Bittersweet Endings

Currently Listening To: Take Care - Drake feat Rihanna

Right, so I'm recapping both The Voice and American Idol in one post since both shows will be coming to an end next week. Let's start off with -

The Voice

The Top 3 will be competing for the title next Tuesday, with the Top 3 being Josh, Christina and...Jake. Of all people! It's the Blake thing again. Poor Kristen and Kat, I think they've both been better and more consistent than Jake so it's such a waste. Especially Kristen since she gave her best performance this week with Jewel's Foolish Games. Kristen, Kat and not too surprisingly, Christina were the bottom three contestants, with Christina being saved via the Twitter Save - which shouldn't have been in play in the first place! Seriously, I don't care who was the third place contestant - but the bottom two should have gone out as voted by the audience instead of through Twitter manipulation.

I'm 100% behind Josh now because I think he is the most deserving based solely on talent and consistency. Christina had quite a few amazing performances but this week she underperformed - partly due to her inexperience and also Adam's unintentional bussing (or was it intentional?!). I mean, why Imogen Heap and fun's Some Nights?? Those were terrible song choices and it was made worse by her inconsistent singing. Based on those two performances alone she should have been eliminated along with Kat, leaving Kristen in third place instead. For the record, Kat sang a Sia song and Let It Go. Like wtf Adam, are you hell bent on killing your team's chances or something? The only bright side was that it was miles better than Majesty Rose's version.

Can't say Jake deserves a spot in the Top 3 either. As consistent as he may have been, his performances thus far neither stood out nor showed any creativity so...to be frank, he has no business in the Top 3. BUT, thanks to the Blake/country factor, it would have been pretty impossible to exclude him from the finale.

Anyways, TEAM JOSH FTW!

American Idol

I'm actually more pleased with the final two in American Idol than I am with the final three in The Voice. If you're still unaware, Jena and Caleb are the remaining contestants and I'm fine with either of them winning, to be honest. In fact, I would have been okay with Alex (the third place finisher) as the winner too.

What I'm worried about is the backlash against Caleb, no thanks to TPTB's manipulations (what is up with both show's determination to display dirty laundry to the American audience? It's so damn obvious with all the intentional/unintentional digs and snubs towards certain contestants). That and also his 'retard' fiasco. It does not bode well for him although I think he still does have loyal supporters. A lot of people think that he's cocky and rude, but I haven't really seen any negative behaviour from Caleb (aside from the lack of filter, which isn't exactly a crime). The odds of winning are higher for Jena, since she has been pretty consistent all this while and appears to have an interesting personality.

So...I can't make up my mind on who to support this time. Jena or Caleb? Leaning more towards Caleb because I find his vocal prowess incredible. His weak point would be marketability though. He hasn't been singing anything current since...Skyfall? That was one of his best, and it was ages ago. He hasn't been taking risks lately and his song choices have been snoozeworthy, so that will probably work against him.

Conclusion - Team Caleb FTW but I think Jena's gonna win.

A Fateful Trio

Finally down to the final 4 on American Idol.

Level of excitement? Almost non-existent.

Since it's the Top 4, each contestant had to sing three songs with three different themes:

Breakups
Makeups 
Dedications

...seriously? Who came up with those themes? How very vague and straightforward at the same time. Might as well just scratch the whole theme thing and ask contestants to sing whatever they feel like singing.

Frankly speaking, only one person failed to live up to the hype this week and that person is...

Alex with these songs:

First Song: "Alex Clare's Too Close"
You know, a few weeks ago I would have pegged Alex as a frontrunner. Right now though, I'm not so sure. There wasn't anything wrong with this song choice or his vocals, but nothing about it was fantastic either. I think the others stepped up their game, regardless of whether it was performed well or not while Alex just...rather faded away. I don't know, I can't feel his passion anymore and that's dangerous for him. 6/10

Second Song: "Jason Mraz's I'm Yours"
Well, that was underwhelming. And how predictable of him. Of course he'd sing I'm Yours, was just wondering if he'd be leaving that for the finale - if he makes it all the way through that is. Harry's comments were really harsh too. Talk about throwing him under the bus. Why didn't they say those things to him earlier? Then he would have tried to improve yes? But it's too late now. I think he's a contender for the bottom 2 this time around, if he wasn't already there last week. 4/10

Third Song: "Coldplay's Yellow"
Poor Alex. That makes 3 mediocre song choices in a row. First of all, that song needs an interesting arrangement in order to stand out in a singing competition. Secondly, the way he sang it was actually worse than the other songs. For the first time in ages, he sounded unsure of himself and it showed in his vocals. And what in the world, the judges were complimenting his performance. All of that combined together equals disaster. 5/10

Overall: 5/10

Next would be...

