The Voice (Season 6) - On to the Battlefield

Currently Listening To: Shakira - Did It Again

Well well, this marks the first time I'm blogging about The Voice! It's already been six seasons (wow, how time flies!), but to be honest I only started following it religiously last season, and I must say the talent here is so much better than the freshies from American Idol.

Unfortunately, the only interesting part of The Voice is the Blind Audition rounds, where the judges select (or will be selected by) contestants based solely on their voice and emotions since they can't actually see them perform! A great concept for sure, but once the auditions end it's back to the more or less normal singing competition style.

Then again, they do have the Battlerounds, where 2 members of each team battle each other for a spot on the live shows. And so we're here at this stage of Season 6, where the 12 members each of Team Blake, Team Adam, Team Shakira and Team Usher battle it out for the Top 12/13 live.

Anyway here are the contestants from each team, the italicized contestants are those who had caught my attention. Did I mention that all the contestants that made it through the blinds actually got to record studio versions of their audition songs? How awesome is that?

Team Blake
Alaska & Madi (interesting country duo, their studio version is awesome!)
Audra McLaughlin
Cali Tucker
Jake Worthington (I found his voice interesting...)
Kaleigh Glanton
Megan Rüger
Noah Lis
Ria Eaton (One of the most interesting auditions! It wasn't perfect but she definitely stood out to me)
Ryan Whyte Maloney
Sisaundra Lewis (Girl has amazing pipes! What a strange pick for Team Blake though...)
Biff Gore
Paula DeAnda (sound familiar to you?)

Team Adam
Austin Ellis
Caleb Elder (He came off as a joke contestants but he actually has a good voice. Should be interesting.)
Cary Laine
Christina Grimmie  (Great pop vocals, and she kinda looks like Carly Rae Jepsen)
Dawn and Hawkes (Another interesting country/folk duo)
Delvin Choice
Josh Kaufman
Josh Murley
Joshua Howard
Kat Perkins (She embodies rocker chick with a touch of country! Very promising.)
Sam Behymer
Patrick Thomson

Team Shakira
Cierra Mickens
Clarissa Serna
Dani Moz
Ddendyl (I think she's the only interesting contestant in Shakira's team...)
Deja Hall (She has potential but she seems a bit bland to me)
Music Box
Emily B. (She has a really good voice and made a smart song choice for the audition.)
Jeremy Briggs
Kristen Merlin
Lindsay Bruce
Lindsay Pagano
DeShawn Washington

Team Usher
Bria Kelly (Her voice reminds me of slightly better version of Jacquie from Season 5)
Brittnee Camelle
Brothers Walker (Something about the duos this season. Interesting pair here.)
Madilyn Paige
Melissa Jiménez
Morgan Wallen
Stevie Jo
Tanner James
Tess Boyer
T.J. Wilkins
Biff Gore  (Excellent vocals but he's a bit on the older side so...)
Jake Barker

Have a listen to some of their auditions/studio versions:

Emily B

Kat Perkins

Alaska & Madi

Ria Eaton

The Battle Rounds have already started, but I have yet to watch the episode so I'll be saving my judgment until then.