NBC’s ‘The Voice’ postmortem: Why Darby Walker was eliminated
Going into the Live Playoffs for “The Voice” this season, we labeled Darby Walker as a potential favorite to win the whole competition. She had a ton of screen time during the opening rounds of the show, already had some sort of following, and also had a voice that was decidedly unique and a mentor in Miley Cyrus who seemed to understand her perfectly.
Yet, something happened along the way where viewers didn’t connect to her, and over the course of this article, we’re going to do our part to figure out why that was.
1. A polarizing voice – While this show is in part about being unique, Darby’s low register was such that it made her sound really appealing to some and grating to others. If you look at social media, there are two very-clear opinions of her and not a lot of middle ground. Therefore, it was harder for her to pull out the support she needed to go forward. That being said, don’t count out a career for her after the show. There are lots of artists out there with unique voices like hers that have very successful careers like “Our Lady Peace” or “They Might Be Giants”. There are some of us out there that love the unusual.
2. Being a little too much like her coach – When Darby first auditioned, our feeling was more that she was a little more of a folk / indie singer, and over time she tended to move into pop. More than that, though, her style and performance (at times) felt like she was being molded, intentionally or not, into Cyrus 2.0. That may not have been appealing to some voters who are still divided on Cyrus.
3. The elephant in the room – It’s very hard to be a confident female performer who is thinking outside of the box and wearing unique outfits and doing creative, interesting things. Typically, “The Voice” viewers want someone who is easily accessible and by their own estimate, “humble” — though sometimes, “humble” means boring. If you look back at the history of all American singing shows, it’s been harder for female artists who take big chances in their creatives to advance far into their respective seasons. Remember how amazing and unique Crystal Bowersox was on “American Idol”? Not the winner of the show, but still a winner to us.
Why do you think that Darby was eliminated from “The Voice”? Share some of your thoughts now with a comment, and head over here to check out some further news on the show. (Photo: NBC.)