Jessica 

First Song: "Kelly Clarkson's Since U Been Gone"
I really question Jessica's intentions to remain in the competition with this song choice. She does realize that Kelly Clarkson is the reason why she is even on this show in the first place right? What was she thinking?? It really doesn't help that her vocals were mild and shaky and pitchy at parts. And the judges were NOT being mean to her this time. Those were actually fair comments regarding the song choice. They didn't even complain about the less than stellar vocals. And that is coming from a bunch of people who apparently hates her guts! 6/10

Second Song: "Pink's So What"
What was up with that song choice?? Even though she sang it decently, that song was completely and absolutely unsuitable for a Top 4 performance. The judges were right - that song did nothing for her, and because of her song choices she'll most likely be the one going home this week. I'm giving her a generous rating due to the strong vocals only. 5/10

Third Song: "Lady Gaga's You and I"
Still not digging the song choice much but at least Jess performed the hell out of You and I. Her best performance since The Crow and the Butterfly from weeks ago. Still no stage presence whatsoever though, just a little bit more life in her eyes and a slight amount of swagger. No match for Haley Reinhart's version at all. 8/10

Overall: 6/10

Performing slightly better than Jessica was...

Caleb

First Song: "Bon Jovi's You Give Love a Bad Name"
I'm a huge fan of this song so I'm glad Caleb didn't ruin it since it's a pretty easy song to desecrate. The problem is with his delivery. When Blake did this song in Season 6, he owned it from start to finish. It made him stand out, and it made people pay attention to him. With Caleb however, it was just good singing and that was it. No originality whatsoever. I think these Idol hopefuls need to pay attention to their song selections, find out who sang it before and how well did they do before actually choosing the song and arrangement. A mere 6/10

Second Song: "Creedence Clearwater Revival's Travelin' Band'
Alright, it's getting harder for me to comment on Caleb. His vocals were strong and in tune as usual, and until now he is still the most consistent performer. Unfortunately I didn't feel at all interested in this CCR cover. Felt rather karaoke to me, albeit a very good karaoke. I guess I'm a little bored with his song choices. Whatever happened to that dude who gave us Edge of Glory and Skyfall? It's like he disappeared somewhere into old man's land. Time to shine dude, not the other way round. It's Top 4, wake up! 6/10

Third Song: "Paul McCartney's Maybe I'm Amazed"
Again there was nothing wrong with Caleb's performance, however I'm really wondering if he'll be able to pull through this week. No thanks to that scandalous interview from last week where he called his fans retarded. Like wtf was he thinking? His vocals were good as usual, but the song choice was straightforward and rather uninteresting. I disliked it as much as I disliked James Durbin's version from Season 10, which is kind of a compliment I guess.  7/10

Overall: 6/10

Which leaves us with...

Jena who stole the Top 4 crown tonight, singing:

First Song: "Pat Benatar's Heartbreaker"
Weird phrasing aside, I think Jena's taking up the rocker chick persona much better than Jessica or even Kat from The Voice. Heartbreaker, to me, was a really good performance that showed off Jena's lovely tone and her energy on stage. Out of all the other contestants, Jena has the best stage presence. Alex and Jessica's are non-existent (just like my excitement for this Top 4) while Caleb is kind of like a drama queen without the flair. So yeah, great song choice and good job on delivering it beyond expectations. 8/10

Second Song: "Lady Gaga's Bad Romance"
Very interesting arrangement but I wasn't feeling it. Despite the overwhelmingly positive responses from the judges, I couldn't sense actual excitement from them. Don't know if I'm the only who feels that way though, TPTB are supposedly pimping Jena. 6/10

Third Song: "Elvis Presley's Can't Help Falling In Love"
Vocally, Can't Help Falling In Love was really, really beautiful. It was leaps and bounds ahead of everything and everyone else tonight. I loved the way she navigated her way through the song, with the ups and downs, the loud and the soft moments - combined together it was just pure magic. The only technically amazing performance from this week. (Now what did I say about her dark horse status before? I'm right!)  9/10

Overall: 8/10

Who should be bottom 2: Alex and Jessica
Who should go home: Alex

Let's give the contestants a big round of applause for choosing more unusual songs than The Voice contestants this week. And the previous weeks.

