Sisaundra Lewis a former back-up singer for Celine Dione tops the list for quality of voice on season 6 of THE VOICE - NBC photo

Josh Kaufman on THE VOICE - NBC photo   Ryan Whyte Maloney on THE VOICE - NBC photo

In what must be the biggest shocker in competitive vocal show history Judith Hill a contestant on The Voice was eliminated - (NBC photo) THE VOICE - JUDITH HILL ELIMINATED!

Video Beat Extra Extra - THE VOICE's TALENT OBLITERATES AMERICAN IDOL's

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

For the past four seasons The Voice has improved its quality of talent while American Idol continues to decline. This season The Voice has disqualified talent in the audition round who are much better than any of Idol's TOP 12. The Voice's judges are more in harmony and display more of a warm relationship than the aging DIVA Jennifer "I want you to win Phillip" Lopez led trio. The bloom is off the Idol rose while The Voice is planting its roots and growing into a strong Oak tree - Recommended TV Listings

Sunday, March 23, 2014

THE VOICE has STEAK while AMERICAN IDOL FALTERS on SIZZLE

This is the year that The Voice will clearly gain respect for its superior talent over American Idol. The advantage is the show is more focused on the talent than Idol's focus on pimping off the popularity of its judges featuring their designated princess Jennifer "I want you to win Phillip" Lopez.

The Voice is now in its challenge rounds with coaches Adam Levine, Shakira, Usher and Blake Lewis having chosen their 12 vocalist teams. All of the contestant's auditions were not televised in Southeast Asia. From the contestants that were we have chosen our favorite contestants for various reasons and the decision was made in part for a human interest standpoint and quality of voice.

Sisaundra Lewis a former back-up singer for Celine Dione tops the list for quality of voice. At 44 she has the voice and experience to win it all. Lewis comes from a poor background being a religious environment the daughter of a preacher. She sang in her father's church and also earned money picking fruit. When she approached her father and related to him that she yearned to become a singer he asked if she wanted to pick fruit all of her life or sing.

That open response gave her the confidence to move to Atlanta, Georgia where her professional singing career began. Lewis went on to working with such artists as Peabo Bryson and doing voiceover/jingle work in TV commercials. On September 10, 2005 she scored her first number-one U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart hit with "Shout." She performed with Cirque du Soleil's show La Nouba in 2003 and from 2006-2012. She is also featured on the La Nouba DVD, filmed live in 2003.

During the blind audition round Lewis sang Aretha Franklin's "Ain't No Way" that stimulated all of the judges to turn around indicating that they wanted her to be on their team. Blake Shelton was the chosen one giving him the edge in the competition to win his fourth coaching title. Lewis' voice is superior to all other in the competition but her professional experience gives her a demanding edge in stage presence and poise.

Lewis appears self assured as to whom she is and that will go a long way. The reality is it's the fans vote that is the decider and fans are more impressionable that rational. They tend to vote for who they prefer as an image and their decisions are mostly based on looks and youth. Those that tend to vote are a younger generation that lives in the world of social and texting.

The shocker of the blind auditions was Josh Kaufman. The 38-year-old sing is a qualified teacher who has spent years trying to make it in the entertainment business. He tutors students to prepare for exams to make it financially to support his family.

Kaufman has a nerdy look but his voice is big time and quality enough to also win the title. He is a dark horse but next to Lewis we consider his voice to have the best quality. The bottom line is song selection what will compliment his voice and that is what has contributed to many entrants in vocal competitions to be eliminated.

Ryan Whyte Maloney is our favorite dark horse. The 33-year-old has a human interest story where his wife left him to move to Florida and took their children. He earns a living as a garbage man. Maloney has an interesting look and has the likeability factor. The stout young man has a hair style with a curl on the top of his head. He has a warm smile, great personality and most importantly and good voice. He may not win the title but he's they type that qualifies as an underdog that one could root for.

Former contestant Judith Hill from season 4 was a shocking elimination. By far she had the best voice in the competition but received criticism from viewers that she was relying on her experience as a back-up singer for Michael Jackson when he was preparing for his world tour and then died.

We saw repeats of the show when Hill was eliminated and noticed that she seemed nervous and not self assured. Losing confidence is one of the factors for failure. The good news is that since her elimination she is featured in the Academy Award winning film documentary 20 Feet From Stardom, which debuted at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and opened in US theaters on June 14, 2013.

In addition on October 2, 2013, Hill signed a record deal with Sony Music and announced that she would be touring with Josh Groban. On February 9, 2014, Hill appeared as a back-up singer in the CBS show "The Beatles: A Night That Changed America".

AMERICAN IDOL'S DEMISE

American Idol continues to travel the path of self destruction. This season talent is inferior to The Voice and is the 3rd worst since we have covered the show. Last seasons talent was the worst. This season they have three singers that are memorable possessing marginal skills. When you consider that thousands audition for the show if this is the best that the judges could come up with then they have done a terrible job. The flip side is Idol is very political with stealth like agenda's that could factor into such poor choices.

The royal like entrance opening of introducing the judges walking down a flight of steps is overindulgent. The chemistry of the judges is strained. Jennifer Lopez is taking the role as leader with her over the top cheerleading and biased comments. Harry Connick is taking on a low profile Simon Cowell role as the stern critic. Connick is the most experienced and technically skilled of the three judges. He has been the leader of a big band that requires leadership, control and technical knowledge. His critiques a very technical but spot on. The problem is it may be over the heads on the non technical viewers. Connick is a musician's, musician and we respect him but, the language he uses is very musician like in articulation that most viewers most likely can't understand.

There seems to be friction between judge Keith Urban and Connick primarily based on Connick's superior musical knowledge and Urban's soft kind approach in his critiques. Urban's critiques a good as is his kind way of relating his opinion to the contestants. In part it stems from him being in that same position as a contestant on talent show in his native Australia.

The band is not as good as in the past two seasons with Ray Chew in charge. Why the change is not clear but the lack of quality is. Fog horn Randy Jackson remains as an advisor and that is not a good thing. He's toned down his act in his new role replacing Jimmy Iovine which is a good thing. Both Iovine and Jackson are tired and worn out who are past their sell by date.

It's obvious we have lost our lust for Idol given how contrived and apparently fixed results over the past few seasons. It's to the point that we forget that it's on and only come across it when we are watching other channels that are boring then finally go to Idol. Let us bow our heads and pray that Idol's ratings will continue to fall and the show will be canceled. Enough of this self ingratiating behavior already!!!

SUNDAY - 7:10 PM - THE VOICE 6 - AXN Channel *** Please check your local listings for the time in your area and repeats throughout the week

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