(CLUES FOR BATCH #4 + BATCH #3 POSTED!) Mistakes Were Made: Peachfuz's Unfathomable Ranking of Every Four Chair Turn in The Voice U.S. History

[taylanastan]

5 hours ago, peachfuz said:

FINALLY watching everyone go through every s12 four chair before her was a nightmare 

Really curious about the explanation behind this one! Season 12 is my favorite season but I just couldn’t figure the clue out

[Someone648]

6 hours ago, peachfuz said:

FINALLY watching everyone go through every s12 four chair before her was a nightmare 

I was anticipating at least one blind I ranked in my top 200 to be ranked low, but I didn’t expect this low

[peachfuz]

181. Charlotte Sometimes (Season 2)

"Apologize" by OneRepublic

 

 

Let's kick this batch off with a fun fact! Not counting the female half of The LiNE (something the duo's male half clearly doesn't do, lol), Charlotte was the first woman to ever get all four chairs to turn around in the show's American history! It was – and, truly, still is – something worth celebrating, especially for a show where women are constantly fighting for the slightest semblance of recognition. Having said that, while I'm not going to sit here and say that Charlotte, for the time, was undeserving of this distinction, I am happy to sit here and get into all of the reasons why this performance is simply not my cup of tea.

 

In twenty five seasons, I don't think I've heard someone struggle to beat the cursive singing allegations quite as hard as Charlotte during this audition. What starts as a kind of appealing tone is quickly muddied the moment her diction simultaneously intensifies and falls to pieces, leading to moments where you can hear singing about how she's holding onto her "ro" and how, when it comes to apologizing, it's "too la-yee-yayte". The way the power of the vocal is allocated throughout the number is also kind of strange; it almost feels like she's overdelivering when she needs to reel it in and underdelivering when the song calls for a little more oomph. Charlotte's passion is absolutely palpable throughout the song, no doubt, but without a foundation to stand upon the song ends up falling apart. When a glory note feels unearned, at that point you gotta step back and reconsider either the song choice or the approach – ultimately, neither of these things felt like they availed themselves to Charlotte's otherwise intriguing singing style. The problems aren't nearly egregious enough to warrant a thorough dissertation, but Charlotte's audition wouldn't have been my thing even if it had been perfect, and... it just wasn't. 

 

Clue Breakdown

181. 1918 was a big year for them, I guess. 

A nod towards the novel from which her stagename is derived, a 1969 children's book by Penelope Farmer that takes place in the year 1918. 

Point: none

 

180. Laura Williams (Season 24)

"Fingers Crossed" by Lauren Spencer-Smith

 

 

Hey, honestly, how soon did you guys think we'd get an audition from Season 24 on this list? Given how that season makes up a whopping 20 of the 186 auditions on the list – that's one season taking up a little more than 1/10th of the ranking, dear lord – one might've expected it to crop up a little sooner. I feel a little bad for putting Laura this low because, in the name of transparency, there are things that work really well in Laura's favor during this performance. Girl's got a gorgeous lower range, and she's got a natural cry in her delivery that – when used in moderation – amplifies the power of the sweet spot in her voice. If anything, I can definitely see why Laura got all four chairs on the basis of how much potential can be found in these strengths.

 

Unfortunately, Laura's weighed down heavily by the sheer disservice done to her by her choice of song. If you asked me to choose one word to describe Laura's audition in its entirety, the word of the day is "strain". From the moment she hit the verses right before the chorus, my ears were clued into how the range the song's chorus lingers around – the A4–C5 zone, if we're getting technical – is just barely out of reach from where Laura can belt comfortably. The result is a lot of pushing for the higher notes to land, which quickly devolves into the performance going from imperfect yet compelling to a little too much screlting for my liking. And, like Charlotte, Laura emoted the song beautifully, but I think a lot of that ends up getting lost in translation when, at first listen, it sounds like the emotion is compromising the vocal. I think Laura is a great singer who deserved a much better song than what she got, because a song that played more to her strengths could've given us a better first impression. As it stands, though, I can't say I was shocked when her journey got brought to an end in the Battles. At the end of the day, the potential was there, but the final product needed a lot of fine tuning. 

