The Voice of Ukraine: Season 3: The Battles
19 May, 2013 11:19 PM
They say life is a battlefield. Well, I don't know about life, but The
Voice certainly is. Imagine how does it feel to be a contestant - one day the judges
battle each other over you and then you battle with another contestant over them.
Tough! The good news are, you don't have to battle anyone, so just relax and enjoy the show!
Recap and videos after the jump ...
Recap and videos after the jump ...
Before we start, a little explanation. There are 14 acts in each team now, but only half of them will survive. There is also a steal, which is being called
"second chance". Oh, and there are those cute medallions with The Voice logo, it's a ritual thing. Before the battles each coach gives it to each contestant.
Part 1
Victoria Olize (Вікторія Олізе) vs Olena Gigareva (Олена Жигарева) - Team Slava - "Rehab" - Both of them managed to turn all the chairs before but now only one will survive.
Victoria sounds way better, she plays with the melody and her voice is so crystal clear.
I'm not even annoyed with the song (which I should be since it was sang by so
many hopefuls already). Olena, on the other side, has a powerful voice, but I feel
like she is being reserved and doesn't let it shine. For me the winner by far
is Victoria. Slava decides to take her further too. But we have a "second
chance" for Olena, offered by Oleg and Alexander and Olena accepts Oleg as her
next coach. Happy ending for everybody!
Artem Kondratyuk (Артем Кондратюк) vs Olexiy Boyko (Олексій Бойко) - Team Oleg - "Confession" - Olexiy feels like the song choice plays more on Artem's field and will help him. I personally think Artem will win too, but not because of the song choice but because of his charisma. Olexiy is just a young boy with an ok voice and Artem has a deep soul behind his vocal ability. They both did really well in this battle but the choice was that simple. Oleg chose Artem as the winner.
Antonina Nakonechna (Антоніна Наконечна) vs Michael Kirkilan (Майкл Кіркілан) - Team Alexander- "Go down Moses (Let my people go)" - Michael is one of my favourites and I didn't even remember her so my choice is made already. The song choice is a reverence to him since it's about Jewish people and he is Israeli (I'm only half serious, I assure you). Michael has not only the voice but a personality which can be annoying if you're not into such kind of people, but it still can help you a lot in competition with public votes. He actually reminds me of Eugeni Litvinkivitch, the runner-up of XF UA, who still gets both hateful and loving comments on YouTube. Antonina hits all the notes and takes the lead, but her voice annoys me. Michal is a safe choice for Alexander because he already won an Israeli talent show and proved he can be loved by the public. So yes, he is the winner of this battle.
Hristina Soloviy (Христина Соловій) vs Julia Gorunova (Юлія Горюнова) - Team Slava - "Oy letily dyki gusy" - It's really hard to comment on such an ethereal performance. Of course the song belongs to Hristina and it's not fair to Julia, who has that crazy energy about her which the song doesn't need. Hristina's tone is so thick and special and she is so serious about the song it creates magic on stage. Julia is good too, but I think she knew she's just a cannon fodder and her only purpose is to showcase Hristina's uniqueness. Of course Slava picks Hristina, but Tina decided to give a second chance to Julia. Justice does exist!
London Hill vs Eugen Anishko (Євген Анішко) - Team Tina - "Lady" - I loved this Modjo song back in the 90-s and I haven't heard it in a while. Honestly, both acts are nothing but show-filler (or cannon-fodder, as you'd like). There is nothing special about them. The duo at times doesn't sound like a duo and Eugen looks self-absorbed at times. Tina obviously enjoyed the battle and chose the duo over Eugen. Two man are better than one anyway, right?
Victoria Korgenok (Вікторія Корженок) vs Lyudmila Kapitonova (Людмила Капітонова) - Team Oleg - "Kvitka-dusha" - Victoria won a singing competition 5 or 6 years ago but is still on a contestant level (ugh, she's so annoying I can't stand her and the fact she still tackles her obviously impossible dream to be a star; or maybe she's just after more money which is way worse). Lyudmila is the opposite, she's so smiley and positive I really route for her, fingers crossed. Second folk song of the night and while I don't usually listen to this style of music, it's so magical, like injection of happiness. As much as I hate Viktoria, her voice truly is phenomenal. Luckily Lyudmila isn't bad herself. Oleg goes with energy which is Lyudmila, hooray! And you can see Victoria's annoyed face when she is not a winner, luckily we won't see it anymore!
Anna Lymar (Анна Лимар) vs Dmytro Babak (Дмитро Бабак) - Team Slava - "Junona y Avos" - I think everyone believed both of them. They really sing like they are lovers who won't see each other again, you can feel the pain in their voices. Anna's voice is fantastic, but Dmytro has a personality you can't help but like. I think it was the reason that made Slava chose him as a winner because performance-wise, Anna was a little better.
