This week, Harlem’s team is against Wang Feng! The format will be similar to last week‘s. I was actually spoiled and I know the ending long ago because there was apparently a ‘media clash’ and unhappiness over the results (which I have blog about separately in another post later this week). For now, let’s enjoy!
[Update: I have blogged about the media clash here.]
Harlem and his team (Ma Yinyin, Tan Xuanyuan, Zhao Da Ge, Zhang Shu) sang Wang Feng’s song, 春天里.
Wang Feng and his team (Bei Bei, Huang Yong, Zhang Xinxin, Huang Xiaoyun) sang Harlem’s 我一次爱个够。
Cross Battle 1: Zhao Da Ge vs Huang Xiaoyun! A battle between the two young girls! Not as much shots fired as last week, there were not threats and all. Wang Feng pointed out it’s more important to improve and pass through one own’s limits.
Contestant: Zhao Da Ge (Ika Zhao) [Team Harlem]
Song: Ain’t no mountain high enough
Comments: Pretty sure I have seen her wear this coat a couple of times – is this a lucky coat? Harlem’s very into the performance – he’s mouthing the lyrics throughout and even wolf whistled at the end. Da Ge has got stage presence and a pretty seductive voice.
Contestant: Huang Xiaoyun [Team Wang Feng]
Song: All by myself
Comments: She sounded nice but I thought this choice of song is a bit too old for her – she doesn’t have enough life experience for this sort of song. And what’s with the influx of english songs. I like how clear and assured her voice sounded. That outburst of high note was WOAH. But the ‘punch’ that followed was pretty lacking – she need to brush up her stage skills. Still, I’m very impressed by Xiaoyun’s performance. I never thought she could do this well. I had worried for her when she was matched up with Da Ge but I think she proved herself.
Judges comment: Na Ying feels the same as me, that Xiaoyun is a bit too young and would be able to understand the song better when she is older. Whereas, Jay feels that it’s impressive that Xiaoyun managed to have such an outburst even though she’s only 16. Yes, Xiaoyun is 16 and Da Ge is 19 – youngest battle in Voice of China history.
Result: Huang Xiaoyun was leading in the votings initially but Zhao Da Ge managed to turn the tables and emerged the winner! Zhao Da Ge won 28-23 against Huang Xiaoyun. I have always liked Zhao Da Ge for her presence and perhaps, voice but I really do feel Xiaoyun improved a lot and performed so much better this time round. Wang Feng was very apologetic towards Xiaoyun and kept on apologising to her, telling her that she sang very well. (More on this on my next Voice of China update.)
Cross Battle 2: Harlem picked Zhang Shu (Lotus Zhang) and told her to be FUNKY! while Wang Feng sent Bei Bei out. The two rockstars! Zhang Shu had a really serious and strict face while Bei Bei was smiling. The mentors didn’t have much to say and the battle started soon – I guess that’s what happens with two guys.
Contestant: Zhang Shu (Lotus Zhang) [Team Harlem]
Song: 你的甜蜜
Comments: She’s wearing the same (type of) shirt again. They need a better wardrobe. Zhang Shu is rocking it out and even Wang Feng is smiling and enjoying!
Contestant: Bei Bei [Team Wang Feng]
Song: 大桥上
Comments: One of Wang Feng’s song. She has a clear voice too. The only misgiving I have is that the ‘outburst’ of each song comes really late so it’s pretty bland in the front – not that the ‘bland part’ wasn’t sang well though.
Cute thumbs-up sign from Bei Bei most loyal fan, her father.
Judges comment: Fun fact: both contestants had sang Wang Feng’s song in their blind auditions. Na Ying added that she had always felt that Bei Bei had the potential to be a winner and is someone that she believes all the mentors are wary of. Zhang Shu then added that she doesn’t want to be placed first – that’s why she joined Harlem’s team. The first/winner can always be replaced, be it Guinness world records or any other competitions, there will always be new winners. She wants to be the only one. Well said.
Result: Zhang Shu won Bei Bei by 26 votes to 25 votes. The closest votes ever! Wang Feng claims that Bei Bei had spoken too much on the stage – he doesn’t want to see her leave the stage and… Wang Feng chose to save Bei Bei! I think Bei Bei is probably the closest to Wang Feng amongst the whole team. She sees him as an idol and has insisted on singing his song even though she has been discouraged by him to do so, especially because the song she chose is very difficult. No wonder that Wang Feng would choose to save her. Jay also added that, “You are a very persistent one huh, let’s say what you will do next time.”
