The Voice - Season 4 - Top 5
I'm going to say right off the hop that I didn't feel that last night's show was very strong for a Top 5 performance night.
Every contestant had a good night, but compared to last week... the overall show seemed to have fewer real moments of greatness.
One of the things that makes this part of the season interesting is the power the contestants have to rise or fall based on their own song choices. Amber and Sasha both chose to climb mountainously hard songs and I think that will likely be why they don't make the finals. Amber's take on "Firework" missed on a few levels. Shakira was right in saying it is a song that should be put on the "very hard" list. I liked Adam's choice of "Sad" for Amber. It said a lot about his personal connection to her and she did a great job of it. Sasha rocked on the Donna Summers hit "Bad Girls" but even with her rich beautiful voice, "I Will Always Love You" proved to be just out of reach from my point of view.
I think the Swon Brothers benefited the most from the evening. Both songs were strong choices and although I wish the production on "Danny's Song" had been different so I could hear Colton better, I think it will be the stand-out song of the night when all is said and done.
Danielle was steady as she goes with her performances and "Who I Am" was the ideal song for her and she'll win votes just for singing to her family in the stands. She's only 16 years old but sings with such an easy confidence. If there is one thing, she needs to work on going forward, it's connecting to the dynamic markings in the music. She can sing a line perfectly and you can't fault it technically, but as Adam has said before, sometimes it's the imperfect emotional delivery that makes that line mean something to the listener. Danielle has a whole long career to learn that part of her craft. I still think she is the one to beat this season.
Michelle version of "Clarity" rocked! It was almost another moment for her. I think people will love her version of "Time after Time" but I found it a little uninspired. Colton Dixon did a modern version of it on Idol last year and I still have that version on my main iPod play list. I wish Michelle had gone bigger with it. It was much more fun after the clock shattered and Michelle brought her full vocal to play. Michelle is my dark horse candidate to win it. I think she is close enough to Danielle to steal if she has the right
songs next week.
Every contestant had a good night, but compared to last week... the overall show seemed to have fewer real moments of greatness.
One of the things that makes this part of the season interesting is the power the contestants have to rise or fall based on their own song choices. Amber and Sasha both chose to climb mountainously hard songs and I think that will likely be why they don't make the finals. Amber's take on "Firework" missed on a few levels. Shakira was right in saying it is a song that should be put on the "very hard" list. I liked Adam's choice of "Sad" for Amber. It said a lot about his personal connection to her and she did a great job of it. Sasha rocked on the Donna Summers hit "Bad Girls" but even with her rich beautiful voice, "I Will Always Love You" proved to be just out of reach from my point of view.
I think the Swon Brothers benefited the most from the evening. Both songs were strong choices and although I wish the production on "Danny's Song" had been different so I could hear Colton better, I think it will be the stand-out song of the night when all is said and done.
Danielle was steady as she goes with her performances and "Who I Am" was the ideal song for her and she'll win votes just for singing to her family in the stands. She's only 16 years old but sings with such an easy confidence. If there is one thing, she needs to work on going forward, it's connecting to the dynamic markings in the music. She can sing a line perfectly and you can't fault it technically, but as Adam has said before, sometimes it's the imperfect emotional delivery that makes that line mean something to the listener. Danielle has a whole long career to learn that part of her craft. I still think she is the one to beat this season.
Michelle version of "Clarity" rocked! It was almost another moment for her. I think people will love her version of "Time after Time" but I found it a little uninspired. Colton Dixon did a modern version of it on Idol last year and I still have that version on my main iPod play list. I wish Michelle had gone bigger with it. It was much more fun after the clock shattered and Michelle brought her full vocal to play. Michelle is my dark horse candidate to win it. I think she is close enough to Danielle to steal if she has the right
songs next week.