The Voice : S10: Top 11

Nice that they began the show with the acknowledgment of the music industry's loss last week. It was wonderful hearing the judges share their memories about Prince.

Sales are liable to be soft for the contestants this week because not only did we lose an incredible musical talent last week, but Beyonce also dropped a new album on Sunday. As of midnight after the performances, the Top 20 was mostly tracks from those two artists.

Shalyah Fearing: The Climb:
comments: A little growling going on in there. Not to exorcism levels like "Regan" had the other week.
chart position as of  12:08am after performance: 139
chart position as of 1:30pm: 96
change: 43

Daniel Passino: Time After Time:
comments: Not really digging this one. That big note towards the end really didn't do his performance any favors.
chart position as of 12:08am after performance: 158
chart position as of 1:30pm : 107
change: 51

Paxton Ingram: Break Every Chain:
comments: This was very much the type of song that we would have sung in the non-denominational church I belonged to in Louisiana. It was a decent enough choice for him. Adding the second modulation was a very smart move. 
chart position as of 12:08am after performance: 27
chart position as of 1:30pm: 18
change: 9

Owen Danoff: Fire and Rain:
comments: Not sure on this. It should have been a decent pick for him, but there's something just off about it. Too much vibrato, maybe? 
chart position as of 12:08am after performance: 151
chart position as of  1:30pm: 99
change: 52

Mary Sarah: Johnny & June:
comments: She sounded alot like Pickler with this one. It was a very good choice for her voice. 
chart position as of 12:08am after performance: 33
chart position as of 1:30pm: 26
change: 7

Alisan Porter: Stay With Me Baby:
comments: Every season there's one contestant that just runs away with the show. I'm telling ya, Jordan 2.0..... Oh yeah, bought this one...
chart position as of 12:08am after performance: 40
chart position as of 1:30pm: 31
change: 9

Bryan Bautista: Just The Way You Are:
comments: He was a touch sharp, but it was a decent enough performance. Could be that he was more emotional with the performance because he was singing to his sister. I had a feeling the studio version of the song would be better because he wouldn't have the distraction of his loved one in front of him. As expected, the recorded version was better than the live performance. Bought this one as well.
chart position as of 12:08am after performance: 113
chart position as of  1:30pm: 80
change: 33

Adam Wakefield: Lights:
comments: Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn. Where the HELL did that falsetto come from?? Excuse me while I throw a set of panties at the set. Bought this one too. 
chart position as of 12:08am after performance: 46
chart position as of 1:30pm: 33
change: 13

Nick Hagelin: Your Body Is a Wonderland:
comments: Not a Mayer fan. YBIAW is one of the very few songs of his I do like. This was a most excellent choice for Nick's voice. The studio recording was sweet enough for purchase. 
chart position as of 12:08am after performance: 143
chart position as of 1:30pm: 100
change: 43

Hannah Huston: I Can't Make You Love Me:
comments: Didn't love it. Can we please get rid of her now? 
chart position as of 12:08am after performance: 48
chart position as of  1:30pm: 34
change: 14

Laith Al-Saadi: Make it Rain:
comments: Should have been a good choice, but wasn't. Tonight the part of Regan MacNeil will be played by a brunette Santa. Listened to the studio version, didn't bother spending the $1.29.
chart position as of 12:08am after performance: 38
chart position as of  1:30pm: 29
change: 9

Analysis:  As expected,  the death of Prince and the fact Beyonce dropped her new cd on Sunday affected the contestants' sales. In the Top 10, only the 9th best seller wasn't one of those two artists. Top seller from Monday night's performances only reached 18th.  Not a single contestant had a song make a reappearance this week. What can you expect when nearly every single one of Prince's songs made it into the Top 200?

Biggest sales gains went to Owen, who saw a 52 spot increase, and Daniel, who was right behind him with a 51 spot jump.

According to the Top 200, the top sales for the week went to Paxton, Mary Sarah,  and Laith.  For these three, if adjustments were made, they would have made it into the Top 10.  I won't be discussing the adjustment on the others simply because it wouldn't have benefited them anyhow.

Paxton's very wise choice of a Christian song pushed him into the lead this week with top sales of 18 on the chart. If you account for the type of week we're looking at and remove Beyonce's album from the sales, as well as Prince's , then Paxton's performance shoots right up to 4th on the chart. Instead of a mere 9 spot gain, he ends up with a 23 spot gain.

Mary Sarah  was behind him at 33rd on the Chart. If adjusted, she would have gotten into 9th, for a 24 spot increase instead of the 7 that was actually registered. Not sure if I'm surprised or not with this one. She has a Pickler sound to her voice, but so did the original artist. In fact, I didn't hear much difference at all , listening to them back to back. Maybe it's because the song is nearly a decade old? *shrugs*

Laith brought up the rear of the top 3 in sales. Accounting for what's going on in ITunes, his 29th seating on the chart could have seen 10th. His 9 spot increase sees a 28 spot one if the same adjustment is added to his figures. This one surprised me because I honestly didn't see him getting this far this week. Maybe it's because it was a Sheeran song? Personally, I would have rated him alot lower.

Alisan, Adam, Bryan and Hannah fill out the middle of the pack.

Alisan seems to be filling the "one contestant that seems to run away with the show" place right now. She sang in 6th and on a horrible week to try and make sales, so her in the middle are understandable. However, considering the past week or two  I'm still a bit worried. If they put her in the bottom you can bet I'll be tossing my Twitter vote to her. Unless she goes against the next one....

Adam really shouldn't be with this grouping at all. All I can think of is that maybe that falsetto threw the fans for a loop? Maybe, just maybe, it was a bit too much?

I'm on the fence about whether Bryan belongs in this grouping or not. His performance was a tad sharp last night. Although the studio version is lovely, not everyone has an ITunes account so you can't rely on a perfect recording. You have to nail the lives.

As for Hannah, I've been over her for a few weeks now. If anyone from this grouping goes, I'd like it to be this one please.

The last 4 in sales this week are Owen, Nick, Shalyah and Daniel.

I'm going to say, as I did last night when I wrote the comments, there was something off about Owen's performance. His vibrato was out of control and he sounded like a goat singing. Other than that, it was bland to no end. Don't get me wrong, I've loved Owen up until this point, but last night was definitely not one of his best. It should have been a good choice of song,  but it evidently wasn't. If he's sent packing, it'll be because of this.

I didn't dig Daniel's at all. Didn't dig him last week either. That big note near the end seriously didn't do him any favors. If he goes this week , it'll be for overly flourishing where he didn't need to. If he comes back, he needs to start taking better control of his product. Just because a judge suggests something, doesn't mean it's going to sound right. They are just as fallible as the next person. Take ownership in your product and learn when to say no.

Of the 4 in the bottom of the sales, Nick is the only one I'm clueless as to why he's down here. He had a beautiful performance, much better than the other 3 in this group and certainly better than a couple others in the first 2 groups.

And then there's Shalyah, who I totally forgot sang (and that's why she's listed last in the analysis). A bit of growling, and a death spot singing position didn't help matters. Worse yet, Paxton totally brought the fans to church with his inspirational number and totally out sang her. Her semi-inspirational, lukewarm performance was quickly forgotten.

Sales-wise B3 is:
Owen, Nick and Daniel (in that order)

Who might end up in there in place of one of more of the B3s:
Hannah, Bryan, and Shalyah (in that order)

However, we saw Emily leave last week and she had 3rd highest sales. The alternate methods of voting are really fickle. If this happens again, we might actually see Laith go home instead, especially if he ends up against a squwee-worthy pretty boy.  Then again, he's hubby's favorite and I've seen how accurate that bugger can be.