191 replies to this topic

[katisha66]

I wonder if there's been time to replenish the well of singing talent since Idol finished up?

Audition notice here.

I must admit I like the idea of the "blind" audition process. I know image counts for a lot (too much these days IMHO) but at least this way it's easier to establish if they can really sing without taking more notice of how marketable the hamsters are and thinking they'll work out the rest later in the studio with the autotuner.

No word on who the judges will be, but I hope it's a better lot than X Factor. One reason I haven't been watching that show is because I find the very idea of Mel B from the Spice Girls judging ANYBODY'S singing to be utterly ludicrous since the only Spice Girl with even a tiny bit of real singing ability was Sporty!

[WileyCoyote]

The Coaches: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=EHgcQRQqBWc

Seal
Keith Urban
Joel Madden (Good Charlotte)
Delta Goodrem

Arguably the only one who isn't a global star is Goodrem (and even she's known for dating a Jonas Brother). Although I suppose its also arguable that Madden is more known for tabloid fodder (dating Hillary Duff, marrying Nicole Ritchie) than his singing.

Heh, if there's a guest suite backstage though, imagine the significant others presence. Heidi Klum, Nicole Kidman, Nicole Ritchie and Nick Jonas all sitting off-camera in er... supporting roles. Imagine that.

EDIT - Okay, no Boom Boom Klum. Apparently the two JUST announced a separation. Like a week ago.

Edited by WileyCoyote, Feb 7, 2012 @ 4:18 AM.

[katisha66]

Thought I'd dredge up the thread because the show starts tonight. Will edit this post later.

[TallulahBelle]

Loved the first girl and the last girl. I wasn't too sure about AusTV, because to me, the draw of the USTV are the judges faux flirting/bitching/fighting with each other, but Joel was really funny and personable. And that performance of 'Crazy' stomped all over any performance I can think of that the US judges have done.

[htt9au]

I think the last time I wrote on this board was when Casey Donovan and Anthony Callea was on Idol.

Never thought I'll be back for another singing competition!

Having seen both the US and the UK version, I think the OZ version is holding up pretty good.

At first I thought they made a mistake by having silence in the audience when the auditionee walks out, but I've come to like the bit of suspense when all you hear is their footsteps.

Really like the first girl and last girl, but worry that they have overhyped the blind girl in the promos for tomorrow so that I will be really disappointed in her performance when I watch it then.

Having seen the first season of the US Voice, these blind auditions are the best bits to me. They all still have so much potentials before TPTB/Judges crush their hopes and dreams and completely destroy their uniqueness.

[Freeze Ray]

Seal is gonna have a big problem later on, getting the two strongest contenders so far. He definitely knows how to sell himself when he really wants to.

I love that they did Seal's "Crazy" when the US coaches did the Gnarls Barkley song.

Joel is coming off extremely well, isn't he? Shades of Adam Levine there.

It's unfortunate that Delta doesn't have any people in her team yet because she is an amazing singer. One fantastic singer is all you need for this show though.

I feel myself agreeing with everything Keith Urban the whole way in the first episode. Didn't expect that.

[WileyCoyote]

Found it on YT.

Two of those acts in Ep 1 are as good as anything ever on any version of the Voice, and a few others almost as good. The illegitimate granddaughter of Janis Joplin (no, not really, but she sounds like it) and the heavyset girl with the unfortunate taste in clothes (if you see it you'll instantly know who I mean--lets just say she dressed like... well... a human sized strawberry) are both world class.

BTW: I got a real laugh when I realized that THE CHAIRS ROTATE THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION from the other versions of The Voice. Nice touch, you reverse draining upside down country, you!!!

And that performance of 'Crazy' stomped all over any performance I can think of that the US judges have done.

I wasn't really totally on board with it. Individually all of them sounded great. And the way Keith really wailed on that guitar was a really pleasant surprise. But stylistically, something didn't gel with the four of them--it came off like 4 really talented people who don't belong on the same CD, muchless in the same song.

Joel is coming off extremely well, isn't he? Shades of Adam Levine there.

Keith is the shock for me. Mind you, he's a big star world-wide, even moreso in the US than in Australia I'd argue (given his music charting), but obviously pigeon-holed as a country artist. But UNLIKE BLAKE SHELTON, he's shown how badly that box fits. Not only did he wail on his guitar like a rock god in that version of Crazy, but HE KNEW A REGINA SPEKTOR SONG. I can promise you, 100%, that Blake Shelton has no idea who Regina Spektor is, nor would recognize ANY of her songs. EVER.

