The Voice - Norges beste stemme: Season 1: Top 20 - Part 1 - Perform!
27 April, 2012 7:43 PM
Things didn't work out with Nuespo, so I'm taking over The Voice Norge recaps from now on. I've missed the battles but I'm just in time for the liveshows! Just 20 contestants remain as of now, and despite some loses, such as Tone-Yvonne S. Hansen and Kathrine Fuglien, it's a safe bet to say that we've got a quite strong top 20. Tonight, Team Yosef and Team Magne will take the stage, and 2 contestants from each team will be waving goodbye. Who'll stand out? Who'll fade into darkness? ... This is The Voice!
Silje Løvaas
"Rolling In The Deep" (Adele) - 8,5/10 - She's the girl who reworks pop songs into piano ballads, and as such, she's quite great at it. Her "Poker Face" audition got her a full house and despite not being something out of this world, it was enought to get the judges attention. She's giving the same treatment to "Rolling In The Deep" tonight. I'd usually bitch that people can't cover Adele cause they never are as good as her but Silje's version is actually working. That's because she's not trying to sound like Adele and managed to make the song her own without taking all of it's emotion away. I also liked the way she changed the melody, it made the song much more soothing. We may be looking at Yosef's best shot at the final here. - VIDEO
Elisabeth Vatndal
"I Won't Let You Go" (James Morrison) - 7/10 - Elisabeth was briefly shown on Idol Norge's latest season despite she didn't make it to the Top 40. Glad she's back on a talent show cause she's got a lot of potential. Her audition showed that. There were lots of flaws in "Moves Like Jagger", starting with the song choice. Fortunately, she sounds much more improved tonight. It seemed she had some issues with her earphones but that didn't matter cause it didn't affect her performance at all. I'm glad Yosef picked this song for her, it showed she's not just a bland pop act and there were some really strong originality signs. - VIDEO
Omar Mohamed Ahmed
"Without You" (David Guetta) - 3/10 - Oh well, a bad performance was due to happen, wasn't it? I never liked Omar actually, I figured Yosef had picked him as fodder but considering how similar both of them are, I should have seen him keeping Omar much more than that. "Without You" is not the right song for him, an RnB tune would've been much more suitable. Instead, he gave us a pitchy interpretation, specially during the chorus, in which the choir completely drowned him out. A trainwreck if I'm being bloody honest. - VIDEO
Leif Anders Wentzel
"Pretty Young Thing" (Michael Jackson) - 4/10 - He's probably the oldest contestant left in the competition and contrary of what everyone must be thinking, his song choices aren't boring at all. His audition was a cover of Aloe Blacc's "I Need A Dollar", which the judges loved. Unfortunately, now that Yosef has taken over, Leif was given "PYT", a song I loath since Danny Gokey murdered it on Idol back in S8. It's just cheesy as hell, in a way that should permanently be banned from singing competitions. Another cover I will forget as fast as I stop writing this ... - VIDEO
Odd Einar Nordheim
"Swim Good" (Frank Ocean) - 6,5/10 - He auditioned along his wife, Frid, with both of them making it to the liveshows. She's with Hanne, so they won't cancell each other. He's quite the stereotypical rocker, auditioning with Kings of Leon's "Sex On Fire", so I must say that this Frank Ocean pick was surprising. It's interesting but nothing mind blowing. He gained some intensity after the chorus and it made the performance much more haunting, I'll give him one more chance to impress me. - VIDEO
Marius Beck
"Pumped Up Kicks" (Foster The People) - 6/10 - Marius's got a really smooth tone, he's like the white version of Javier Colon (The Voice US S1 winner) and although I found his sound quite appealing, I don't find him as exciting as the judges do. It just seems all his attitude was washed out and he was left with a good voice. Yeah, there wasn't a single bum note during his performance but he looked so lifeless on stage that I almost considered calling 911. That didn't convince me at all. - VIDEO
Martin Halla
"Hurt" (Johnny Cash) - 8/10 - Martin's audition was one of my faves. His tone is lovely and is definitely something really special. He may not be the most charismatic singer but at least, he emotes something, unlike Marius. This is a pretty stellar delivery. I'm not loving the song choice but I get why Magne picked it for him, the song works perfectly with his voice. It may have been a little too slow-paced but I couldn't care less cause it was quite captivating. - VIDEO
Marianne Pentha
"Another Day In Paradise" (Phil Collins) - 6,5/10 - Marianne's audition was heavenly, taking "When Love Takes Over" and making it a heartfelt ballad. She's doing the same with this Phil Collins classic and although she looks stunning, I think the song choice wasn't a clever decision by Magne. There's not enough room for her to show her true potential and while she sounds fantastic, there was something missing on her delivery, I'm not sure what was it, it just wasn't as great as her audition. - VIDEO
Shaun Bartlett
"Wicked Game" (Chris Isaak) - 5/10 - Judges rushed to get ahold of him during the blind auditions as if their lives depended on it. Honestly, he was just your average singer. I won't deny there's something special in his tone but his performance was a little underwhelming. Unfortunately, I've got the same feeling from his Chris Isaak cover. The song needed a fiercer approach and his just felt sleepy. - VIDEO
Monika Blomeid
"Some Die Young" (Laleh) - 9/10 - My fave contestant plus my fave song??!!! How am I supposed to judge this? Monika has been my chosen one since her haunting "Someone like you" during the auditions and I've not stopped loving her since then. She's my quirky contestant and I melt with her tone. The same thing happens with Laleh. I just love everything that girl does. So it's quite obvious that I'm way too biased here. That's why I just say I loved this, and I'll leave it like that. Haha. - VIDEO
Results
Eliminated Contestants:
Elisabeth Vatndal
Odd Einar Nordheim
Marius Beck
Marianne Pentha
The stand outs were Monika, Martin and Silje, so I'm really glad the three of them are safe. Regarding the eliminations, I'm not completely shocked with them. Marius had no life during his performance, so he was the right pick to go. I'd have liked Shaun to go too but I'm not shocked at all Marianne left. None of their performances were stellar and as usual, male contestants have more support than females. The same with Elisabeth. She was the second best of her team but she was sent home to favour Omar and Leif. And I really don't get why Yosef let Elisabeth and Odd go, who were arugably better than Leif and Omar.
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