The Voice Australia Season 1: Top 24 - Part 2 - Perform!
31 May, 2012 5:01 PM
4 guys were sent home last week, of course, we didn't know that until this episode but does it really matter? Matt Hetherington, Ben Bennett, Michael Duchesne and Sam Ludeman were all sent home after the female contestants schooled them in their performances. The remaining contestants of the Top 24, that is Team Keith and Team Joel, will be taking the stage tonight and 3 more will be eliminated. Oh, right, that's because Carmen Smith was DQ, more about that in the post ... This is The Voice!
Recap after the JUMP ...
Team Keith
Darren Percival
"Wherever I Lay My Hat" (Marvin Gaye) - 8/10 - Self proclaimed "looping artist" left an unimpressive image during the blind auditions, so he needs to bring it tonight. Keith claims Darren is the one who needed the less from him. He picked this song just because he wants to hear Darren sing it. Haha. "I love this song". Keith feels he's singing for him. Man crush? There's something I really like about Darren but there's sitll something I don't. His voice is deep and has a wonderful soulish tone, was it 1990, he'll be a huge star, kinda like Seal actually. However, I'm not sure who this type of performance will show his contemporary side. I bet Keith is happy though.
Adam Martin
"Lonely Boy" (The Black Keys) - 7/10 - Adam was dissapointed with his battle round. To Keith, Adam has to be authentic, he says Adam is missing the believability. Wait a second, Adam is 24?! Wow, he looked 16. The beginning was specially cool, I seriously love his tone. There's something about it I just can't get enough. Not the right song for him but with better material I could grow to really like him.
Jimmy Cupples
"Sweet Child o' Mine" (Guns N' Roses) - 5/10 - "When I hear him sing, there's some theatricality that gets too much for me", Keith says. He wants Jimmy to be more vulnerable. He's gonna start a little bit slow and then build it up. The slow start was clever, I wish the song stayed there all the time. His theatricality is too much for me too, I didn't see any vulnerability either. The high parts were out of tune, I honestly didn't like it. Apparently Jimmy wasn't in the rehersals yesterday, cause he was sick, so Seal calls him out on that. Rock star bad attitude?
Taga Paa
"Fight For You" (Jason Derülo)/"Africa" (Toto) - 5,5/10 - Keith likes Taga cause he has a very beautiful soul. He chose this song for him cause the song is vocally and lyrically on his song. Taga is singing for his kids future, if you don't remember, he helps young disadvantaged kids through music workshops. Weird mash up. I prefered Toto's than Jason's, he sounded better on it and more sincere. "Fight For You" wasn't as good, it was quite lackluster. Seal is complaining about the dancers, he thought they were not needed, isn't he gonna critique his performance? Interesting that Keith was the one who called him out on his pitchiness.
Diana Rouvas
"Love On Top" (Beyoncé Knowles) - 9/10 - Keith picked Diana cause he heard a smoky jazzy swagger in her voice. Another Beyonce song for Diana. Before The Voice she was working at a warehouse, picking and packing, she's not looking back right now, she's going on this ride. Keith feels it's gonna be all about the delivery personality wise. Diana wants to live up to the faith Keith put on her. I'm sorry about this, but she looks awful. That outfit doesn't look good on her, and I'm not sure it would look good on anyone either. Apart from that, I've nothing more to criticize. Her voice shone on that performance, there was some serious swag on it. I take back what I said before, Beyonce is totally for her! She absolutely smashed that song!
Brittany Cairns
"Different Worlds" (Jes Hudak) - 9,5/10 - Brittany is Keith's shining star, no surprise they left her for last. Brittany says that the song brings this disire in her, not knowing who the love of her life is but knowing it is out there, and that she never expected to have this attachment to the lyrics. This is something very beautiful. There's a pureness in her voice that makes it easy to fall for her. She's definitely showing a great connection with the song, as I expected her to. Looks like this could finally be Jes Hudak's hit! (In case that name sounds familiar, she was the runner up of Platinum Hit, a songwriting competition on Bravo).
Team Joel
Carmen Smith
Someone in for a shock? Carmen Smith was one of Joel's team shining stars but unfortunately, her dream was cut short as she was the first disqualified contestant from any series of The Voice. Apparently, Carmen, who is Guy Sebastian's backing singer, was featured in his new VIDEO, with the producers claiming she had an unfair advantage over the other singers. Unfair advantage my arse. How is this girl DQ while Guy's brother is still in the competition? And what about Delta's backing singer/friend Glenn Cunningham? Crazy. All the best to her though, she has a bright future either way.
Prinnie Stevens
"Turn Me On" (David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj) - 4/10 - Joel thinks Prinnie is Australia's answer to Beyonce. She's stupid excited about this song but she's not quite nailing it during the rehersals. After knocking out Mahalia, she feels the preassure more than ever. Best friend Mahalia is in the audience. This song proved to be an awful pick for her. We all know the original version is highly autotuned so it's kinda impossible to nail it live. Prinnie unfortunately isn't. I give her points for trying though, after all her voice isn't as awful as it could be and she brought a lot of coreography too.
