Too Much of the Voice pt. 3

I am sad that Juliet was sick.  She seemed kind of low energy for most of the show but bounced back brilliantly at the end.  Requesting Freebird is the ultimate performance cliche.  But she is no cliche.  She was the real deal.  She had more song and less rasp  in her vocals and looked amazing in that dress.  I don't think any woman has ever rocked that hard in a red gown that beautiful.  She was ferocious and beautiful at the same time.

Jermaine's duet with Blake on "Soul Man" was fun and funky.  All of his performances were so strong.  "I Believe I Can Fly" and "God Gave Me You." He's got so much heart in his song.  He does not need elaborate staging.  He needs a mic and a spotlight.  He can bring it big or sing it simple and come across.  When he came down to Blake's chair and reached out for his hand, it was so heartwarming.  That's not a mere bromance.  That's genuine friendship.

Chris Mann performances were so approachable and open, so unaffected and sincere.  He seemed so connected and responsive in his duet or "The Prayer" with Christina.  I have not seen this from him until tonight.  I was really surprised.  There was a human soul expressed in all that technical mastery.  I got teary eyed at each one of his performances especially during "The Voice Within."  A singer thanking someone important to them through song.  His vocals were warm and tender.  I agree with Christina, he is a real man.

Tony Lucca tore up the stage with "99 Problems" and was marvelously entertaining.  The Jay-Z song is badass and the Hugo version is pretty swingin'.  And this was the badass rock alternative to both of those versions and to everything else people were singing.  But Christina does have a point - the lyrical point of view of the song is that a bitch can be one of the problems that you have, even if it's not the particular problem of the singer at that moment.  The song does not distinguish whether they mean a bitch as in a female dog, or a woman who is mean and confrontational and spiteful or the word bitch is being applied to any and all women.  And Blake does have a point, why perform a song with the word bitch in the chorus if you can't sing the word bitch in the chorus.  If this song was selected to allow Tony and Adam to call Christina a bitch while not calling her a bitch on TV, that would be really shitty.  I hope that this was not the intent.  I hope the intent was to do something badass and rockin' and fun and that they were just being thoughtless careless fun-loving idiots.  I have been uncharitable to not admit that his duet of "Yesterday" with Adam Levine was pretty decent.