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VintageVoice and The Season 20 Smackdown Ranking (Speed Run Complete)


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🌟🌟ROUND 2: It Goes On and On (and on and on)🌟🌟

 

35. Awari (Team Nick)

2021-TheVoice-S20-JULIAN-AWARI-450X450-K

Explanation In hindsight, I maybe shouldn't have placed a contestant that could kick my a** with ease this low then again I'm so out of shape even tiny little Chevel could knock me over with one punch. In all seriousness, Awari lands here because while I did like him a fair amount, he was on a season with a lot of people in his lane I liked more and that I got to see more of on the show. Awari started off his run on the show with a solid rendition of SWV's "Weak" which, considering he's quite a strong guy, was a rather ironic title. He's not only physically strong, but his vocal was also strong enough to entice a chair turn from both Kelly and Nick. One bribed him with the promise of a jacket; the other, with a notebook. Awari, being the more practical sort, picked the notebook and rounded out Team Nick. He then moved onto the battle rounds and was matched up with Jose, another male R&B act on Team Nick - however, their song choice wasn't R&B. Going for Lauren Daigle's "You Say" as a battle was a bold choice and one I was hoping to see purely because I didn't know how it was going to work as a battle. Though the end result wasn't my favorite battle of the season, it was still a solid battle (especially considering sources for spoilers weren't fans of the rendition) and I preferred Awari here because I thought he was more vocally consistent throughout. Nick disagreed, and Awari was eliminated. In a not-directly-show-related tangent, Awari was on a few other contestants' lives on Instagram this season - he looks like a very stoic guy at first glance, but he was actually the one cracking jokes and goofing around with the younger contestants, which I didn't expect. Good luck to Awari with whatever direction his career takes next.

Hint: A study in contrasts. ( Awari's a buff, serious-looking dude, but sang "Weak" in the blinds and is pretty goofy based on interactions with other contestants.)

Genre: R&B

Favorite Performance: Weak (blind audition)

 

34. Aaron Konzelman (Team Blake)

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Explanation  After two contestants from every other team have been ranked, Team Blake finally makes its first appearance on my list. Were this a facial hair contest, Aaron would run circles around the rest of this season's cast. Vocally, though, he was unlucky enough to be the first member of his team ranked even though I liked both of his performances. His version of Duran Duran's "Ordinary World" was a smart song selection for his voice, as it showed off his rasp and power while still feeling true to his artistry (and those high notes towards the end were rock solid). Given the choice between John and Blake, Aaron chose the latter - not surprising given Blake has managed to get a large number of guitarists over the last decade on the show although not gonna lie I am very curious to see how John would handle a male rocker since he's turned for several of them the last few seasons. Aaron was pitted against fellow rock artist Connor Christian in the battle rounds on a Waylon Jennings song, which was a higher-energy choice than the one Aaron had made on his own. It ended up being a pretty good battle that unfortunately did not have the chance to end in a steal (more on that when we get to Connor) and Aaron ended up going home. Wishing Aaron the best with the next steps of his musical career.

Hint:  Sang a song by a band named similarly to a former runner-up. ( Aaron's blind audition song is by Duran Duran, and Ricky Duran was the Season 17 runner-up.)

Genre: Rock

Favorite Performance: Ordinary World (blind audition)

 