Edited by WileyCoyote, Apr 15, 2012 @ 12:22 PM.

[Ehyeh]

I only watched the youtube clips, not the whole episode so I can't really say anything about the coaches.

As far as talent is concerned, two stood out for me. The girl who sang Samson and the girl who sang This Is A Man's World (Karise Eden). The rest are a mixture of "could be potentially good with another song" and some "eh?" acts.

The "This Is A Man's World" audition amuses me because it closely mirrors the other blind audition from the Holland franchise where all the coaches turned right away after the act (Charly Luske) sang his first line of that song. The coaches from both franchises also showed the same giddy excitement for these acts.

Charly's version has less frills compared to Karise's but imo still just as good with his smoother take.

For comparison, the two auditions:
Karise's version - http://www.youtube.c...h?v=SIE6tOHMG7k
Charly's version - http://www.youtube.c...h?v=IbJGo5NVxNE

Edited by Ehyeh, Apr 15, 2012 @ 12:50 PM.

[WileyCoyote]

Charly's version has less frills compared to Karise's but imo still just as good with his smoother take.

For comparison, the two auditions:
Karise's version - http://www.youtube.c...h?v=SIE6tOHMG7k
Charly's version - http://www.youtube.c...h?v=IbJGo5NVxNE

He's not bad. But IMO he's nothing extraordinary. That song neets grit. Dirt. Whatever you want to call it when the soul bleeds, vs. blends. This Charly guy's smoothness blends. Karise's version bleeds.

Edited by WileyCoyote, Apr 15, 2012 @ 1:30 PM.

[Ehyeh]

YMMV I guess as both sang and sound with just the same grit and soul. Like I said, Karise's version has more frills but to me that doesn't make her performance better or more "soulful" or "bleeds" as you'd like to put it. Kind of like, it doesn't make wannabee soul/R&B singers sound better and more passionate by harassing the song with melismas and vocal acrobatics.

For her voice and arrangement it may have worked but for his voice, I wouldn't have like it as much if he sang it the way she did it. It would have probably come off as "trying hard". In the same way that if she sang that song with the same arrangement that the guy had, I would have found her annoying and unnecessarily growly.

Anyway, we'll just have to agree to disagree on that as I've appreciated both versions and I don't think the song "needs" to be sung with a singular interpretation in order to get its message across.

Edited by Ehyeh, Apr 15, 2012 @ 5:41 PM.

[gypsy landslide]

I only caught the last half of the show but enjoyed it and will keep watching!

I noticed Delta being pretty picky with turning her chair around and don't think she should be - as soon as she's up against another judge she'll miss out. Who is she compared to the others? Until recently you wouldn't even know she was a singer anymore (and if the Logies were anything to go by she's pretty rusty on that too!).

[TallulahBelle]

Keith is the shock for me. Mind you, he's a big star world-wide, even moreso in the US than in Australia I'd argue (given his music charting), but obviously pigeon-holed as a country artist. But UNLIKE BLAKE SHELTON, he's shown how badly that box fits. Not only did he wail on his guitar like a rock god in that version of Crazy, but HE KNEW A REGINA SPEKTOR SONG. I can promise you, 100%, that Blake Shelton has no idea who Regina Spektor is, nor would recognize ANY of her songs. EVER.

I was pleasantly surprised that Keith knew RS, I love that song and thought she sang it beautifully, she got me all choked up listening to it - and yes, I joined Adam Levine in mock horror and disgust when Blake didn't know Heart Shaped Box on the USVoice. Whilst Keith is a 'star' in Australian country music, he's mostly known for being married to old Frozen Face Kidman - that being said, I can't believe the country girl singer didn't do a bloody COUNTRY song. But good on the show for allowing her to do her original song, then showing it on national tv and then also putting it on their website. Fingers crossed something comes of it for her.

