From day one I’ve really loved The Voice. I even sacrificed watching Ringer to keep up with it. A big move, considering my longest relationship to date has been with the show Buffy. (15 years and counting) So you can imagine just how into The Voice I am.

I am usually not one for reality talent shows and never watched American Idol or X-Factor, but the initial concept of The Voice is what drew me in. In the beginning contestants are selected based on their talent. Being pretty/sexy or putting on a big show to hide a lack of vocal skills gets them nowhere, making it all about their ability to sing. Then, the lucky people that move on to subsequent rounds work with one of the four coaches who is usually conveniently their idol and the person that made them want to sing in the first place. I dare you not to get stoked on that. That’d be like Dave Grohl or Billie Joe or Chris Shiflett being my guitar teacher. Ya dig?

Now that we are nearing the end of the competition, things are starting to change a little bit. Last night’s episode really got me thinking about something I’ve been noticing all along. There seems to have been two types of contestants this season– people who rely on a stylized, specific approach to get them through and people who just effing SIIIIING. Now I’m obviously partial to the latter, but I’ve been surprised over the course of the show to see America agrees with me. They’ve consistently voted for the people with the best voices, leaving the other contestants to try to prove week after week that they’re more than just an image. Pretty soon, it’s going to be all the singers competing against each other, and I can’t wait to see what happens.

Posted below are Katrina Parker and Juliet Simms with two of the standout performances from last night. Watching these girls made me think about all the crazy-talented people out there who for whatever reason, we will never get to hear from. For every Katrina and Juliet, there have to be a million people who can sing their pants off and live and breathe music, but don’t have access to the resources they need to do it for a living. Meanwhile people like Chris Brown get to be famous (and rich) “musicians.” It just isn’t right.

I really wish the recording industry would take a page from The Voice’s book and start signing people based on their music instead of the sexiness of their mid-section. And based on the way people are voting on  The Voice, I don’t think anyone would have a problem with it.

Katrina Parker “Jar of Hearts”

Juliet Simms “Cryin”