The Voice – Did anyone do enough to win this thing?

So here’s what I did going into this episode of The Voice:

I had goals. I wanted to see specific things. I had expectations of the four remaining contestants vying for the reward and decided I would be behind any of them if they could prove they were worthy of being crowned the season 2 winner of the competition.

What did I use as a template for this little experiment? My previous opinions of their performances from right where it counted, The Battle Rounds on up. Here’s what I came up with …

Tony Lucca
His latest performance last week (“How You Like Me Now”) was super. Before that? “Hit Me Baby One More Time” with its grungy feel, much better than his “In Your Eyes” where he couldn’t hit the high notes.
Overall assessment: Tony’s never been one of my favorites, but he’s grown on me over the weeks.
What he needs to do to win: Exude and put out a performance that makes heads turn. It’s the only way he’s going to win this thing

Chris Mann
I’ve said it from the beginning: Chris Mann is not The Voice. While it was nice to see him hit his stride with last week’s “Ave Maria” (which, of course, he should have, that song being right up his alley), a “voice” in this competition is not an operatic singer. His “Viva La Vida” was flat when it should have soared and his “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” fell completely flat.
Overall assessment: Chris can’t won’t win because he’s not versatile enough. His voice might soar with his genre, but a one trick pony won’t win this thing.
What he needs to do to win: It’s most likely too late, but he needs to be a horse of a different color and prove he’s got something else to give. Chris is the one that has to prove to everyone he’s got that ability to give more than one brilliant dimension to win.

Jermaine Paul
He misses notes, he over sings, he’s very gratuitous with songs and he is often more concerned with working the crowd than working the song.
Overall assessment: See above.
What he needs to do to win: He’s had his chance all through the competition. There is nothing he can pull out of his hat at this point that will assist him in gaining the votes necessary to win The Voice.

Juliet Simms
Juliet may be the contestant to beat. She puts out strong performances, adds a punch of griminess to her acts, force-feeds us frenteticness at just the right time and puts a spiffy spin on the tunes she sings.
Overall assessment: A lot of people might not like the growl and the umph she puts out, but if she does it in small doses for emphasis, it works.
What she needs to do to win: Give us the  best you’ve got tonight and you will take away votes from the others, enough that it will crown you the winner.

So … who did what? Well, let’s take a little looksy …

Jermaine Paul “I Believe I Can Fly”
He was rather reserved and nonchalant up until the end when he came on strong. I was a bit surprised Jermaine had the control to hold back and not go over the top throughout the majority of the tune. What I said up top: Guess what? I was wrong. Dude pulled a big, fat, furry rabbit out of his hat and scored.

Tony Lucca “99 Problems”
Solid performance, but forgettable. It didn’t rock or exude or make much of a statement at all. It was just there … and that’s it. What I said up top: He just didn’t do it. He can’t win.

Chris Mann “You Raise Me Up”
I’ll give it to Chris: If there was a type of song that could compliment his voice, Josh Groban’s tune was the one to assist in showcasing his voice. ) Annoying, however, was the chorus marching on stage, taking away from the performance momentarily.) Did he do well? He did okay. It was a bit boring for a defining performance. What I said up top: Same as Tony, he just didn’t do it.

Juliet Simms “Freebird”
Ouch. That opening was painful and harsh. And it didn’t get much better after that. I just kept thinking about Mr. T in Rocky 3 when asked if he had any predictions: “Pain.” What I said up top: Poor Juliet. She crashed and burned. Even if she wasn’t feeling under the weather, there was no way she could have mastered that song.

Duets: Filler that was more obligatory then it was necessary. We knew the coaches were going to sing with their charges and, if there was any time to do so, this was it. But it was good in only 50% of the cases:

Chris Mann and Christina Aguilera “The Prayer”
Nice, but sappy. Sick or not, Christina can still belt out a tune.

Juliet Simms and Cee Lo Green “Born To Be Wild”
*ugh* This was a song neither of these two should have done. Juliet was terrible, Cee Lo was worse. There are only a few types of songs Cee Lo can sing and this wasn’t one of them.

Tony Lucca and Adam Levine “Yesterday”
Interesting choice and nice duet. Wait … let me correct myself: Interesting duet … as long as the two weren’t singing together. Alone, apart, they did all right … and Tony did a much superior job over Adam. Put them together singing dually and it was messy. Sorry, but Adam probably would have been voted off if he was competing.

Jermaine Paul and Blake Shelton “Soul Man”
One of the two better duets tonight. But … what happened to the horns the the first bridge?

Coach Appreciation Songs: Huh, buoy. Why? Seriously … why was this at all part of the show. It was sappy, dopey and there was only one contestant who did anywhere near a decent performance:

Juliet Simms “Crazy”
Aw To start of an appreciation, a tribute to your coach with this opening salvo, Cee Lo had to be gritting his teeth. The good thing? These tunes are used to assess any of the contestants when it comes to voting for them.

Chris Mann “The Voice Within”
Awkward. There were two things going on here: There was the song … and there was singing. And there were many moments where ne’er the two did meet. Remember that versatility think I mentioned up above? Well, regardless of the fact this song doesn’t count, it did nothing to change my mind about him.

Jermaine Paul “God Gave Me You”
Nice tribute song and done well. I’m not certain how Blake’s original sounds as I’ve never heard before, but Jermaine appeared to do a pretty fine version of it.

Tony Lucca “Harder To Breathe”
*meh* Muted, toned-down and seemingly slow, Tony’s performance was lackluster.

Who wins this thing? I’m going to reverse what I said above about there being no possible way Jermaine can win. Based on tonight, I don’t see how he can’t walk away with the title.

Note: Wow. Christina was on fire in the shooting shots department. First she dissed Tony Lucca on his song stating it was derogatory toward women, then she called out Chris’ appreciation effort with her “this is a real man” blather. Shut it, Christina.

Last thought: For some reason we’ve got two whole freakin’ hours of finale coming at us Tuesday … and an hour later than usual. Really? They can’t wrap up the announcement of four contestants — three of which ultimately won’t make the cut, one who will — in 60 minutes? What on earth do we have to blabber about that will take a good chunk of the night away from me? We could toss in special guest performances, do a few wrap-ups, one or two surprises and get to the bottom of things in an hour no problem. So let me say this: If there’s filler up the wazoo come Tuesday night? You’re damned well going to hear about it … believe you me.

Clacked by Michael Noble
on May 08, 2012 @ 00:29 EST5EDT