The Voice Season 2: Battle Rounds #2 Recap
Geoff McBride v.s. Sera Hill
"Chain of Fools" (Aretha Franklin)
Team Christina
Winner: Sera Hill
Lionel thought Geoff's delivery was strong but I felt he was just way too loud. When Lionel told him about there being no microphone, I was surprised that he meant it as a compliment. Sera sounded somewhat more polished and controlled although she too was also fairly loud. Jewel was spot on about "volume only goes so far" which I couldn't agree more about. Sera did seem to be exceedingly confident about her chances going inot the battle round and she was certainly my pick beforehand as well. As the song began nothing warranted a change of mind at all for me although Geoff did pick it up considerably as the song progressed but Geoff did have the most killer runs as the song was ending and you could hear Sera try to add on some notes after the music had stopped in recognition of Geoff's increasing power.
Charlotte Sometimes v.s. Lex Land
"Pumped Up Kids" (Foster The People)
Team Blake
Winner: Charlotte Sometimes
When Charlotte told Lex that she was both more talented than her and had bigger boobs, I knew right away I was going to love this battle. Full disclosure: Like Charlotte, I too am from New Jersey so perhaps there's something going on there. I agreed with Christina's entire assessment. Lex's voice was sexy and Charlotte's confidence was very evident and Adam was right about both having good tones. This one was a tough one for me because they both had some good moments and even a couple rough spots but I think that all things being equal, Blake went with the one who might do better on the live shows. Charlotte's personality might just prove to be too abrasive for some voters though and I think that Charlotte did herself a huge disservice with some of her outbursts. We'll see in a few weeks if America find its as charming as I did or if it's just too much for most.
Sarah Golden v.s. Juliet Simms
"Stay With Me" (Rod Stewart)
Team Cee Lo
Winner:Juliet Simms
It definitely seemed like a set up job in favor of Sarah and both of the women seemed to intimate as much. Having said that, Ne Yo warned Juliette about being too explosive too soon and leaving no place to go if she hit the big notes prematurely. This was another tough one for me. I don't know if either sing sang her best in this performance. Sarah was probably more technically sound in this performance whereas Juliet's voice sounded far more customized for the song. In the end I just feel like it was ultimately a matter of Cee Lo throwing Sarah under the bus. I am a huge Juliet fan and I love her personality too.
Whitney Myer v.s. Kim Yarbrough
"No More Drama" (Mary J. Blige)
Team Adam
Winner: Kim Yarbrough
I felt this match up was so in the bag before they even sang that I barely kept my focus on the mentoring sessions and Whitney's obvious confidence issues weren't helping the matter. Both Adam Levine and Alanis Morisette were taken aback by her lack of confidence. However, they both sang very well and Whitney wasn't the chopped liver that she herself had made herself out to be. Perhaps that was gamesmenship on her part but I still felt that Kim was a clear winner and Whitney's self doubt was on hand once more as she exited the competition.
Lee Koch v.s. Lindsay Pavao
"Heart Shaped Box" (Nirvana)
Team Christina
Winner: Lindsay Pavao
I normally love this kind of arrangement but I think it did a huge disservice to both Lee and Lindsay. It just took too long to kick in and even after it did it just felt far too subtle and I think it really hurt the overall performance of each of their singers. Adam's "delightfully creepy" remark seemed to hit it just right. Blake's ignorance of the song aside (and Cee Lo's hilarious comment to him about needing to get out of Oklahoma more often), I do think the song was ever so slightly tilted in favor of Lindsay and I do think while it was very close in my mind that Christina went with the more potent threat in the competition going forward but I left this performance a much bigger fan of Lee's than in his audition. I appreciated his folksy, even Bob Dylan tailored styled sound more. (Going anywhere near Bob Dylan usually disqualifies someone for me for the obvious high standard reasons.) I look forward to watching Lindsay perform live. She is one of the major contenders this year and Christina's best chance to be candid about it.
Jamar Rogers v.s. Jamie Lono
"I Want To Know What Love Is" (Foreigner)
Team Cee Lo
Winner: Jamar Rogers
This was probably the least exciting battle for me. Jamie always seemed so out of the place with the song from the beginning and Jamar either hit everything just right or well enough. I never felt like Jamie was anything but fodder for Cee Lo to more easily advance one of his strongest voices and one of the real contenders. The judges seemed to concur with me as well and Cee Lo really nailed it with his assessment of Jamie being too nervous.
This was not my favorite battle round episode of the show and I must confess myself already growing tired of this format. It's clear as daylight to any semi-intelligent viewer that the judges are just trying to jettison their weaker members so that those with the best chance of competing and winning can soldier on. This episode was so boringly predictable and except perhaps for the Charlotte Sometimes-Lex Land battle I went ahead and penciled in the winner's name before I even got through the performance. Still, I can't deny I'm rather excited about some of the singers hitting the live shows and I might even dare say that there might be more interesting personalities and artists overall than last year's group moving forward with the exception of perhaps a few notable exceptions like Dia Frampton and Xenia. My other complaint is that with the field expanded this year, this means that the battle rounds are going on longer now and the fatigue from this portion of the show is starting to sink in. Hopefully we have some good battles coming up again soon and then we can get down to the nitty gritty and watch the top 8-12 singers with a real chance of winning (and more importantly from where I sit, the more interseting artists) duke it out.
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