33. Connor Christian (Team Blake)

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Explanation  Connor being this high is probably the most controversial part of this ranking so far. I suppose this is also the part where I double down on the opinions of questionable popularity and admit to liking Connor's tone quite a bit. In any case, Connor's auditon showcased that he was an energetic performer; non-vocal highlights included John jamming out on air guitar in his seat and his parents dancing along on their screen. It looked like Connor was going to default to Team Blake until the last few moments of the song, where both Nick and Kelly turned around. However, being the first coach to turn can pay off - Connor picked Blake, which seemed like the most logical fit for his voice + musicianship. In the battles, Connor went up against Aaron Konzelman on "Ain't Living Long Like This" which was one of the stronger song choices of the battles and worked out well, since both guys brought their A-game and worked the crowd with an energetic performance. Unfortunately, because someone's gotta be the last battle taped, Connor's win meant Aaron was eliminated. Moving onto the knockouts and finding out the spoilers made me seriously wonder if Connor had accidentally pissed off the producers at some point, given the following information: 1) he was once again left for the very last pairing to tape their performances in a round; 2) he "chose" a song that was very out-of-his-wheelhouse because an artist that pulls off Gary Clark Jr. would absolutely do a 5 Seconds of Summer song of their own free will; and 3) he got thrown up against Cam Anthony when Blake's got a history of advancing artists that unexpectedly pick him in the blinds. Before his knockout, Connor likely would've landed at least one set higher in my ranking. However, given his knockout went exactly as well as one would expect given the uphill battle Connor had handed to him and it ended up being short-clipped, Connor finishes right in the middle of this round. Hoping for musical success for Connor post-show.

Hint:  If you ain't first, you're last - or a dead man walking. ( Connor's audition was the first shown in its episode, but his battle and knockout matchups were both the last of their rounds to be filmed - there's a nod to his knockout song lyrics here too.)

Genre: Rock

Favorite Performance: Bright Lights (blind audition)

 

32. Ainae (Team Kelly)

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Explanation   Continuing the trend of "I don't want to put them this low, but..." is the final artist to make the Season 20 cast list. Ainae's tone in her blind audition was super pretty, lightly floaty, a touch jazzy, and overall the perfect way to round out Team Kelly for Season 20. Ainae cited Amy Winehouse as a musical influence, and she was paired with Anna Grace in the battles on an Amy song. Their battle was decent despite it not being a great fit for either vocally - both ladies did what they could do with it, and their final harmonies were excellent. I thought Ainae was good and deserved to move on; Blake apparently agreed and tried to steal Ainae. Unfortunately, by the time he hit the button, it was too late and Ainae ended up getting eliminated thanks, TPTB. Best of luck Ainae with her future.

Hint: Too little, too late. ( Blake tried to steal Ainae after her battle but didn't press his button in time.)

Genre: R&B/Jazz

Favorite Performance: Best Part (blind audition)

 

31. Bradley Sinclair (Team Nick)

2021-TheVoice-S20-BRADLEY-SINCLAIR-450X4

Explanation  Getting this last spot in the second set is another artist I wouldn't have minded seeing be stolen. Bradley took one of my favorite James Arthur songs and attempted to tackle it in his blind audition, and sounded pretty good on the lower parts of the song. Despite having a big range, Bradley picked a demanding song - he sounded a bit strained at the very top bits of the song, but was otherwise solid enough to get a turn from both Kelly and Nick. I think picking Nick was a smart move, considering Nick uses his falsetto a fair amount and that's where I heard the most issues and most potential with Bradley's voice. Battle rounds commenced, and Bradley ended up working with Rachel Mac on Elton John's "Your Song" which was another song I was curious to see how it would translate to a battle setting. I wasn't bananas about either Bradley or Rachel going into the battle, but after watching it....holy crap. The improvement in both of them showed it was clear that both Rachel and Bradley were willing to put in the work and step things up when push came to shove. Sadly, by the time their battle filmed, there were no steals or saves left, so even though Bradley and Rachel's battle got the only standing ovation of the round, Bradley went home after this; at least he left on a good note performance-wise. Sending Bradley my best wishes for his post-show work.

Hint:  Shares a first and last initial with a current or former member of the coaching panel. ( Bradley's initials happen to match Blake Shelton's not me trying and flopping with clues again yikes.)

Genre: Pop/Singer-Songwriter

Favorite Performance: Your Song (battle)

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  • VintageVoice changed the title to VintageVoice and The Season 20 Smackdown Ranking (#31-35 Posted)

I don’t have much to say about all of these contestants, but I thought Connor’s first two performances were good but not great, and I love Aaron’s tone but he could have had better song choices.
 

