‘The Voice’ UK premiere review: Matt Henry, Katie Benbow, Ash Morgan stand out
“The Voice” UK is back in action! While season 1 of the singing competition had some flaws, the blind auditions are always a blast to watch; and with that in mind, the premiere on Saturday was a lot of fun. There was some fantastic talent throughout, some pretty fun moments among the coaches, and Sir Tom Jones actually using the word “fresh.” We had a rare country singer on the show, to boot!
So who shined among all of the contenders? We’ll leave that up to you, but for now just be sure to take a look at all of the individual performances below along with who they all ended up picking. (We’ll be back for more all season, so be sure to keep checking back!)
Ash Morgan – A great gut for a first audition. He seems soft-spoken and likable, and someone that fans of the series would really want to root for. As for the coaches, how could he really pick anyone other than Jessie J after she almost literally became his groupie for about 30 seconds? Here’s to betting this may have been one of the single best moments of his life. Of course, he picked her.
Danny County – There is something a little awkward about the way the show introduced him: “it’s all about the voice, and that’s certainly good news for Danny County.” What’s that supposed to mean? It felt almost like he wasn’t going to get anyone to turn, but at the last minute Jessie and Danny O’Donoghue both decided to give him a go. After a competitive discussion involving everything from will.i.am promoting Danny to Jessie talking about drinking, he ended up picking the “Price Tag” singer.
Leanne Jarvis – After Leanne Mitchell, is the show going to distance itself from all women named Leanne? Guess not, since this Leanne’s huge voice was enough to make everyone turn around, and prove that there is still major talent out there in the UK. This judging during this one was hilariously, mostly thanks to Jessie’s hilarious will.i.am impression. Even with that, though, she still went with the “boom boom pow.”
Louis Coupe – He’s a 16-year old prodigy who plays a ton of instruments, and his biggest fear going into this was that he would not be able to shine without the judges looking at him. He may have been right. He was a decent singer, but he didn’t push himself enough, and the audition was just a little too much like a talent show to get a coach.
Andrea Begley – The first real sad story of the season, Andrea suffers from glaucoma, which is a degenerative eye disease that has caused her to lose the vast majority of her eyesight. She sounds quite a bit like Sarah McLachlan, which makes it very appropriate that she sang “Angel,” with maybe a tiny hint of Susan Boyle thrown in. We don’t know how current her sound is, but she is now a card-carrying member of Team Danny.
Kirsty Crawford – Meanwhile, Kirstie is the first contestant on the show to have a major background in the genre, having been on “Pop Idol” (the series that actually spawned “American Idol”) a full decade ago. She’s no 29, and she certainly had something to prove. However, this turned to her being a little but unwieldy when it came to her vocals, and this caused the tears to flow and her to not get a chair to turn around.
Mike Ward – A country singer that looks like Vinny from “Jersey Shore”? Who saw this coming? This was one of those auditions that was in a word lovely, and also different than anything that we’ve heard from this show pretty much ever, since this genre of music is not too common in the UK. Ultimately, he ended up picking someone in Tom who has a little bit more experience in the genre than anyone else.
Katie Benbow – With her love of vintage stuff, it’s almost like she is a goth Betty Francis from “Mad Men.” She also has one of the strangest voices that we’ve ever heard: it is very good, but also very distinct. We have a feeling that people are either going to love it or hate it, at the end of the day. Jessie at least liked it enough to take a major chance on her as a part of her team.
Anthony Kavanagh – A former teen star now looking to make a major comeback … and this has to be pretty embarrassing to come on this show, and then not even get a single chair to turn. We feel genuinely bad for the guy now.
Matt Henry – The final contestant of the night, Matt came out with a great deal of nerves coming from a charity background, and he was a little nervous to do many gigs. However,he was absolutely awesome, and he even looks quite a bit like will.i.am. All four coaches ended up turning around, but it felt almost right away like he and Will were perfect together.
Who were some of your favorites from “The Voice” UK season 2 premiere? If you want to check out a video of the group performance, you can do so over at the link here.
Photo: BBC One