Edit with Results:
And so the journey ends for Jessica Meuse. Not a surprising outcome, but she was better than Alex this week. I guess what killed her in the end was her aloofness and lack of connection with songs. It's too late for improvement, and frankly speaking she hasn't improved THAT much (contrary to what her erstwhile supporters would like us to believe). Her fanbase wasn't as big as Alex's either.

Despite all that negativity from the judges (especially Keith Urban), I think Jess handled the situation quite well. J.Lo might not be her biggest fan and Jess may be aware of that, but honestly Ms. Lopez wasn't THAT cruel to her. You can kind of tell that the general public isn't that big a fan of her, so...Jess fanatics are overreacting in my opinion.

At any rate, good luck to Alex, Jena and Caleb for the finale.

The Voice - Top 10

Currently Listening To: Kyline Minogue - Silence

I used to love The Voice because of the unusual and interesting song selections made by the contestants. This season however, proves to be the total opposite. As Idol seeks to revamp their old and dated song catalogue, The Voice apparently decided to take a leaf out of theirs. The result of that is rather muted and dull performances from -most- of the contestants.

Rankings this week, starting with the worst of the lot. I present to you -

Bria 
I think this is a unanimous opinion from most people - Bria was, hands down, the worse performer this week. I would equate her version of Avril Lavigne's I'm With You with Majesty Rose's disastrous Let It Go. Yes, it was that bad! She has no place in this Top 12, let alone Top 10. None of the judges could muster a positive comment on her vocal performance, instead opting to sugercoat their commendation of her efforts so far. Usher made a really, really bad decision with this girl.

Kat
Honestly, Kat wasn't much better than Bria this week. Her vocals were not strong at all, even though she claimed that Landslide was an emotional song choice for her. Maybe it was too emotional. She lost the Kat 'essence' in that process. Not a good week for her.

Jake
Jake, oh Jake. Usually he sounds quite steady but for the first time since his audition, I detected shaky vocals. Of course he's the country darling, so he'll be safe for quite a bit. Otherwise, I'd say that his charm is starting to get old and might in fact, backfire on him.

Tess
Nothing wrong with Tess's singing this week, but nothing about her stood out either. By right, that song (Paramore's Ain't It Fun) choice should have made her pop. By right, but it didn't. At this stage I can only feel sorry for her, because I know she won't be getting a lot of votes. Other than her existing fans, I don't think she won anyone over this week.

Josh
Unfortunately for Usher, Josh is the only decent candidate on his team but I have a hunch he isn't going to last for long. He has this really amazing, versatile voice and he is relatable to the audience, but honestly I think he peaked too soon. Right now, his vocally perfect performances are boring me, and I don't think I'm the only one.

Audra
This little dark horse country powerhouse is starting to prove her worth. I've never paid attention to her voice before, until today that is. In spite of the country inclinations, she actually has a really good tone, good range and she rarely misses notes. And although I found the song choice boring, I found myself drawn to her voice. I hope she continues to improve.

Kristen
Well, I've always liked Kristen but what a surprisingly good performance from her. Despite choosing to sing Passenger's Let Her Go (Cole Vosbury's version was one of my favorites last season), I was genuinely impressed by her vocals. She is definitely improving and learning to own the stage as well. It's really nice to see contestants improving as opposed to remaining the same or getting worse .

Delvin
Wow, he really bounced back from last week's yawn inducing performance and finally showed what he's capable of doing. Talk about a 360 degree turn! Excellent song choice which allowed him to demonstrate his vocal prowess and stage presence.

Sissaudra
Right now Sissy is one of the contestants to beat, mostly because she is ever so consistent. Even though she wasn't at her best last week, it was still very true to herself and vocally she was never faltering. And she still didn't falter this week, but the song choice could have been a little bit more interesting. Still, gotta give her props for the excellent vocals and for working the stage like a pro!

And the best performance of the week undoubtedly goes to...

Christina and her lovely rendition of Drake's Hold On, We're Going Home. It may not have been vocally perfect, but this is what contestants are suppose to do - pick a song, put a bit him/herself into the song and sing it well. I love the original, and I really like Christina's version as well. Unlike the other popular teenager on this show *cough*, Christina is actually living up to her earlier hype and performing consistently well every week.

Results

This time the audience got it right - Bria (finally!) and Tess (unfortunately) are gone, while Kat won the Twitter Save and gets another week.

Sweet Surrender

Currently Listening To: Lord Huron - Time to Run

Tonight is the night where American Idol front runners fell apart.
Well, almost fell apart at least.