Ainae and Awari are ranked similarly to BK, though BK has them slightly higher, and I would put Awari a bit higher and Ainae around here. Bradley is also slightly higher for me, so I agree more with BK. Connor and Aaron would be a set higher for me, so I agree more with your ratings for them than BK, since they were lower there. 
 

Overall, I don’t have too much to say about these rankings, as I already talked about them in BK’s thread, and these contestants aren’t that different from mine, and none lasted too long on the show

Edited by Cookie73
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3 hours ago, Cookie73 said:

I don’t have much to say about all of these contestants, but I thought Connor’s first two performances were good but not great, and I love Aaron’s tone but he could have had better song choices.
 

Ainae and Awari are ranked similarly to BK, though BK has them slightly higher, and I would put Awari a bit higher and Ainae around here. Bradley is also slightly higher for me, so I agree more with BK. Connor and Aaron would be a set higher for me, so I agree more with your ratings for them than BK, since they were lower there. 
 

Overall, I don’t have too much to say about these rankings, as I already talked about them in BK’s thread, and these contestants aren’t that different from mine, and none lasted too long on the show

Awari probably deserved higher in this set than he ended up placing, I just couldn't personally justify switching around anyone else in this set to move him up. Bradley was actually originally in the next set up (like how Halley was initially supposed to be in this group and not the first one), but because I suck at counting and forgot to include a couple people in the first draft of my ranking, he got bumped to this one.

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Now that @Bk1234's ranking is done for the season, here's my round 3 clues - clue order doesn't guarantee contestant placement.

 

Tagging folks who may be interested: @sydneysam@Angeles @Hamza Tufail @B-B @QueenCami @David68 @Cookie73 @Misirlou @British Man @FloorWax @Harmat @ThrowawayCrayon @AliXRose @TheVoiceFan2 @ikwonic @VoiceTakeover890 @Teraginn

  • Pick your battles wisely before you dive off the deep end.
  • Clay, Chris, Carter.
  • In your shoes, the only running away I'd be doing is from my opponent.
  • Can I have some clarification, please?
  • Hold on tight, don't let go.

:

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  • VintageVoice changed the title to VintageVoice and The Season 20 Smackdown Ranking (Round 3 Clues Posted)
On 6/19/2021 at 3:44 AM, VintageVoice said:

🌟🌟ROUND 2: It Goes On and On (and on and on)🌟🌟

 

Surprised at Connor's placement but I'm happy for it! He was one of my favorite performers this season and I totally loved his tone despite the major setback from the knockouts lol

 

Good rankings and write ups 🤩 AND I love the formatting and such (love the clues particularly lol)

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12 minutes ago, VintageVoice said:
  • Pick your battles wisely before you dive off the deep end.
  • Clay, Chris, Carter.
  • In your shoes, the only running away I'd be doing is from my opponent.
  • Can I have some clarification, please?
  • Hold on tight, don't let go.

 

- Deion Warren ?? because of Shallow

 

- I'm not familiar with this one 👻

 

- Keegan Ferrell - knockout song

 

- ??

 

- Savanna Chestnut - her audition song?? 

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57 minutes ago, VintageVoice said:
  • Pick your battles wisely before you dive off the deep end.
  • Clay, Chris, Carter.
  • In your shoes, the only running away I'd be doing is from my opponent.
  • Can I have some clarification, please?
  • Hold on tight, don't let go.

 

- Definitely Deion Warren. References his Blinds song.

- I'm sure it's Jose Figueroa Jr. "At This Moment" was sung by Clay Aiken, "Superstition" was sung by Chris Blue, and "You Say" was sung by Carter Rubin.

- Reference to Keegan Ferrell's KO song.

- ???

- I think it refers to Ethan Lively's KO song?

 

Will edit later if I figure out more.

Edited by FloorWax
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10 hours ago, VintageVoice said:

Now that @Bk1234's ranking is done for the season, here's my round 3 clues - clue order doesn't guarantee contestant placement.