 

Clue Breakdown

180. Poor kid's been through so much undeserved pain that I almost felt bad putting them this low.

Fun drinking game idea: go to Laura's official bio from The Voice and take a shot for every formative trauma the poor girl experienced leading up to her time on the show. Genuinely kind of feel for her. Wondering if anyone caught the nod to her Battle Rounds song in the clue, too...

Point: @Adam Bruce

 

179. The Morgan Twins (Season 4)

"Fallin'" by Alicia Keys

 

 

Happy two of them Tuesday! Question for the masses: have you ever watched an audition from The Voice and wonder if it could've been AI-generated? Probably not, as I certainly haven't ever genuinely considered it, but the meddling of artificial technology is, quite frankly, the only explanation I can offer as to what exactly is going on with these two. In the name of fairness, I'd say the Morgan Twins wouldn't have made it this low if only the vocals were under the magnifying glass – granted, beyond their congruous harmonies, they did next to nothing to distinguish their rendition of "Fallin'" from the original recording, but you can't fault them for coloring nicely, even if it's strictly within the lines drawn for them.

 

What makes the Morgan Twins' audition one of the most baffling on the list – and, in my opinion, what drops them down to the Bottom 10 – is just how disconcerting their act is. What else should I say when I'm watching two nearly identical women, down to matching red dresses, sing with almost zero movement for most of the number, only breaking free from their stasis to strut across the stage in one direction before returning to their perch? Match the visual up to a version of "Fallin'" that's got absolutely zero sensuality or emotion and you're met with an uncomfortable ensemble standing before you. I've always found this audition a little weird for that reason – somehow, The Voice, for only ninety seconds, began treading towards uncanny valley territory, and only by offering us a competent Alicia Keys cover that's drier and less distinctive than a bowl full of unsalted crackers. Objectively, they probably should be a little higher, but the Morgan Twins' audition is just... really unenjoyable for me for that reason. 

 

(Honestly, the way they were so quietly dispatched in a Battle Rounds montaged just a few weeks later makes me wonder exactly why their audition got so much attention when it did – they opened the season, y'all.)

 

Clue Breakdown

179. I wonder what combination tactics were used just for them to get to the Finale all those years later. 

Blonde Morgan (twin) + Blonde Morgan (twin) = Blonde Morgan (Myles)?

Point: @Adam Bruce

 

178. Anatalia Villaranda (Season 12)

"Runaway Baby" by Bruno Mars

 

 

Controversy abound! Anatalia hitting my Bottom Ten is bound to not sit right with a couple of folks who hold her audition in decently high regard, and... hey, honestly, I can't blame people for liking it. Anatalia chose an upbeat song with a heck of a lot of groove behind it, and she nailed pretty much every word with decisive aplomb, tackling the hectic verbiage of the number with no sweat. It's not my absolute favorite from a vocal standpoint – I think she loses a little too much steam in the last thirty seconds for me to really stay excited the entire way through – but, hey, if we're looking at the performance from an actual performance standpoint only, this probably would be sitting at least fifty slots higher.

 

So, that begs the question: why is Anatalia's audition so low? To best explain myself, I'm going to offer a few select verses from "Runaway Baby", verses recited by Ms. Villaranda herself during her audition. 

 

Well, looky here, looky here, ah, what do we have?

Another pretty thing ready for me to grab

But little does she know that I'm a wolf in sheep's clothing

'Cause at the end of the night, it is her I'll be holding

 

Well, let me think, let me think, ah, what should I do?
So many eager young bunnies that I'd like to pursue
Now even though they're eating out the palm of my hand
There's only one carrot and they all gotta share it

 

If you're scared, you better run (you better run)
You better run (you better run)
You better run (you better run)
You better, you better, you better...

 

... So you guys know that Anatalia was 16 years old when she auditioned for The Voice, right?