Cross Battle 3: Wang Feng tells his team all they can do now is to go all out and touch the hearts of the judges. Wang Feng sent out Zhang Xinxin while Harlem picked Tan Xuanyuan. Wang Feng told Zhang Xinxin that he doesn’t have to win for the team – he just need to not let himself down.
Contestant: Tan Xuanyuan [Team Harlem]
Song: 欲水
Comments: Have I proclaimed my love for him yet? I’m glad he picked a Chinese song this time round. I think he sound so much more confident and able to project his voice with a Chinese song! He went for a rock style this week! But nothing more impressive than his high notes.
Contestant: Zhang Xinxin [Team Wang Feng]
Song: 封锁线
Comments: He reminds me of Zhang Lei from Na Ying’s team! I like his choice of a light song. A pleasant change from all that high notes and rock songs.
Judges comment: Wang Feng had chose such a ‘unknown’ song because he had wanted to introduce more good songs to the public. Na Ying drew a comparison of Zhang Xinxin and Zhang Lei! She said that Zhang Lei had considered the song that Xinxin sang and that Xinxin had done such a great job – the votes belong to him. Jay then caught her out and reminded her that the judges were not supposed to influence the media by giving a firm recommendation/choice. Guess Na Ying’s trying to help her buddy, Wang Feng, out since she must know how it feels to be on the losing end (considering that was the state she was in last week).
Result: Zhang Xinxin was leading… until the last row of judges made their votes. Tan Xuanyuan won Zhang Xinxin by 26 votes to 25 votes. Another 1 vote difference. Na Ying let out a gasp. Wang Feng then stopped Zhang Xinxin from going down the stage. Wang Feng started making a speech. Firstly, he acknowledged his love for Harlem’s choice of songs and his students mentality, highlighting that what he is going to say is not against Harlem or his team. He wanted to sincerely apologise to Zhang Xinxin and the other two contestants who lost because he felt they lost not because they didn’t sing well or that they were worse than their opponents. (More on that in my following update.) Zhang Xinxin was about to cry but Wang Feng firmly told him, “Don’t cry.” Such a pull at the heartstrings. I love Tan Xuanyuan but I must admit Xinxin did a great job as well. There’s something about these folk songs that just charms a person.
Cross Battle 4: Ma Yinyin asked Harlem, “How do you feel now~~” and Harlem replied, “It’s false to say I’m unhappy but then again, I’m not very happy either….” Huang Yong told Wang Feng what he just said could cause a major backlash but Wang Feng told him to just concentrate on his song instead.
Contestant: Ma Yinyin [Team Harlem]
Song: 三天三夜
Comments: I like Yinyin’s vocals. She actually chose a song which included falsettos(???). Or at least some high notes? It sounds a bit too contrived though and Yinyin is not as relaxed as she should be, for a song like this.
Contestant: Huang Yong [Team Wang Feng]
Song: 流浪
Comments: He’s what I consider the true rockstar of Wang Feng’s team. I’m surprised his song was not as ‘rock’ as I expected it to be but he did deliver and I think the crowd was very enamoured of him.
Judges comment: Wang Feng said that Huang Yong’s performance was a bombastic ending, and I agree.
Result: Huang Yong won Ma Yinyin with 31 votes to 20 votes. I wonder if that had anything to do with Wang Feng’s little speech earlier on… The host told Ma Yinyin that even though Harlem still had a chance to save left, she has to say her leaving words. Hence, Yinyin opened her mouth and said 2 words clearly, “Save me.” And that’s it. Hahaha! That’s the way, you go girl. Harlem then added, “Wow, that was straightforward. I will have to save her, or else I am inhumane.” With that, Ma Yinyin is back into the game!
Cross Battle 5 (SAVE battle): Ma Yinyin vs Bei Bei. Both will vie for the last spot.
Contestant: Ma Yinyin [Team Harlem]
Song: 在水一方
Comments: I’m not sure what Yinyin is trying to do. Instead of using her lovely low seductive voice, she’s attempting high notes. Her voice is exceptionally clear though. I’m not sure if I liked how she sang the song though – she made it sound jazz-like which I usually like but this time round, the rhythm was a bit hard to catch and it’s hard to decide if this is a hit or miss.