Іvan Syarkevich (Іван Сяркевич) and Blez Malaba (Блез Малаба) - Team Oleg - "Ніч яка місячна" -
Oleg wanted to see two Lviv boys going against each other (technically, Blez is from Kongo). The song is an immortal Ukrainian classic and I have to confess Blez's accent is a little unpleasant to my ears. His classic singing manner doesn't suit the song well either. This song should be sang softly, just like Ivan does. As much as I love Blez he is a loser in this one and should "thank" Oleg's song choice for it. As for Ivan, I haven't noticed him at the Blinds (not even sure I covered his audition here), but now, in his Ukrainian shirt and with his soulful voice, he is almost perfect. Oleg claims Ivan as the winner but it's not over for Blez - he's got second chance from Slava. I'm relieved because I wanted to see him sing again.
Anna Tyha (Анна Тиха) and Oleksіy Kovalov (Олексій Ковальов) - Team Tina - "I belong to you" - They both wanted an English song and they've got it. I disliked Anna from the moment I saw her and the fact she claims she doesn't know a thing about music doesn't help her case at all. They both seem so false, so unnatural, like in a low-budget movie. It's more like karaoke bar flirting than a battle on a world class show. Ugh. Tina chose Oleksiy as the winner, I'm sure he'll be gone soon enough though.
Anna Hodorovska (Анна Ходоровська) and Yana Kulik
(Яна Кулик) - Team Alexander - "Шопен"
- The battle's winner was clear to me as soon as I saw Anna. She's the obvious front-runner in Alexander's team. She's young but confident and her self-confidence is not over the top and annoying but calm and positive. Her vocals are impressive too and while she's a classical trained singer she put her own twist on "Caruso" at the blinds and she does it now with "Шопен". Poor Yana, I guess she realized how small her chances were because she started to talk nonsense about Alexander's taste in woman, that he prefers brown-haired girls over blonds. Not this time I guess, because Anna is the winner of this battle.
Marina Makoviy (Марина Маковій) and Tufan Chigdem (Туфан Чигдем) - Team Slava - "Smoke on the water" - Slava has the same problem Adam's on The Voice USA, his team is way too strong. Take this two, for example, they battled their voices out, rocking the stage, making me smile. The level of energy was crazy and the stage literally burnt. The best battle of the season yet and with the right military spirit. I don't want to see either of them go. But Slava chose Turkey boy Tufan, I guess it's a strategy thing.
Tata Pіdbolyachna (Тата Підболячна) and Tetyana Ozhelevska
(Тетяна Ожелевська) - Team Oleg - "Bang Bang" -
This battle is not a vocal battle but a singing style battle. Tata's is weird and Tetyana's is sexy. I like weird so I'm on Tata's side but Oleg is a man so who knows? Taking aside the dreadful accents, vocally they are equal, the song doesn't need crazy vocals either way. Oleg chose Tatyana, so I was right about him preferring sexy manners and red dresses.
Marta Spіzhenko (Марта Спіженко) and Olga Bogatirenko (Ольга Богатиренко) - Team Alexander - "Прованс" - There is a recurring joke about Alexander having eyes on his back - because how else could you explain the off the charts number of pretty girls on his team? I guess this is the case when he tries to choose whose face he likes more (Kidding. Sort of. Not really. I mean, look at his face!) The song's arrangement isn't comfortable for either of them and who the hell chose this song, by the way? I can't judge the vocals and I guess no one could under this circumstances. I like Olga's outfit better. Alexander must feel the same way. Olga is the winner. Hooray?
Oleksiy Kirpach (Олексій Кирпач) and Sergiy Chuikov (Сергій Чуйков) - Team Oleg - "Oh, Pretty Woman" - Classical trained vocalist against a weird musician (it's obvious whom I like more). Their voices are so pleasant, this is a really nice match. Sergiy's pitch is perfect but Oleksiy stoles the show with his geek moves.
Very professional battle overall, I listened to it without looking and almost heard Sir Tom Jones in Sergiy's voice. Oleg choses Oleksiy because of the moves, this is smart move from the Ukrainian rocker.
Otar Nemsadze (Отар Немсадзе) and Anastasia Gorohova (Анастасія Горохова) - Team Slava - "Bad" - This is a killer battle. I mean it - poor Anastasia was dead the moment she was paired with the energetic Georgian boy. I have to say, she seem pretty alive while battling but it's an illusion. No one can handle the crazy charisma and husky, muddy voice which is Otar. He's a front runner and Slava won't risk losing him. So he didn't. Otar is moving on.
Also battled: Natalіya Іsachenko (Наталія Ісаченко) who defeated Oleksіy Shportko (Олексій Шпортько) from Team Alexander and sang "Любовь, которой больше нет". (Video) And Staisha from Team Tina who won her battle against Yana Dryupina (Яна Дрюпина) on the song "Весна". The Russian girls did so badly with this Ukrainian song! Seriously, Blez from Kongo sang better in Ukrainian and he isn't even Slavic. (Video)
Part 3
The main intrigue of the third and final night of the battles is Rendall Gregory. And no, I'm not talking about answering the question of what the hell is the cowboy doing in our country but about his battle partner. The answer for the first question will be in the dark forever but the second one will be revealed very soon.
Taras Melnyuk (Тарас Мельник) and Radmir Muhtarov (Радмир Мухтаров) - Team Tina "Обернитесь" - Taras sang his audition song in Spanish and Radmir won over Tina with his beatboxing. The song she gave her boys has a difficult melody that is hard to follow but I think they both are decent with it. Taras's voice is rich and tasty but Radmir's beatboxing is cool so I don't have a clear winner.
