06 March 2012

The Voice: Battle Rounds, Night 1

I don't think I have ever written about The Voice on this blog, which is a surprise because it is possibly my favorite competition show at the moment. I'm even playing The 5th Judge game on Facebook. The show is currently in its second season, and I like it as much as I did the first time around, if not more.

Two aspects of The Voice that set it apart from other shows in its genre are the level of talent and the camaraderie between the judges. The show runners do all the screening off-camera, so they don't subject us to the truly horrible singers. It can be more difficult for contestants to make themselves stand out when everyone in the room is good, but at least I don't ever have a reason to cringe when I watch the show. As for the judges (Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, CeeLo Green and Blake Shelton), they may not have met each other before signing up for this gig but they have managed to build up a rapport that makes the team competition aspect seem friendly and playful rather than mean-spirited. Those of you who watched US version of The X-Factor last year know what I'm talking about.

Last night's episode was the start of the battle rounds, which I think is a good time to jump in if you are new to the show. Each coach has 12 contestants and they pair them off in duets. A duet sings, all the coaches give their opinion of which singer in the duet did the best, but the duet's coach is the only person who has the final say on which person in the duet is eliminated. My top two performances were by a male/male duet and a female/female duet. The gals sang "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and the guys sang "If I Ain't Got You".





If you have a hole in your viewing schedule and these videos piqued your interest, there are full episodes on Hulu.

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