 

It's... really hard for this audition to sit right with me. There's no doubt in my mind that whoever chose the song – whether it was Anatalia herself or one of the show's executives – didn't for a moment consider whether or not a girl in high school should be singing a song about a self-professed womanizer whose claim to fame is chasing after women like a carnivorous animal, and it's really hard to shake the unfortunate implications of her audition in its entirety because of that. "Runaway Baby" was an interesting enough choice that did Anatalia a handful of favors musically, but... I'm sorry, y'all, but knowing what this song is about, I can't get behind this one. This audition has its fans, and I'm perfectly content with those fans disagreeing, but thinking about this audition for more than a few seconds makes it really hard for me to enjoy, as good of a singer as Anatalia is.

 

(That said, I kinda wish Anatalia was dealt a better hand during her run with Alicia afterwards – her song choices were pretty weaksauce save for her Battle.) 

 

Clue Breakdown

178. I don't know what was more inappropriate – the song choice or (one of) the coaches' commentary. 

Pick your poison! Are you more skeeved out by a 16 year-old singing this song, or by Adam trying to lure said 16 year-old into joining his team with cake he apparently has backstage. Adam!

Point: @Dai

 

177. Jesse Campbell (Season 2)

"A Song for You" by Leon Russell (Donny Hathaway version)

 

 

Yeah, for those of you keeping count at home, we're up to three contestants from Season 2 sneaking into the Bottom Ten. Let's just say Season 2 wasn't a great showing across the board with this ranking.

 

Speaking of unpleasant showings, Mr. Jesse Campbell! There's a lot to be said about this guy and his run on the show, but let's give credit where credit is due – he's one hell of a singer. If nothing else, his introductory performance of "A Song for You" is nothing if not impressive, beat for beat. Unfortunately for Jesse, "impressive" is a very different descriptor than, say, "emotional", "compelling", or "digestible".

 

"A Song for You" is one of my favorite songs of all time, so consider my scrutiny of Jesse's rendition to be a matter of slight bias, but it's hard to say much about his audition beyond "that was impressive!" when he blazes through his ninety second cut without offering a single second that isn't perfectly calculated and emotionally unreadable. Jesse didn't miss a single note, but he lost the song's cargo at a certain point of the journey, and, rewatch after rewatch, I had a pretty hard time feeling as though he was truthfully conveying the undying yearning that's intrinsic to the story behind the song.

 

Given the way he presents the number, it's clear from the get-go that Jesse sought to accomplish earning a four-chair turn with all of the tricks in his bag, and, in that sense he succeeded. It's just a shame that he sacrificed every droplet of earnest delivery in the name of melodic purity, delivering a rendition of a classic ballad that, ultimately, suffered from being too clean, both vocally and emotionally. If the absence of passion behind Jesse's audition weren't an omen for what would come later on in his tenure during the competition, than I'm not sure what could've been.

 

Clue Breakdown

177. The Voice: not great for the resume, definitely great for Wikipedia. 

It seems like the only place where anyone has anything good to say about Jesse is whoever was writing Jesse's Wikipedia page way back when. If you're ever in the mood for a laugh, go through some of the earlier revisions of the page, it's comically self-congratulatory. 

Point: @thevoiceisthetop

Edited March 19 by peachfuz

[peachfuz]

And just like that, we've moved out of the Bottom Ten! I'd love to hear people's thoughts on the placements, the analyses, etc. so far, I'm happy to hear feedback since this is my first time doing something like this.

 

In the meantime, clues abound! The scoreboard is tied right now... let's see if we can change that.  

 

176. Has more to do with one of Idol's ex-judges than their own coach. (GUESSED)

175. And the award for "most jarring transition from backstory to audition by virtue of song choice" goes to... (GUESSED)

174. I hope their arm doesn't hurt from how long they had been holding that torch. (GUESSED)

173. Walked so that Kylee Dayne could run. Don't you know this clue's got nothing to do with singing? (GUESSED)

172. I'd call it zero to a hundred if "a hundred" wasn't such a massive exaggeration. (GUESSED)

Edited March 23 by peachfuz

[Someone648]

174. Valerie Ponzio

[Someone648]

175. Adriana Louise, right?

[Someone648]

173. Andrew Igbokidi

[Dai]

172. James Irwin (?)

[Adam Bruce]

Dang!!! I was so close on Charlotte sometimes.

