THE VOICE: S03 BLIND AUDITIONS E04

Obviously I have some catching up to do, but here is the my synopsis of Episode 4 of the Blind Auditions for the Voice.

And here’s where we stand so far on the teams: Adam – 5; Blake – 5; Cee Lo – 4; and Christina- 7.

 

First up:

 

Melanie Martinez – a 17 year old photographer from Baldwin, NY. She is an artist through and through. She takes great photos and she is a singer. Tonight she sings “Toxic” by Britney Spears, accompanied by the guitar and the tambourine, which she played with her feet. Of course Blake Shelton turns around, followed by Adam Levine. I really dig her version. As she progresses, Cee Lo turns around. Adam compared her to Bjork, said she was amazing looking and he wanted her on the team. Blake said he didn’t hear anyone else when he heard her sing, he just heard her originality and uniqueness of her voice. Who does she pick? TEAM ADAM!

 

Cupid – age 32 from Lafayette, LA, singer of the “cupid shuffle”.  The “Cupid Shuffle” is a HUGE song that is played everywhere. Everyone loves is at the club, its played at weddings, and many types of parties, so I am surprised to see him on here. Again this just goes to show how fame in the music industry works. You can have a hit, but it doesn’t necessarily propel you to lasting stardom. For his audition song he sings his own song, The Cupid Shuffle.  He wants the coaches to hear him sing the song and have them think it sounds better than the original.  I think that this isn’t the best sound choice.  If you are trying to step away from something, why do the same thing?  Unfortunately no one turned around for him. Cee Lo asked him what he was doing the show, and then told him the song was awkward to do on this show.

 

Brian Scartocci – 26 years old from Austin, Texas (representing ATX!) For his audition song he sings “Isn’t She Lovely”. Adam, Blake and Cee Lo turn around at the same time. I really enjoy his tone. He does this really great scream towards the end and finishes the song by falling to his knees but bouncing back immediately. A very fluid move. Which team does he go with? TEAM ADAM!

 

Beat Frequency (Sean and Natasha) – a married duo from Vancouver, WA.For their audition they sing “E.T.” by Katy Perry.  Natasha started off really beautiful, and suddenly Sean comes in and he has a HIGH RANGE; as they sing, Christina presses her button, and I think she thinks they are both girls. They had cool moments during the song, and some weak moments. I think the best part of the performance was the end where they were singing the chorus at full strength. TEAM CHRISTINA!

 

Tyler Lillestol – age 23 from Riverside, CA and a former baseball  player with a passion for music. For his audition he sings “U Got It Bad” by Usher (I am reminded of Jonathas of last season). Unfortunately none of the coaches turn around for him.

 

Liz Davis– 25 years old from Madison, MS. She is a country gal! She looks like one of the girls from The Real Housewives of Orange County (not that I’ve ever watched it…) For her audition she sings “Here For The Party.” She has a great attitude and presence. Great Voice! Surprisingly Christina and Adam turn around first. Finally Blake turns around! Why wasn’t he first?? In the end she picks TEAM BLAKE!

                                                                               

JR Aquino– age 24 from Anchorage, AL who does not live in an igloo, who used YouTube as a vehicle to share his music with people all over the world. For his blind audition he sings “Just The Way You Are” by Bruno Mars. Christina and Adam press their buttons first. Cee Lo holds off til the last note to press his button. Adam said he sounds a lot like Bruno Mars. Christina said his pitch got her. Cee Lo explained why he pressed his button last is because of the pitch problems while singing “the way you are”. In the end it’s a win for TEAM CEE LO to which Adam boos him playfully.

 

Agina Alvarez- 22 originally from San Diego, living in Burbank, CA. At 10 she was signed to Sony Records, then at 18 she was signed to a Latin label. And then she was shelved. For her audition she sings “Turn The Beat Around.” As soon as hear her, I can hear a little bit of Cheesa. Honestly, it was a great audition, and no one turned around.

