VintageVoice

Mary Sarah?

“Lose You to Love Me” has been done a few times on this show, not sure how popular it is outside the US or on other singing shows though. Serenity’s swagger along with a more consistent vocal this time make me think it’ll be her, Maddi, and someone else for Chance’s top 3, likely RLETTO (Personally hoping for Kyle, but as he’s the newest member of the team I’m not holding my breath). Reba’s live shows team I’m pretty sure will include Asher and Josh, but I’m less confident on whether she’s going to take L. or the twins for the last spot…gut feeling says the twins, but I wouldn’t fault her either way.

If I had to guess, this would be my bet on who on the coaches’ panel has the best shot in terms of winning (and why): 1. John gets win #2: “Veteran coach wins in a milestone season” seems like a good through line for the show to follow, and John’s a coach that understands the strategy well but has struggled with getting his artists to place high in the finale (despite putting up strong teams). Now that he’s finally got multiple people that are not only talented vocalists but also seem to appeal to different segments of the audience, I think he’s in his best position to win since season 16. 2. Reba gets her first win: Reba may not be the longest running coach on the show, but she’s an icon and industry veteran. It’d be a minor feather in her cap for Reba to win the show, but having the last (white) country guy left standing on her team could be a boon for her if he connects with the segment of the audience that goes for his type of artist. 3. Dan + Shay get their first win: The novelty factor of a two-for-one coaching team hasn’t quite worn off for the season, and there is something to be said about a potential combination of the novelty coaching act + milestone season winning. It also doesn’t hurt that they have a strong team and a good grasp on the strategy that goes into competing on the show. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them win, but I don’t think it’s quite as high of a likelihood as John or Reba. 4. Chance getting his first win: Look, Chance seems like a nice enough guy on paper and there should always be a spot for someone on the panel that genuinely wants to nurture their artists’ creative growth. The problem is that in the context of a singing competition, an artist’s creative growth needs to have a strategic edge to it, which is something Chance is noticeably lacking (and that becomes even more glaringly obvious the longer you look at his decisions over the course of his time on the show). If he manages to make the finale and eke past fifth place, great — but odds of him going all the way to a victory lap are slim at best.

Chance and a complete lack of understanding how the voting audience of this show thinks…name a more iconic duo.

Yeah, anyone other than Maddi would’ve been done for sure after that performance - I don’t know if Chance will actually pick her, but that “breath of fresh air” energy into a competition with a constantly recycled song catalogue would make playoffs & beyond more interesting.

Idk, haven’t kept up with spoilers at all this season (but it wouldn’t surprise me if that was the case).

Watching the KO leak & have a few quick thoughts: 1. New Rules is a fun song, but I don’t think it was the right song for Maddi. It sounded a bit messy vocally & the performance relied more than usual on Maddi’s charisma (which she has in spades) to keep things going. The charisma and previous body of work might be enough to advance her through here, but Maddi will need to step it up going forward if she wants to keep doing fast paced pop songs. 2. Kamalei, while less messy vocally, was also less of a risk taker - if you don’t take minor risks sometimes, you don’t really grow as an artist (even after you’ve established your sense of self creatively). Sure, one might argue singing a John Legend song in front of John is a risk because he’s so picky about his songs being done on the show, but it’s a style of music that’s familiar to the audience of the show in a way that Maddi’s wasn’t…but that familiarity might also be an easier path to votes if he does make the live shows. 3. Can we swap whichever of them gets stolen for Frank? No? Damn it, but oh well.

You joke, but Jennifer Nettles does a very similar little run on the word "stay" in the chorus that Keith did when giving RLETTO advice, so...we'll see.

