Tuesday was the finale of The Voice. The final four competitors — Emily Ann Roberts, Jeffery Austin, Barrett Baber, and Jordan Smith — waited for Carson Daly to announce the winner. In the end, Jordan Smith won, which came as no surprise since Jordan was the frontrunner throughout the season with his dynamic and emotional performances.
Jordan was a surprise favorite during the blind auditions, as the judges heard just how powerful a voice could come from such an unassuming guy. And he continued his journey, belting out hits from powerful singers like Beyoncé and Freddie Mercury. His performances hit the Top 10 iTunes singles charts week after week, even unseating Adele. Despite all of his success, he remained humble and authentic to the person we met at the beginning of the season. His coach, Adam Levine, championed him throughout the show, even calling him the best singer he’s ever heard.
Watch the judges on The Voice give advice to the contestants for after the show.
Jeremy Belanger
December 16, 2015
https://www.yahoo.com/tv/how-jordan-smith-won-the-voice-073255103.html
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Is Jordan Smith The Most Important ‘The Voice’ Artist Ever?
Even before Jordan Smith physically appeared on The Voice, there was a buzz surrounding the young pop singer from Kentucky. Just prior to this season’s premiere, NBC leaked a clip of Jordan’s blind audition, teasing it with the phrase “the most shocking reveal on The Voice yet.”
Once his audition aired, audiences saw the four superstar coaches give Jordan a standing ovation and some of the strongest praise ever handed out in the series. So no one was surprised when he took home the Voice trophy on Tuesday night – but is the show’s newest winner as significant to the series as he was advertised to be?
In a word: yes.
For sure, there’s a lot of praise going around on The Voice, because there are a lot of talented artists. Especially during the blind auditions, audiences are going to hear coaches pour the compliments on in order to get artists to choose them. But here’s where Jordan might actually leave a lasting impact in Voice history.
His win, coupled with that of Sawyer Fredericks this spring, means that there’s been a whole year where The Voice has not crowned a country winner or a winner from Team Blake. That has been one of the major criticisms leveled at the show, that it had begun to favor one genre of music and one coach. Some audience members were threatening to tune out when Craig Wayne Boyd upset the entirety of Team Adam last fall.
Country still has a very strong presence on the show – just look at finalists Emily Ann Roberts and Barrett Baber – and there’s nothing wrong with that. But if the casual viewer believes that any genre and every coach has a chance to win, that makes The Voice a more appealing TV program as it prepares to become the only singing competition on television and heads into its tenth season.
Furthermore, Jordan Smith represents a different kind of artist that has ever won on The Voice before. There have been soul singers (Javier Colon, Jermaine Paul, Josh Kaufman) and country singers (Cassadee Pope, Danielle Bradbery, Craig Wayne Boyd) and most recently a folk singer (Sawyer Fredericks).
But the last vocal powerhouse to take home the trophy was another Team Adam member, Tessanne Chin from season five. Jordan has that same kind of power and also a very specific direction that he wants to go in musically – inspirational ballads seem to be his forte. If he makes a record, it’s going to be different than any post-show album we’ve heard before.
And most crucially, he now has the chance to pave the way to a better future for other winners. It was brought up during this finale week how Jordan needs to go to a record label that understands him, and his coach Adam Levine point blank challenged Republic Records to support him during the post-finale press conference Tuesday. The label is officially on notice about promoting The Voice’s artists – another major criticism of the show.
Jordan has also scored on iTunes throughout the entirety of the live playoffs, which not even Cassadee Pope did. If Republic gives him the backing he deserves, and he can keep that digital momentum going, he could be the superstar that the show has been looking for. Voice fans know that the show has given us many quality artists, and some successes like Cassadee, but the series is constantly getting its talent pool compared to Jennifer Hudson, Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.
Should Jordan be able to make that breakthrough and get to the next level, he’d change the way every Voice artist is considered coming off the show – and that could be more important than any one individual victory.
The Voice returns in February on NBC.
Brittany S Frederick
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2015/12/16/is-jordan-smith-the-most-important-the
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16 TIPS FOR WORKING MUSICIANS ON HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL COVER BAND
In just about every city and town in the United States, as well as many around the world, you’ll find a public venue that hosts live music. Whether you’re a full band, a duo or a solo artist – there’s plenty of opportunity to have fun and make some money.
The most successful bands and artists practice certain fundamentals that have been proven effective time and time again. In order to get better paying gigs and more of them, you’ll want to follow in the footsteps of those before you that have made a good living playing live music.