Contestant: Bei Bei [Team Wang Feng]
Song: 蓝莲花
Comments: Bei Bei made use of her chance well. She aced her performance by exuding calmness and confidence. That was exactly the voice I loved during the blind auditions. And yes, that’s the same hat too, if I’m not wrong. Plus she showed off her ‘seductive low voice’ that could battle Ma Yinyin.
Judges comment: Harlem emphasised Yinyin’s uniqueness. Na Ying said that Yinyin’s voice gave her goosebumps while Bei Bei had controlled her song very well. Jay didn’t add much and said that he doesn’t want to speak much and taint the image of the judges. He wants them to vote according to the feeling they get right after listening to the performances.
Result: Bei Bei won Ma Yinyin with a score of 30 to 21 votes.
The additional news that I wanted to share (in another post) is in regards to this episode – there are claims that Wang Feng had an outburst towards the media judges because they had voted against his team due to previous misunderstandings. Wang Feng had sued the media beforehand and thus the media judges are making use of this chance to “take revenge”. I will translate part of that article and discuss more about it in the next update.
Look at my boy, Zhang Bolin 🙂
I thought that the results today are actually quite disappointing. What about you? Leave a comment and let me know! I’m really glad to see more people commenting after I made a plea 🙂 Perhaps this place will really grow to become a discussion ground!
Cheers.
SkimmedMilkDRAMA 
I totally agreed yesterday results is a total disappointment
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Pingback: [NEWS] The Voice of China Season 4: Wang Feng Clash with Media 中国好声音 第四季 – SkimmedMilkDRAMA
The so called professional judges are a bunch of idiots who don’t know what good singing is. To use them to determine the fate of the singers is the biggest blunder by the organisers of the show!!
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JIN
Some of the judges were just plain narrow-minded and unfair. They utterly disregarded the great time, effort and sacrifices each and every contestant had to make to participate. The contestants were the innocent ones and those judges concerned were the real disappointment and do not deserved the honour and trust bestowed upon them here in an otherwise, great and entertaining series. Sad!
We have ears to judge and that Bei Bei should have won hands-down during her first round for the night! Really have to admire Wang Feng for standing-up and speaking for his charges. Hope this does not also reflect on the professionalism of the Chineses Media as a whole.
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They probably know what good singing is, but chose to ignore it because of many petty reasons in this dog-eat-dog world. It is indeed terribly upsetting but life is like that – tough and unfair at times.
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Totally disappointed that Huang Xiao Yun lost. I thought she really sang very well.bei bei she’d have won hands down. Do the judges really know how to judge?
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Ikr! I wasn’t very fond of Huang Xiaoyun before but this performance made me change my mind about her completely. It’s sad that she still had to go. Other than singing abilities, the judges also considered other factors such as stage presence, potential and perhaps, sadly, their mentors.
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So sad that Ma Yinyin had to leave the stage 😦 I like her voice so much, I even follow her soundcloud, etc. I also agree with you, I didn’t understand why she chose those songs eventhough she was at her best singing low-pitched-jazz songs. And, I’m not very fond of Ika Zhou’s voice but I think Wang Feng should use that save to Huang Xiaoyun haha~ I love her performance on this episode.
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I thought that Wang Feng made a right choice in saving Bei Bei though. Even though Huang Xiaoyun did very well and didn’t deserve to lose with her performance, Bei Bei would be a better choice to bring into the finals because she has both the vocals and the stage presence/qualities to be a star. Huang Xiaoyun might have aced her performance, I still think there are higher chances for Bei Bei to win this competition.
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First of all, I want to say that I have a personal theory, that I believe this show rewards people who sings loudly/who can belt it out like a rocker or diva. Other alternative or different approaches/styles are not rewarded.
However, in saying that, I believe that hands down Huang Xiaoyun should have won. I really like Zhao Da Ge,but Xiaoyun was a clear winner. And Kate, I apologize for saying this, but this comment about how she can’t understand the song because she is so young is complete nonsense. What if she had been an orphan? Does this automatically make someone sing the song better? Nonetheless, I’m happy for Zhao Da Ge. I believe that she is more versatile as a singer than Xiaoyun. Her winning her round sort of disproves my above theory somewhat! Haha!