 

Tagging folks who may be interested: @sydneysam@Angeles @Hamza Tufail @B-B @QueenCami @David68 @Cookie73 @Misirlou @British Man @FloorWax @Harmat @ThrowawayCrayon @AliXRose @TheVoiceFan2 @ikwonic @VoiceTakeover890 @Teraginn

  • Pick your battles wisely before you dive off the deep end.
  • Clay, Chris, Carter.
  • In your shoes, the only running away I'd be doing is from my opponent.
  • Can I have some clarification, please?
  • Hold on tight, don't let go.

:

Deion Warren 

Jose F Jr. 

Keegan Farrell

Savanna Chestnut

Ethan Lively.

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10 hours ago, sydneysam said:

 

- Deion Warren ?? because of Shallow

 

- I'm not familiar with this one 👻

 

- Keegan Ferrell - knockout song

 

- ??

 

- Savanna Chestnut - her audition song?? 

 

9 hours ago, FloorWax said:

 

- Definitely Deion Warren. References his Blinds song.

- I'm sure it's Jose Figueroa Jr. "At This Moment" was sung by Clay Aiken, "Superstition" was sung by Chris Blue, and "You Say" was sung by Carter Rubin.

- Reference to Keegan Ferrell's KO song.

- ???

- I think it refers to Ethan Lively's KO song?

 

Will edit later if I figure out more.

 

25 minutes ago, VoiceTakeover890 said:

Deion Warren 

Jose F Jr. 

Keegan Farrell

Savanna Chestnut

Ethan Lively.

Go On Popcorn GIF by swerk

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 6 months later...

...so a whole flippin' season passed. That's a big fat yikes.

 

For the remainder of the cast up until the top 5, I will only be posting the rankings with contestant name, their on-show genre, and my favorite performance of theirs. 

 

Speed run, commence.

 

(It's not that I don't love the cast from S20, I just gotta get through the posts at this point now that it's a whole new calendar year, you know?)

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Didn’t realize BK would finish another ranking by the time you resumed this.

 

I don’t remember BK’s exact rankings, but I’ll check them with each ranking, since there’s a chance that yours could match up better for certain contestants, and there might be contestants who I agree more with BK on

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🌟🌟SPEED RUN, ROUND 1: Gotta Go Fast🌟🌟

 

30. Ethan Lively (Team Blake)

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Genre: Country

Favorite Performance: Just Got Started Lovin' You (battle)

 

29. Durell Anthony (Team Legend)

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Genre: R&B

Favorite Performance: What's Going On (blind audition)

 

28. Jose Figueora Jr. (Team Nick)

2021-TheVoice-S20-JOSE-FIGUEROA-JR-450X4

 

Genre: R&B/Gospel

Favorite Performance: Superstition (wildcard)

 

27. Deion Warren (Team Legend)

2021-TheVoice-S20-DEION-WARREN-450X450-K

 

Genre: R&B/Pop

Favorite Performance: Shallow (blind audition)

 

26. Keegan Ferrell (Team Blake --> Team Nick)

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Genre: R&B/Jazz

Favorite Performance: She Will Be Loved (blind audition)

 

25. Pete Mroz (Team Blake)

2021-TheVoice-S20-PETE-MROZ-450X450-KO.j

 

Genre: Blues/Pop/Country

Favorite Performance: Before You Go (knockout)

 

24. Raine Sterne (Team Nick)

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Genre: Rock

Favorite Performance: Electric Feel (blind audition)

 

23. Ciana Pelekai (Team Legend)

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Genre: Pop

Favorite Performance: Dance Monkey (blind audition)

 

22. Andrew Marshall (Team Nick --> Team Blake --> Team Nick)

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Genre: Pop

Favorite Performance: I Won't Give Up (knockout)

 

21. Jordan Matthew Young (Team Blake)

2021-TheVoice-S20-JORDAN-MATTHEW-YOUNG-4

 

Genre: Country/Rock

Favorite Performance: Gold Dust Woman (playoffs)

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6 minutes ago, Cookie73 said:

Didn’t realize BK would finish another ranking by the time you resumed this.