[WileyCoyote]

Whilst Keith is a 'star' in Australian country music, he's mostly known for being married to old Frozen Face Kidman

Urban's unique fame level in the US is a bit hard to explain to people unless they are very familiar with how totally bifurcated American culture is along the lines of Country music. Literally someone can be the single biggest star to one part of the US, and close to totally unknown to another part. Urban is like that (as was Blake Shelton, for the most part, before he got on the US Voice). I don't know if the situation, the total cultural/public recognition divide, is similar in Australia or not. What I DO know is that he has had a dozen and a half number one songs, on the US Country charts at least, and each of his last five albums charted at #1 or #2 on the Country album charts. From what I can tell, he hasn't had that kind of dominance on the Australian charts.

To the non-country part of the US, he is indeed just Nicole's less weird second husband. "Oh, he's the country singer with the cocaine problem, not the jackass who wants us to show him the money and fight a war with the alien warlord Xenu"

[TallulahBelle]

Heh. Whilst I can't speak for all Australians, I can comfortably say I've never heard a Keith song on the radio - country music here is similar to country music in the States, but just on a significantly smaller scale - but big country stars aren't known to the general pub unless they cross over into adult contemp music, like Kasey Chambers did for a while. Of the judges on our Voice, Joel Madden is arguably the biggest star from a musically relevant point of view - I wouldn't consider Seal at all musically relevant anymore and Delta has kind of fallen by the wayside as well, but at least the young 'uns will know who she is even if it's just for dating one of the Jonas Brothers.

Edited by TallulahBelle, Apr 15, 2012 @ 9:10 PM.

[WileyCoyote]

Heh. Whilst I can't speak for all Australians, I can comfortably say I've never heard a Keith song on the radio - country music here is similar to country music in the States, but just on a significantly smaller scale - but big country stars aren't known to the general pub unless they cross over into adult contemp music, like Kasey Chambers did for a while.

Heh. When it comes to a term like "to the general public", at least in terms of Country in the US, I've learned that its a tricky statement. Because the Country music listening public is probably almost half the entire population, and yet their stars, their culture, really IS totally separate--to the extent that the other part of the population is almost totally ignorant. Being known by BOTH halves of the population usually comes down to appearing in a movie or TV show seen by both halves.

Of the judges on our Voice, Joel Madden is arguably the biggest star from a musically relevant point of view - I wouldn't consider Seal at all musically relevant anymore and Delta has kind of fallen by the wayside as well, but at least the young 'uns will know who she is even if it's just for dating one of the Jonas Brothers.

Madden is kind of a nobody in the US, so I'm surprised he has much relevance to Australia. In the US, he's kind of in the Keith Urban position in Australia--married to someone better known (Nicole Richie). And FORMERLY known for dating Hillary Duff, again better known than him (when she was inappropriately young).

Good Charlotte is the kind of band in the US that everyone KIND of knows, but doesn't really buy. They've never had a #1 record or album, in fact "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" is the only song of theirs to even hit the Top 20 (and barely).

Seal's hitmaking (even any charting in fact) is kind of in the past, but he's still pretty famous as a "personality". To be totally frank, again its the mate (or in this case FORMER mate), Heidi Klum, who kept him in people's minds. But he was SUCH a big star in the past you can kind of compare him to Tom Jones on the UK version--kind of a voice of the past more than the present.

Delta is barely a blip in the US. Again, its the mate and the dates. That said, I'm surprised she's rated as a has been in Australia. Didn't she have a bucket full of back to back to back #1 records?

Edited by WileyCoyote, Apr 16, 2012 @ 3:20 AM.

[TallulahBelle]

She's been musically quiet for a while - I can't think of the last time she released something. Having said that, it doesn't look like Good Charlotte have done a lot recently either! Although looking at their last three albums, they all hit the top five on the charts and every album except the first one went either gold or platinum here. Walking down the street though, I would think more people would recognise Our Delta over Joel . . . and with the second ep about to start, I'm off to sit in front of the telly!

BTW: I got a real laugh when I realized that THE CHAIRS ROTATE THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION from the other versions of The Voice. Nice touch, you reverse draining upside down country, you!!!

I can't not see this now . . . heee.

Edited by TallulahBelle, Apr 16, 2012 @ 5:14 AM.

[SnideAsides]

Delta's success confuses me. I've always considered her to be a bit of a self-entitled bitch. And the fact that she's still got nobody in her team doesn't do anything to stop that thought.

Nobody here really buys Good Charlotte either - these days, you can get a #1 album with only about 11,000 sales. And as for country music? A few people might have some niche success, but it's telling that about a decade ago the town holding our second largest country music festival decided to cancel it because they didn't want to be seen as a country town.