 

[Adam Bruce]

11 hours ago, peachfuz said:

174. I hope their arm doesn't hurt from how long they had been holding that torch. 

 

Autumn Turner?

Troy Ramey?

Edited March 19 by Adam Bruce

[Adam Bruce]

11 hours ago, peachfuz said:

176. Has more to do with one of Idol's ex-judges than their own coach. 

 

Ryan Wyatt Maloney

[peachfuz]

23 minutes ago, Adam Bruce said:

Autumn Turner?

Troy Ramey?

Troy is correct !!

[FloorWax]

Me not being around for the older seasons is killing me 

 

I'll take a stab at the 176 though. Mia Pfirrman?

[Adam Bruce]

On 3/18/2024 at 11:30 PM, peachfuz said:

176. Has more to do with one of Idol's ex-judges than their own coach. 

 

Dustin Christensen?

[peachfuz]

Gonna give it another day to see if someone can get the last clue. I'll say this – someone got the season right. (; 

[Adam Bruce]

On 3/18/2024 at 11:30 PM, peachfuz said:

176. Has more to do with one of Idol's ex-judges than their own coach. 

 

Alright!!! I'm making a final guess because there were a lot of 4 chairs that season.

I think it's Krista Hughes.

[Someone648]

176. James Dupré

[peachfuz]

42 minutes ago, Someone648 said:

176. James Dupré

And that's all of 'em! Well done, y'all! Will get to the writeups ASAP

[peachfuz]

hi folks, been a little crazy on my end – entering tech for a show at my college and generally getting crushed beneath senior year, but i'll try and get the next writeup done soonish! 

[peachfuz]

hi ok writeup will be coming no later than end of day tomorrow! if it doesn't get posted by then someone reply to this message with something really out of pocket and it'll scare me into finishing it <3333  

[peachfuz]

176. James Dupré (Season 9)

"Let Her Cry" by Hootie & the Blowfish

 

 

As we start to approach the territory of C+/B- grade auditions for this series – yes, we’re already past the “bad” ones! – some of you loyal readers may notice the write-ups for these contestants begin to err on the shorter side. Truth be told, this isn’t just a case of burnout – in truth, we’re beginning to enter a part of the ranking where I haven’t got a whole lot to say about the auditions themselves. A lot of the next couple of batches, you’ll be seeing plenty of auditions that are just… kinda whatever, at least in my book.

 

Speaking of auditions that were kinda just whatever, James Dupré! He’s a bit more of an obscure (read: forgettable) Knockouts cut from Season 9 who made waves during the Blinds when he, a dedicated country artist, made the choice to join Team Adam, rather than defer to Blake as so many others had before him. Of course, Shelby Brown would not only go on to immediately do the same thing a few episodes later, but then go on to eliminate him in the Knockouts. Brutal.

 

Unfortunately, that’s about the most thing I’ve got to say when it comes to James, because, frankly, this audition is maybe the least memorable in the entire series. Muddling his delivery of a song about a man whose wife is struggling with alcoholism is an indistinct tone, a flatlining sense of dynamics, and a clear difficulty with figuring out what exactly to do with his hands. The matchup of no vocal strength + no emotional strength is a trying combination, and the lack of… really any momentum behind his performance makes me wonder if the coaches were just really fighting to fill a country quota that season (it wouldn’t be the first time). I truly wish there was more to say other than a resounding “eh”, but… eh.

 

Clue Breakdown

176. Has more to do with one of Idol's ex-judges than their own coach.

James' claim to fame before auditioning for The Voice was an appearance on The Ellen Show way back in 2010. Probably a better gig than being goaded into choosing a coach who would drop you before you could even sing for America's votes...

