Thursday, July 7, 2011
Is Christina Aguilera leaving NBC’s “The Voice”? Plus, a review on Season 1 and its Finale. (Spoiler alert).
NBC’s “The Voice” has really been a breakout show this year, at times raking in more viewers than what some might call it’s competitor, FOX’s “American Idol”.
Now, I started watching this from the very beginning. I thought that the show’s spin on typical competition shows, like the afore-mentioned “Idol” and its younger sibling “So You Think You Can Dance”, quite interesting.
The host of the show, Carson Daly, seems a bit green at the gills, however, compared to veterans such as Seacrest, Mulroney, or Bergeron, but he’s not as annoying as Miller. Now, I have not seen Carson in anything else but this show. And in this show, he sticks strictly to his teleprompter and seems unable to deliver his text naturally or be able to improvise on it. Again, for all I care, he could have been told to do it this way by his bosses.
Now, the judges: Adam Levine, Cee-Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, and Blake Shelton. At first, I liked all of them, even the insistently boob-baring Christina. Sometimes I did disagree with who they picked as winner of the battle duets within their team; in fact, at times I was shocked some of the results. But, those battles did bring about some awesome duets.
Now, watching the show progress, we of course get to know the coaches better; and in my opinion: the guys are very good coaches, but Christina was often whiney and self-centered. She got lucky with Beverly McClellan, who had already struggled for 20 years as an artist and knew what she wanted to do and how to do it, but Christina fumbled with her other contestants, like Frenchie Davis and her rendition of Madonna’s “Like A Prayer”.
Adam Levine proved to be very picky with his singers, but was able to steer them in the right direction, especially season 1 winner Javier Colon, who tended to overuse the beautiful instrument that is his Voice. By coaching Colon to be more melodic when he sang, Levine ensured a stark improvement for the singer, who had THE moment of season 1 with his rendition of Coldplay’s “Fix You”.
Cee-Lo Green was very caring with his team, even taking them to a (no doubt expensive) spa to relax and chat before a show. He is very much the cooler-older-brother-type mentor to these five singers. Nakia and Vicci were very powerful singers to begin with, but with Cee-Lo’s pushing and careful coaching, both became real contenders for the music business. I was pleased when he got Nakia to perform Adam Lambert’s “Whattaya Want From Me” and got Vicci to perform Pat Benatar’s “Love Is A Battlefield” (P.S., Vicci, you should really get into that branch of music, girl! You rocked sleighed it!).
Blake Shelton was really the Gentle Giant among the coaches. He treated the young Xenia and Dia as if they were his own daughters, bringing them out with him on tour, giving them electric guitars, etc. And he was very respectful of Dia’s artistry when it came to her performances, but was firm with Xenia when it came to improving her own stage presence. Blake was also the quickest and funniest of the four coaches, always good for a great one-liner. But, don’t get fooled, because I have no doubt that he will soundly kick you arse if you mess with his girls.
Now, for the finale. The finale consisted of Javier Colon for Team Adam, Vicci Martinez for Team Cee-Lo, Beverly McClellan for Team Christina, and Dia Frampton for Team Blake. Now, any one of these contenders could have won. They all had battled it out on iTunes and were America’s favourites two weeks in a row. What decided the victory, ultimately, was the performance of original songs and the duets with their coaches.
Firstly, Javier Colon. Javier performed the original song “Stitch by Stitch” was nice and melodic, beautifully sung, very well produced, and somewhat reminiscent to the previous week’s “Fix You”. Javier’s duet with coach Adam Levine, in my opinion, stole the night. I felt as though we were at their concert, you know? Javier and Adam performed Michael Jackson’s “Man In The Mirror”, a perfect choice for their voices, considering how similar they are. Overall, a strong performance night for Colon. Also, when he did Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” with Stevie Nicks, it was jaw-droppingly amazing.
Secondly, Vicci Martinez. Her original song was “Afraid to Sleep”. That song, quite frankly, was forgettable. Don’t get me wrong, Vicci was one of my favourites, but this song was no “Jolene”. It lacked a clear crescendo and an opportunity for Vicci to fully demonstrate her vocal abilities. Vicci’s duet with coach Cee-Lo was Pat Benatar’s “Love Is A Battlefield”… and it was show-stoppingly amazing and right in Vicci’s pocket. Overall, ½ for Vicci.
Thirdly, Beverl McClellan. If only she had picked another coach. The sincere soulful singer’s song was “Lovesick”. It was flat, lyrically all over the place, and forgettable. Beverly couldn’t show off her amazing chops like in “The Thrill Is Gone”. And her duet with coach Christina Aguilera was Christina’s own “Beautiful”. Whilst Beverly took to the acoustic guitar with others, Christina looked a bit silly sitting there being the only one with no instrument. Also, whilst the other coaches held back vocally to let their pupils shine, in this case it was, unsurprisingly, the opposite. Not only did Beverly hold back vocally so as to not overpower Christina, but it felt as though Beverly was the coach and Christina was the pupil. What ticks me off, though, is that Christina ended the song, not Beverly. Sorry, Christina, but it was time to let Beverly shine, and not to try to steal her spotlight. Regardless, Beverly still performed the song very well. ½.
Fourthly, Dia Frampton. This shy girl is a true artist, with wonderful versions of “Heartless” and “Losing My Religion”. Her original song was “Inventing Shadows”; really great song, great melody, haunting, reminiscent of Chantal Kreviazuk. Dia’s duet with coach Blake was “I Won’t Back Down”, was unfortunately underwhelming and forgettable. I do like, though, that they were dressed similarly. Overall, ½ for Dia.
So, Javier Colon won. Again, it was anyone’s competition to win. Everyone was amazing, so congratulations, Javier, you earned it. (Interesting fact: only 2% split Javier from his runner-up, Dia Frampton).
***
Now, why does the little of this article read “Is Christina Aguilera leaving NBC’s “The Voice”?” I will now explain my reasoning behind this statement.
I have noticed that towards the end of the season Christina started to get more and more snippy with the other coaches.
Not much to go on, sure, but the finale week was very telling of Christina’s possible interest in returning to the show… or lack there of.
During the finale, Christina didn’t really seem to give a rat’s tushie about the other contestants… or even her own contestant, for that matter.
When it came to talk to their contestants, the three guys were emotional. They all spoke of how their contestant had become a close friend, in some cases even like family. Christina, however, said she loved Beverly, that she was amazing, and then very quickly moved on to thank the coaches for respecting her, Christina, and how she had loved to coach on the show, blah-blah-blah. Not one tear from her. It was all about her, barely about Beverly.
For the reasons stated above (lack of interest, thanking the other coaches, etc.), I believe Christina may be leaving “The Voice”. Personally, I won’t miss her.
(**Interesting to note, however, that the trashy magazine Star has claimed the blond 'bombshell' is going to leave the show, but the producers seem to be claiming that all the coaches have signed for a 2nd season...).
(**Interesting to note, however, that the trashy magazine Star has claimed the blond 'bombshell' is going to leave the show, but the producers seem to be claiming that all the coaches have signed for a 2nd season...).
***
P. S. My favourites were Jared Blake, Vicci Martinez, Nakia and Beverly McClellan.
My favourite coach was Blake.
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