But seriously, Ma Yinyin lost twice? Are the so-called professionals for real? Her voice is unique, and she sings a different style from the rest, this is my theory why she lost. However, like Na Ying says, Yinyin gives me goosebumps when she sings. I don’t think Bei Bei should have needed to be saved in the first place as I thought she should have beaten Zhang Shu. But I felt that there was nothing special about Bei Bei’s performance vs Ma Yinyin. And not dissing Bei Bei, cause I do rate her as a potential winner of the competition, but I would prefer to listen to Ma Yinyin on any given day. Music is meant to be mellifluous, soothing and relaxing. That is what Ma Yinyin exudes. If what was written in your other article about there being a re-film (and that Bei Bei “won” the second time when Yinyin had won the first time) is indeed true, then I guess we can safely conclude that Bei Bei will probably go on to win the competition since it’s all rigged. That would be a shame, because I feel she can win on merit.
Anyway, that’s just my personal opinion. Ma Yinyin can hold her head up high and return to Sydney, Australia where she will eventually develop into a star.
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^Couldn’t agree more.
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I agree with your theory that people who can ‘belt it out’ have a greater advantage in this show. These songs usually show off a greater range of techniques and the general audience is more likely to be captured by a ‘louder’ song so votes might be swayed due to that. At the end of the day, it really depends on luck on what the preference of the judge is.
Of course, age is not everything. There are exceptions to every case. I think Xiaoyun delivered a great performance in terms of vocal techniques but I personally feel that there are 2 elements to a great performance – one, the technical aspect where singing abilities is considered, and two, the emotional aspect, where emotions are brought out. Huang Xiaoyun might have lacked a bit in the second aspect which doesn’t do much harm to her performance on the whole but she won’t be able to sing into the hearts of audience. (Something which I feel Sun Bolun and Zhang Lei, and maybe even Huang Yong can.) Most of the time, this skill is acquired over years because of (usually tough) life experiences. Of course, life experience is just a bonus add-on and not everything. Good vocals, which Huang Xiaoyun has, is also needed. Hence, with more life experience in say, 5 or 10 years time, Huang Xiaoyun might be able to better sing this song.
I actually liked Bei Bei’s ‘revival’ performance. But true, Ma Yinyin got a less mainstream voice which is also very enjoyable. I don’t know if it’s ‘rigged’ or not but even if it was, I don’t think it would necessarily mean Bei Bei is the predetermined winner. This move might have just been made to ensure that not all of Harlem’s singers will proceed into the Top 10.
Thank you for your opinion, it does bring in some new insights! 🙂 And I never knew Ma Yinyin was from Australia. I always thought it was only Li An.
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I was really shocked at Huang Xiaoyun’s elimination. Zhao Da Ge was amazing but purely based on their performance I really think Xiaoyun far surpassed her. She might not have been the most emotionally appealing but her improvement and vocal ability really made me very impressed. Such a pity ):
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Ma Yinyin is of course originally from China. But I think she moved to Australia a few years ago and is currently based there. At one stage, she was attending the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Sydney and may also have been tutored by other Australian musicians. I get the impression that she is active on the local Australian Jazz scene.
Thank you for taking the time to explain your thoughts about how age can have an impact. I do feel for Sun Bolun also. I won’t say he’s my favourite, but I think he has been consistently good.
Zhang Lei is also another one who consistently performs well. He seems to make it all seem so effortless!
Some others have surprised me greatly with their ability to lift the bar even higher. I seriously did not imagine Leon in the final 5 (he received the highest number of votes from the audience!) . But good for him! I hope he does well. I think he had a point to prove after only getting 4 votes from the media in the battle round, but he certainly took on the hurt, and channeled it into his performance in the final 10 round.
His teammates were so excited for him, it’s very heartwarming to see. At one stage, Sharon Kwan looked like going psycho! Haha.
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I see. It’s great then, Ma Yinyin would probably only do better from now on then 🙂
Yeah, Leon had aced his blind auditions but also consistently underperformed in the past few rounds of the competition. It’s good that he finally proved himself and made it to the finals. Seems like his change in music choice did him a great favour amongst the member of public.(Even though I didn’t really appreciate his new performance that has more ‘chinese’ feels in it… I preferred his old style.)
And yes, my favourite part every episode is actually when the camera pans to the teammates cheering. It’s such a heartwarming and lovely scene! Everyone seems to be so genuinely happy for their teammates who are still in the game.
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Huang Xiaoyun the best
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