Point: @Someone648

 

175. Adriana Louise (Season 3)

"Domino" by Jessie J

 

 

At a point in The Voice history where a lot of Blind Auditions were a little on the scrappier side (especially at a time where post-production studio sweetening was all but absent), Adriana Louise was a really interesting example of someone who was able to make the most of a song choice that would leave most contestants in modern seasons dead on arrival. Of course, this was achieved in a pretty unusual way, given that the missteps within this performance were most definitely not the kinds you’d see from artists of recent seasons, ones who’d sing the song with absolutely zero conviction while only occasionally whiffing a note or two.

 

Yes, while its pretty refreshing to see someone not only tackle Jessie J, but to do so with reckless abandon, this, of course, comes at the cost of an audition with a few too many sharp lines – note that I say lines, not notes – to match the energy she was able to conjure. Adriana definitely brought out a couple of moments of brilliance from within her – she’s got a breathy falsetto paired with a really crisp chest voice, and some of her higher notes were really clear – but some of the moments in the song that should’ve been highlights ended up tripping on its own feet in the pursuit of stage presence. The rough glory note after the bridge kinda seals the deal for an audition that is otherwise delivered with passion and, unfortunately, not much else to match it.

 

Clue Breakdown

175. And the award for "most jarring transition from backstory to audition by virtue of song choice" goes to...

Introduced herself with a harrowing anecdote about being held at gunpoint during a robbery in her childhood... only to immediately segue into an uptempo Jessie J song. Never change, Adriana.

Point: @Someone648

 

174. Troy Ramey (Season 12)

"Wild World" by Cat Stevens

 

 

If one were to ever ask me to nominate a contestant for the honor of “Weirdest Contestant to Make It Past the Playoffs”, I’d sit them down, play them a video of Troy’s audition, and let them come to a decision from there, because… sorry to contradict myself so quickly, but there is a lot to unpack with this one. Perhaps Season 12’s most confusing four chair turn from purely a vocal standpoint, Troy’s audition functions as sort of a checklist of things most performers on The Voice would shy away from. Let’s see…

 

Sleepy song choice? Check.

Singing like he’s swallowing the mic? Check.

A tone so husky it sounds like he’s singing through a mouthful of peanut butter? Check.

Inconsistent breath control? Check.

Middling precision upon the song’s higher notes? Check…

Weird hand singing? Check.

 

Truth to tell, my ranking was locked in from the moment this thread went online – I’m not going back and changing any rankings from here – but, in retrospect, this one probably should’ve been somewhere in the previous batch. It’s not as though Troy, like Adriana, doesn’t show flashes of potential, especially when he breaks out the rasp for the song’s last verse, but, even then, the way he throws out the phrasings of “oh, baby, baby, it’s a wild world” without specificity, emotionally OR vocally, leaves me feeling… cold, honestly. Between the distracting visual and the lethargic delivery, there just isn’t a whole lot of appeal here, at least for me.

 

Clue Breakdown

 

174. I hope their arm doesn't hurt from how long they had been holding that torch.

After recruiting Troy to her team, Gwen would have to wait, kid you not, twelve seasons before she'd win over another artist who turned all four chairs – for those wondering, we've got Chechi Sarai to thank for breaking this curse.

Point: @Adam Bruce

 

173. Andrew Igbokidi (Season 22)

"when the party's over" by Billie Eilish

 

 

Sigh. This was an audition I really, really wanted to be better. While keeping up with spoilers before the season aired, Andrew was a contestant who intrigued me a great deal, especially after hearing a strong tone and envisioning it being paired with a (yet unidentified) Billie Eilish number to earn him four chairs during the auditions. It sounded like a recipe for a moment of moments, especially with him joining Camila’s team in the end.

