The fun part about this particular episode of The Voice was the revelations: The revelations of the coaches’ voting scores as well as those of the voting viewers. Because there was a surprise or two.
First up was Adam’s team with Tony Lucca and Katrina Parker on the line. The coolest thing of the night manifested itself in this initial contest as it came down to Adam’s deciding vote. It was revealed the public favored Katrina (my pick to win) over Tony, but Adam’s sway shifted the weight Tony’s direction. Not only the first result of the night, this one was the most intriguing; it completely flip-flopped from what the general consensus dictated. And here’s the really interesting thing about this outcome: Considering the voting procedure takes into account multiple variables (phone calls, text messages, iTune downloads and Facebook votes), to have the decision overturned by the whim of Adam was rather exciting, controversial even. But it was refreshing in the grand scheme of things, despite the fact the person I thought should have advanced (as did the viewers) didn’t. This result was the only one of the evening where it wasn’t left to popular opinion who came out on top. Do you agree? Truth be told, I’m okay with this decision.
Regarding Christina’s team, the only surprise for me was the margin of votes between Chris Mann (the winner and my pick) over Lindsey Pavao. With a mere 8 points between the two, I was under the impression Chris’ results would have overwhelmingly outdistanced those of Lindsey. Christina’s votes didn’t come into play because she went straight down the line with a 50/50 vote …
… as did Blake. He also voted “non-factorly” allowing popular opinion to determine the winner of the Jermaine Paul and Erin Willet contest. And, wow … what a difference in opinion their two scores were: 123-77. Jermaine’s camp mcwhomped Erin’s by a landslide. Erin was my pick to advance, despite her poor rendition the previous night of “Without You.” Apparently, the voters decided that performance was the determining factor with Jermaine’s over-singing of his tune the same night getting rewarded. Go figger.
And then there was Cee Lo, who at least had enough gumption to lay a vote on the table that wasn’t middle of the road for his two contestants, Juliet Simms and Jamar Rogers. Regardless of his 60-40 casting, the public’s choice — an overwhelming 61-39 for Juliet — wouldn’t have changed had his choice been for Jamar rather than Juliet. She still would have come out on top by a slim 101-99 result. There were a lot of people out in TVLand who were swayed by Jamar’s story, but the sympathy didn’t translate to votes in his favor, Juliet’s singing obviously winning the day instead. I’m pleased as well she won as she was my choice over Jamar.
Despite my 50/50 winning percentage, I’m okay with the results primarily due to the fact there was some controversy thrown into the mix courtesy of Adam. It made this episode of The Voice more watchable than most that have come before it.
Now we head to the final contest between the four remaining contestants. My hope is there will be controversial offerings and more monkey business to end this season on a high note.
Notes:
Quote:
“There’s not an ego standing up there on the stage … except Carson.” — Blake, just prior to the winning announcement of his two contestants Jermaine Paul and Erin Willett
Clacked by Michael Noble 
on May 02, 2012 @ 10:56 EST5EDT
I was actually a fan of the fact that Adam and Cee-Lo had the intestinal fortitude to favor one artist over the other, and not cop out to a 50/50 vote. Granted, it resulted in one of my two favorite artists going home (Lindsay), but that’s one of the reasons I like this show. The judges have a say in who stays or goes; sometimes that works well and others it doesn’t (See: The Battle Rounds), but it does make The Voice distinctive.
I do think its the best thing of the show to have a balance of Americas choice and judges choice. I disagree with many here who think Christina and Blake chickened out because in reality it isn’t up to us what their so called coaching duties are. I personally have not cared for Team Blake since his top 3 were not the three I would have expected at the beginning of this show, but for Christina I can respect her choice because the truth being Chris and Lindsey are two different realms of style and vocals in all that it wasn’t really fair, Chris kills it as classical singer, but Lindsey kills it with unique creativity.
For Cee Lo and Adam I can understand why they weighted the way they did. For Cee Lo it seemed obvious to me Juliet would take it, but it was still a hard one to watch because Jamar really broke out as an unexpected contender. I’m personally not happy with Tony making it over Katrina, but I understand that this is actually the first time this happened because in the first season the top 4 were really their best person and even america’s vote was right on. So for Katrina to leave but knowing she had americas vote is more bittersweet if anything. I personally felt she really delivered every single time and was improving every time. The fact it came between America’s home grown version of Adele versus a has been Mickey Mouse star making his comeback is perhaps the most controversial top 2 for a team to begin with! The thing with Tony Lucca is that I find him rather boring overall, he knows how to perform, his smile and character just screams likeable, but I just find that this style of attractive thirty something year old man with a nice voice but doing this adult contemporary style to bore me… but since it was revealed of his history and when the controvesial judging from Christina happened, I knew it was just a popularity jig for him, others may actually love his voice, but I wasn’t really ever appealed to it. So there’s my opinion of it but it doesn’t change the results. I’m over it because Katrina came out on top anyhow, she has to be one of the best journeys and stories of the show. Only Adam chose her at the beginning but she won many peoples hearts along the way….
