The Voice of Ireland Series 3: Top 6 Perform - The Semi Final!
26 April, 2014 4:59 PM
Last week was perhaps the most shocking elimination show of The Voice of Ireland yet after two of the hot favourites, Danica and Mariah were eliminated. I was extremely surprised to see both of them going, I know the public is notorious for refusing to get behind many female acts but these two were way better than some of the others who got through, Paddy in particular. Tonight, the remaining six will be battling it out for the four spots in the final. Who will survive the final cut?
Recap and videos after the JUMP...
Team Dolores
Kellie Lewis
'Cosmic Love' by Florence and the Machines - 9.5/10 - Kellie is overjoyed to be in the semi-final as Dolores' last act standing. She was sad that the coaches didn't enjoy her performance last week and gave her what were, in my opinion, pitifully low scores. She's singing something that she performs with her band when she's gigging, probably my favourite Florence and the Machines track. It's the perfect song for her, she has such a quirky tone which suits the track perfectly and her sort of enchanting stage manner suits the fantasy, gothic feel of this song. She's tearing the stage up, the song is perfect for her voice and she nails all the notes in the track, it does require quite a range as Florence Welch is a really strong singer but Kellie is most definitely capable of living up to the high standards set for her. This is Kellie's best performance to date. Jamelia finally gets Kellie, good scores for Kellie for once although an 8 is for me low as I'd say last week was an 8.
Kellie gets 24 out of 30 (8,8,8)
Team Kian
Paddy Molloy
'She Looks So Perfect' by 5 Seconds of Summer - 6.5/10 - Paddy isn't the strongest singer in the competition but unfortunately the songs choices he has been given often expose the fact that he doesn't have the best voice. Last week was probably his weakest performance to date so at least this song is less challenging than the Kodaline track was. That said, I'm not a fan of the direction that Kian has taken Paddy in, this song is throwaway pop, very forgettable and middle of the road and the type of song that could really be sung by any male singer. I wish he was given something that compliments the more folksy side of his voice, his first audition indicated that there was a folk edge to his voice, similar to modern artists like Passenger, City & Colour and Vance Joy. Something like 'Riptide' would have been a better song choice than this generic boyband track, I wasn't a fan of it and I don't think it was particularly memorable unfortunately.
Paddy gets 18 out of 30 (6,6,6)
Jay Boland
'Treasure' by Bruno Mars - 7.5/10 - After being criticized for doing too much of the same thing last week, Jay has decided to go upbeat this week with a Bruno Mars song. He isn't used to doing much dancing because he tends to sing ballads and slow songs but he's willing to take a risk and step outside of his comfort zone. Unfortunately, I could have predicted it, this isn't a fantastic choice for Jay at all. The song isn't my favourite and unfortunately, I feel like the song just served to highlight how uncomfortable Jay is doing upbeat numbers. He looked extremely awkward on stage, probably moreso than Danica did during that infamous Lady Gaga performance in Week 2. Aside from that, the vocals were a little sloppy, he hit a few bum notes. Whilst it's good that he took a risk, I don't know why Kian didn't pick something that wouldn't have required him to move around so much, something mid-tempo but still fairly upbeat such as 'Mirror' by Justin Timberlake would have showed that Jay is capable of doing something other than ballads whilst still singing impressively.
Jay gets 21 out of 30 (7,7,7)
Team Jamelia
Laura-May Lenehan
'Show Me Heaven' by Maria McKee - 9/10 - Laura-May has been given this little gem of a song to show off her insane range. She's a wonderful vocalist, a really strong singer and has the ability to connect with every song she sings. I was a bit surprised to see Jamelia giving her quite a retro song choice but in all honesty, she could have given her any song and Laura-May would have smashed it. I really hope she makes the final, she's a great artist. Vocally, there's literally nothing to criticize, it could have been a little bit stronger in the opening line maybe but overall, another outstanding vocal performance by Laura May.
Laura May gets 23 out of 30 (7,8,8)
Team Bressie
Brendan McCahey
'Stay With Me' by Sam Smith - 9/10 - Brendan is now the bookies' favourite to win after unanimous praise from the coaches once again last week. I wasn't as big a fan of last week's performance as the coaches were, it was good but unremarkable but I'm intrigued when Bressie says he's giving Brendan something contemporary this week. He says that he heard this song on the radio and automatically knew it was perfect for Brendan. He wasn't wrong, this was absolutely brilliant for Brendan, his voice is very strong, similar to Sam Smith's really barring the fact that he doesn't have an irritating tone like Sam. He nails the emotion of the song and it's just generally a really strong vocal performance. I don't think Brendan is as captivating a performer as Kellie Lewis but he does a great job, I'm not sure that it was a perfect 10 as Kian and Jamelia's scores indicated, for me he just needs to work on his stage presence as he's sometimes a little forgettable as a performer but it's nevertheless a great performance and he is bound to make the final.
Brendan gets 29 out of 30 (9,10,10)
Jamie Stanton
'Best Of You' by Foo Fighters - 8/10 - The coaches told Jamie to spread his wings a little after last week's performance feeling like he has been giving the same type of performance every week. Bressie disagrees saying that Jamie is doing what he's best at (yet said the same criticism of Jay last week, hypocrite much?) but has agreed to allow Jamie to show a softer side by arranging this Foo Fighters song a little differently. It opens up much more softly, allowing Jamie to show a more tender side which is nice but doesn't last long as it's not long before Jamie is belting the song out like normal. That said, I quite liked it because he showed two different sides to his voice within one performance without it seeming forced, it was a strong vocal and he definitely did the song justice. Good job from Jamie. Much better than the last few weeks.
Jamie gets 20 out of 30 (8,6,6)
Rankings
- Kellie Lewis
- Laura May Lenehan
- Brendan McCahey
- Jamie Stanton
- Jay Boland
- Paddy Molloy
Results
Through To Semi Finals:
Laura May Lenehan
Kellie Lewis
Jamie Stanton
Brendan McCahey
Eliminated:
Jay Boland
Paddy Molloy
So Kian loses both of his acts in the semi-finals whilst Bressie manages to get both of his acts into the final. I think when it came down to it, song choice let him down. Jay had a lot of potential but the song was just wrong for him and Paddy gave mediocre vocals sadly. I think we have a decent final ahead of us, I reckon Laura May or Brendan will snatch it but I wouldn't rule Kellie out either. I'm not so sure that I picture Jamie winning The Voice but you never know.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Post a Comment