Performances that surprised/disappointed you when they aired

[FloorWax]

This post refers to performances you were excited to hear pre-season but were far from your expectations in a good/bad way.

[Gustavo527]

Bella DeNapoli - Chandelier 

[FloorWax]

I'll start.

 

Surprised:

Jack vs Sabrina - Cardigan

Jeremy Rosado - Here Comes Goodbye

Anna Grace - If I Die Young 

Cam vs Emma - 10,000 Hours

Savanna Chestnut - Hold Me Now

Madeline Consoer - Die From A Broken Heart

 

Disappointed:

Hailey vs Raquel - Car Wash

Ryleigh Plank - Anyone

Anna Grace - my future

Corey vs Savanna - Dreams

Connor Christian - Bright Lights

Tamara Jade - Cuz I Love You

 

 

ps I don't think any performance in the disappointed category was bad, I was just underwhelmed.

Edited December 3, 2021 by FloorWax

[Cookie73]

Levi and Shane Q’s battles and knockouts were definitely disappointing in the sense that they were praised by the sources

 

Carter Rubin and CammWess’s Knockouts were definitely surprising. The source praised CammWess, but he definitely improved in comparison to . The source didn’t talk about Carter much in comparison to his Knockout partner, but his reception was really good. 
 

In S20, Anna, Rachel and Zae’s Knockouts were all better than expected 

 

From this season, Girl Named Tom’s Knockout definitely exceeded expectations, and Paris’s battle was surprisingly great. The source mentioned Shadale as the best of her taping, but she still exceeded expectations.
 

Bella’s Chandelier was definitely a disappointment, knowing how great that song seemed for her on paper. I don’t think Peedy’s battle was predicted to get as much negative reception. Raquel and Hailey’s battle was also disappointing, and I never would have expected Paris’s battle to get better reception on IDF. 

[Someone648]

Just focusing on the pandemic seasons:

 

Surprised:

Samuel Harness' blind and KO

BrittneyBree's blind and battle

David Vogel's entire run

Hailey Green's blind

Rachel Mac's battle and KO (I thought she shouldn't have been a chair turner in the first place...)

Savanna Woods' entire run

Savanna Chestnut's blind

Ryleigh Modig vs. Gean Garcia

Zania Alake's entire pre-live run (Dangerous Woman would be below if it weren't live...)

Pia Renee's KO

Sid Kingsley's entire run

Kelsie Watts' blind

Payge Turner vs. Lauren Frihauf

Marisa Corvo vs. Ryan Gallagher

Madeline Consoer's KO

 

Disappointed:

[insert Ryleigh Plank's entire run]

Zae Romeo's blind and battle

Anna Grace's blind and battle

Pia Renee vs. Christine Cain

Julia Cooper's blind

Tamara Jade vs. Olivia Reyes

Kelsie Watts' KO

Tanner Gomes & Marisa Corvo's KOs

[Misirlou]

The way the source phrased their opinion on the GNT vs Holly KO match, it made it seem like she had the huge moment (supposed 4 coach standing O) and that Kelly screwed up by picking them and letting her go. 

 

Of course the source ended up being not reliable due to the huge blunder of steal confusion, but really GNT ended up having, in my opinion, the KO of the season.

[Misirlou]

2 minutes ago, Someone648 said:

Tanner Gomes & Marisa Corvo's KOs

Didn´t they both recieved mixed reviews from sources? I think they said that Marisa started badly and that Tanner made the song sound like bro country.

 

For the record, I indeed didn´t enjoy either that much. Marisa had a huge range but her arrangement didn´t work for me, and while Tanner wasn´t bro country bad, he pretty much did a Tim McGraw impersonation.

[Cookie73]

Just now, Misirlou said:

Didn´t they both recieved mixed reviews from sources? I think they said that Marisa started badly and that Tanner made the song sound like bro country.

 

For the record, I indeed didn´t enjoy either that much. Marisa had a huge range but her arrangement didn´t work for me, and while Tanner wasn´t bro country bad, he pretty much did a Tim McGraw impersonation.

At least their comments included foreshadowing of the Marisa drama

[ThrowawayCrayon]

9 minutes ago, Misirlou said:

The way the source phrased their opinion on the GNT vs Holly KO match, it made it seem like she had the huge moment (supposed 4 coach standing O) and that Kelly screwed up by picking them and letting her go. 

 

Of course the source ended up being not reliable due to the huge blunder of steal confusion, but really GNT ended up having, in my opinion, the KO of the season.

She only got John to stand up which surprised me at first but I remembered how Blake passed on trying to steal Holly. If she had a an amazing moment and she was let go, I would expect at least Blake to try and steal despite not having a chance. (I still liked her KO a lot though, even more than her blind). Do you think Blake would have tried stealing GNT if Kelly let them go instead after that KO? 

[Dai]

- I remember being pretty disappointed with Katie’s KO

 

+ GNT’s blind was a nice surprise. They are my favorites now but they weren’t really on my radar prior to the premiere.

[Mistake006]

3 minutes ago, Daillon said:

- I remember being pretty disappointed with Katie’s KO

 

+ GNT’s blind was a nice surprise. They are my favorites now but they weren’t really on my radar prior to the premiere.

complete opposite for me lol, but I have grown to love GNT

[Someone648]

30 minutes ago, Misirlou said:

Didn´t they both recieved mixed reviews from sources? I think they said that Marisa started badly and that Tanner made the song sound like bro country.

 

For the record, I indeed didn´t enjoy either that much. Marisa had a huge range but her arrangement didn´t work for me, and while Tanner wasn´t bro country bad, he pretty much did a Tim McGraw impersonation.

Let's just say my expectations were low and I found these performances buried underground

 

[Misirlou]

I´l go through some:

 

Kenzie´s blind was a disappointment for me, especially considering how he nailed the song on his YT/FB covers. It was good, but not the level I expected, espcially with the 3 blocks situation (It ended up being 2, since Nick tried to block Blake too, but John didn´t).

 

Jordan Matthew Young´s pre-lives run disappointed me too, since nothing he did was remotely close to what I expected given his IG content. He completely turned it around for me in the lives though, with that killer "Gold Dust Woman" cover, and won me back, and he remained a favorite of mine till the end (those three weeks lol).

 

Corey´s blind surprised me, I didn´t expect it to like it that much. His battle performance kinda dissappointed me though, because I thought that was an easy win for Savanna. I still went with high expectations to see his KO, and he certainly met them, killer performance.

 

Speaking of Savanna Woods, her KO was hyped, so I looked forward to it, but her blind was pretty much non spoken out, and it ended up being one of my favorites when it aired. And her KO met my expectations.

 

I wasn´t big on Ryleigh Plank pre season nor when it aired, but I definitely expected her blind to be stronger that what it was. 

 

Pete Mroz´s KO ended up being much better that what I expected, given the song choice, something I was pleasantly surprised with.

 

Jim and Sasha´s run has been a disappointment. They have had good moments on the season, but they have been just way too inconsistent throught. I expected more.

 

Jershika has been a pleasant surprise. Never paid too much attention to her pre-lives but she has been on point almost every time.

 

I had high hopes for Jim Ranger pre-season, but apart from his KO and finale cover, his run was dissappointing.

 

Didn´t expect to like CammWess that much on the show, since I didn´t pay attention to him much pre-lives. His KO changed everything for him. Breakout moment for sure.

[pauwis]

59 minutes ago, Someone648 said:

Just focusing on the pandemic seasons:

 

Surprised:

Samuel Harness' blind and KO

BrittneyBree's blind and battle

David Vogel's entire run

Hailey Green's blind

Rachel Mac's battle and KO (I thought she shouldn't have been a chair turner in the first place...)

Savanna Woods' entire run

Savanna Chestnut's blind

Ryleigh Modig vs. Gean Garcia

Zania Alake's entire pre-live run (Dangerous Woman would be below if it weren't live...)

Pia Renee's KO

Sid Kingsley's entire run

Kelsie Watts' blind

Payge Turner vs. Lauren Frihauf

Marisa Corvo vs. Ryan Gallagher

Madeline Consoer's KO

 

Disappointed:

[insert Ryleigh Plank's entire run]

Zae Romeo's blind and battle

Anna Grace's blind and battle

Pia Renee vs. Christine Cain

Julia Cooper's blind

Tamara Jade vs. Olivia Reyes

Kelsie Watts' KO

Tanner Gomes & Marisa Corvo's KOs

 

 

 

I agree with the rest

[erik g]

Jim and Sasha KO Surprised me. I expected it to be really boring lol. 

[Angeles]

i don't think he has been mentioned, but Paris' entire run shocked me [in a good manner]

 

i expected Jenzie's blind + battle to be so much better

 

in S19, Madeline surprised me. i expected good things from Madeline, but she meet & exceeded my expectations

 

shock or not, i'm gonna bring up Megan again. her battle + KO sounded SO amazing. i expected it to be good, but not as great as it actually was!

[Cookie73]

Kenzie and Anna Grace’s auditions were both underwhelming for me (Kenzie’s stripped back covers online were really good and he tried to change it in his audition, and Anna Grace’s didn’t really do much). This is the same reason why Anna’s Knockout ended up being surprising. Kenzie’s Knockout was a bit surprising because of how he did with his song choice

 

Carson’s audition this season was definitely underwhelming as well. Especially given his preshow material. 
 

I’d probably include Raquel’s prelives (and Ryleigh P’s to a lesser extent)

 

It’s easy to call a 4 chair audition underwhelming, since I usually have high expectations for those (and 3 chair turns to a lesser extent). Same with some experienced contestants. 
 

Katie Rae’s Knockout was surprising mainly because the spoilers kept ignoring her existence.

 

Corey‘s audition was surprising because I didn’t expect it to be that good, especially with how he was viewed as fodder in the spoilers before both battles and knockouts

Edited December 3, 2021 by Cookie73

[Rat!]

Jim and Sasha having consistently decent performance quality is pretty good. Besides that playoffs performance, nothing else has particularly merited sending them home.

 

Holly had the entire backing of production on her side for a while and it was all wasted.

Ryleigh had some good moments which made it all the more disappointing when you saw the show really wanted her gone.

[Mohammad]

Sources made it seem Ryleigh had a beast like vocal performance pre-lives where honestly she didn’t and the closest thing to it was her battle , Ryleigh was severely overhyped pre-lives by sources pre-season . Sources made it seem like Holly have an insane vocal performance and had a big moment and that GNT weren’t even that good and how Kelly pretty much screwed up picking GNT . The thing that made me a little bit skeptical was that if Holly gave  such an insane performance , why didn’t blake go in for the steal ?  I genuinely believe that GNT would have been a triple steal if Kelly chose Holly over them .

Edited December 4, 2021 by Mohammad

[FloorWax]

7 hours ago, Cookie73 said:

CammWess

 

this (along with Megan) was definitely a huge surprise.

[TheVoiice]

One that surprised me was Kameron Marlowe- I Shot The Sheriff

[Misirlou]

The sources trashed the Jose vs Awari battle to the point where most of us first thought it was gonna be montaged, and it honestly was pretty good when it aired. It could have been autotune, or it really wasn´t that bad. 

Edited December 4, 2021 by Misirlou

[fudgeyou]

Kyla - Don't make  me over. She was opening the last knockout episode but boy did she pack the biggest wallop of a performance there ever has been, performance of the century!

[Cookie73]

In earlier seasons

 

Brennley and Vanessa’s Knockouts. I didn’t care for them in Blinds and I still didn’t see them making T12 after Battles, but their Knockouts really shocked me in a good way. And I continued to like them during the rest of their runs.

 

Shalyah’s Knockout was another surprise, since I felt she really stepped it up from her Blind and Battle as well, and lasted until Semis just like to Brennley and Vanessa. 
 

In Season 13, Ashland and Chloe’s Knockout matchup included both, since Ashland notably fell off from her audition, and this was around the time the source said that she was the one that took Moriah’s spot in T12. Chloe’s Knockout was a clear surprise in a good way, since her Blind wasn’t popular at the time and her Battle was montaged. That performance really made people notice her, as she eventually went on to win the season and Miley’s strategy to win with a country female backfired hard.

 

Season 14 didn’t have a lot of actual spoilers for the Lives, so it was a huge shock when Justin Kilgore ended up flopping in Knockouts, since many people predicted him as a finalist after his audition. This was the last season with prelives studios and I remember IDF’s reaction to Kaleb’s studio being up and not Justin’s. 

[Anybody354]

I expected both Jose vs. Awari to be bad and Deion to be bad, but all three did well.

 

I thought Ryleigh Plank would be amazing pre-lives, but I only liked her blind, liked moments in her battle, and did not like her knockout.

 

I did not expect to like Katie Rae in the battles and knockouts, but she did super well. This made me begin to appreciate her audition.

 

I did not expect Gean vs. Ryleigh to be as good as they were. Same with Corey’s BA and KO, Savanna W’s BA and KO, Halley’s BA, Durrell’s BA, Ryleigh’s BA, and Aaron’s BA.

 

I remember reading that two people thought Yellsmiles deserved a chair. While her blind showed potential, it was a tall order, and it did not land for me. People probably shouldn’t sing Midnight Sky unless they plan on changing the arrangement.

 

There are definitely others that I haven’t thought of yet.