I like seeing good battles, I do, but do I really need to see parts of one battle three different times and pretty much not see other battles at all? My guess is they don’t show the ones where the decision was easy for the coach, but by not showing us their battles (especially if we also didn’t see their blind audition), the show is essentially robbing them of finding a following- something that’s necessary in order to win the show.

Perhaps we could have less “how they got here” and more of the actual battles and all the contestants.

Three steals in the first night- with Shakira using both of hers. That’s going to make for some interesting conundrums as we get to the end of the battle rounds. I was very surprised by Blake’s steal, as it seemed like she was incredibly uncomfortable on stage and didn’t, to me, seem very good.

However, what the Battle Rounds always seem to teach me is that what comes across on the TV has to be very different from watching the performances live, because I am often surprised by the coaches’ decisions.

Still, good people always make it to the end.

The night started with each coach only having one spot remaining on their team, so you knew it was going to be a night of tough decisions. I remember season one where the coaches didn’t fill their teams from the first go round and invited a few people with no chair turns to come back. That hasn’t happened since, and I always wonder if there are singers that were invited to the blind auditions who never get a chance to perform.

Different this season is that coaches whose teams were filled did NOT face front. Chairs remained facing the audience.

I think if Shakira is back for another season, the challenge is going to have to stop being “steal a country singer from Blake” and become “steal a Latin artist from Shakira”. Especially with the two young girls we have seen, even the other coaches who have turned around have accepted that Shakira was going to be their choice (especially when they start crying because Shakira is talking to them).

I was reminded last night that one of the things I love about the voice is that even the people who don’t get chairs turned are talented. I like that.

I really like that contestants who don’t make it on the Voice the first time round can come back and try again.

Some of the people who made it on last night did not seem as talented as others we have seen this year, and I often have to think that perhaps there’s something that is not translating well via television. But the joy of the Voice is that everyone we see (whether a chair turns or not) is talented. There are no train wrecks.

Also- do we have more country singers this year? It kind of seems like it.

Apparently no one from The Voice reads this blog. I say that because right after I praised them last week for not montaging anyone who made the teams, this week, they montaged like half the contestants who made it onto teams. Best guess is that those people don’t have “compelling” stories, in that they are just regular folks- they weren’t abandoned on doorsteps or old friends of Blake’s. But why show me the kid who is otherwise a professional mover that doesn’t make it if you’re not going to show me the equally boring (but more talented) person who does?