The greatest superhero movie of summer went down on Monday night — in the reality-competition genre, of all places! — and there wasn’t a single exploding car, collapsing building or vortex into another dimension in sight. Some people might refer to it as The Voice‘s Season 8 Performance Finale, but to my ears, we might as well dub it Sawyer Vs.
Koryn: Wonder-Teen Vocals Activate! (which, come to think of it, would be the kind of Saturday morning fare I’d encourage my children to watch). RELATED Every comic-book-ish tale needs a villain, however, and if I’m being 100 percent honest about how the competition is playing out in my mind, then let us all boo and hiss as the notorious, nefarious Screamzilla enters the scene, crushing cherished soul classics and cheesy ’80s radio jams under the weight of her relentless vocals, spurred on by the deliciously evil Blake Shelton. Yes, yes, I know Meghan Linsey is probably a very lovely person — and there are things I really appreciate about her muscular-but-weathered instrument. (Every good baddie has some positive attributes, no?) It’s just that as far as I’m concerned, Meghan uses her powers in the service of all that is wrong — crushing vulnerability, dynamics, and cities full of fleeing innocents in her quest for vocal dominance.
RELATED I have to tip my hat to Blake, though, a guy whose “aw, shucks, I’m just plainspeakin’ off the top of my head” banter masks a razor-sharp strategic vision. When he told Meghan that at this point in the competition, it’s hard to gather who’s the front-runner (a bald-faced lie!), he was essentially confirming that the front-runner is Sawyer. And then, his tone shifted as he told his sole remaining artist she had perhaps “changed the course of events” by giving “the performance of the night” on Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman.” Dude might just as well have pressed the “detonate death-laser” button on Meghan’s control panel and sent her in the direction of the wide-eyed teenager from upstate New York. What I haven’t mentioned, though, is that Sawyer’s quiet ability to live inside a song, to make you feel like you’re hearing a well-known lyric for the very first time, could/should serve as his forcefield. Koryn, alas, might be just a touch too raw at this point in her artistic development to survive the Full Blake, but if she winds up in third place, that’d still be a noble end for the southern teen who just a few months ago was performing in nursing homes and working in a local pizza shop. So while a Sawyer-Koryn-Meghan-Joshua pecking order (oh yeah, there’s a fourth finalist) would be the appropriate screen-tested, studio-approved, Will Smith-Reese Witherspoon-Tom Cruise action-vehicle ending, I’ll happily accept Sawyer-Meghan-Koryn-Joshua. But enough about my predictions and predilections — let’s get to letter grades for this week’s performances.
Koryn Hawthorne (Team Pharrell) — James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” — Grade: A James Brown’s anthemic ballad may be more overdone on reality singing shows than your local news channel’s “Warning: This benign household item could kill you!” segments. (In fact, you can find respective “Man’s World” covers on my list of and Ever.) Koryn made me forget all that, though, with two minutes of raw, emotional power and pitch perfection. When she dipped lowww on “Noah made the arc,” when she put extra stank on “Man makes the money,” even when she whispered “he’s lossst in the wilderness,” her tone was like a shock-paddle to my “It’s Monday, and I’m already on empty” heart. Meghan Linsey & Blake — Aretha Franklin’s “Freeway of Love” — Grade: D+ This wouldn’t be the first time Blake chose a “fun” duet for himself and one of his finalists, but this time around, both his and Meghan’s facial expressions made it seem as though they knew they were delivering an under-rehearsed, overbaked mess. The final third of the performance — pretty much everything that came after the key change — made it sound like Meghan’s vocal cords were being pushed through a meat grinder. Let us never speak of this catastrophe again, OK? Joshua Davis & Adam Levine — Paul Simon’s “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” — Grade: C+ Just in case there was an impala’s chance in a lion’s cage of Joshua winning, Mark Burnett & Co.
Finished him off by putting this faded carbon copy of Paul Simon’s bright, shiny original as his last impression. As his vocals faded inoffensively into the mix, I half expected Carson Daly to present him with a $100 gift card to Outback Steak House and thank him for participating. Koryn Hawthorne (Team Pharrell) — original track “Bright Fire” — Grade: B+ Mad props to The Voice‘s producers for making sure all four of their finalists got themselves a finale-night single representing their musical points of view.