I can't argue with Seal, but I can't help wondering why they didn't get someone more (1) current and (2) relevant to the Australian music industry.

It's a good panel compared to some of the other ones worldwide (we're certainly more balanced in terms of style than the UK's, and at least we don't have Nena, Germany), but the only one who's really an Australian success is Delta. And even then, there are DOZENS of people better suited for the job than she is.

Edited by SnideAsides, Apr 16, 2012 @ 5:53 AM.

[TallulahBelle]

And even then, there are DOZENS of people better suited for the job than she is.

Guessing they were all busy . . . I'd love an Aus version of the show that Ben Folds is on with Neil Finn. I just made myself sad because that will never happen.

[htt9au]

I know I am biased as an Australian here, but I think the OZ Voice is shitting all over the US and UK version.

There's certainly is a lot of truth in what everyone is saying about the success (or lack of) of the judges, but they actually bring a lot of heart and warmth to the show that I don't think the other two shows do.

After tonight's show, where I know that there's a lot of manipulation from the producers, but still can't help but cry like a baby when the blind girl started singing and then seeing the reaction of the judges, and then when Delta helped her back to her family and promise her family to help her get what she want.

Anything that can turn this cynical bastard into mush must be doing something right!

Sorry but am on too much of a high to snark at the moment.

[Evan14]

So far: pleasantly surprised by Joel, impressed with Keith & Seal, & unimpressed with Delta.
And I kinda like the host too, Darren Mullen(is it true that he and Delta are dating?).
The talent so far is a definite step up in standard from the last series of Aussie X Factor.

[cavalier196]

Hey, this isn't bad. The female talent, at least. The two girls last night and the last one tonight were quite amazing, though. Kicks the crap out of the last couple of seasons of Idol and X Factor at the very least.

The judges seem to be a fairly alright bunch too. Delta is having a bit of a hard time, but I have to give her some credit because she was quite good if I remember on that one episode of Idol auditions she helped judge.

Speaking of Idol, ohai, Rebecca Tapia. It hasn't been long enough, now go away again. SebAssHat's brother can go away too. A Beyonce song? Way to step out of your brother's shadow... by doing the exact same thing that his brother did on Idol. At least he left out the ugg boots, so points for that I guess.

[Freeze Ray]

First of all, the last girl is a ringer for Hannah from Pretty Little Liars (the one who, coincidentally, slapped blind chick Jenna in an epic moment).

I believe that how Delta can be a good coach prospect for the contestants is that while the guys' international careers might be something they aspire to, the young contestants probably grew up idolizing Delta when they were younger. That's a big factor since the biggest contenders so far are young women.

It's wonderful that The Voice AU has a singer like the one who sang the Kate Bush song. The other versions may have their "quirky" singers but we all know that they can't sing Kate Bush, who is the best mix of quirky/weird and vocal talent.

Edited by Freeze Ray, Apr 16, 2012 @ 10:29 AM.

[WileyCoyote]

The judges seem to be a fairly alright bunch too. Delta is having a bit of a hard time

The 2nd episode convinced me she DESERVES a hard time. There were at least 2 singers who you could tell were perfect for her, where they other judges OBVIOUSLY were waiting for her to push the button and she didn't. True, there were a few others where one of the others "stole" a performer from her, and that's unfortunate, but Delta's own pickiness is part of this too, obviously.

Oh, and there's also the "I'll make it easy" thing. She walked right into that (I realized it from the second she said it, and so did Seal apparently). She's just not saying the right things when she's talking to the contestants. In fact, I'd go as far as to say she came off as plum stupid in that moment. I know she's not... but it WAS a totally dumb thing to say. Easy? Who wants that rep? The kid was right to pick Seal, regardless of any personal connection to Delta.

If it was as simple as people thinking she's a has-been, not as current, or too Aussie-centric, that would be one thing. But its not. She's blowing it thus far.

Maybe she will reap the benefit in the final episode when everyone else has a full boat and she has a clear field with no competition. But in the short run, if she feels bad NOW (meaning at the time the 2nd episode was filmed I mean)... its in large part her own fault.

Edited by WileyCoyote, Apr 16, 2012 @ 7:57 PM.