Below are some essential guidelines to make a priority whenever you’re playing a show. These are all things that you should focus on collectively as a band to ensure the greatest possible success at your gigs.
There is nothing difficult, physically demanding, or even very time consuming about the steps you can take to work like a professional in a live performance situation. Follow these tips for each and every gig that you’re band plays. By doing so, you will elevate your success beyond what you may have thought you could achieve.
1. Make set lists
To some this is a regular, fundamental practice. To others, there isn’t much thought put into it, or they don’t make one at all.
There are several advantages to taking the time to write out a set list:
● When each band member knows what song is next, the show will run much smoother.
● You can properly time your set.
● You’ll learn how to make the show flow and reduce or eliminate “dead-air.”
● You’ll be able to go back over it and review what worked and what didn’t work.
There is a definite art to constructing a good set list – especially one that works well over and over again. When it’s done correctly, you’ll consider keys, tempos, genres, and especially – your audience, and put it in an order that makes sense.
The primary objective is to take people on a ride by dictating the mood in the room with the way you put your sets together. Creating and utilizing great segues and medleys is also a must to keep things moving and to keep the crowd engaged. With practice and tweaking, you can come up with brilliant set lists that make your band look like pros.
2. Know how to sound check
This is an important part of the live music experience, and one that you must be cooperative and patient. If you’re fortunate enough to have a professional sound man working your gig, he will generally follow a particular order of operations for sound check. It will usually go like this:
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3. Set your stage volume properly
This is an area that a lot of musicians don’t always think about, but is one that should be taken seriously. How you set your own stage volume will contribute to the overall sound in the venue and the clarity of your band. Keep in mind that how you choose your levels should be determined by the room, the quality of the P.A., and the balance you’re trying to achieve on stage – with all of those factors collectively being taken into account.
If you’re too loud, you’ll blow away your band mates and make it harder to get a proper mix out front. Too low, and folks on stage won’t be able to hear you (unless they have you in their monitor) and the engineer will need to boost you in the house.
You always want to work with the rest of the band and the sound man when it comes to your stage volume. As a musician, pretty much everyone’s top priority is that they’re able to hear themselves. But always remember to consider the big picture with your overall volume.
4. Stick to set times
In many cases at live shows, you have to follow a set schedule. Since you’re working for someone else at your gig, you’ll want to follow it. There are specific reasons that you are supposed to play at certain times that are dictated by the operators of the venue, and as a professional working musician, you want to respect that.
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5. Have a show
If you’re playing in a band in public in front of people for money, you are in the entertainment business. So even if you put no thought into what you’re doing other than playing songs, you are still putting on a show. It’s in your best interest (and it’s a lot more fun) to have a show that is at least somewhat rehearsed and/or planned, and to perform it with conviction and consistency.
When you have no clue how you’re going to do things before you hit the stage, people will be less engaged in your performance. If you are all great players and are picking good songs, people will still dig you. But they won’t be as excited about what you’re doing, simply because you’re not that excited about it either.
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6. Pick the right songs
This is perhaps one of the most crucial aspects of your live show. There are many factors to consider including your genre, the ability of the musicians in the band, the venue, and the type of gigs you are playing.
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7. Play primarily for women
This subtitle should speak for itself, but if it doesn’t send a clear message, here are the bullet points for why this should be a priority:
● Chicks like to dance
● Where there are women, there will be men
● Drunk males like to spend money on females
● Girls just wanna have fun
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8. Know your audience
As previously mentioned, your show and song list should be catered to the people in attendance. If you have a regular following, you should have a good idea of the kind of music that they expect to hear you play. Just like a company that has a physical product that they are looking to sell, your band has to have an intimate understanding of what the people want.
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9. Interact with the crowd
In addition to talking to people when you’re off stage, you also want to involve them when you’re on stage. Singling out people in the audience to talk to gets the crowd more involved, and also makes them feel more a part of the show. It could be something as simple as mentioning someone’s birthday or special occasion, or even at times bringing a person or people up on stage. It all becomes part of the show, and makes the whole event more fun for everyone.
10. Keep things moving
If you’ve put together a decent set list, then you’ll have an advantage with this simple yet extremely important guideline. As a band performing cover songs live, you are akin to a jukebox, or more accurately, a radio station.
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[Read the article for tips 11-16!]
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– S.W. \m/
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[Thanks to Ty Moyer for contributing this article.]