Saturday 22 February 2014

The Voice Saves The Best For Last

I have two words this week - Jamie Lovatt. That is all. I've been praying for the day a new Jeff Buckley would grace the music world but I never imagined it would come from The Voice UK. This rock god complete with snakeskin pants and snarling, wailing vocals is my new favourite by a mile.

I don't want to gloss over the others too much this week as there were some other really good ones. Aside from the beautifully touching exchange between Will and the lady who reminded him of his Aunt Stephanie (I do wish she had got through, she had a lovely, understated voice) I also really liked Kenny Thompson, the teacher from Liverpool. In fact, I'm really looking forward to the next stage of this competition now because I have 1 favourite per judge. As follows I am backing:

Lee Glasson - Team Kylie
Jamie Lovatt - Team Ricky
Kenny Thompson - Team Tom
Callum Crowley - Team Will.

Now that my eggs are all spread out over lots of baskets I don't have to face next week's show with that awful sense of trepidation when you dread your favourite act getting booted out via a cruelly unjust battle round (I still haven't gotten over Liam Tamne last year. Don't think I ever will).

Roll on the battle rounds, woop woop!

Saturday 15 February 2014

Bring on the Falsettos!

Thank goodness this week for boys singing falsetto - even though hardly any of them made it through, they at least made The Voice bearable tonight. (I am a total sucker for boys singing falsetto, which I may have mentioned once or twice before on this blog).

I'm not here to talk about warblers. People with voices that are ten a penny, who sound like at least five other singers already in the charts. That doesn't interest me at all - unfortunately I seem to be in a minority.

 Never before have I watched so many weeks of a talent show without finding a single act I can root for. I was actually beginning to dread writing this blog because I have found The Voice so completely devoid of talent this year, so I was overjoyed tonight to see some really original, quirky acts. This series I am now officially backing Callum Crowley, although it's hard to tell - am I clinging desperately onto him as someone vaguely good to root for, or is he genuinely brilliant?

In the same way that the coaches are becoming more buzzer-happy as they run out of time to fill their teams, I am becoming more eager to latch on to people. So I also liked Kiki De Ville this week. And I LOVED Paul Raj, what was with the not turning for him?? I hope he's right up there with Miles Anthony this time next year, storming the charts with a big f** you to The Voice.

Just seven places left next week for the final blind audition episode. And by the looks of the previews, somebody is going to reduce Will I Am to tears...or is he just lamenting all the great singers he's let walk away? Tune in next week for your The Voice gossip fix.


Saturday 8 February 2014

Diamonds In The Rough

The talent seems to be really slipping on this series of The Voice. It feels like they assembled all the best acts for the first episode, when all eyes were on the new coach line up, and now we're getting all the slightly ropey, or the downright boring auditionees. Actually, that's very unfair to some of them, who have been amazing...but haven't got any chair turns for god's sake! This week we continue the theme of turning for flat/boring, and not turning for amazing/note perfect. Take poor Nick Dixon for example, who came back after rejection last year and was unforgivably knocked back once again. I think if they took all the great singers The Voice have missed out on over the last few weeks and made a spin-off show, it would be like Glastonbury.

It was nice to see Elisha Moses coming back for another try, after being one half of last year's duo Nu-tarna. According to her Twitter feed last year, her singing partner back then was a bit of a controlling bitch and there is no love lost between them. When they battled Cleo Higgins, you could cut the tension with a butter knife and it was clearly the other girl orchestrating that. So I'm glad Elisha has got a chance to strike out on her own.

Has anyone noticed that Will.I.Am suddenly seems very reluctant to turn if anybody else has turned? It's almost as if he's too proud to have to pitch against any other coach, instead trying to out-psych the others, and turning his chair at the very last second once he knows he's on his own. What is with that? I remember when The Voice was more about the acts and less about the coaches playing silly games. Christ, I just realised I sound like I'm talking about the X Factor.

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE! Somebody I actually like is through - Max Murphy, the judo athlete guy! I was on a downward spiral there until Max turned up. WOAH and there again with the lovely Femi Santiago, the final act of the night. Will left that turn really late there, I had my torrent of bad language ready to go. This is good. My spark of enthusiasm for The Voice has been mildly reignited now.

So, a steadily improving episode all in all tonight, made infinitely better by seeing Will.I.Am 'bust a treble all the way to the restroom' (aka Riverdance). The only thing saving The Voice for me at the moment is the genuinely funny banter amongst the coaches. I guess as long as that keeps the viewers tuning in, that's all that matters.

Saturday 1 February 2014

Disappointment

Jesus Christ, I don't know if I can do this any more. I don't know if I can watch another female singer shriek and scream her way through an audition and then spend 10 minutes watching her decide whose team to go on. Ladies and gentlemen - another week on The Voice.

Can you tell I'm feeling jaded by The Voice this week? Literally every single act I like, they don't turn for, and every single act I hate, they turn for and rave about as if they were the second coming. Plus, I think I have identified the fundamental flaw with the editing of this show: the 'choosing which coach to go with' part is so painfully drawn out. Who on earth on the BBC production team thought the public would care so much about this part? Why do we care which coach our favourite act picks? It doesn't affect whether we get to see them perform again, it doesn't really mean anything at this stage!

Highlight of the week: there was a woman whose shoes were made entirely of fruit! Yes, of fruit! She made some wearable chocolate shoes for Kylie, and I want to know how she knew her shoe size, and whether Kylie will wear them.

The Voice needs to start shaping up fast before it starts to lose the glow that Kylie and Ricky have brought with them. Stop the dragging out of every act. Stop the sob stories. Let's see more acts, and ooh, maybe a bit more male/female balance? By my rough calculations so far, we have about 24 girls and only 6 boys. The way things are going we are right on track for another Andrea Begley or Leanne whatshername. And I'm sure the BBC don't want that.