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The Voice: Blind Auditions - Part 2 Recap

Posted on 05/04/2011 by Gina in The Voice

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The Voice: Blind Auditions


by Todd Betzold

 

The Voice is back for part two of the blind auditions and it was a fight between the coaches to fill their eight-member teams. The show ended last week with each coach having three of the eight members needed.

 

Up first, we get a chance to see background singer Cherie Oakley, 29 from Nashville, who has toured with Carrie Underwood and Gretchen Wilson and has written a song for Reba McEntire, "Turn On The Radio." She comes out singing "Gunpowder & Lead," a song by Blake Shelton's fiancé, Miranda Lambert. Before we get any decisions from Blake, Christina Aguilera is the first coach to push the button and choose Oakley. After some hemming and hawing from Blake, he decides to not hit his button. With no other coaches turning around, Christina adds one more member to her team.

 

Next to come on stage, medical student Devon Barley, 19 from Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, whose parents are both in the medical field and want him to follow in their footsteps. However, singing is his passion. The nerdy, glasses-wearing Barley comes out singing "I'm Yours" with a strong voice and unique tone. CeeLo Green and Adam Levine turn around, leaving the choice up to Barley. After some sweet-talking from Adam, Barley tells Adam that "I'm yours."

 

We now arrive at our first audition of the night where none of the coaches turn around. Sorry Joshua Scott Hand... maybe next season.

 

This brings up the youngest competitor of the show to the stage, 16-year-old Raquel Castro from Long Island, New York. Having been singing for most of her life, Castro has been training professionally for only a couple months. That was not something you could hear, as she belted out "Bleeding Love" to the ears of one of her biggest inspirations, Christina. Castro had a very powerful voice, especially for such a young girl, and it caught the attention of Christina, as she was the only coach to turn around for her.

 

The show is called The Voice because it is meant to highlight the singer's ability to sing, not based on their appearance. They focused on that alone, as we got a chance to hear Emily Valentine, 23 from Hollywood. Before her audition, Valentine stated that people make judgments based on appearance, but she was happy to contradict that with her voice. Performing "Sober" with a raspy, soulful voice, Valentine got CeeLo and Adam to turn around. We finally got to see the face behind the voice, which was a beautiful blonde with many tattoos and big piercings. After CeeLo states that he is friends with Pink (some big name dropping on his part), Valentine chooses CeeLo for his first addition of the night.

 

To speed things up, we see that CeeLo adds another big voice with the addition of Niki Dawson and Blake gets bashful Sara Oromchi.


Next audition and a twist a certain coach was not expecting. Tim Mahoney, 39 from Minneapolis, has been performing music for 14 years now and after a lot of almosts, he feels this is his last shot. He uses his bluesy, high-pitched voice to sing "Bring It On Home To Me." Mahoney's singing is good enough to get Adam to turn around, however, it is not what Adam expected to see. "Don't be insulted, but thought you were gonna be a chick. I need a woman for my team and sadly, you have a penis." After the sadness of not being a woman to add to his team, Adam goes on to say Mahoney has a unique voice and is excited to work with him. Team Adam is now up to five members.

 

Christina adds another member, when she picks up soulful soccer player Julia Eason, 18 from Palos Verdes, California. Another no-turn-around for the coaches, as Angela Wulff, 25 from Metter, Georgia, tries singing Blake's fiancé's song, "The House That Built Me." Even with the strong performance, or so I thought, it was a no for Wulff.

 

Is it just me, or does The Voice seem to have many gay competitors? I love it. Speaking of which, we have Tyler Robinson, 20 from Folsom, California that grew up Mormon but it was difficult for him because he is gay. Another singer with the nerdy look going for them, as Robinson sported the jacket and tie, glasses and bushy beard. Robinson states that him and his Dad do not have a good relationship and that he doesn't approve of Tyler's music and he has also not told his Dad that he is gay, but thanks to The Voice, he knows now! After performing "Hey, Soul Sister" and Blake's chair turning around, we can expect to see more of Robinson.

 

Nakia, 36 from Austin, Texas, is up next and comes on with his partner, Robert, who has been very supportive of him and his music and is hoping to take this opportunity to pay Robert back for everything he has done for him. Nakia, a bigger guy wearing a suit and tie with a big bushy beard and longer hair, is the first contestant to take on one of the coach's songs, as he sings CeeLo's, "Forget You." He has a raspy voice with great tone, which is enough to get CeeLo and Blake to turn around. CeeLo states he wanted to see who the brave individual was and tells Nakia he has a great choice in music. That's enough for Nakia, as he chooses CeeLo.

 

Another quick recap, as Blake adds Serabee, Adam adds glam rocker Casey Desmond and Christina adds her first male singer in window installer Justin Grennan.

 

As the coaches feel pressure with only a few spots left on their teams, we see our first little dig at American Idol, as Adam states, "The people we're not turning our chairs around for could win American Idol, but we're looking for that extra thing. The unbelievable, mind-blowing, spectacular thing." Watch out Fox!

 

With two spots open for each Adam, Blake and CeeLo and one spot for Christina, we are only left with three blind auditions left. Let the fighting begin.

 

First battle was won by Blake, as he adds Dia Frampton, 23 from St. George, Utah, a children's novel author whose earthy sound he could see thread with country music.

 

Second battle was down-home country and mama's boy, Curtis Grimes, who made another attempt at singing a coach's song, as he took on Blake's, "Hillbilly Bone." It didn't win over Blake, but CeeLo was impressed and is excited to help someone write a country song.

 

Last battle of blind auditions, we have farm girl sisters, Taylor and Tori Thompson, 19 and 17 from Santa Maria, California. Their upbeat, fun performance of "Stuck Like Glue" got CeeLo's attention and he made his final addition to his team and added the second duo of the show, joining Elenowen from last week.

 

Host Carson Daly comes out to say blind auditions have been completed, but each coach needs eight team members to move on. Currently, CeeLo has eight, Blake and Christina have seven and Adam has six. He announces some performers will be getting a second chance.

 

The coaches rounded up eight of the artists that were close to moving on and felt needed another shot. The artists will sing a new song with no rehearsal and the coaches do not know the order of these second chances, to keep it as a blind audition.

 

First up - Lily Elise, 20 from San Anselmo, California. Christina regretted not turning around in her initial audition, but after Elise brought out the soulful voice as she sang "If I Ain't Got You," Christina couldn't pass her up this time and made the last addition to her team.

 

Down to just Adam and Blake, Sonia Rao, from part one of the blind auditions, comes out performing "Chasing Pavements" with neither of the coaches turning around.

 

Jared Blake, the rocker father of six from part one, gets his second chance. Blake Shelton was close to pushing it the first time, because he felt Jared was a country dude. Jared rocked out to "Not Ready To Make Nice" and it won over Blake, as he turned around to see he got the guy he wanted.

 

And then there was one, as Adam is only coach left with two spots to fill on his team.

 

Adam fills up his team, as he picks up the country crooner Casey Weston, 19 from Naples, Florida, and Angela Wulff, who got away from the Miranda Lambert song and sang "Rolling In The Deep."

 

And the auditions are now complete and all four coaches' teams have been filled. The battle rounds start next week, as the coaches narrow down their own teams in the quest to find the next great voice.

 

Check out our interviews with contestants Javier Colon, Vicci Martinez, Elenowen, and Jeff Jenkins here!

 

 

The Voice airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC.

 

(Image courtesy of NBC)

 

 

Follow Todd @tbetzold


  


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