As for the results its hard to say how it will go… I’m rooting for Juliet Simms to knock it out of the park and win it
I was happy he did this. If the judges are going to vote 50/50, what’s the point of having them vote?! They should really force them all to do at least 49/51 and make a choice.
They are not judges they are coaches
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Kyle: I am in agreement with you.
At this stage of the game, the coaches should make a decision and not take the easy road by pulling a fence-sitting maneuver as Blake and Christina did. The time for coaching is over. Last night was their opportunity to stand for who they believe in, if for nothing else than for the fact it was their last opportunity to do so … because it’s now in the hands of the voting viewers.
Ron: Let’s not get wrapped up in semantics.
Yes … they’ve been coaches up to this point, but last night they were required to make “judgments” of their own accord just as they were required to make judgments during the instant eliminations.
Christina and Blake chickened out of their duty as judges, but the thing is they don’t get the same leeway as certain other judges – namely, Adam. Adam can get away with anything, including favoring Tony for questionable reasons. Christina would be called all kinds of names if she picked Lindsey simply because of their friendship, and people were already hammering Blake for keeping RaeLynn around as long as he did simply because he liked her.
Cee Lo is the only one who took a risk last night – both Juliet and Jamar are very popular, so the safe route would have been to go 50-50. But he made a choice based not on how much he liked Jamar/Juliet but on who had the better performance. Cee Lo is the only one who acted like a real judge (although I could have done without his 10 minutes of equivocating).
they didn’t chicken out as judges by doing the 50/50. they are not judges, they are coaches. you must be thinking about american idol lol. im happy about Jermaine Paul and Tony Lucca staying, i think they are all talented , if they weren’t none of them would of made it this far. i wish the other 2 would have went differently though. Juliet is amazing , but she seems very uncomfortable on camera when she is not performing , Jamar was ready for the spotlight and is an amazing performer too. the good thing is you don’t have to be the winner to put out an album after the show, so fingers crossed we hear from them all down the road.
In that moment, they were judges, just as they were the several times that they’ve had to make a decision about who should stay and go.
I’m sorry, but this 50/50 crap is a cop out. Though I shouldn’t expect anything different, because Christina and Blake scored their performers this year the exact same way they did last season.
So, in actuality, the same two judges copped out twice.
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melissa:
What Ivey said. And … see my comment to Ron above …
Adam turned in his votes at the conclusion of Monday’s show, BEFORE America voted. So to say that he screwed up the voting isn’t entirely accurate.
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PJ:
When I say Adam “screwed up the voting,” I don’t mean he did it with malice.
Yes … his vote was turned in on the episode prior as was clearly shown by that dude who came around and collected the coaches choices.
But the fact remains his vote was the determining factor in Tony’s advancement. However you want to put it – screwed up, flip-flopped, switched, revised, did a 180, took a different fork in the road – it screwed with the general consensus.
If you were in Katrina’s shoes having one the popular vote, I think you would think you got screwed. Thus, the reason I used that particular word.
I don’t likethat the coaches have to eliminate or vote it’s so unfair to them and it causes unnecessary arguments between Adam and xtina… I like it when there flirting instead
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Phoebe:
Neither do I … at least in the early going. I would like to see changes made in how some of the eliminations go in earlier rounds. Personally, I don’t think the coaches should be forced to choose one of their charges over another in the Battle Rounds. I think each of the other coaches should be dealt that hand.
Think about it in this type of scenario: If Christina, Cee Lo and Adam had to pick between two of Blake’s team members in a Battle Round, it could fuel those three to different considerations about how they pair up their own hopefuls in Battle Rounds / make them think differently about what songs are being picked for their contestants / etc. It would be a whole new ballgame and a more competitive show.
However, at this stage, it’s exciting and intriguing to see who the coaches chose to advance. And they should be made to make those determinations. They’re coaches … they should be choosing the best hopeful to move on to the finals who they believe can win the whole shebang. That’s the cool thing about the semi-finals.
