The egg of Damocles was back this weekend after early leaks suggested that it would be Leanne, not Adam, to join Ruth Brown in the semi-finals of The Voice. I first caught wind of the results a little after 10pm and have been waiting since to feel the egg drop on me. Goodbye, Leanne, I said of Saturday’s opening number. The death slot was survived.
Boki notes that every performer to open the show has survived eliminations so far, suggesting that perhaps The Voice simply values a powerful vocal to kick proceedings off. Having said that, Joelle went home tonight and I don’t imagine Toni or Leanne having much steam left in them. Either way, performing first seems to be more of a bruising slot than a death slot.
So what does Leanne’s success mean for the future? I don’t think anyone rates her chances of beating Ruth Brown to the final so Leanne is now somewhat impotent in the competition. She’ll sing her heart out in two weeks time but essential she is no threat to anyone – not to favourite Ruth and certainly not to players in other teams with whom she is not in direct competition. What Leanne’s success does allow is scope to select more male finalists next week, if we presume that The Voice cares about gender balance in the semi-final.
And what about Tyler – the man whose charm I once compared to that of a woodlouse. Tyler is growing on me and apparently on the people around him. Of all contestants, he is also the only one whose song choices and arrangements feel deliberately tailored towards his creative style. Is he a threat to Jaz in the semi-final? It’s unlikely but not unthinkable. Everybody loves an underdog and everybody loves a journey. With Jaz, it feels like his family life and backstory have been milked to the last drop already and his voice is so flawless that sometimes it feels like he has nowhere else to go. That considered, Jaz still looks like the likely finalist for Team Will.
What about you guys? Did anyone predict cabaret Leanne to succeed over rock-god Adam? Let us know what you thought and how you think things might pan out next week. And keep your eyes peeled for some more in-depth analysis from a mid-week musing post.
I had a feeling that Tom would choose Leanne, as her performance got a better reaction than Adam’s from the coaches and the audience. The only reason to keep Adam would have been to have a male on his team. Matt and Suellen never had a chance, as even Tom struggled to praise their performance. Despite his clear bias for Jaz and Tyler, I do think Will seemed more concerned with all the acts in his team than Tom. Persuading Joelle to do Stronger was a fairly good choice, as I Surrender could have been a trainwreck (as past American Idol contestants could testify to). I think he missed a trick with Frances. She could have been a more likeable Cher Lloyd instead of doing tepid versions of club tunes.
Is it possible that The Voice pimped Jaz to such a sickening extent last night because they wanted to save face?
Perhaps the producers saw that Jaz wasn’t as popular with voters as they would have expected and they were worried he wouldn’t top the vote this week. (He would most likely come 2nd at worst, but with only one guaranteed to get through, the bottom 3 in each team still have an air of ‘failure’ surrounding them).
After the pimping in the Blind auditions and the coaches massive (almost unfair) enthusiasm for Jaz since the beginning, they would all look slightly foolish if he didn’t seem popular with the public.
I actually think Tyler topped the vote last time, and if it weren’t for the pimping of Jaz he would have been 1st again tonight.
Next week I predict that Bo is guranteed to get through (most likely through Danny not the public) but I can’t predict which bloke will join her – most likely the one who performs last.
Vince and Becky are obviously going to make it, but I’ll be interested to see which of them tops the vote. Becky is the safer choice but Vince has a lot of support online and a loyal fanbase – which will make more of an impact with the limited voting time.
Agree with all of this. Tyler is popular.
Strong vocal opening the show means it’s going to survive on that show but offers no guarantee for the future :). So if I’m right, semis will be open by Ruth or Jaz or another winner from next week eliminations.
Andrew, I have a question about that issue with the bookies who opened next elimination markets. One bookie settled everything in my favor (so both eliminated full winning) while other applied dead heat rules without further notice. Is there a foundation to complain since there was only stated “next to be eliminated” ?
Hey Boki, apologies for missing this up till now. My first instinct was that dead heat rules would be the fairest way to settle, given that effectively two acts were “next eliminated” simultaneously.
On the other hand, you never know if a complaint might succeed 😉
Dead heat is the fairest way, as long as no one act was eliminated before another, its the only way, if any bookie decides to pay in full then it can only be described as a most generous gesture
Thanks guys, I thought they are going to void it and open a new valid market but that didn’t happen.
I got the egg this time after laying (GEDDIT?) Leanne, thankfully only a very small sum. But: splat. My own fault for betting without watching all of the programme (I didn’t even see her performance, only tuned in from Ruth onwards). The egg of Damocles is officially now a thing.
General observation now that we’re several weeks in: the level of attempted emotional manipulation and pimping on The Voice UK is appalling. At least Cowell’s ITV shows do it more subtly and are more versed in the art. Contrary to what it preaches, The Voice UK actually feels less about talent than X Factor and similar Cowell shows. Far less. It’s just been RUTHJAZRUTHJAZRUTHJAZRUTHJAZ ever since they first appeared – going beyond TXF/BGT-style pimping into blatant favouritism. I’m sick of the dead dad klaxon being honked mercilessly every time Ruth is wheeled out to wobble-holler another tune to death, and this week’s show seemed to spend what felt like an entire 15 minutes screaming “LOOK EVERYONE! JAZ HAS FUNCTIONAL SPERM!” at the audience. They can give Tyler’s Winehouse sob story a rest an’ all. Let the dead rest in peace. Neither Ruth, Tyler nor Jaz is that stellar, whatever the show wants us to think. Give the other contestants a chance, FFS.