Sarah De Bono
"Listen" (Beyoncé Knowles) - 8/10 - Sarah is yet again singing a predictable song. She feels she's not shown the true dimension of who she is. "Listen" is the ballad she would sing while growing up when times were not easy. She knowns she has to let the audience in, with this song, I wouldn't count on that. Oh god, Darren screwed Sarah's introduction, he called her Brittany Cairns. That's gonna make her pretty nervous. Fortunately, she looks serene and it's not affecting her vocals. Boring song as I predicted but she's got pipes, a huge set of them! Considering her backstory with this song, I was expecting more emotion. Darren apologizes after her performance, apparently he was standing in front of Brittany's cheer squad. Haha.
Ben Hazelwood
"Lego House" (Ed Sheeran) - 9/10 - Ben revealed that his battle song reminded him of his late brother. Ben says he has to find the same "truth" in tonight's song than in his battle, cause this one isn't as powerful to him. Joel tells him he has to find a moment on this song. Ben wants to prove he can deliver a song more than once and that he's not a one off. He's slowly becoming my favourite, proving he has a real darkhorse potential. Amazing song choice, he's tone is interesting, not unique, but different. I'd buy an album with that voice on it. The question is, can Ben beat Sarah and Lakyn?
Laura Bunting
"Somebody That I Used To Know" (Gotye featuring Kimbra) - 7,5/10 - Darren calls this song a new Aussie anthem. Joel thinks Laura's challenge is finding herself as an artist, "when you think to much, your theater comes out". It's interesting to see this song on an Australian show, how will the audience react to it? I love the new look, she looks wicked. (See what I did there?) Haha. I love this, the little theatrical parts that slip in the performance were fantastic and her strong attitude worked perfectly for it. Delta felt that Laura wasn't authentic, she wanted to see the other colours that the song has. Why are they criticizing their only quirky artist? Sabotage? I'm not confident she'll be here next week now. Damn it Joel!
Lakyn Heperi
"Forever Young" (Alphaville) - 8/10 - "Lakyn has almost become a popstar already", really Joel? Joel think Lakyn fans don't want to see him perform with his guitar and that they just want to hear him sing. Lakyn was very hesitant about this decision. When he stands on stage, he's just gonna be Lakyn and hope everyone belives him. Glad that Joel made him sit, if he was standing without his guitar he would've looked awkward. Oh neverimnd, he stood. His vocals are fabulous. I adore his tone but I think I prefer Ben at this point. Lakyn sounds lazy tonight, like he's not trying hard enough. Either way, he's my other favourite of Team Joel and there's a great future ahead of him. To Seal, Lakyn didn't connect with him, it was a little distant. That's exactly what I wanted to say before. Haha.
Predictions
Last week positions actually proved to be accurate, with the lowest selling contestants sent home. Is it possible that iTunes positions are actually a reflection of the votes? The Voice US proved, these are no indication of the actual results, which include phone, text and Facebook votes. Only difference is that buying iTunes singles count as two votes, so we'll see next Monday 28 if the predictions are once again accurate. (iTunes positions as of May 22, 2012)
Team Keith
#1 Brittany Cairns - "Different Worlds" (Jes Hudak)
#2 Darren Percival - "Wherever I Lay My Hat" (Marvin Gaye)
#5 Diana Rouvas - "Love On Top" (Beyoncé Knowles)
#25 Adam Martin - "Lonely Boy" (The Black Keys)
#72 Taga Paa - "Fight For You" (Jason Derülo)
#100 Jimmy Cupples - "Sweet Child o' Mine" (Guns N' Roses)
Brittany and Darren are head to head in the charts, with the first having the advantage. Diana is right after them at an impressive #5 and the rankings keep going down after that, with Jimmy at #100, being the lowest ranking contestant. Based on this rankings, Brittany and Darren will go through on votes, and I actually see Keith saving both Adam and Diana, thus sending Taga Paa and Jimmy Cupples home.
Team Joel
#3 Sarah De Bono - "Listen" (Beyoncé Knowles)
#9 Lakyn Heperi - "Forever Young" (Alphaville)
#12 Ben Hazelwood - "Lego House" (Ed Sheeran)
#46 Laura Bunting - "Somebody That I Used To Know" (Gotye featuring Kimbra)
#98 Prinnie Stevens - "Turn Me On" (David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj)
Only one contestant will be eliminated of Team Joel due to Carmen Smith's DQ. Sarah tops the ranking at #3, with Lakyn behind her at #9. Ben is also near with a #12, though I suspect Ben and Lakyn may be splitting votes. The other girls are, Laura at #46 and Prinnie at #98. Considering she had the worst performance of the night, I'd say Prinnie Stevens will be eliminated.
I'm sad to see Laura going home. She was an unique and interesting talent. Her performance wasn't as stellar as it could've been but it was still better than Prinnie's. It always came down to Joel's decision though, guess he prefered pitchy Prinnie. Taga and Jimmy were the obvious picks for Keith considering their bad performances and their low selling singles. I don't think they'll be missed.
Results
Eliminated Contestants:
Laura Bunting
Taga Paa
Jimmy Cupples
I'm sad to see Laura going home. She was an unique and interesting talent. Her performance wasn't as stellar as it could've been but it was still better than Prinnie's. It always came down to Joel's decision though, guess he prefered pitchy Prinnie. Taga and Jimmy were the obvious picks for Keith considering their bad performances and their low selling singles. I don't think they'll be missed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Post a Comment