[TallulahBelle]

The only guy who has impressed me so far was the young guy who sang Keith's song - he sounded absolutely perfect singing that and he and Keith should do okay, even though the 'country' vote on talent shows in this country isn't as full on as it is in the US (man, I HATED the final two in the last season of Idol, SO HARD). The women are totally killing it at the mo for sure. I wanted that girl who sang Wuthering Heights to be so good and she was too theatrical, too precise with her diction - she has a lovely voice and hopefully her judge (Joel?? Who must almost have twelve people now, right?!) will help her with not being so precise, being able to understand lyrics is nice but singing like Eliza Doolittle after she's been Higgins'd is offputting - I mean, mileage, clearly.

[SnideAsides]

(Joel?? Who must almost have twelve people now, right?!)

Delta has one, everyone else has four.

In unrelated geeky news, Rachael Leahcar? Is a palindrome, so if we're doing nicknames like we did for Idol...

Edited by SnideAsides, Apr 16, 2012 @ 10:43 PM.

[Ehyeh]

Comparing first episodes in terms of the overall talent in the blind auditions. Just imo:

The Voice UK > The Voice Australia > The Voice US

I would have added Ireland to the mix but I can't even remember who were performing in the first episode.

Rewatching again the first blind auditions, I still thought the girl who sang Samson and Karise were great but the others were less impressive.

I haven't seen the second episode yet. What's the schedule of the blind auditions in Australia?

It kinda sucks that they're taking down the youtube links immediately or even if there are links, they're country-blocked and available only to Australia. For a quick fix, I can't see it here from Asia. I have to get it through other ways. Boo!

Edited by Ehyeh, Apr 16, 2012 @ 11:53 PM.

[WileyCoyote]

I haven't seen the second episode yet

There's a blind girl, Rachael, who's conveniently TV friendly, cause she's really pretty, and perky. Luckily, she's also as good a singer as the two really good girls from the first episode. She's probably destined to win between the three of them, because she's got the best "story", in addition to the voice. The show really milked her backstory, but you almost can't blame them since she's such a bonanza in terms of checking all the boxes (talent, looks + backstory which comes off as super-inspirational but also a touch tragic).

EDIT - Okay. Here's a clip of her performance. A few hours ago this was region blocked. It seems its not now. I'm guessing the show runners changed their mind and realized having the clips available worldwide was good publicity: http://youtu.be/iVHl3j31pUA

Edited by WileyCoyote, Apr 17, 2012 @ 4:34 AM.

[TallulahBelle]

I haven't seen the second episode yet. What's the schedule of the blind auditions in Australia?

Looks like the channel it's on is trying to steal all of the ratings, ep 3 of the blind auditions is on tonight, then they take a rest from this show and bombard us with Aus Celebrity Apprentice for two days, so I'd say the next ep won't be until Sunday.

[WileyCoyote]

From the "bit too on the nose" department:

Karise invites comparisons with Janis. She deserves the comparisons. But... actually DOING Janis is not a great idea.

Watch this: http://youtu.be/NizexqwYKLQ

Its fantastic. But its TOO predictable. I hope she avoids doing any and all Janis songs on the show because of that predictability factor.

Just as a point of comparison, here's her doing Adele (this is her actual audition tape for the show). And since its less predictable coming out of a mouth with a Janis Joplin tone... its more interesting viewing:
http://youtu.be/OtIU1_eWEio

Just to be a completest, here's the "Man's World" Voice blind audition from Karise. Note that the Voice Aus people seem to be region blocking most of their clips, but at the time I'm linking this is isn't YET blocked: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=L-QdjnA2vtI

[TallulahBelle]

Was that Mahalia Barnes in the preview for the next ep? They said it was one of Jimmy's kids and hers is the name that instantly sprang to mind. Erm, edited to add this may be a question only a fellow Aussie, possibly also a Kiwi, could answer, I can't imagine outside of our corner of the world that Mahalia Barnes would be known by many . . .

Girls killed it again tonight, Kelsey was my favourite, even though as a Melbourne theatre person, I should prefer Matt, but I did not (I had to IQ tonight's episode for my housemate who has performed with Matt). And Keith is officially my favourite judge - he's personable, charismatic and dude knows his music, I mean I know the chorus to Evie, but damned if I know every single word to it. He seems to have a handle on every song that is sung and - possibly this reflects more on my bias against country music than anything else! - I did not come into this thinking he'd be like that at all.

Edited by TallulahBelle, Apr 17, 2012 @ 6:30 AM.