Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney of Dan + Shaw perform during a Christmas show last year. (NBC Photo)
A double chair twist is coming to The Voice next spring.
That sounds like another of the show’s stupid gimmicks.
It isn’t. It means the show will have a duo — country artists Day + Shay — as coaches next spring.
That’s right, The Voice hasn’t even started Season 24 and NBC has already announced the coaches for Season 25.
Back for second seasons as coaches next spring will be Chance the Rapper and Reba McEntire, who’s yet to turn a big red chair.
John Legend will round out the Season 25 coaching lineup.
Of course, Dan + Shay will need to occupy two chairs that will turn simultaneously.
Hence, The Voice is marketing their arrival on the show as the double chair twist.
The show hasn’t addressed the most pressing questions about the post-Blake Shelton era.
Will the show scuttle the new playoff pass used in Season 24? It ranked as one of producers’ sillier ideas since the show debuted.
More importantly, will the show stick with the abbreviated format it used in Season 23?
You know, the format that allowed contestants to make the semifinals based on two solo performances.
The same format that reduced the number of voting shows to just two.
Because if that’s the format the show intends to use in Season 24 and Season 25, no combination of coaches will make The Voice worth watching.
19 Comments
I plan to watch, despite any new gimmicks. I like discovering new talent that I can add to my music collection.
In its prime “American Idol” would make anonymous singers into stars.
“The Voice” makes the coaches into stars.
Reasons why American Idol did best in the early years.
https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/why-american-idol-has-produced-more-stars-than-the-voice.html/
This is a list of contestants from The Voice who have been successful. These people have been nominated for Grammys, charted on Billboard, etc.
https://www.thewrap.com/the-voice-most-successful-contestants-list/
Morgan Wallen became a star, in spite of “The Voice,” not because of it.
He has stated in interviews that Adam Levine made him sing pop songs, while he wanted to sing country songs.
This explains how I feel about the show: https://tvline.com/news/the-voice-singers-fans-relationship-season-15-949331/
Taken collectively, TV competition shows seem to have a love affair with older musical styles rather than the contemporary music one hears on the radio. I think putting out music that’s relevant is a factor.
Not all “Idol” alums and “Voice” alums put out songs.
Sometimes that’s by choice, sometimes that’s due to the manipulations of each show.
What I’m saying is that the type of music and songs the contestants sing aren’t the type of music that is popular or tops the charts. What’s topping the charts right now? A ton of hip hop. You ever hear hip hop on The Voice or American idol? No. Everyone on The Voice and AI are singing country, gospel and other slow ballads and those songs aren’t popular right now. It makes sense, the main demographics for those shows are middle aged, middle American white women who probably have… some “thoughts” about hip hop music and hip hop artists and that’s why they’ve retreated to these singing shows that feed them sleepy ballads from yesteryear as comfort food.
Basically your only hope of becoming a breakout star from one of these shows is being a country singer, since those seem to be the ones who can still chart after being on these shows. That’s mostly because country as a genre changes much slower than pop/hip hop. Also, not that pop/hip hop singers aren’t vocally talented, but a lot of the creative emphasis in their songs is on the music production and overall “ambience” of the song, while country tends to focus on vocal range and lyricism, which is more suited to shows like AI and The Voice where the contestants try to flex vocal range and rarely (never?) use any voice changing effects (i.e., autotune) that are common in pop or hip hop.
When you look at the beginning of AI’s run when nearly every season produced at least one star (winner or not) the music played on the show was very similar to what was on the charts. Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Chris Daughtry are a lot more similar to early 2000’s pop/country/rock than anyone from AI in 2008-2012 was to singing EDM pop or anyone from AI or The Voice are nowadays to trap music.
Also, you can pretty much only go deep into AI and The Voice if you’re white or appeal specifically to white people, whereas the music industry and charts seems to be favoring people of color and in the future probably more ethnically ambiguous stars that can appeal to multiple different identities.
But the point is, the style of music that plays well on these shows is completely different to what is profitable and that misalignment prevents many of these people from becoming break out stars.
I’m shocked NBC has not put this show to rest yet. It needs to end, yet NBC refuses to cancel.
The only way it will end is if ratings drop badly.
But aren’t ratings down anyways?
MJ’s blog has some information about the ratings for The Voice, American Idol, and The Masked Singer.
https://www.mjsbigblog.com/american-idol-or-the-voice-which-won-2023-ratings-race.htm
Some of the newest music competitions I’ve heard about are going to be virtual.
Audible has an audio-only music competition that will feature Kelly Rowland and Sara Bareilles as judges.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/01/audible-first-audio-only-singing-competition-series-kelly-rowland-sara-bareilles/
A genre of music I like is classical crossover music. Classical Crossover Magazine, an online source for classical crossover music news, is going to be launching a virtual competition, the Classical Crossover Star 2023 music competition. This virtual competition aims to discover and promote exceptional talent in the classical crossover genre, providing a platform for aspiring artists to showcase their skills and gain recognition. The competition is open to instrumental and vocal artists providing a platform for undiscovered musicians across various languages and musical styles to come together and celebrate the beauty of blending classical and contemporary elements.
https://classicalcrossovermagazine.us/classical-crossover-magazine-launches-exciting-new-music-competition-classical-crossover-star-2023/
From what I hear, The Voice in other countries seems to have trouble producing major stars as well. For example, Voice winners in the U.K. have also underperformed compared to stars from the show’s rival The X Factor (which launched One Direction, Little Mix and Leona Lewis).
The Idol franchise (as well as The X Factor) was overseen by Simon Cowell, a record executive with experience finding marketable talent in the wider music industry. There doesn’t seem to be any similar force like him behind The Voice. Of course, it’s fair to say that Idol hasn’t produced a major star since he exited the show.
One of my favorite contestants who didn’t win a talent show but has become successful is Tori Kelly. She auditioned for American Idol, but was rejected. She paved her way with YouTube. She’s one of the best singers of our generation. Goes to show you don’t need a talent show to become famous.
“The Voice” was just nominated again for “Outstanding Competition Program.”
Is this because of the laziness of the Emmy voters?
Is it due to the fame of the coaches?
Is it due to the power and clout of Mark Burnett?
I refuse to write about it. I’ve never cared much about award shows, but it’s so absurd to see The Voice nominated after what was easily its worst season ever robs credibility from the Emmys themselves.
I agree with you Mark.
Unfortunately, some viewers still view “The Voice” and “American Idol” as honest competitions, when both are manipulative and unfair.