The Voice, Season 2, Two Night Super Premiere!

The last time we saw The Voice on TV, it took us all a bit by surprise with its fun premise of Blind Auditions and its chart-topping, relevant mentors.  When the dust settled in June, though, all of the unique elements were sort of squandered with a ho-hum finale and your humble recapper hoped that a second season would punch up the good parts and kill the bad ones from season one.  But we’re still just at the beginning, and the fun of the Blind Auditions lives on.  This season, it’s already amped up a bit because the contestants, the audience and the mentors are familiar with the premise.  Everyone has their parts to play:  Christina is the busty, bratty girl; Adam is the witty trickster with the devilish grin; Blake is the tall, charming country crooner and Cee-Lo is…Dr. Evil?  How else would you explain the white cat he’s inexplicably petting while doing interviews in the studio?  It’s unsettling.

After two nights of mostly talented singers, here are the finalists so far, by team:

Team Adam:

Angel Taylor–One of many sob stories, she, along with her mom and four sisters, escaped an abusive father.  She sang “Someone Like You” by Adele, and I was never really blown away.  But, Adam turned his chair, followed by Blake and Cee Lo.  She chose Adam after a lot of hemming and hawing.

Kim Yarbrough is 50 years old!  50!  Years! Old!  Anyone else wishing she was carrying her purse and did the splits onstage?  She has worked in a potato chip factory and done security for Dave Matthews Band.  Hey, gotta pay the rent. She owns “Tell Me Something Good”  by Rufus  featuring Chaka Kahn.  All the coaches were grooving, Adam turned first, and Christina couldn’t resist after that happened.  Surprisingly, Cee Lo passed, which I say since this type of voice should be his wheelhouse.  Blake decided to referee things and reminds Kim that Adam won last year.  Both Adam and Christina think Kim has no limits to what she can do vocally.  She picked Adam!  Christina seethed.  “You’re such a salesman!”  And you are spoiled brat!

Tony Lucca–He got everyone to turn around with his version of “Trouble” by Ray LaMontagne.  Even after he said his name, Xtina did not recognize him from their Mickey Mouse Club days.  Adam was desperate in his plea.  “I pushed two buttons…for the first time in the history of The Voice.”  He picked Adam, which seems like a good match.   Christina put two and two together (or was told by a producer) and got up and walked backstage to go see Tony and his family, which was at least the right thing to do, even it was a bit forced.

Team Christina:

Lindsey Pavao–A young, nervous-seeming woman who sang “Say Aah” by Trey Songz.  Christina went early, Cee Lo  went late, and was followed by Blake.  I got a vibe off of her that reminded me of Xenia, Blake’s teen charge from last season, but he didn’t mention her.  Rather, he brought up Fiona Apple, one of her idols. Christina was all, “I like her too, plus you and I both swooped our hair to one side, let’s be besties!”  Surprisingly, that worked, and she’s Team Xtina.

Jesse Campbell–He is the onetime homeless and single dad of tween daughter. His “Song for You” turned everyone’s chairs and the begging began.  Christina tried to be down and cool, despite her admittedly not being the “same color as Cee Lo.”  Dr. Evil’s reply?  ”Everybody’s the same color with the lights off”.  Shudder. Everyone was fighting for him, although Blake wasn’t exactly lobbying.  He reminds me of Javier, last year’s winner, but he might be even better.  He picked Christina, who dropped a line about fighting for him, as her song, conveniently entitled “Fighter”, played in the background.  

The Line (a duo composed of Hailey and Leland, who are most definitely not a couple.  Anymore.  Or ever.  We don’t really know.)  They jammed Tom Petty’s “American Girl”.  Blake turned early, then everyone else eventually turned, to his dismay.  Adam’s eyebrow dance and sly smile to his friend and competitor are the reason I love him.  Cee Lo mistook the duo for a couple, as most people do.  They went with Christina,  who gloated like a mofo.  

Chris Mann–He is doing this for mom who has (had?) pancreatic cancer.  He was dashing in a suit, singing “Because We Believe”, an operatic song in Italian.  He got Xtina and Cee Lo to turn around, though Blake and Adam were clearly impressed as well.  Christina shouted “I know what to do with real vocalists!” and he actually picked her.  Seriously annoying.

Team Blake:

Jermaine Paul is a back up singer for Alicia Keys.  His preteen daughter told him about the show.  After getting a video message from Alicia, he sang Avril Lavigne’s  “Complicated”.  Cee Lo turned.  Blake jumped in.  Cee Lo said he could hear the “swag”.  Blake says he sounded like he thought he would look.  Jermaine interviewed the coaches way more than anyone else had the stones to do. He was a little cocky, but I suppose that was his chance to do something like that.  He surprised everyone by picking Blake, apparently based on height.  Blake thinks Cee Lo oversold himself, while Christina wished she’d hit her button; she thinks he’s strong.