 

Nicholas David – a 31 from Egan, MN. He played with a band for a while when he was younger, drank a lot and ballooned to 300lbs. He met his future wife, had a child and began to focus.  For his audition he sings “Stand By Me.” Cee Lo is the only coach to turn around. I liked his version of Stand by Me. Adam said he was awesome. TEAM CEE LO!

 

Alessandra Guercio– 17 years old from Brooklyn, NY, attending a performing arts school. For her audition she sings “The Climb.” I think she will go far in the competition. She has a really good voice. Adam turns around first. Then Cee Lo turned around. Adam asked how old she was, she replied 17 and Blake barked in surprise. LOL. TEAM ADAM!

 

Adanna Duru – 15 year oldsinging “Edge of Glory.” TEAM ADAM!

 

Kelly Crapa – 15 year old singing “Sparks Fly.” TEAM BLAKE!

 

Paulina – 16 year old singing “You Make Me Feel.” TEAM CHRISTINA!

 

Avery Wilson – a 16 year old dancer from Hamden, CT. For his audition he sings “Without You” by Usher.  He has a great voice. 16 year old?? Adam, Cee Lo and Christina all turn around. When Avery hits this high note and holds it, Blake turns around. The only 4 chair turn around this episode! Adam said it was the most spirited reaction they have heard from the crowd. They really begin fighting for this kid. In the end he picks TEAM CEE LO!

 

THE VOICE: SEASON 2 EPISODE 18 The Elite Eight

Craziness. Awesome performances. This is how I would describe this episode featuring the Final 8. So let’s get into it.

Tony Lucca (Team Adam) – singing How You Like Me Now by The Heavy. This was a solid performance. For me it didn’t go up or down, it just stayed consistent. Its not the type of music I would listen to and he honestly doesn’t have the type of voice I listen to on my ipod. But I really liked his suit.  Christina said she cleared the song for Moses, but it fell into Tony’s hands. She asked if Adam taught him the dance moves jokingly. Then she said if this doesn’t work out he and Adam could start a Britney cover band. Cee Lo said it was a pleasant surprise and he became a big fan. I am tired of all the girls screaming when Adam is about to speak. Or maybe its jealousy.  But Adam said this was the perfect song for him to perform tonight.  1-855-VOICE-01

Erin Willett (Team Blake) – singing Without You by David Guetta feat Usher. This is such a crazy song choice for her but she seemed to be working it out during practice and Blake said this could be her break out performance. Her low notes starting out were not in key and some of her high notes were flat. This wasn’t my favorite performance of hers at all. I get that this is an emotional song because of the recent passing of her father.  That is a terrible tragedy. She has such a big voice and she is a very talented singer. I just don’t think this was the right song for her. Billboard’s twitter account disagrees with me. What do they know? Lol. Christina said she was proud that she was emotionally involved in a song and that Erin did an original arrangement. Blake first complimented how beautiful she was. Then he said he would give anything to have a tenth of the talent she has and to have the strength  she would have. 1-855-VOICE-02

Chris Mann (Team Xtina) – singing Ave Maria. He said this is the way he came into the competition so if he goes out, he is going to go out with a band. This was an amazing performance. I couldn’t even type while he was singing. He definitely told a story with the power of his voice. I loved this. And he isn’t always my favorite but this was amazing. Cee Lo was the first judge to comment and he said his voice is so powerful, pure and perfect and said he was the epitome of the show. Adam said Cee Lo was totally right. Christian said she felt the heavens open up and she felt so moved.  She even got up out of her coach’s chair to give him a hug. 1-855-VOICE-03

Jamar Rogers (Team Cee Lo) – singing If You Don’t Know Me By Now. This was a really great performance. I really dug it. It was a cool mix of R&B and Rock. Adam said if you just set aside the competition aspect of this, he is purely a fan. Blake said it was by far the most laid back performance from him and he said it was a really good performance. Xtina said she enjoyed his run and she was motivated to get up there and start singing. Cee Lo, affectionately calling him J-Bird, and thought this was a great performance of a stripped down version of the song. He also said the story of his life would be a best seller, because it is a success story.  Sidenote: I feel that Wardrobe (the people behind the scenes who dress the artists) have a hat filled with photos of items of clothing. They draw from the hat and whatever comes out, they throw on Jamar. He was wearing a shiny vest, bright blue blazer with tails, and the pants to a baseball player’s uniform. 1-855-VOICE-04

Teams Adam and Cee Lo performed together tonight singing “”All These Things That I’ve Done” by The Killers.  This collaboration was the best team collaboration of the season. All of these vocalists really shined and complimented each other.

