"The Voice 2" -- More Thoughts (Episode 12)

I’ve been blogging a lot about “The Voice 2” recently because that’s pretty much one of the few shows I’ve been watching recently (since most of the series on TV have either not been too interesting or I haven’t had time to watch).

Anyway, at this point, I am thinking about giving up on watching “The Voice 2” as well because I’ve been very disappointed with the judging the last couple episodes. Ever since Teresa Carpio left, the judging has really gone downhill – they’ve been eliminating people who are truly good singers and “keeping” people who really suck….

I just finished watching episode 12 (the 2nd half of the V1 versus V2 competition) and I must say that I absolutely disagreed with who the judges ended up eliminating. Out of the 3 competitors who scored lowest (Vivian Chan, Justin Lee, and Ng Yip Kwan), the 2 who obviously sang really poorly were Vivian and Ng Yip Kwan – Vivian was totally off-key with the song and even the judges said that her performance wasn’t up to par. And Ah Kwan’s performance was absolutely horrible -- not only that, but his attitude was bad as well…he looked absolutely arrogant when the judges commented on his performance being less than standard. And it seemed to me (both in the clips showing their practice session as well as actual performance) that he does not take the competition seriously and is just “playing” and so never even tries to do well. Out of the 3, Justin actually sang the best – not perfect, but at least he was steady and sounded good -- and he didn’t make my hairs stand up on my skin when he sang (unlike the other two)…..he just lacked some confidence and seemed a little nervous, but at least he didn’t go off-key. To my surprise, the person that the judges ended up eliminating was – Justin…

My question is – why did they eliminate Justin when it was obvious that Vivian and Ng Yip Kwan sang the worst? I absolutely don’t get it – and the comments that they gave him weren’t that bad either – it seems like overall their criticism of Vivian and Ah Kwan was more negative – yet they kept the 2 of them in the competition and got rid of the person who sang the best out of the 3 (and whom they did not give much negative criticism to). This is not the first time this happened – they did the same thing the last few times as well – the people they eliminated sang pretty well, yet the ones that they kept were really bad.

I’m not sure what is going on with the judges this season – it’s like the scores that they give are completely opposite from the comments / criticism they give. For instance, the last few episodes, there were a few contestants that they criticized to the point that it seemed like they thought their performances sucked, yet they ended up giving those contestants high scores. And the opposite as well – a few contestants whom they praised as doing a great job, they ended up giving low scores….

I can’t wait to see whether Teresa Carpio will actually return to “The Voice” as a judge – if she does, then I think things will definitely turn around in terms of the judging. But if she doesn’t come back, then I don’t know what is going to happen because to be honest, the V2 contestants have not been performing well at all and the caliber is definitely lower. I guess we will have to wait and see….

Thoughts on "The Voice 2" -- episode 11

I just finished watching the V1 versus V2 episode as well and I must say that I agree with you....I've said this before, but I definitely like the V1 contestants better than V2. And it's not just about the technical skills -- sure, the V1 contestants have had a year to mature, so of course they will be "better" than the V2 contestants in terms of skill -- I'm talking primarily about attitude and overall feel. The V1 contestants had better attitudes for one (which is why they were more receptive of the judges' feedbacks/suggestions and therefore able to improve so much from when they started) and they have more of that "potential singer" feel....the V2 contestants on the other hand are more arrogant in terms of attitudes and to be honest, none of them give me that "rising star" feel.

Also, I've said this before but I'll say it again -- if I hear Shadow screaming like a lunatic one more time, I am seriously going to turn off the TV....the more I hear her sing, the more I dislike her. I really hope she gets eliminated soon because I can't stand her. And I totally agree with what Danny Summer said after her performance -- basically that singing "rock" doesn't necessarily mean you have to yell and scream like crazy.....I'm glad Danny said this because he is actually a long-time "rocker" himself, so he of course knows a thing or two about rock and therefore, his feedback would have more of an impact than if someone else were to say it. I doubt that Shadow is going to take his feedback to heart though because the impression she has given me so far is that she is very arrogant and doesn't care what the judges think (that's probably why she still can't sing well and relies on her yelling and screaming each episode to cover up her lack of skill).

Vivian is another one whom I can't stand....but since she didn't perform in this past week's episode, I will save my comments about her for next week.

