Ranking The Voice 7 Top 5
Last week’s The Voice results show was crazy. THREE contestants were eliminated at once, but not before HALF of the eight remaining contestants sang for their lives, vying for The Voice Save.
Speaking of which–I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it once more. I understand WHY the 5 minute twitter save works for the show. It’s GREAT TV, and boosts that all-important social media engagement. Don’t forget–Nielsen now tracks and reports on twitter traffic. The resulting numbers don’t affect advertising rates. BUT they are solid statistics that network PR departments can spin to the show’s advantage.
The twitter save is also REALLY FUN to participate in. But, it’s also really really unfair. Basically, it’s east coast twitter users who decide which contestants go home each week. That’s a whole lotta people being cut out of the process, right there. Yes, the weekly vote determines the bottom 3, but why should such a small group of people, in such a short period of time, and based on such stress-filled circumstances, decide ultimately who stays and who goes? It just ain’t right. The singer with the lowest number of votes should be sent home, period.
Having gotten that of my chest–I will say that for the first time since the live shows began, I wasn’t outraged by the results. The right people went home. And I got a perfect score on the eliminations, even predicting correctly who America would save! America can be VERY hard to predict.
After back to back saves, it was definitely time for Ryan Sill to go home. Danica Shirey was the only girl left. But if you ask me, she outlasted more interesting vocalists, Anita Antoinette and Reagan James. I wasn’t particularly sorry to see the singer, and her 1992 era song stylings, head out the door. And what of Luke Wade? At the beginning of the finals, he was a singer at the top of his class. But the combination of bad advice (from coach Pharrell) and nerves really sunk him. He died an agonizing death during his sing out–fear reducing him to shaky, redundant ad libs.
And WHO KNEW Pharrell–who was so good at sweet talking contestants on to his team–would be such an ineffective coach? He said all the right things during the blind auditions. But when it was time to put his words into actions, he couldn’t deliver the goods. It’s so odd, considering the man has produced and written massive hits. It didn’t help that he either gave away or eliminated his best team members during the middle rounds.
So now–five remain. I think ultimately, this contest will be a battle between Matt McAndrew and Craig Wayne Boyd. But right now, I’m giving a slight edge to Matt.
5. Chris Jamison – I was so relieved that Chris won the twitter vote on Thursday. He chose to sing Georgia–a perfect save me song–plus he was given the pimp spot. If you haven’t noticed–performing last seems to matter in the sing offs. Although Chris is a terrific singer, his performance skills need work. He has also stumbled on song choice–it nearly kept him out of the finals. Chris has a low-key charm compared to his more gregarious competition. That could hurt him. However, I think Chris would make a fine winner, with a shot at a relevant pop career post-Voice.
4. Damien – As an Afro-American traditional soul singer, Damien is cruising in his own lane. He also knows who he is as an artist, in terms of song choice and presentation. Fans have expressed interest in Damien mixing it up. But really, his output of emotional ballads–sometimes accompanied by real tears–has served him well. There is zero reason for him to switch it up at this point.
3. Taylor John Williams – Taylor has succeeded DESPITE his coach, Gwen Stefani. Luckily for him, she’s taken a hands off approach. He chooses his own songs and chooses well. He’s another artist with a clear idea of how to present himself. Taylor truly embodies that cliche of “making a song your own.” Fans can’t wait to see what he does next. Actually, I couldn’t decide weather to switch Taylor with Damian. But I decided to leave him at three, because I think he’s been a little more consistent. However, vote splitting could actually keep Taylor out of the Top 3.
2. Craig Wayne Boyd. – Oy. Blake really blew it on song choice for Craig last week. Why he thought handing his charge a lame mid-tempo song from the Eagles was a good idea, I’ll never understand. Particularly, when Craig’s strengths have been his emotional country ballads. If Blake makes that mistake again. Craig has NO chance of winning. The best performer of the five, and the most experienced, Blake should really allow Craig to drive the bus at this point. The singer is also the best looking–which sounds shallow, but that stuff matters.
1. Matt McAndrew – Matt is sitting pretty this week. He never EVER misses on song selection. He’s also NEVER boring. He exudes this wonderful mixture of quirk and emotion when he performs that’s hard to resist. I think whether Damien or Taylor make the Top 3 is irrelevant, because it’s Matt and Craig who will be duking it out for the crown next week. Both are talented, charismatic singers. Craig is better looking and the better performer, and represents a popular genre, country. On paper, he’s hard to beat. But Matt has an uncanny ability to deliver sucker punches when he sings. He’s fresh, appealing, and inventive. His ability to surprise may be the thing that ultimately cinches the win for him.
So what do you think? How would you rank the remaining The Voice contestants?