“I chipped my arm”
Agreed. The performance order was also shockingly unfair as well (I realise the X factor does this but its not as transparent as The Voice).
Well said, Euro. I agree.
Completely agree with this, too, eurovicious, and with your post above Jake.
I find myself feeling quite sorry for Tyler (who gets to say “my friends are important to me” – duh – and be pictured playing pool, while Jaz’s functional sperm are paraded), and especially Leanne (who gets to go back to the holiday camp where she sings, thus reminding everyone she sings at a holiday camp). They must feel like children who are painfully aware their parents love their sibling more.
I’m even starting to wonder if, for all its relentless positivity, The Voice is actually crueller on its less favoured contestants. When the XF sets out to assassinate a Wagner or a Sophie Habibis, it’s like watching a lion hunt down a wildebeest – brutal but there’s something, on some level, satisfyingly primal about it, and at least the wildebeest has a chance to wriggle free and rejoin the pack. Checked the beeb’s T&Cs to see if they’ve announced exactly how they’re going to stitch up the semi, but it still says “will be published closer to the time… may involve a combination of public vote and coach’s scoring”. It would be quite entertaining if Leanne or Tyler refused to turn up, or did a Katie Waissel style “sod it” and sit down on the stage.
Yes. Leanne. Yes.
Agree. TXF knows what it is. When it ditches someone good, it’s not without giving them a strong platform first. The same can’t be said of The Voice, which feels like it never cared about most of its contestants in the first place. It treats most of its contestants as filler, while X Factor contestants are treated and presented as genuine, viable contestants, even if they’re not part of the main group of faves. Perhaps it’s The Voice’s lack of commercial motive compared to TXF/BGT that’s causing them to view contestants as throwaway entertainment figures there to make up the numbers, instead of potentially commercially viable artists to be showcased to the public in the best possible way to see if the public likes/responds to them.
I thought Ruth’s performance was an absolute horror.Why the hype? To me her performance was all over the place. It was very good shouting at best. Am I wrong?
No, you’re absolutely right. She and a few others we’ve seen on the show seem to be from the “raw abattoir footage” school of vocal showmanship. I’ve heard more controlled, nuanced sounds being made by improperly stunned cattle as they’re buzzsawed open while strung upside down.
Well this my first post so I didn’t want to butcher her too blatantly. However the emperor was hard at work in the wardrobe department. Loved your analogy though!
This is not nice. Made me feel quite sick.
I agree with those who think it does The Voice no favours to be so unsubtle in their favouritism. But to be fair they have generally been pimping the acts who the public think are talented and appealed to the audience at home. The X-Factor will always be worse in my books, only for its desperate attempts to get Cher Lloyd to the final her year and the ultimate low, trying to convince the public that Frankie from last year could actually sing.
As most of the acts they’re pimping have been pimped from their very first appearance (weeks before the public could vote), how is it possible to assess whether they’re pimping the acts that the public think are talented and that appeal to the audience? Chicken/egg. I think Joelle is great (though she was rather screechy and oversang this week), I thought most of the people who lost their battle rounds were great, I thought Samuel Buttery was great! (And Aundrea!) None of those got any pimping…
Belatedly catching up on The Voice. I never thought I would think of the XF as subtle.
Thing is, I actually think Halifax man’s pimping would have been more effective if it’d been done with less of a sledgehammer (the sonogram, the multiple cutaways to Jaz’s wife, picture of Jaz and wife on big screen, Will’s “my mum’s a single mum” ffs). It made me feel a bit queasy.
Here’s an alternative script:
WILL [to camera]: I happen to know that it’s a special day for Jaz today.
JAZ [to camera]: We’re expecting our first child, and today my wife’s having her 20 week scan. I wish I could be there, but…
[shots of Jaz and wife walking hand in hand through rough-looking estate]
JAZ [voiceover]: …I had a pretty tough upbringing, and I’m determined to give my child the best start possible. I don’t want to miss out on studio time with Will.
[Jaz and Will rehearsing. Runner enters studio holding phone]
RUNNER: Jaz, it’s your wife.
JAZ: Do you mind…?
[Will nods. Jaz exits and talks on phone, out of earshot. Jaz returns to mic]
JAZ: All’s well. It’s a little boy.
[Jaz composes himself and starts to sing]
JAZ: Don’t go…
[Jaz’s voice catches; tears well up in his eye]
WILL: Take a moment, man.
[We see Jaz, from a distance, standing outside, biting his lip and shaking his head]
HOLLY: Ladies and gentlement, it’s Jaz!
[Jaz sings]
WILL: That was from the heart, man. I bet you were singing that to just one person, right?
[Jaz nods, mutely. We get our first and only cutaway to Jaz’s wife in the audience, a solitary tear rolling down her cheek]
Television GOLD, I love these shows, my dream job would be working as a producer engineering such moments.