The Voice: A Refreshing New Reality Singing Competition

Today, I finally caught up with all the episodes of The Voice just in time for next week's big finale. I must say that it is a nice break from watching American Idol for nearly a decade.

First of all, the format is a lot different from most competitions. Instead of judges, the show has coaches in the form of Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera and Blake Shelton. They guide the singers instead of just critiquing them which helps them grow and ensures a brilliant performance each and every time. Second and probably the most important, the talent is just amazing. I'm such a big fan of a lot of the people on the show and watching them perform week after week is such a treat.


I think the only thing I don't like about the show is that the coaches hardly ever give constructive criticisms. Each performance is not perfect and there is something to be improved on in each contestant but it hardly ever gets pointed out, even by the rival coaches. It's almost like the coaches are scared of getting booed like in Idol.

Now, onto the finalists...

For Team Christina, she has Beverly McClellan. She has such a powerful voice and she has a way of electrifying an audience. I'm not really a big fan of Team Christina but she's easily my favorite among them.

Side Note: How many rolls of tape do they use to make Christina Aguilera's boobies stay up all episode long?

Representing Team Cee Lo, we have the dynamic Vicci Martinez. Like Beverly, she has a really powerful voice and she's very energetic. Her war dance, as Cee Lo, liked to call it was a bit weird for me at first but it truly does grow on you and it makes you feel how passionate she is about her music. She's a really strong contender but she doesn't sing the type of music I like.

Javier Colon from Team Adam isn't bad at all. He gives a stellar performance every time he hits the stage which quickly made him my initial favorite coming from the blind auditions and going into the battle rounds but things change. And although I wouldn't be opposed to him winning, I still want my bet to win.

Last but certainly not the least is my favorite contestant. Dia Frampton from Team Blake comes off as a lot shy. When she stands, she's kind of hunched over and she has a small, quiet voice. I liked her in her blind audition but I felt that it would be hard to stand out in a competition against such powerhouses. But during the first live performance, she blew me away with her version of Heartless (even better than Kris Allen's performance from AI). And this week's episode with Losing My Religion made me love her even more. I really, really like her and I truly wish that she will win.

Going into the show, I expected myself to be a little biased towards Adam because I'm such a big fan of Maroon 5. And I never expected myself to side with Blake because I had no idea who he was. But lo and behold, here I am announcing my support for Team Blake in next week's season finale. Go, Dia Frampton!