Tina's winner is Taras, Alexander gave Radmir a second chance though.
Hanna Belkina (Ганна Бєлкіна) and Tatyana Hutsal (Тетяна Гуцал) - Team Alexander - "Одна калина" - The two girls are (were?) friends but now they stand on each other's way. Oh, drama time! But no, the battle doesn't really feel like a battle but more like a family meeting on holiday or something of sorts. The winner is Hanna.
Sonia Suhorukova (Соня Сухорукова) and Olga Lukachova (Ольга Лукачева) - Team Slava - "Beautiful" - Sometimes I feel sorry for the world music's industry - apparently there are very little number of songs so everyone has to sing "Beautiful", "Price tag" and 20-30 more songs like that. Yes, I'm not very excited for this battle. Sonia's voice suits the song better and I feel like Olga mumbles the words too much instead of singing them. But she's a jazz singer, maybe that's the case. However, I haven't felt that either of them really feels the song (I guess being beautiful is easy for Scarlett Johansson's long-lost sister, that's why). Sonia is Slava's winner.
Lyudmila Movchan (Людмила Мовчан) and Jovi - Team Tina - "Sleeping in my car" - I liked Lyudmila a lot during the Blinds, she was this giant ball of energy. It seems she has the same positive energy on an everyday basis. Jovi, on the other hand, has a pretentious pseudonym and 38 years of life experience and a band membership in the past. With a Roxette song, this battle should be fun to watch. It is the battle of energies, I really enjoyed it (not gonna whine about the song choice). They both have strong stage presence and a rock vibe. I'd pick Lyudmila - for me she's just brighter. But Tina chooses Jovi to move on. It's a pity we won't see Lyudmila anymore - no one stole her.
Lev Remenev (Лев Ременев) and Mikael Kiladze (Лев Ременев) - Team Slava - "Солдат" - Do you remember Lev's audition, when he just sang the first phrase "You're so beautiful" and everyone fell in love with him instantly? I do, and I fear it was one of those magical moments which just won't happen again. Mikael, our Georgian contestant, has his own unique charisma so I guess he would win on that. The song is weird (like a bad weird) I can't really enjoy any of the boys. Lev's lost his charm and Mikael is, yet again, weird.
Camilla Boyko (Камилла Бойко) and Julia Yaroshenko (Юлія Ярошенко) - Team Oleg - "What's going on" - I will continue to insist the song choices are mostly nuts. This song is not made for battling, it's a personal praise and feels so wrong in this case (btw, I saw a lot of comments in English below this video on YouTube, that's suspicious ...) I don't like their interpretation because there is hardly any - just a copy, a bad one. Camilla feels more powerful and deep but none of them seems to be understanding the song. All the coaches are positive though. Maybe they know better. Oleg thinks Camilla should stay in his team.
Zoryana Romaniv (Зоряна Романів) and Olesya Korchagina (Олеся Корчагина) - Team Tina - "Верше" - Olesya sang something psychedelic and unreal for her audition, she is one of a kind. Zoryana is a folk singer and apparently the song Tina gave the girls plays on her side of the filed. It's a folk classic and an interesting task for the indie artist Olesya is (apparently, her husband, a musician as well, isn't on the show anymore, which is sad). The girls kept me totally captivated. The song does half of the magic, of course, but I think they created some of it too. They both hit all the notes and keep the emotions alive, but I can't help but like Olesya better. When she was singing the last bits of the song it felt amazing. All the coaches loved the performance too. Tina saw an actress in Olesya and that't not very far from truth. Olesya is the winner of this battle.
Sergiy Ruchkin (Сергій Ручкін) and Ovanes Atoyan (Ованнес Атоян) - Team Alexander - "Baila morena" - It's supposed to be the battle that makes fire but it goes wrong. They both hit some off-notes and their accents (both English and Spanish are awful (right? ...). Ovanes moves better though. Alexander chose Sergiy, I think that's because he is a more interesting character.
Veronika Dorosh (Вероніка Дорош) and Rendall Gregory - Team Oleg - "Long train running" - Apparently, the mysterious cowboy is the guy everyone is afraid to be paired with. I would too - because he is mysterious and his intentions are not clear. Has he come here to make fun of the low-budget Ukrainian show? Hmm, suspicious. But someone had to battle him and that someone happened to be the youngest (18 years old) team mate of his. I remember her very well - she sang a very cool song but was pitchy and a little bit too self-conscious. However, now I feel sorry for her. Especially if she doesn't speak English and can't communicate with her killer, sorry, partner. But she does speak English, that's a relief. The song is in Rendall's territory and Veronika shouts more than she sings. My ears got tired of their battle and then there is Veronica's epic fail on stage ... (the song choice is the best thing about it, really). I guess Rendall could be better without Veronica. We actually have a chance to see it because Oleg picked Rendall as the winner.
The battles are now over but we're not moving to the lives yet. Next stop, the super-battles, in which each coach will cut his team from 8 to 4.
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