 

I don’t remember BK’s exact rankings, but I’ll check them with each ranking, since there’s a chance that yours could match up better for certain contestants, and there might be contestants who I agree more with BK on

To be fair, neither did I 💀

 

Interested to see your thoughts (and anyone else who might still care at this point).

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🌟🌟SPEED RUN, ROUND 2: We're Halfway There🌟🌟

 

20. Kenzie Wheeler (Team Kelly)

2021-TheVoice-S20-KENZIE-WHEELER-450X450

Genre: Country

Favorite Performance: The Keeper of the Stars (finale)

 

19. Gean Garcia (Team Kelly --> Team Legend)

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Genre: Pop/Singer-Songwriter

Favorite Performance: pov (battle)

 

18. Rio Doyle (Team Legend)

2021-TheVoice-S20-RIO-DOYLE-450X450-KO.j

Genre: Pop

Favorite Performance: Issues (knockout)

 

17. Carolina Rial (Team Legend)

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Genre: Pop

Favorite Performance: Anyone (knockout)

 

16. Savanna Chestnut (Team Blake)

2021-TheVoice-S20-SAVANNA-CHESTNUT-450X4

Genre: Country

Favorite Performance: Hold Me Now (blind audition)

 

15. Avery Roberson (Team Blake --> Team Kelly)

2021-TheVoice-S20-AVERY-ROBERSON-450X450

Genre: Country

Favorite Performance: Just Got Started Lovin' You (battle)

 

14. Emma Caroline (Team Blake)

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Genre: Country

Favorite Performance: Neon Moon (knockout)

 

13. Zae Romeo (Team Nick --> Team Kelly)

2021-TheVoice-S20-ZAE-ROMEO-450X450-KO.j

Genre: Pop

Favorite Performance: Falling (blind audition)

 

12. Zania Alaké (Team Legend)

2021-TheVoice-S20-ZANIA-ALAKE-450X450-KO

Genre: R&B

Favorite Performance: If I Were Your Woman (knockout)

 

11. Victor Solomon (Team Legend)

2021-TheVoice-S20-VICTOR-SOLOMON-450X450

Genre: R&B/Gospel

Favorite Performance: Freedom (finale)

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Also, Carolina is a lot closer to where I would put her in this ranking than BK’s, and Zae and Zania’s placements make sense considering their playoffs

 

Emma Caroline would also be much lower (in the 30s for me)

 

There are a lot of placements similar to BK that I would have differently 

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9 minutes ago, Cookie73 said:

This is fast, and I haven’t been able to soak in everything, but the main disagreement is that Jordan would be much higher

 

7 minutes ago, Cookie73 said:

Also, Carolina is a lot closer to where I would put her in this ranking than BK’s, and Zae and Zania’s placements make sense considering their playoffs

 

Emma Caroline would also be much lower (in the 30s for me)

 

There are a lot of placements similar to BK that I would have differently 

Jordan mainly landed at #21 because I didn't enjoy him that much until the playoffs, but Gold Dust Woman was enough to keep him in consideration for the #20 spot (I waffled back and forth with him and Kenzie for a while, but ultimately placed Kenzie at 20 because he placed higher on the show + I liked his battle).

 

Carolina grew on me and probably could've made it up to ~12ish had she had more performances over the show, but her short run kept her down in the high teens. Emma's growth in self-confidence + battle with Cam helped her out, but again, her short run kept her from the top 12.

 

Zae and Zania, like Kenzie and Jordan, I flipped between spots, but ultimately Zania's KO gave her an edge over Zae, who I felt peaked at his blind (though his KO was still pretty good).

 

Bk and I agreed a bit more on Season 20 than Season 21, but we still had a fair amount of overlap for Season 21.

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Okay, some disagreements here lol. 

 

- I feel like I was a bigger fan of Pete's run than most. I'd have put him way above #25. 

- Did not like Emma Caroline at all, I'd have her way lower than #14.

- Zania would comfortably be in my Top 10.

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