Jermaine Paul (Team Blake) – singing Open Arms by Journey.  There is no denying this man can sing.  He had a really great performance. Christina said he was a crazy talented vocalist. He came in and murdered the song. Cee Lo said he did a wonderful job and he is consistently impressed by him. Adam said he would like to congratulate him because he is no longer a background singer.  Blake told Adam that Adam should’ve said Jermaine was the guy to beat all along rather than saying “another guy” in previous weeks was the man to beat. 1-855-VOICE-05

Katrina Parker (Team Adam) – singing Killing Me Softly by The Fugees. She looks like a star to me. She really does. And her voice is so effin amazing. She sounded really good but I was wondering the whole time was she going to do the really recognizable breakdown Lauryn Hill.  And she did! And it didn’t come off karaoke at all, which I was afraid was going to happen. Blake reminded her she was sitting in a cubicle months ago and marveled at how she sounds so seasoned. Xtina said she has fallen in love with her over the course of the competition. She also said if she was her coach, she would’ve tried to make the song more “Katrina Parker” rather than try to follow everything that Lauryn Hill sang. Then she said she encouraged Adam to look at Katrina because she was a star. Xtina does not hold back. Adam said at the end of the day, she didn’t sound like Lauryn Hill, she sounded like Katrina Parker so he was beyond happy. 1-855-VOICE-06

Blake Shelton performed his new singing “Over”. It was a good song. The chorus was my favorite part. Blake totally towered over everyone on stage. He is such a tall guy.

Lindsey Pavao (Team Xtina) – singing Skinny Love by Bon Iver.  She is totally an indie girl so she is going for all of those type of songs. I wish I knew the song, but I’m not too familiar with his music.  This was the first time we got to see her play the guitar onstage. This was also my type of set up. I love acoustic songs. At first I didn’t like the way she was singing, but it started growing on me. Then I realized I had heard this song before. I don’t know if that made me like it more but by the end of the song I was a fan.  Cee Lo said he wasn’t really into Skinny Love, he was more into “big love”. He also said the closer she got to the microphone the more confident she became and she did a great job. Adam said he loved that everyone is so completely unique.  Blake said it was really good, but strategy-wise he had to commend Xtina for letting both of her artists go back to how they started. Xtina said she loved seeing her in a coffee shop setting, in her element with her guitar and she really got into the song. Then she got up to give Lindsey a hug. 1-855-VOICE-07

Team Xtina and Team Blake joined each other onstage singing Edge of Glory by Lady Gaga. Jermaine started this song off and it made me wish he had sung this tonight for his song. He killed that one sentence. Haha. Erin had sweet moments. So did Chris Mann. I would actually like to hear him do a rendition of this song too. Lindsey’s voice is so different that it felt like an extreme drop in volume when she would come in. Overall a fun performance.

The last performance of the night goes to:

Juliet Simms (Team Cee Lo) – singing It’s a Man’s World by James Brown. I started smiling when she started singing. She left the tiny gravely voice behind her and just sang. This was the perfect way to end the night. I hate that only one person from each team can go on to next week. Because she rocked the hell out of that song. The roar from the crowd sounded like a standing O. Adam said it was something special and unbelievable. He said she was the one to beat tonight. Christina said it reminded her of the Grammy performance she had when she sang that song. Cee Lo said she killed it. She murdered that record.  1-855-VOICE-08

The coaches have 100 points to divide between both of their artists. They wrote down their scores and we wont know until tomorrow after they reveal America’s vote. Who will the Final 4 be?????