And after watching the preview of the coming week's episode, I am not looking forward to it at all because it looks like they are going to bring the kid who got eliminated (the boy named Harddie) back on the show again to perform -- not sure if it's just for entertainment purposes or as part of the actual competition....if it is for competition purposes (like as in he will be scored for his performance), my question is -- why would TVB do that other than for commercial value? I mean, he was eliminated long ago for one, and two, it was already determined that he can't sing and is not ready to be in such a "grown up" competition....so what's the point??? Plus the V2 team is already "behind" in terms of the scoring and will need to work really hard to overtake the V1 team as it is, so why would they want to put someone in the competition who doesn't even belong there and could potentially bring them down? I mean, this isn't a game....it's supposed to be a serious singing competition -- well, I guess that goes to show how "seriously" TVB is taking this....

Some Thoughts on "The Voice 2" and the Plight of HK Music

I haven't really been watching a lot of series lately (though I definitely have tons on my list that I still need to watch), so I've unfortunately been "slacking" with blog updates. Since I'm feeling a tad bit guilty (for not keeping up with blog updates), I figured that I would post something.....so here goes.....

I've been watching the singing competition "The Voice 2" every weekend and I must say that I am quite disappointed with the caliber (or lack thereof) of this season's contestants. And I'm also a little bit disappointed with the judging (BRING BACK TERESA CARPIO!!!!!)....or maybe perhaps I'm just too harsh when it comes to judging music, because to be honest, a few of the contestants that I felt should have been eliminated by now are still in the running (and a few that I thought were pretty good actually got booted).

For example, I really feel that Vivian Chan (the short skinny girl with the squeaky voice) should have been eliminated a long time ago -- her voice is so squeaky and she sings soooo high that I get goose bumps every time I hear her....plus she's been off-tune a couple times already. Yet, the judges seem to think that she is awesome (???) -- at least that's what it sounds like based on their comments (though last week, I'm not sure what happened because the judges would praise the contestants for being great, but then turn around and give them extremely low scores.....it's like their comments aren't in line with their scoring...weird). Anyway, I don't see what is so "awesome" about this girl -- plus I feel that she also needs an attitude adjustment....she comes across to me as very stuck-up and arrogant, which I absolutely cannot stand! If I were judging, I would have kicked her out long time ago (like right after Emily and Harddie got kicked out, since she seems to be of the same "mix" as them in terms of singing skill -- in my opinion at least). Ok, I admit that since I'm not a "pro", I may not be able to see the supposed "nuances" in her voice or her singing that the judges may see (and hence why they continue to let her pass), but speaking from the perspective of a regular audience member and a long-time music listener, her singing REALLY hurts my ears!

Another example is Shadow (I forgot her last name)...honestly, all she does is yell and scream when she sings (and I mean that literally -- anyone who has heard her knows exactly what I mean). And it's not just a normal scream, but one that I would describe as borderline 'bloodcurdling' (I'm surprised she hasn't totally ruined her throat by now). Yet, since she is doing the screaming all in the name of Rock (I guess you're supposed to yell and scream when singing rock songs??), the judges seem to be ok with it -- which, to be honest, is something I don't understand.... could it be that perhaps 1/2 of the judges are "rockers" so they appreciate that type of music more? But if we're talking about a mainstream singing competition, I would think that the focus should be on getting them to learn regular singing skills (like pitch, tone, pronunciation of lyrics, etc.) first, then branch off into other "specialty" fields such as rock, rap, etc. Yes, I do understand that each "singer" has their own style and perhaps Shadow's "strength" is in singing rock songs -- but by only singing rock songs where majority of the song is yelling and screaming, isn't that "taking shortcuts" in a sense? I mean, how can one truly hear correct pitch and tone, etc. if the entire song consists of yelling and all "skills" are masked by the loud music and screaming? You don't need skill to yell and scream -- heck, if that's what a singing competition is all about, then a 2 year old child can surely participate and win!!

These are just 2 examples that come to mind (though there are definitely more). The bottom line is that singing competitions in Hong Kong have definitely changed over the years (more like decades) – and NOT necessarily for the better. Part of it could be that there just aren't that many talented people out there anymore, but I think the more likely reason is because the standards are so much different now -- society has become so focused on "political correctness" nowadays that it seems we've all had to lower our standards to accommodate everyone for fear of "hurting their feelings" or be accused of being "insensitive" or "discriminatory." In the long run, this hurts society more than it helps....