When a candy-ass 50/50 vote is flung at two contestants, it’s a cop out. Going into the finals, I would like to know from my coach if he has the confidence in me to believe I could win The Voice … I could give a rip if I’m equal to my competitor.
Else … what are you on the show for if not to win?
I don’t think splitting the vote 50/50 is a cop out. When it comes to Chirs Mann and Lindsey Pavao, they are equally good at two different types of music. I would have split my votes 50/50 if I was Christina and let America decide who they want since the winner ultimately be picked by viewer votes. Even Erin and Jermaine, Erin is who I favored but she gave a weak perfomance on Monday so splitting the votes 50/50 was a fair assessment of their two performances. Cee Lo scored his people fairly also, actually he could’ve given 100 points to Juliet if he wanted. I can’t understand how Adam scored his people. Katrina was my pick to win. Tony is just an ok singer, the weakest of the entire group left. I think Adam favored him because he thinks Tony might win. Why might Tony win? Because Justing Timberlake threw him support.
*POST AUTHOR*
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Alma:
Erin did give a weak performance for her semi-final stint.
But throughout the competition, I championed her more than any other. If her portrayal of “Without You” (which turned out to be her swan song) was the determining factor for her ouster, that was a crying shame. I haven’t been a fan of Jermaine in the least. The majority of the time he has over-played and over-whelmed his performances to the point they’re grating to me. In the long run, Erin was the better contestant of the two. She was obviously not the most popular (Hello! Take a gander at that landslide victory score!), but she was the better vocalist.
She should be in the finals. Period.
It is a shame that Erin is gone, one of the best on the show. She was my early favorite but for me was outshined by Katrina the last few weeks. Of course this is all just my humble opinion (screw it, I’m honest, it’s not that humble but I do acknowledge it is just my opinion.) With the landslide, Blake would have needed to give Erin a huge advantage with his points. If it’s any consolation, with the inexplicably low viewer vote, she probably didn’t have a chance at winning. She is quite young and has a lot of potential for a career. I wonder why she didn’t connect with viewers?
Just to add to the 50/50 debate, I stand by giving a 50/50 is fair. Granted, I can never see Blake giving anything but a 50/50 split. Giving the judges a chance to favor one contestant is being consistent with how much control they have all season. It also allows them to ensure the better contestant makes it through. However, if the judges see their contestants as equal, why can’t they give a 50/50?
I agree that the 50/50 is taking the easy way out. I think they should have to split their vote atleast 60/40. If the coaches are going to throw away thier vote with a 50/50, then why bother having the coaches get vote at all? It shouldn’ t be controversial when a coach uses thier votes, it should be manditory.
And to the person who said “they aren’t judges, they’re coaches”, that’s crap. Yes they are coaches, but they are also evaluating them and deciting who stays and who goes–that is judging, my friend.
Just to put in my two cents, Erin has a great voice but Jermine has the charisma and stage presence. He was on the back burner for awhile. Just like Jamar. He was an underdog but had improved tremendously. He was the one who was saved by the public vote, remember! He has the best smile and movement on stage. He was my pick. Juliet is a rocker and has the raspy voice. Reminds me of Janis Joplin. When she sings, she is so loud and it’s hard to understand the words. Her voice is unique,but the same in every song. It’s like she has to scream to sound good. I would have liked to hear a soft slow song by her.
Christina’s team is unusual and I don’t think either Lindsay or Chris would have won the final contest. I like lindsay’s voice but it is too soft and has no volume. When she performed with her team each time, her voice did not blend with the volume the others had. Not my favorite. Probably because she rolled her eyes at the the critique she got early on by Adam. Now Chris Mann is definitely opera. Beautiful voice, good looks, but not my pick.
Boy,now Katrina did improve also as each week passed. She sounds so much like adele no matter what she sings. She is good though but needed to do some more peppy songs. Like to have seen her perform and work the stage. Very beautiful face. As for Tony, he just could win this. His last two selections were good and he dogs put the move on.
I believe CeeLo and Adam used strategy to accomplish the results they got and why not.. Christina was using strategy the whole game with her snide remarks about tony and Adam and I think that has or will backfire on her. No one else was doing that. I think she was trying to bring Tonys self esteem down but it made him work even harder. She just was relentless about Tony and he has been offended. He put out press release about it cause she won’t let up. Her and Blake are their coaches and they should have used the 100 points to their advantage. It is a contest after all. May the best one win!