Isn't it depressing when the person you like and support is faltering a bit while the others are kind of overtaking the said person. And just last week this person was doing so well.

Anyways. Let's start off this week's review with...

Sam
Sing by Ed Sheeran
Never heard the song before. As far as Sam goes, this was quite a decent performance. It may have been a boring and slightly uninspiring song choice, but he was pitch perfect and his buttery voice did wonders for him. 5/10

How to Save a Life by The Fray
While his first song was pitch perfect, the second one was a lot less so. The first verse was really...yikes. The rest of it was marginally better, but with another boring performance I don't really know what to say. Where did I go wrong? Everything, everywhere, everytime. 4/10

Final Rating: 4.5/10 (!!)

Caleb
I Don't Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith
A bad song choice, and very duly noted by Caleb too. This is the person (and the performance) who has disappointed me dearly this week. His vocals were completely off here. I lost count of the number of notes he missed. The pitchiest music I've heard in weeks, the only things worse are C.J. Harris's weekly performances and Bria Kelly's horrendous goat bleats. 2/10

Still of the Night by Whitesnake
...Keith and J.Lo were rocking out on their feet. Like head banging and everything. Sure, it was a much better performance than the Aerosmith one AND he was closing the night, but geez in no way was that better than any of his previous performances. Unwarranted -standing ovation-. If that counts as a standing ovation. 7/10

Final Rating: 4.5/10 (!!)

Jessica
Human by Christina Perri

Out of her two performances, I thought Human was the superior one. She sounded vulnerable and her tone was at least pleasant to listen to. Liked it, didn't love it. I think Christina Grimmie should sing this song for The Voice. It should suit her better than Jessica. 7/10

Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey
Seems like a lot of people liked this performance of Jessica's. I guess I'm in the minority cos I did not like it at all. Her voice didn't sound very  pleasant in my opinion and at times it was bordering on Bria Kelly territory (don't get me started on that girl). The 'big beauty queen' style did not suit her either. The only good thing I can say is...she had on a pretty red dress? I am one who is not getting the Jessica love, but I do feel sorry for her when she was waiting for the judges to comment. She looked so miserable I could almost cry for her. This time though the judges' comments weren't bad at all, seeing as I would have said MUCH worse things to her. In fact, I thought J.Lo's comment was actually good advise and Jessica should seriously take it. 5/10

Final Rating: 6/10

Alex
Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood
I liked it. He sounded like he was having fun, and his voice was excellent. Perfect song choice for him. 7/10

Say Something by A Great Big World (feat. Christina Aguilera)
Was that a moment? Definitely not, but that was one of the night's better performances among all. Sailing through to next round for sure. I think. Maybe. Perhaps. 8/10

Final Rating: 7.5/10

Jena
My Body by Young the Giant
I liked this performance of Jena's, though she did lose quite a few words when she was bouncing around. Those moments, I could barely hear her. The band was a bit too loud as well, so that kinda killed the mood for me. At any rate that was still an excellent vocal experience from Jena. 8/10

Valerie by The Zutons/Amy Winehouse
Another excellent showing from Jena. Valerie really showcased her unique tone and big range, so it's no surprise she's the best of the night. 8/10

Final Rating: 8/10

Who should be Bottom 2? Sam & Caleb
Who will be Bottom 2? Sam & Caleb with Sam going home.

I'll have to say that the song choices this week are excellent, most of the songs have never been performed on the American Idol stage before. Nor The Voice. Come to think of it, AI Season 13's song choices have been a lot better than The Voice's Season 6.

Edit with Results:

This week's results show revealed TPTB's desperation to keep a certain contestant on the show. Or so it would seem. Perhaps it was just desperate cry for attention.

This week's elimination of Sam introduced probably the worse twist ever on a reality TV show. For some inconceivable reason they made the final 5 contestants vote for whether they want the Top 5 to remain for another week while next week's show will eliminate 2 contestants at one go. And that'll only work if all contestants vote unanimously.

So it happens 3 contestants voted yes while 2 voted NO. I don't know who voted no, but according to Wikipedia:

"During interviews with the remaining contestants it was revealed that Jena and Alex voted no and Caleb, Jessica and Sam voted yes."

That's actually kind of interesting. I can understand why Sam, Jess and Caleb would vote Yes though. Caleb knew he had a bad week, and the other two have been in the bottom before (in Jess's case, EVERY week).

So, I am satisfied with the results this week but that totally horrendous attempt at manipulating the situation is a BIG, FAT NO.