And while the island beat and inspirational lyrics of “Bright Fire” might not rank alongside Pharrell’s masterworks (“Happy,” “She Wants to Move,” “Caught Out There,” etc), he at least penned for Koryn something that let her work the Voice stage and to prove her distinctive vibrato sounds as good wrapped around a groove as it does on a booming ballad. I know I’m bound to be disappointed six months from now — and I won’t be surprised to be disappointed – but isn’t it easy to imagine that with the right material, Koryn and her immediately recognizable voice could easily make some noise on the charts? Meghan Linsey (Team Blake) — Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” — Grade: B If I were back in elementary school, Sister Mary Rita would be keeping me in the classroom during recess, writing out 50 times, “I will stop demanding subtlety and softness from Meghan Linsey. I will stop demanding subtlety and softness from Meghan Linsey. I will stop demanding subtlety and softness from Meghan Linsey.” Like me attempting to write a totally neutral recap, it simply isn’t what she does. Still, while I wasn’t crazy about the ’70s variety-show arrangement the house band brought to “When a Man,” there’s no denying Meghan delivered the melody with ease and passion right up to the final refrain. The last 20 seconds or so, Bad Meghan took over — leaving me grumbling “volume does not equal emotion!” — but overall, this was a solid showing.
Sawyer Fredericks (Team Pharrell) — Neil Young’s “Old Man” — Grade: A “There’s this rich sense of Americana in Sawyer’s voice,” said Pharrell, perfectly encapsulating why a 1972 folk-pop jam was the right choice for a 16-year-old high-school student. I’m not exactly sure how Sawyer’s voice can simultaneously transport me back to cheery days of listening to A.M. Radio with the windows rolled down — and yet also manage to sound completely fresh and current, but a good magician never explains his tricks, I suppose. Will Sawyer be the first Voice winner whose weekly iTunes dominance will turn him into a household name? I wouldn’t bet against it. Should win: Sawyer (Koryn as runner-up) Will win: Sawyer (Meghan as runner-up) Your turn.
The Voice Season 8
What did you think of The Voice performance finale? Who will win? Who should win?
Take our poll below, then sound off in the comments!
The Voice Season 8 Broadcast from: February 23rd, 2015 - May 19, 2015 Judges Host Carson Daly Broadcaster NBC Winner Anissa Matlock Origin Song ' Genre Runner Up Mick Morning Chronology Previous Season Next Season The eighth season of, an American reality talent show The Voice premiered on February 23rd, 2015 on NBC. On May 19, 2015, Anissa Matlock of Team Blake was announced as the winner of The Voice, with Mick Morning of Team Usher as the runner up, and Selma Ruiz of Team Christina in third place. Coaches The coaches for this season are:, and. This is Christina Aguilera's second time on the judging panel after her first appearance in Season 5. This is Usher's fourth appearance on The Voice.
Adam and Blake have been on since the series' premiere in 2010. The team advisors for this season are: Bruno Mars for Team Adam. Adele for Team Christina.
Justin Timberlake for Team Usher. And Darius Rucker for Team Blake.
Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons will serve as the universal mentor for the Knockout Rounds.
Tiberium, the mysterious, alien crystalline structure that has infested Earth for decades and served as the primary reason for years of relentless conflict between the Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and the Brotherhood of Nod, is close to rendering the planet uninhabitable. Electronic Arts’ award-winning and best-selling Tiberium saga is coming to a powerful conclusion with Command & Conquer 4, which will introduce a multitude of innovations to the classic fast and fluid Command & Conquer gameplay, while retaining the core compulsions that fans have come to love over the series’ history. Tiberian twilight. It is the year 2062 and humanity is at the brink of extinction. About This Game Behold disciples of Nod, for the end is soon upon us.
This article does not any. Unsourced material may be challenged and. (October 2017) Season 8 Broadcast from 20 October 2017 – 16 February 2018 Judges Host(s) Co-host(s) (backstage) Broadcaster Winner Origin, Song ' Genre(s), Coach Runner-up Samantha Steenwijk Chronology.
Late 2017- Early 2018. The eighth season of the Dutch reality singing competition premiered on 20 October 2017 on. Hosts, and all returned, as did Sanne Hans, and as coaches, while coach was replaced with, who served as a coach on. New this season was that in the Redroom-app the contestant with the highest percentage of turns could release its blind audition song on iTunes. Jim van der Zee won the competition from team Anouk and Anouk became the winning mentor for the first time and Jim became the second male to win the show.
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |