FloorWax reviews every TVUS Winner's Journey (Season 22 Posted!)

[Hamza Tufail]

FloorWax when can we expect the next write up?

[allistr]

Teraginn's gonna love the next one

[Hamza Tufail]

Just now, allistr said:

Teraginn's gonna love the next one

@Daillon too! Josh is his fav male winner as well.

[FloorWax]

45 minutes ago, Hamza Tufail said:

FloorWax when can we expect the next write up?

 

Soon. Possibly today, possibly tomorrow or two days from now, but no later than.

[VintageVoice]

28 minutes ago, FloorWax said:

 

Soon. Possibly today, possibly tomorrow or two days from now, but no later than.

As interested as I am in your thoughts on the season, don’t feel the pressure to rush it - we’ll still be here in a couple of days.

[Dai]

1 hour ago, Hamza Tufail said:

@Daillon too! Josh is his fav male winner as well.

Hmm idk, it’s very close between him and Jordan

[FloorWax]

26 minutes ago, VintageVoice said:

As interested as I am in your thoughts on the season, don’t feel the pressure to rush it - we’ll still be here in a couple of days.

 

There’s honestly no better time for me to do it than right now (i’m very free at the moment) so its all good 

Edited April 6, 2023 by FloorWax

[Hamza Tufail]

18 minutes ago, Daillon said:

Hmm idk, it’s very close between him and Jordan

So, Jordan and Josh are your top 2 as far as male winners are concerned!

 

At least I'm still half right.

[Cookie73]

10 minutes ago, FloorWax said:

 

There’s honestly no better time for me to do it than right now (i’m very free at the moment) so its all good 

Considering we have no new performances next week, there should be time to do extra work. I hope to see a Jordan Smith writeup by the end of next week

[FloorWax]

2 minutes ago, Cookie73 said:

Considering we have no new performances next week, there should be time to do extra work. I hope to see a Jordan Smith writeup by the end of next week

 

Now that I can’t promise  Maybe we’ll get to Sawyer though lmao

Edited April 6, 2023 by FloorWax

[Cookie73]

11 minutes ago, FloorWax said:

 

Now that I can’t promise  Maybe we’ll get to Sawyer though lmao

My ranking of winners is still clear at least up to Craig. I’m not the most familiar with Sawyer’s run compared to the other winners (I know his audition well and I’ve seen his other performances but I don’t remember my specific thoughts on them)

[FloorWax]

 

Season 6: Josh Kaufman

Coach: Adam Levine Usher

 

 

Auditions: One More Try by George Michael
I’ll start with a compliment: there were parts of Josh’s audition which reminded me a lot of Jeff Buckley, the way he manipulates his voice and injects soul into his phrasing. I mean, you would need a new pair of ears if you didn’t think he sounded absolutely exquisite on this song. However, for some reason, this didn’t totally resonate with me? I like his tone, I thought he delivered it with great emotion and tasteful choices, but I wasn’t falling head over heels for him just yet. That said, I certainly see the appeal and am excited to continue viewing his journey.

Battles Round 1: Happy by Pharrell Williams
Okay, so the first thing I noticed about this battle is that his opponent, Austin, was trying WAY too hard lmao. In comparison, Josh came off as slick as oil and oozed subtle confidence. His vocals were pitch-perfect as well, and I loved those upper harmonies he did towards the end of the song. This song choice definitely held him back, but I’d say he did about as good as one could on it.

Battles Round 2: Signed, Sealed, Delivered by Stevie Wonder
OKAY now we’re talking! I can totally see why this is considered a classic battle performance. Both singers were excellent in terms of pitch, runs, stage presence, everything. It was a perfect pairing and a perfect performance, imo. Now, if I were to choose a winner just based on this battle, I would probably lean towards Delvin, like Adam did, because he had a little more fire in his performance, but Josh absolutely would have been a worthy winner. Nevertheless, going to Team Usher is probably the best thing that could have happened to him as Adam would be too focused on Christina.

Playoffs: It Will Rain by Bruno Mars
The odd lack of a KO round this season makes me feel like this performance functions like his Knockout, his first chance to really blow away the audience while performing solo. And, man, he did… is what I wish I could say. Truthfully, while I again respect the vocal prowess he showed, I don’t think his vocals had the bombast that a melodramatic song like this really needs. He’s getting close, but I’m still looking for a little more.

Top 12: Stay With Me by Sam Smith
If I thought Josh’s past two solo performances maimed instead of killed, I thought he absolutely slaughtered this one. Holy crap. He sang those choruses with so much power, so much force, I felt like I was quite literally being blown away. I even had to watch it a couple more times before moving on to the next one, it was that good. It also probably helps that I’m not the biggest fan of Sam Smith’s voice, so I think I actually like Josh’s better than the original, which I couldn’t say for “It Will Rain”. Okay Josh, I see you.

Top 10: This Is It by Kenny Loggins
I did not like this song choice for him. The whole thing felt really dated to me and it didn’t really highlight any of his best vocal qualities that he’s shown thus far. He didn’t miss a note, as always, but I can’t pretend to have been excited by this.

Top 8: I Can't Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt
As far as sappy power ballads go, this song is one of my all-time favorites lol, so I was pretty excited for how Josh would handle it. I won’t mince words, he was great. Especially in the beginning, the emotion was palpable and I felt every word. The performance lost some of that quality when it went bigger, but I won’t fault him too much for it. This was good stuff.

Semifinals: All of Me by John Legend
Between this and his Top 12 performance, I am once again marveling at Josh’s ability to take what I consider to be the most generic pop soul ballads and with them give me the feels. Every moment in this performance was stunning, and I loved when he went for falsettos on the big moments instead of belting them out. That way, they actually felt more emotional. I mean, that first “A-a-a-all of me”, that was money. My only critique is that it ended a bit too abruptly, but that’s but a nitpick.

Semifinals: Love Runs Out by OneRepublic
Perhaps its just my distaste for anything reeking of Ryan Tedder, but I loathed this song choice for Josh, even more than the Kenny Loggins song. I’m not sure I have anything positive to say about this performance so I’ll just move on…

Finals: Every Breath You Take by The Police
I don’t know if it was just me, but I didn’t feel like either Josh or Usher were really trying with this performance? I’m unsure about the song choice but I feel like a duet with these two should have been a slam dunk, and this was just “there”.

Finals: Signed, Sealed, Delivered by Stevie Wonder
Okay, this is BY FAR the best reprise performance from a winner so far and it isn’t close. A lot of it is probably due to the fact that the song chosen was originally sung as a duet, but still. This was awesome to watch and it’s really nice to have a version of him singing this song solo. It’s old, but perfect for his voice honestly.

Finals: Set Fire to the Rain by Adele
I expected this performance to be excellent. And up until the pre-chorus, it was. However, once he got to the chorus, the same problem I had with his “It Will Rain” performance arose. He does not have the bombast to tackle this song. I feel like this should have been a big closing performance from him and yet it ended up feeling limp. Honestly, probably the weakest solo finale performance (excluding reprises) from a winner thus far. That was underwhelming.
 

Overall:

In theory, Josh should be right up my alley. Polished older male contestant with a soulful voice? I mean, he should be an instant snowflake of mine! However, for one reason or another, I could never get into him as much as I wanted to. I thought he had some standout performances for sure, and his win was a deserving one, but let’s just say my respect for him outweighs how much I actually like him. By the end of his run, I felt content, but in all honesty, I doubt I’ll be revisiting it very often. I will say though that Josh was a very consistent vocalist and at no point did I ever think of him as one-dimensional. After watching their runs, back-to-back, I actually think I prefer him as a winner to his fellow finalist, the late Christine Grimmie (RIP). Also, I have to commend the fact that he won even after being stolen, and was the first winner to not win on Adam or Blake’s teams. That’s impressive.

Top 3 Performances:
1. Stay With Me
2. All of Me
3. Signed, Sealed, Delivered (solo)

 

 

Winners' Ranking (so far):

1. Tessanne Chin

2. Danielle Bradbery

3. Josh Kaufman

4. Cassadee Pope

5. Javier Colon

6. Jermaine Paul

7. ???

 

[FloorWax]

So here it is, my writeup for Season 6 winner Josh Kaufman. Interested to see what y'all think of it.

[Hamza Tufail]

Yeah, Stay With Me, All of Me, and Finale Reprise song were my fav performances by him as well.

[FloorWax]

In terms of performance from other contestants, no one mentioned it but I really liked Kristen Merlin's "Foolish Games".

[allistr]

2 minutes ago, FloorWax said:

In terms of performance from other contestants, no one mentioned it but I really liked Kristen Merlin's "Foolish Games".

So freaking underrated.

[Misirlou]

What I like about Josh´s run, apart from it´s consistency, is the fact that it was so unasumming. He wasn´t the main course of TPTB´s meal nor he had the most explosive voice or personality , he was very calm and kept sort of a low profile. I read a Slezak review saying that he wasn´t heavily featured on promos either, and I´m sure many at the time expected Christina (RIP) to get the win, and yet he kinda snuck up on a lot of people if it makes sense. I´m also sure not many expected a stolen contestant to win at the time. 

 

But yeah, first winner not to be from either Adam or Blake´s team, and first steal to win, that´s a great feat.

[FloorWax]

4 minutes ago, Misirlou said:

What I like about Josh´s run, apart from it´s consistency, is the fact that it was so unasumming. He wasn´t the main course of TPTB´s meal nor he had the most explosive voice or personality , he was very calm and kept sort of a low profile. I read a Slezak review saying that he wasn´t heavily featured on promos either, and I´m sure many at the time expected Christina (RIP) to get the win, and yet he kinda snuck up on a lot of people if it makes sense. I´m also sure not many expected a stolen contestant to win at the time. 

 

But yeah, first winner not to be from either Adam or Blake´s team, and first steal to win, that´s a great feat.

 

I wasn’t there so I wouldn’t have known, but I’m assuming that his Top 12 was a breakout moment for him.

[nytsch]

35 minutes ago, FloorWax said:

In terms of performance from other contestants, no one mentioned it but I really liked Kristen Merlin's "Foolish Games".

 

On 4/2/2023 at 9:25 AM, nytsch said:

Kristen Merlin - Foolish Games

The erasure  /lh

[nytsch]

Ok, but Ryan Tedder can’t be that bad if he gave us Leona’s Bleeding Love, right?? 

 

I mean their recent music sucks anyway (I hate that I Ain’t Worried song) so not complaints lol. I think I just liked the song more than you did and it was nice to hear him doing something upbeat but also with a little bit of flavor/opportunity for vocal tricks.

 

Also yes SWM is an all time great performance and that’s that on that!

[Cookie73]

My thoughts

 

Josh was more of a surprising winner than expected, and a lot of it probably had to do with him being a steal. It really seemed like they were pushing Christina to win that season. Also, he was the first winner that never came back to perform.

 

You made a good point about his audition. I consider it to be a very solid and well deserving of 4 chairs. However, it didn’t stand out much at the time because it was a stacked season for blind auditions (Christina, Sisaundra, Bria). I agree that he demolished his opponent in his first battle, and his second battle was an excellent battle. It’s a good thing he got stolen because Adam would have focused more on Christina in the Lives, knowing how Adam was blatant with his favoritism, while Usher needed him due to Bria struggling to live up to her audition. I didn’t mind his playoff performance, but you made a good point about it being difficult to match Bruno. Stay With Me was his breakout performance, as well as his best performance on the show, and I agree that it was better than the original. I agree that T10 was probably his most forgettable performance, and the song choice wasn’t a great fit. I thought his T8 and both his Semis were very solid performances, and locked up his win, especially since his finale was his weakest.
 

I thought he had a very solid run and was a deserving winner. I enjoyed his soulful voice a lot. At this point, Tessanne was still my favorite winner, but Josh was second for me. He is probably my #8 overall after 22 seasons

[Misirlou]

1 hour ago, FloorWax said:

 

I wasn’t there so I wouldn’t have known, but I’m assuming that his Top 12 was a breakout moment for him.

I´m pretty sure it was. Not to mention I think he was the clear standout of the night IMO, Sissaundra included. And he closed it.

Edited April 6, 2023 by Misirlou

[Hamza Tufail]

If you minus Set Fire To The Rain, then I think he almost had a Perfect run, which we don't normally see. 

Edited April 6, 2023 by Hamza Tufail

[CocoaPuffs]

Tbh I thought Josh was really boring the female singers were stacked that season and I was rly pulling for Christina, Kat, Sis, Bria (before lives), Audra, Tess or Kristen. I was honestly floored when Christina didn’t win. 

[Hsamid]

Yeah.. josh Kaufman is one of those undeniably talented singers that I just don't "get" . The best explanation I have is it might be his tone and also how he shapes his words? It's almost Kermit like but not quite.. ik, very descriptive.

Idk, I don't have the proper technical singing vocabulary to describe it accurately.

 

His battle is my favourite performance from him, I actually think his tone works on upbeat songs due to how much personality it has. I don't really care for the rest of his performances. Including stay with me.

Edited April 6, 2023 by Hsamid