Second Live Rounds Sink Wedding Planners

“But tiny children in grown-up clothes whispered all the Crimes of Paris”

                --Elvis Costello

I wasn’t in that much of a mood for The Voice this week, and I really wasn’t in a mood for ballads which is no big thing unless you are actually trying to keep track of things and half the songs are ballad-y.  After cutting what seems like 24 people last week we only lost one this time so there was little shifting around in the standings, though we pour one out for Ed and his Doomsday Wedding Planners who lost his last singer AND his last bonus pick, so he will end up with 20 points and at least ahead of Tim and myself.  By the way I notice that the numbers are formatting weird, I'll have to try and figure that out at some point.

Super late in doing this because I got busy at work yesterday so let’s jump straight to this weeks rankings:

1)      Madi Davis (6 last week).  She didn’t have her hat (!!) though I guess a bun can be sort of the same thing when you come right down to it.  I know that it gets some grief because of being played a metric fuckton when it came out but I always liked Who Will Save Your Soul and I LOVED her phrasing on it.  I figure that however much you liked Rickie Lee Jones will guide how much you like Madi.  I like Rickie Lee Jones.  I really like Madi Davis.  One of two songs I’d be willing to download this week.

2)      Jordan Smith (8 last week).  I can’t put my finger on what makes me uncomfortable about him but it has at least a little bit to do with how pure he comes off as a person.  It can be awkward to be around someone who is willing to put their fragility on their sleeve, there is a bravery about that as well as a kind of sadness and really this sentence is just telling me that I still can’t put my finger on it.  But he did the gospel song and it was just lovely.  And he is apparently getting the downloads so maybe he is more of a force to be reckoned with than I thought earlier.

3)      Amy Vachal (2 last week).   Over the past four or five months I’ve gotten away from my ipod and have been mostly streaming my music.  As a result I subscribed to Pandora and have been building out four or five stations to choose from based on my mood.  One of them focuses on rap and one of the pleasant surprises of that channel has been that I like Drake quite a bit, and actually know Hotline Bling.  I give Adam plenty of shit for song choice but that one worked so well.  She looks good in white doesn’t she?  I thought it was excellent and it is the other song from this past week that I’ll likely download.  By the way, did anyone else notice that her dad looked EXACTLY like Walter White?

4)      Shelby Brown (5 last week).  Deb pointed out about halfway through the show that the women were kicking the guys asses and I couldn’t agree more.  The women are much stronger than the men this season so it will be interesting to see how it shakes out given that winners have tended to be men.  Shelby had a moment in her presong segment which sparked an exchange:

Deb:  I don’t understand why she is so fragile?

Me:  She’s a fat seventeen year old girl.

Deb:  Fair point.

Anyway, I didn’t know the Jamey Johnson song and as mentioned wasn’t in the mood for a ballad anyway but I am glad she is in my bonus picks because she is quite good and I like rooting for her.

5)      Zach Seabaugh (1 last week).  I forgot all about Zach (though apparently Emily Ann’s friends haven’t).  He had a tough act to follow after Jordan and it showed when he hit a really weird note early while winking at someone in the audience (of course).  He has to be just a lunkhead, right?  I don’t mean that in a bad way, but more like he is a good looking Jughead.

6)      Emily Ann Roberts (10 last week).  All right you guys, this was my favorite segment of the night mainly because she was just adorable in her preview.  YEAH IT’S ABOUT DUMB BOYS.  Indeed.  Then she followed it up by hitting Zach with the “ALL MY FRIENDS ARE IN LOVE WITH YOU AND I’M SICK OF IT!”  Her performance wasn’t the best but it was perfectly fine and she sold it the best she could, besides, boys ARE dumb.  I also loved Gwen loving the song about the two-timing cheater.  TAKE THAT GAVIN.

7)      Jeffery Austin (9 last week).  Another ballad.  I asked Deb if this Let It Go was the one from Frozen and Deb just said “No Pat” and sort of chuckled.  I spent the rest of the song trying to think of what the Frozen song sounds like so I can’t comment on the performance except that partway through Deb said something about how badly his pants fit and I agree with that.

8)      Korin Bukowski (11 last week).  I thought it was weird that Gwen suggested dying her hair platinum and dressing up like Gwen was going to help Korin find herself.  I like her voice and I like her tone and style but let’s face it – this is only The Voice up until we get to the live rounds and then you have to have more than just a Voice, you have to be able to perform effectively and I don’t think Korin has those chops yet.  Does anyone else think that Blake is praising Gwen’s artists more than he usually would?

9)      Evan McKeel (7 last week).  Evan McKeel looks like the kind of guy who has digestive issues.  I forgot about Evan as well and then he said he was singing Kenny Loggins and I wished he’d stayed forgotten.  It sounded very much like Kenny Loggins singing This Is It so I guess it was good?  Maybe a bit more high-stepping here.  Gwen says WOW for the third time tonight.  I don’t really understand what Pharrell said.

10)   Braiden F’ing Sunshine (3 last week).  I don’t think I’ve heard Renegade by Styx since high school.  Between sometimes wearing the glasses and sometimes not and sometimes having the curly hair and sometimes not I just find myself far more invested in the things that irritate me than his singing, though it did seem he was having trouble keeping his breath through the entire lyric.  Adam is a fan, Blake wanted to drink with him, I didn’t understand what Pharrell said and Gwen just loves him.  Me?  I want to slap him.

11)   Mark Hood (12 last week).  I keep calling him Mark Hall.  I hated Against All Odds when it came out and haven’t changed my mind on it.  Deb likes the song but was still bored.  I was bored but I thought his black suit was on point and made the performance about 10% better just by itself.  He’s gone now and I’ll probably still call him Mark Hall if I remember him down the road.

12)   Barrett Baber (5 last week).  Carson excitedly said “Barrett Baber is putting a country spin on a rock ballad!!!”  Gee, that’s NEVER been done before.  My mind wandered and then it was over.

So we are down to 11 singers and Deb and Jim have 7 of them.  AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!

Check out THE SCOREBOARD here!!!

With love,

Brother Pat