Gwen Sebastian is from North Dakota, dontcha know.  She and her boyfriend are putting everything else on hold (inc. kids and marriage) to pursue music.  She sang “Stay”, a Sugarland tune that got Blake to turn, followed by Cee Lo.  Adam jumped in on the last note with his devilish grin.  Gwen was overcome.  Blake made his country pitch, Adam talked about “fresh perspective.” They dragged it out, including a speech from Gwen (no kidding, she might be at the next Republican debate!) but she picked Blake, which is no shock.

Raelynn is Carrie Underwood 2.0 right down to her religiosity and time on the farm. She idolizes Blake and his wife Miranda, and chose the latter’s “Hell on Hells” by Pistol Annies (Miranda’s group).  Her voice was Dolly Parton-ish to start, but got a little friskier, she played guitar and has lots of personality to go with her crimson lipstick.  Adam and Blake both wanted her.  She picked Blake, because of course, he’s her idol.

Team Cee Lo:

Angie Johnson–Her journey started as a member of the Air Force band, during a whopping seven middleastern deployments.  From a million views on her youtube video of that band doing “Rolling In the Deep”, someone referred her to Carson’s twitter, and that’s how she got the chance.  So Carson is responsible for this one, kids.  She rocks “Heartbreaker” by Pat Benetar, and Cee Lo turned around early.  Christina thought about it and passed, despite being impressed with her pitch.  She wasn’t my favorite, but I’m glad she’s getting a shot here.

Jamar Rogers–He is six years clean off crystal meth, and he is HIV positive.  I vaguely recognized him, and immediately googled to find his former tv role, Friend of Danny Gokey Who Got Unceremoniously Cut in Hollywood Week, which he played on season 8 of Idol.  No one mentions that on this show, of course, but I’m just shocked they passed up Jamar’s sob story, even if someone liked Danny’s more on that staff.  We all see how that worked out.  Jamar mentioned his charity work in New York, and it’s cool to see he works for God’s Love We Deliver,  a charity Joan Rivers’ sits on the board of and won lots of money for on Celebrity Apprentice.  He made a cool selection in “Seven Nation Army” by White Stripes. Cee Lo, his idol, turned around, perhaps because he heard his own voice behind him.  No one else turned, but that’s fine by Jamar.  He namechecked pretty much everything Cee Lo has ever done, so it’s clear he’s a major, longtime fan.  

Juliet Simms–She’s a “rocker”, just look at her outfit and tattoos!  She has been touring since she was 16, and is now 25.  It looks like it’s been a long 25 years. She belted the Beatles’ “Oh! Darling” in a gritty, sort of Janie Joplin-y voice.  Adam and Cee Lo turned at the exact same time and Adam sang with her from his chair. Xtina joined the fray.  This was the first time Christina called Adam a car salesman, to which he responded, “If selling cars means winning The Voice, then I sell cars.”  He retorted with, “Christina is one of the best singers on earth, but she is not one of the best coaches.”  Cee Lo casually said she turned him on.  He loved her style and energy.  She picked Cee Lo, probably because she wanted to stay out of the drama between Adam and Christina, an I can’t blame her there.

The Rejects

Dez Duron–His voice is kind of stylized, both Cee Lo and Blake said they tried to push Adam to push his button.  Christina feels bad because he’s “adorable”, and clearly wishes she would have.

Pamela Rose is a tall, gorgeous girl from Florida.  She took on Kelly Clarkson’s “Already Gone”. Her voice was not strong enough, and cracked a lot. She just didn’t wow anyone.  The guys all died a little inside once they saw she was hot.  “You’re beautiful…so congrats on that.”–Adam

Hoja Lopez sang “Teenage Dream” with some really weird phrasing at the start, and just didn’t have the power to win anyone over.  Adam asked if it was nerves, and let her down very gently.

Neal Middleton is married with two little ones but no health insurance…yikes.  He fell off a 40 foot building and almost died.  His Lynard Skynard voice and leather top hat didn’t work.  Cee Lo called it “interesting”.  He just didn’t fit with what anyone wanted.

TJ Gibson was a snappy dresser, but no dice.  Aly Jados sang Patty Smith but wasn’t exciting enough.  Sam James did I Don’t Wanna Be EXACTLY like Gavin DeGraw, who Adam just toured with, and he was done.

Gonul Aksoy screamed through “Tainted Love”.  Ben Baxter bored everyone with Edwn McCain’s “I’ll Be.”  Mark Trussell slogged through Baby Baby.

Daniel Rosa was a heavy set sort of hipster nerd who plays a tiny guitar and cried a lot on camera.  He did “Animal” by Neon Trees.   Xtina was very complimentary in rejecting him.  He did have a  great attitude just for the chance to sing and be critiqued by the artists.

So, do you have any favorites at this early stage?  Thoughts on the Prince medley done at the start of the second show?  Am I being too mean to Christina or too nice to Adam?  Sound off below!  Oh, and until next week, please to enjoy Cee Lo’s animated rendition of the theme song to BJ and The Bear!  We’re fairly confident in saying it’s the only one in history to work the phrase “property tax” into the lyrics.

 

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