sammyplankton

The Voice only caters to the country fans, by elevating Blake Shelton (who's a bully btw) like he's some kind of god and having mostly country guest performances on the results shows, whenever the voting is most important. The fact that people who can't afford cable/live TV are at a disadvantage to vote doesn't help either.

I only started watching a few years ago and I suspect it hasn't always been this way (based on previous winners). But between this and American Idol, I'm so tired of seeing country singers (and honestly white people) make up a disproportionate number of finalists.

I don't mind country music in moderation, but these singing competition shows have really just become country music showcases where people of color are constantly invalidated and disappointed. Even when there's the rare black country singer, they only stay in as long as there are people in other genres that can be voted off.

I'm not suggesting the show is rigged exactly, and it's not like I'm advocating for affirmative action on the Voice or anything insane like that, but I think if they were marketing more effectively to people in different demographics and making the show more accessible to younger and more diverse audiences, it would be a much fairer competition.

And it doesn't even matter who wins in the end, I just hate to see a finale where 4 out of 5 remaining contestants are white and 3 of those are country. Especially when the contestants who were eliminated in the semis were leagues better than anyone else on the stage. I've been super invested all season and now I have literally no reason to watch the bloated finale next week (so I won't be!)

It's a given with these music competition shows that they'll be full of gimmicks and scripted fluff, and it's always the worst part but for some reason they keep making them this way. ASC is no different, but in my opinion, the combined charm of Snoop and Kelly make it more tolerable than it would be with other hosts. They're both so naturally funny that the scripted bits soften seem self-aware and sometimes even sarcastic.

I was very put off by almost all of the music in the first round. I don't listen to much modern music, so everything was sounding just like the kind of generic stuff I try to tune out when I hear it played in the grocery store, only somehow even cornier. BUT I'm glad I stuck around for the semifinals, because after almost everyone in the competition was eliminated, we're now left with a much smaller crop of surprisingly catchy songs and artists that really seem to be taking the show seriously.

I think the biggest problems with this show are a lack of marketing and a wonky, inconsistent voting process (as far as I can tell). Live shows that require viewer participation really need to figure out how to adapt now that people don't have live TV. It's hard to stay invested when you're watching the next day, even though they have extended the voting window in the past few weeks.

Regardless, I love what this show is trying to do and the inclusive vibe amongst the contestants.

That's not Lizzo's fault, though. Her musical performances were both high-effort and I'm sure she sounded great, but SNL just literally can't let an artist sound good, and this time it felt like they didn't care if we could hear her at all. Like was her mic even on?

Anyway, she seemed ready for anything even though she broke in most sketches (I'm guessing she was just uncomfortable because lord knows there was nothing to laugh at.) I guess a bunch of crew and writers went home for Easter or something, because the previous episode was possibly the best written of the whole season, and this one was like SHOCKingly bad. I feel sad for Lizzo because she deserved to be in at least one memorable sketch. The only thing that came close to getting over was Please Don't Destroy, who I'm not generally impressed by, and even their segment went downhill after like a minute. Yikes.

Episode barely earned 1 star from me, but Lizzo deserves better.