Hoping for Gene & Mafe (whoever loses has to go to Reba since they’re with John & Chance and D+S used their steals already), low key expecting Alyssa & RLETTO (Chance seems pretty attached to RLETTO but Alyssa’s growth between her blind and battles was impressive enough that if she continues on that arc I could see her getting stolen a second time). The rest of them could go either way, with Zoe/Jackie being my third guess for who might legitimately have a steal incoming (didn’t vote for them as I’m less confident on them than the other two).

brb deluding myself into believing there’s a chance Gene and Mafe both move on somehow

I just went off people I know you’ve mentioned in positive contexts before on IDF that haven’t shown up yet and did some thinking over things like “would you have the guts to put a controversial/polarizing pick in your top 10, and would you rank them higher than a more conventional top 10 picks” which resulted in me basically hoping I got the middle eight of the list within a couple spots of where they actually might wind up (FloorWax & Dai’s lists also may have influenced my picks somewhat, but everyone they had written down would’ve ended up on my initial draft anyway)

Since there’s nothing saying I can’t enter this late in the game: Vintage’s Guess: 10. Michael Sanchez 9. Clarissa Serna 8. Desz 7. Maelyn Jarmon 6. Will Breman 5. Sarah Simmons 4. Darius Scott 3. Ellie Lawrence 2. SandyRedd 1. Alisan Porter (I have zero confidence in the order but I’m reasonably sure I got at least three of the names in here right, so there’s that)

Un-Break My Heart: Jerome Johnson (s7), DeSz (s19), Asher HaVon El Triste: Carolina Alonso (s21), Frank Garcia Tiny Dancer: Caroline Glaser (s4), Brandon Chase vs Emily Randolph (s5), Will Champlin with Adam LeVine (s5), Nolan Neal (s11), Katie Kadan vs Destiny Rayne (s17), Sasha Hurtado (s22), Olivia Rubini Fooled Around and Fell in Love: Kenzie Wheeler,Cam Anthony, and Corey Ward (s20), Nathan Chester Sweet Love: Zania Alake (s20), Gymani (s21), Val T. Webb Unfaithful: Teana Boston (s14), Karen Galera (s16), Serenity Arce Wild as Her: Brayden Lape (s22), Josh Sanders Heads Carolina, Tails California: Danielle Bradbery (s4), Samantha Sampson (s7), Ashley Bryant Say You Won't Let Go: Dylan Gerard (s13), Talon Cardon (s16), Bradley Sinclair (s20), Kyle Schuesler

Considering Asher has yet to butcher Lenny Kravitz on live TV (and has displayed a richer tone in his low notes that N*ivas didn’t have), I’m pretty sure they’re two different people.

No crumbs, your honor 1. Asher (Fully expected to place him high on my list tonight, and pleasantly surprised he topped it - the range and tone on this guy, y’all, geez) 2. Anya (Gorgeous and well done even though I was unfamiliar with the song - a pleasant surprise) Solid and should’ve advanced 3. Nathan (I dig his retro-soul thing and he does it very, very well) 4. Val (I would’ve picked Nathan over her, too, but she did well too and I would’ve liked to see her move on) 5. Frank (Not me looking at D+S and going “yo what the hell” - even though he wouldn’t be a Minivan favorite by any stretch of the imagination, he delivered solid performances in all three rounds so he should be very proud of his run on the show for that reason) 6. Kyle (I love his tone and his general vibe, and while I loved the song choice for him & it’s my favorite version that’s been done on the show, I would’ve liked something a touch fresher for the KOs…might’ve picked Frank or Val over him for a steal but considering he did well with something in his wheelhouse I can’t say he didn’t earn it) Decent, I just preferred others more 7. Tae (His biggest obstacle was being pitted against Asher, tbh - he did just fine, but again, might have stolen others over him in the coaches’ shoes) 8. Josh (He’s fine, as far as country guys go, I’d just prefer to see him do something that lends to a bit more range & soul because I can hear tinges of it in the background of his voice when he’s singing) 9. Olivia (After a re-watch when I was less annoyed about Frank’s loss, I would honestly say this was fine? She definitely has more of a traditional Minivan appeal than Frank does, so I get it, but I just found him more interesting than her) Of all the knockouts, these were some of them 10. Ashley (Much prefer this over big belt-filled stuff for her, but needed a little more risk taking within the song) 11. Dani (Really disappointed to put her this low - I enjoyed the creativity she showed in her blind audition, which seemed mostly absent here) 12. Serenity (Good emotional delivery, but otherwise felt like a step back in comparison to her performances in previous rounds)