It’s week two and we’re back “Beyond the Thunderdome“, I mean the Battle Ring. Doesn’t Thunderdome sound so much better though? Replace Carson Daly for Tina Turner and we’re all set. Last week’s matchups on “The Voice” were so good, I was a little worried I’d be let down this week. The second round of blind auditions totally sucked, compared to the premiere. The producers definitely stacked the first week.

While watching the episode, I began to wonder exactly how much time the judges spent coaching with their team. Even though the battle rounds are spread over four weeks, it’s clear they were all filmed the same day. In fact, I’m curious to know what the time was from the blind auditions to the battle rounds. Was it all filmed in just a couple of days? If so, poor contestants.

Back on hand to guest mentor the competitors this week were Sia, Monica, Blackstone and Reba McEntire. Speaking of which, I’m loving both Monica and especially Sia. Watching their expressions during the performances crack me up. Watch all of the battles below.

watch the battles after the jump

I was obsessed with “The Voice” after watching the first episode. Then I was ho-hum after the lackluster second episode. The talent just didn’t measure up. It was like going on a second date after spending a week romanticizing the rush of experiencing something new. With the blind auditions over, how would the show fare with the… (insert dum, dum dum sound) battle rounds. I can happily say, that I’m back to loving “The Voice”.

After I heard they were dragging out this portion of the competition to four weeks, I immediately groaned. I thought the time dedicated for the auditions was perfect, and dedicating four weeks for the next stage would be too much. But any trepidations I had are out the window after seeing tonight’s show. All the battles were riveting to watch. All the battles could’ve gone either way. It was the perfect amount to showcase without feeling dragged out.

Each judge had a celebrity guest mentor help them out as they coached each of their contestants. Australian singer Sia aided Christina, while Reba McEntire assisted Blake Shelton. Music producer Adam Blackstone and Monica joined Adam Levine and Cee Lo Green respectively. Yesterday I revealed the professional pasts of a couple of the contestants. I’m happy to say, one of them was eliminated tonight. I have no problem if you’ve had a record deal and then it went sour. What I don’t think is fair is if you’ve won a national televised singing competition before. But hey, that’s my opinion. Check out all of last night’s battles below.

view the battles and results after the jump

It’s official. NBC’s “The Voice” is a hit. After a surprisingly strong debut last week, beating the likes of “Glee” and “Dancing with the Stars” in the coveted 18-49 demo, the second showing did even better. Last night’s episode jumped an impressive 10% and is getting extremely close to DWTS’ overall viewers. In fact, the dancing competition was down substantially from last week’s episode. With the success of “The Voice”, I’m a little worried that by the time Simon Cowell’s “X Factor” debuts, people will be sick of singing competitions.

While last week’s episode blew me out of the water, the second was less impressive. The debut show was jam-packed with talent, while the second half of the blind auditions was lackluster. I was going to do a recap with all the auditions but wasn’t as inspired as last week. That said, I’m looking forward to the next phase of the competition- the Battle Round.

For the next portion of the show, each coach will bring in experts to help them elevate their team members to a whole new level. Blake Shelton, Cee-Lo Green, Christina Aguilera and Adam Levine will be joined by guest mentors Reba McEntire, Monica, Sia and music producer Adam Blackstone respectively. After each coach is left with only four acts, the live performances begin. That will be the true test if this show truly has better talent than Idol. Levine commented during last night’s show, that the rejects should try out on the other competition since they weren’t good enough for “The Voice”. Way harsh, Tai. Way harsh.

Team Cee-Lo Green

(left to right: Kelsey Rey, Tori & Taylor, Niki Dawson, Curtis Grimes, Tje Austin, Emily Valentine, Nakia, Vicci Martinez)

For me, Cee-Lo has the best team. My favorites are Kelsey Rey, Vicci Martinez and Tje Austin. Hopefully none of these will face against each other during the battle round, increasing their chances of advancing to the next round. With his awesome productions kills, Cee-Lo, IMHO, will be the best coach.

check out the other teams after the jump

Did you watch the premiere of NBC’s “The Voice” last night? I did, and I looooooooooved it. When I first heard NBC was doing another singing competition show, I literally groaned out loud. With the network’s “The Sing-Off” and “America’s Got Talent” already on the air, along with Fox’s “American Idol” and upcoming “X-Factor“, did we really need another talent competition? Probably not, but I’m glad they decided to bring over Holland’s hit reality show, “The Voice of Holland” over to North America.

If you’ve watched the peacock network at all during the past few weeks, you were undoubtedly inundated with promos for the show. Most notably, their heavily touted unique “blind auditions“. The judges are forced to listen to the contestants’ voices. If they like what they hear, they press the button and their amusement ride-style chairs whip around, revealing the identity of the singer. If more than one judge wants the singer on their team, the judges pitch their mentoring skills to them, in hopes the singer chooses them.

The thing I enjoyed the most about the show was there were no gimmicky horrible performances used as comedy filler. That’s my biggest complaint about Idol and other reality shows. Just show me the talent. If I want to hear horrible people sing, I’ll record myself in the shower. Having said that, I’m glad that there were some singers tonight, who weren’t picked by any of the judges. They weren’t awful, they just didn’t have “The Voice“.

watch all the performances after the jump

Wow, things are certainly looking up for 30-year old Christina Aguilera, who last night was honored with the first ever star on The Hollywood Gay Walk of Fame at The Abbey in West Hollywood.

Stevie St. John, rep for the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, explained Aguilera was chosen for the new Walk of Fame because of the work she has done in speaking out in support of equality within the homosexual community. Actually, the first time we (Homorazzi) went to An Evening With Women in LA (an event that supports the LA Gay & Lesbian Center), Christina Aguilera performed. Stevie explained, “We’re proud of Christina, who’s always supported causes important to gay people. We applaud her for speaking out in favour of equality and working to support the community.”

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Wow, things are certainly looking up for 30-year old Christina Aguilera, who last night was honored with the first ever star on The Hollywood Gay Walk of Fame at The Abbey in West Hollywood.

Stevie St. John, rep for the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, explained Aguilera was chosen for the new Walk of Fame because of the work she has done in speaking out in support of equality within the homosexual community. Actually, the first time we (Homorazzi) went to An Evening With Women in LA (an event that supports the LA Gay & Lesbian Center), Christina Aguilera performed. Stevie explained, “We’re proud of Christina, who’s always supported causes important to gay people. We applaud her for speaking out in favour of equality and working to support the community.”

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WOW! I was kinda “meh” about this new singing competition before, but after seeing the promo, I’m officially intrigued. The show is named “The Voice” because the audition is based purely on the voice – literally. The judges have their backs turned to the singers and only get to hear their voice. In case you don’t know, the judges are Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine, and Blake Shelton. The show is hosted by Carson Daly.

In the promo, Adam Levine explains, “The biggest difference between this show and all of the other vocal competition shows is that it’s a blind audition…Remember the ’70s? There were some sketchy-looking people that had gorgeous voices.” He has a point.

I’m also really excited to see Christina Aguilera in this role. She gets such a bad rap all the time that I’m hoping for her sake that she can show a different side of herself, maybe shed some tears, and build her career back up again.

Watch the promo after the jump…

Last night at around 2:45am, 30 year old Christina Aguilera and her 25 year old boyfriend Matt Rutler were arrested by police after they were suspected of DUI. Rutler was driving the vehicle, while Aguilera was a passenger, and apparently she was very intoxicated. Just how many (genie in a) bottles did she drink?

Rutler was arrested and booked on DUI suspicion with a $30,000 bail, while Aguilera was charged with public intoxication and held on a $250 bail until she sobers up and someone comes and picks her up.

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