Weekend Supplement ~ Feb 19th 2012: The Voices of Chris Mann & Pip...

Zut alors! The weekend supplement is horribly late as I had an ace gang night out on saturday, then spent most of Sunday nursing a hideola sore throat. Who knew swallowing could be such a chore?! On the plus side my Sunday soundtrack included the latest albums from Ben L'Oncle Soul, Amanda Mair & Charlie Winston (all amazing and more on all of those later in the week) as well as reading (& finishing!) the 5th (and best so far) Time Riders novel from Alex Scarrow. Plus I also got a chance to catch up on this...

My two fave Voice auditions so far...

I must confess I tried to steer clear of the US version of The Voice. Mainly because it's coming right after UK X Factor and I never feel quite the same buzz watching a talent show that isn't based in your country of origin. However, the superbowl hype, the fact that it's ratings success will surely (please!!) help my beloved Smash & of course the allure of Adam LeFINE meant I had to tune in to see what was going on. A few things - i love the format, it's got me excited for the UK version in a month or so and the two videos below are by far my fave auditions in the show to date...

Chris Mann ~ I've had my eye on the debonair Mr Chris Mann for a while now. He's had some solo releases (and for a while I think was working with my beloved Tommy Page) that were top notch so I was quite excited to see him pop up on The Voice. He turns up all dapper in a suit, with a rather ace tartan tie & then starts singing - and wow. It's an absolutely soul stirring, powerful, raise the roof performance of Because We Believe. His voice just resonates with passion and that "whoo" at the end was totally charming and endearing. Very excited to see him work with team xtina. Plus he can sing to me in Italian any day :)

Pip ~ how adorable is Pip? There's something quirky and off kilter about his style that is instantly likeable - but when he sings there is this mesmerising, soulful quality to his voice that shines through from the first word to the last stunning note. I do love that he chose something not entirely obvious in House Of The Rising Sun and manages (despite his young age) to give it a real down & dirty feel, laden with the appropriate timbre & inflection to give the lyrics the weary life experience they absolutely deserve. John from Popmusicnotes was absolutely right when he pointed Pip out to me - totally up my street. Plus thrilled he picked team adam. The competition is now ON...

Top 21 songs of the week:

21 ~ Auryn, My Favourite Guy
20 ~ The Overtones, Say What I Feel
19 ~ Kelly Clarkson, What Doesn't Kill You
18 ~ Neo, Fighting The Dark
17 ~ One Direction, One Thing
16 ~ JLS, Proud (NE)
15 ~ Darren Hayes, Black Out The Sun
14 ~ Nicola Roberts, Yo Yo
13 ~ Marcus Collins, 7 Nation Army
12 ~ Jason Mraz, I Won't Give Up (VIDEO)
11 ~ Christopher, Nothing in Common
10 ~ Scissor Sisters, Shady Love
09 ~ Little Jackie, 31 Flavours
08 ~ Eric Saade, Love Is Calling
07 ~ Marie Serneholt, Salt & Pepper
06 ~ Darin, Nobody Knows (NE)
05 ~ Le Kid, Human Behaviour
04 ~ fun, We Are Young
03 ~ Simon Curtis, Starlight
02 ~ Madonna, Give Me Ur Luvin
01 ~ Smash Cast, Let Me Be Your Star (2 weeks)