'The Voice' season 16 fans feel too many country artists in Top 13 after Cross Battles favor Team Blake
On Monday night the Top 24 contestants from 'The Voice' season 16 battled it out against each other during the Live Playoffs. And on Tuesday night when the episode aired live with its results, 12 contestants were eliminated. For the first time, the series had the most uneven team count ever with Blake Shelton leading with six contestants.
After 12 contestants were sent home, the Comeback Stage winner was revealed. Bebe Rexha who was the fifth coach revealed that Kanard Thomas who was not selected during his blind auditions is the winner of the Comeback Stage. Thomas was paired against L. B. Crew for the cross battles and though he gave his best, it was L. B. Crew who won the battle and chose to stick to Team Adam even though he wanted to work with John Legend.
After the results were announced and the Top 13 was revealed, it came to light that Shelton was leading with the most number of contestants in his team. Taking a look back at previous seasons, one notices that such an uneven team count has never happened before and it happened this season due to the Live Cross Battles that allowed the public to vote, unlike previous seasons where judges were the ones to choose.
Out of the 13 who were selected to move on to the next round, Shelton's team has 6 contestants, Legend's team has 3 contestants, and both Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine has 2 contestants each in their team. After taking a look at the huge differentiation in the team count, fans figured most of the country singers advanced to the next round. Some suggested that maybe 'The Voice' should remove the country singers and let them have their own show.
"Maybe they should split country out of 'The Voice' and let it have its own show," said a fan on Reddit. While another fan said, "Starting to think only country artists have a real shot to win."
Some also speculated that Shelton has more contestants remaining in his team not just because they are country artists, but because he has a major fan following compared to the other judges and that the Live Cross Battles gave him an advantage, leaving him with most of the contestants.
"This whole season is rigged for Blake.....the cross battles/new live playoffs made it even more about the coach: Before, the audience would have to pick only their favorite 3 from Blake’s team but now the 'Team Blake' voters will just vote everyone through. Not fair at ALL and it seems as though people are still upset at Adam for last year. Rod and Celia were both on Adams team and now they are in the Top 13 on another team," wrote a fan on Reddit.
While another added, "I don't even know anybody's name. Just not invested. The changes are weird and the show is lopsided. Blake has the most loyal fans who seem to be voting [through] all white country guys. Just fast forwarding [through] most of it."
'The Voice' season 16 airs every Monday and Tuesday night on NBC. Check your local listings for more information.
