Tag Archives: The Voice

by

Song of the Day #1,116: ‘Creep’ – Devon Barley & Rebecca Loebe

I spent last week on songs by the four coaches of NBC’s The Voice, and this week I’m featuring performances by the show’s contestants.

Of the few dozen songs performed on the show over its 2 1/2 month run, not many really stood out as exceptional. Untested amateurs and semi-pros singing without the help of studio trickery in a high-pressure situation is not exactly a recipe for success.

But that air of uncertainty is what made these clips work. You can tell these are real people trying to fulfill a dream, and every note is weighed down with that drama.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #1,113: ‘Crazy’ – ‘The Voice’ Coaches

The four coaches of The Voice — Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, Christina Aguilera and Cee-Lo Green — are perhaps the unlikeliest quarter to ever share a stage.

And the truth is, they didn’t always click in the several performances they gave to open or close episodes of the show. The result was about as disjointed as you’d expect it to be.

But this performance, of Cee-Lo’s big hit ‘Crazy’ (which he recorded as part of Gnarls Barkley) was a case where the four coaches really meshed.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #1,112: ‘Hillbilly Bone’ – Blake Shelton

Ah, Blake Shelton… the cute, mischievous southern gentleman who charmed the socks off of everybody who got within 100 yards of The Voice. As talented as Dia Frampton is, I have no doubt that she made it to second place in large part because Shelton was her coach.

Prior to the show, I knew Blake Shelton primarily as Miranda Lambert’s boyfriend (and then husband). And liking her as much as I do, I knew any man worthy of her would have to be pretty special. I’d also seen him co-host a country awards show in his typical charming fashion.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #1,111: ‘Hurt’ – Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera is the artist who was most in need of image rehabilitation before the debut of The Voice.

In the previous year or so she’d made headlines for splitting with her husband, flubbing the lyrics of the national anthem at the Super Bowl and tripping onstage at the Grammys. And her most recent album, Bionic, was a high-profile flop.

On The Voice, she didn’t really do herself any favors. Her teasing banter with her co-hosts, Adam Levine in particular, was often more awkward than funny and at times she seemed to have a bit of a cruel streak.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #1,109: ‘Sunday Morning’ – Maroon 5

My next batch of posts won’t be as timely as they would have been a few weeks back, but I’ve wanted to do a series of posts related to the NBC show The Voice, so better late than never. This week I’ll feature songs by each of the four coaches and next week I’ll highlight music by the contestants.

The Voice is the first of the millennium’s many talent-based reality shows that I’ve watched, and the reason it appealed to me more than the American Idols and America’s Got Talents of the world is its use of coaches as opposed to judges.

Continue reading →