 

Needless to say, what we ended up getting was… let’s be honest, kind of a disappointment even without the hype I may have harbored leading up to the airing of his audition. When we, as The Voice fans, have heard so many good renditions of “when the party’s over” – everyone wave hello to Max Boyle, Roderick Chambers and Joanna Serenko, Ryleigh Modig, Ryley Tate-Wilson, and, of course, Jesse Teinaki from The Voice Australia – there’s a lot to live up to by default. This, of course, meant that, when Andrew delivered a rendition of “when the party’s over” with as little falsetto as necessary and a cavalcade of overembellishments, I can’t say I was impressed. Again, there were moments where I could see his potential shining through, especially when his tone sounded so great on the first verse, but things started getting out of control the more he carried on.

 

It’s especially troubling when it becomes obvious that he’s got next to no strength to his head voice, something that a guy kinda needs if he wants to take on this song without messing with the arrangement too much. There was a little tinkering, to be sure, but, admittedly, it felt as though this was only to the audition’s detriment, as the insistence upon stuffing as much as he could justify including in his ninety seconds ended up sacrificing the song’s emotional core upon the altar of acrobatics. All in all, Andrew simultaneously bled the song dry while turning it into an exercise of excess; for that, even beyond my excitement for the audition beforehand, he’s got to be one of the biggest disappointments of the list.

 

Clue Breakdown

173. Walked so that Kylee Dayne could run. Don't you know this clue's got nothing to do with singing?

Both Andrew and Kylee chose music over med school. Hope they're making the most of this change in career paths, at least.

Point: @Someone648

 

172. James Irwin (Season 5)

"Losing My Religion" by R.E.M.

 

 

Remember how I said there’d be a few contestants where I’d have just… next to nothing to say about? Well, turns out that this rule only applies to the Jameses of the world. Kind of a weird curse to have been inflicted upon me, but, hey, I can roll with the punches either way.

 

Jokes aside, James Irwin was a bit of a footnote in one of the strongest seasons of The Voice’s American run, best known for being the first artist to ever turn four chairs after failing to turn a chair in a previous season and absolutely nothing else. He wouldn’t be the last, no doubt – hell, we’ve got two of them as of the airing of this current season – but, hey, good for him. Credit where credit’s due, his punk rock-esque reimagining of the song’s arc definitely worked in places, especially when he really had to start bringing some power into the vocal, but, unfortunately, I think a lot of what makes the original song great got lost in the shuffle a bit. It almost feels as though he’s shying away from the maturity of the original lyric in an attempt to let loose and rock out. It’s not as though his approach was ineffectual, but I think it ended up being a little messier than he might’ve wanted it to be.

 

Ultimately, the cost of pulling out all of the stops was a bit of the original song’s spirit, and it was one he paid for in unmemorability and, ultimately, an elimination before he could even make an attempt at winning America over. Probably doesn’t help that he was on maybe the most stacked iteration of Team Adam in all sixteen seasons he was a coach, but hey, you win some, you lose some, right?

 

Clue Breakdown

172. I'd call it zero to a hundred if "a hundred" wasn't such a massive exaggeration.

As already mentioned, James was the first artist to turn all four chairs after failing to turn even one when he last auditioned. He definitely wasn't the last!

Point: @Dai

Edited Tuesday at 06:28 PM by peachfuz

[peachfuz]

Thank you all for your patience! Between making it through a run of a show at my school and approaching the end of my time at college, things have been crazy on my end recently. The scoreboard is CLOSE right now, y'all – and with so much ranking left to go, it's still anybody's game! As we move beyond the doldrums of the ranking, we're going to go from batches of five to batches of six, so, without further ado, here's the clues for the fourth batch of artists! Happy guessing! 

 

171. ... Cracker Barrel? (GUESSED)

170. First (of three) is the worst (of three). (GUESSED)

169. __ without a __ is like Blake without alcohol. (GUESSED)

168. At least they'll always have the Opry? (GUESSED)

167. They've got a name a little too long for my liking, but things might not be so bright if we were to make the easy cut. (GUESSED)

166. No relation to the singer two doors down. 

Edited 16 minutes ago by peachfuz

[thevoiceisthetop]

171: Jonathan Wyndham

[thevoiceisthetop]

168: Worth the Wait

[Someone648]

167. Ryan Whyte Maloney