The Voice (US) - Quarter finals

Thought I'd chuck in a few thoughts about the new US talent series, The Voice.

Firstly, I love the format. The blind auditions, the duet battles, the judges' brutal decisions of which of "their" contestants go through. X Factor this is not.

However, the biggest problem and success of the X Factor is the judges' rivalries. On The Voice, the critiques of each others' acts are far too nice for my liking. So here are my honest thoughts on the first round of live songs.

TEAM CHRISTINA

1) Raquel Castro
Song: Ke$ha, "Blow"
Frankly, terrible. I don't know what the judges heard.

2) Beverly McClellan
Song: Melissa Etheridge, "I'm the Only One"
Excellent, but very copycat. She needs to find her own identity.

3) Lily Elise
Song: Fergie, "Big Girls Don't Cry"
Very good, mostly. Nicely restrained, but it all went a bit wrong at the end when she attempted the runs, and failed spectacularly.

4) Frenchie Davis
Song: David Guetta feat. Kelly Rowland, "When Love Takes Over"
A brave choice, and she pulled it off.

TEAM BLAKE

1) Jared Blake
Song: Kings of Leon, "Use Somebody"
Very good, but very copycat. Great stage presence, he performed like a pro.

2) Dia Frampton
Song: Kanye West, "Heartless"
Stood out in that it was nicely stripped down. She sang it well, but my god it was BORING!

3) Xenia
Song: Jessie J, "Price Tag"
Ouch. Xenia has a very infectious voice, with something oddly unique and familiar about its cosy tone. But this was the completely wrong song choice for her voice. Terrible.

4) Patrick Thomas
Song: Lee Ann Womack, "I Hope You Dance"
Scotty McCreery 2. 'Nuff said.

TEAM CEE-LO

1) Tori & Taylor Thompson
Song: Beverly Sisters, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"
Given these girls have limited talent, they actually did a decent job. Doing Bananarama vocals, rather than their previously poor attempts at harmonies, worked in their favour. No way they're going through though.

2) Vicci Martinez
Song: Dolly Parton, "Jolene"
An unusual choice, but her voice and the arrangement melded beautifully, bringing out the melancholy of the song effectively.

3) Nakia
Song: Kings of Leon, "Sex on Fire"
He gave it his all, and his voice was more than up to the job. Personally, I think he deserved better.

4) Curtis Grimes
Song: Robert Palmer, "Addicted To Love"
A great idea- a country version of Addicted to Love. Unfortunately he didn't have Patrick Thomas, he had Curtis Grimes, and his vocals were not up to the task. Dreadful.

TEAM ADAM

1) Casey Weston
Song: KT Tunstall, "Black Horse & Cherry Tree"
Very good. Glad she listened to Adam and went up-tempo.

2) Devon Barley
Song: One Republic, "Stop and Stare"
Much like Xenia, I think it was not a good song choice for Devon's voice, which has a smoky tone, rather than a belter, which this song requires. I still hope he gets through though.

3) Jeff Jenkins
Song: Carrie Underwood, "Jesus, Take The Wheel"
Yet another poor song choice. Either that, or Jeff isn't as good as we thought he was. The low range was too low, the high notes were not what they should have been. Oh dear.

4) Javier Colon
Song: Sarah McLachlan, "Angel"
He has a fantastic voice, and is surely the favourite to win. But only bits of this were recognisable as "Angel" as he warbled his way around the melody, rather than sang any of it. We have one David Archuleta, we don't need another one. Or the one we have, for that matter.

RESULTS

TEAM CHRISTINA
America saved Beverly.
Xtina saved Frenchie.
Good result!

TEAM BLAKE
America saved Dia.
Blake saved Xenia.
Not so good a result.

TEAM CEE-LO
America saved Vicci.
Cee-Lo saved Nakia.
Awesome result!

TEAM ADAM
America saved Javier.
Adam saved Casey.
The two best performances went through, but poor Devon.