Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Kelsea Ballerini will coach the Comeback Stage on The Voice Season 15. (NBC Photo)

Well, ready or not, here it comes.

This one, actually, sounds rather intriguing. Though, of course, this being The Voice, I have concerns about fairness issues.

Anyway, the new twist is called the Comeback Stage. And here’s how the show says it will work.

* Six singers who fail to turn a chair during their blind auditions will be selected for an online competition that could still lead them back to the show.

* They’ll be mentored by country singer Kelsea Ballerini, the comeback stage coach and judge rolled into one.

* She’ll pair up the lucky six in a trio of battle round matches, though it sounds like they’ll be performing solos rather than performing duets like in the on-air battles.

* Kelsea will hand-pick (oh, probably with producer input) the three singers to advance. They’ll each perform a second solo.

* This time, Kelsea will pick two singers to advance. They’ll perform on-air for a twitter save at the end of the live playoff results show, with the winner advancing to the Top 13.

* Oh, and that winner gets to choose which team he or she wants to join for the live shows.

The pros:

1. This means six more artists get the advantage of additional exposure via The Voice. And a second chance is all some artists need to make a good impression. Jake Worthington pops instantly to mind. He failed to turn a chair in Season 5. He finished runner-up in Season 6.

2. The comeback stage episodes will air on YouTube, The Voice Official App, IGTV (Instagram), Facebook and NBC.com. And this twist seems a far better way to drive viewers to those platforms than the show’s previous Snapchat series or The Voice pick-your-team contest.

The concerns:

1, This probably means The Voice will air audition clips of the six comeback stage artists. That could lead to more montages — very short clips — of singers who actually make the show by turning a chair. The show’s continued refusal to at least post those performances on-line is both baffling and maddening. And blatantly unfair to the montaged contestants who invest so much time in this process.

2. The comeback stage winner will be determined by a twitter save, meaning West Coast contestants need not bother. For fans new to the show, this Twitter save happens live on East Coast time. Since The Voice began using a Twitter save, 12 West Coast contestants have competed for one. Not a single one has advanced.

The continued use of the Twitter save just shows The Voice’s willingness to sacrifice fairness for a little bit of end-of-show drama.

The Voice returns to NBC Monday, Sept. 24. Check back then for live blogs and complete coverage. And if you want to meet the Season 15 contestants, just click on the links to your right.