What Has Become of the HK Music Industry?

I was reading an old edition of Mingpao magazine (from August 2009) and one of the articles in there was an interview with Nicholas Tse regarding the Mandarin album that he released last year. I’m not a fan of his by any means, but something he said about the HK music industry during the interview really hit home for me and is very much in line with something I’ve been trying to say for a long time – that the HK music industry has been in a dismal state for years and will continue to go downhill.

The interviewer asked him if the Mandarin album that he released will be his last album – Nicholas answered that it probably will be his last because 1) he wants to focus more on movies and 2) he feels that he doesn’t fit in with the current music industry.

With regard to Nicholas feeling that he doesn’t fit in with the industry anymore, he brought up several very valid points, but the one I agree with the most is that the “standards” have definitely changed from the way it was back in the 80s/90s – basically, the standards have been lowered rather than raised.

Here’s Nicholas’ exact words (translated into English) from the interview: “In the past, our albums needed to sell at least several hundred thousand copies before we were even ‘qualified’ to have a concert at the HK Coliseum. Nowadays, if only one song from an album is a hit, the next day, there is already an announcement made that the artist will be performing at the HK Coliseum; then even if the album sells only 10 thousand copies, the champagne is brought out right away in celebration – the standards have been drastically lowered. If Michael Jackson hadn’t died, the young artists today would not even know that such a superstar even existed – it’s sad that it takes a superstar like him to die in order for the young generation to understand what it really means to be a legend and what ‘true music’ really is. To be forced to exist in such a music industry today – sorry, but I can’t do it.”


What Nicholas said has a lot of merit and I absolutely agree – the standards have been lowered so much that now, the music industry is pretty much crap. I mean, just looking around, there are countless examples of how the younger generation of singers just can’t cut it:

~ Most can’t sing live without going off tune (and I mean REALLY off tune). True, some of the older generation artists have gone off tune before, but not in as obvious a way as today’s artists do. Part of the reason for this is because today’s artists are not used to singing live – they are so spoiled by the record companies that all they do is release an album that is recorded in a studio and are all of a sudden considered ‘singers’. But one thing that they fail to remember (or they know but are in denial) is that just because someone sounds good on a recorded album does NOT mean that they are a good singer – namely because the songs can be recorded over and over again so that the best version gets recorded and plus there’s a lot of post-production editing that goes into the album to make it sound perfect. So technically, a ‘singer’ can be extremely off-tune, but since the audience only gets the final version of what was recorded, they would never know that. Singing live is different because 1) the audience is sitting right there, so any error made will be very obvious, and 2) unforeseen situations can happen when singing live (such as microphones not working properly, audience members walking in and out of the room, etc.) that the singers don’t get the benefit of experiencing in a studio setting and therefore do not know how to handle.

~Society tries to be so ‘politically correct’ nowadays that people become ‘afraid’ to give constructive criticism and feedback to these young artists. So with no one telling them what they are doing wrong or even worse, downplaying their flaws in order to not hurt their feelings, the younger artists are going to continue their bad habits until it gets to a point where, when they finally realize their faults, it is too late to change.

~Most of the younger generation have haughty and arrogant attitudes – so when the older generation artists DO try to mentor them and give them feedback, they don’t listen to them. What’s worse (and what I find most annoying) is that some of these younger artists cast the feedback aside as ‘faulty’ and disrespect the older generation artists by claiming that they are ‘out of touch’ with the newer generation. Well, those ‘kids’ need to wake up because it’s NOT the older generation that is ‘out of touch’ – rather, it’s the younger generation’s bad attitudes that are not allowing them to accept the feedback and advice of those who are only trying to help them (and help the industry at the same time).

Bottom line: the reality is that the music industry (namely, the HK music industry) has lowered its standards to such an extent that it is willing to accommodate and accept mediocrity – and in doing so, basically “killing off” the industry completely.

I could go on forever about this topic, but since I will only become increasingly frustrated the more I talk about it (because unfortunately, it’s too late to change the industry and things are only going to continue to get worse), I figured I should end it here.