaves me wondering how he can go wrong. While he seemed a bit whiny to me, he wasn’t bad. Plus, Javier appeared more intelligent, better looking and damn if he didn’t sing better, too, with the doffing of that hat. And it hasn’t been just me making fun of it all this time; it seems each and every coach had a word to say about about the topper … and they all loved the fact he removed it.

With Xenia’s “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved” I can see her potential. You can feel her signature voice coming out, but I wish it would manifest itself on the stage as a more confident, worthy one. She’s one of my favorites in the competition, but unfortunately she can’t “bring it” when she really needs it. She can’t even bring herself to even smile on stage beside Carson. (Well to be fair … I wouldn’t be smiling if I was standing on  stage beside Carson …)

Vicci Martinez “Dog Days Are Over”  The stage antics were there … but Vicci’s voice wasn’t, was it? One of the poorer offerings of the evening, blown out by over-the-top drumming.

And that was the performances, leading up to the eliminations and the four finalists.

We finally got to see what all the hullabaloo was regarding the coaches’ voting and America’s when it came to determining which of the remaining eight would move on to the finals. And the result was it didn’t make a whit of difference what the coaches voted as the top vote getters (noted over the course of the last two weeks) translated into those who stayed aboard. In hindsight, it was simple. But we didn’t know that going in.

What that means is that Vicci, Javier, Dia and Beverly will be digging in their heels next week.

There wasn’t much exciting about the elimination episode to be honest. But I will say this: I was biting the inside of my cheek awaiting the results of the Team Christina announcement. I was in fear of Frenchie actually winning out over the more interesting, better performing Beverly. My fears were unfounded.

Please let the finale of this show be something spectacular to make up for the gushing judges and bag of hammers personality of Carson Daly, okay Powers That Be? Can we try and make that happen? Please?

Clacked by Michael Noble
on Jun 23, 2011 @ 10:30 EST5EDT