Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Voice Season 14 coaching quartet, Adam Levine, Kelly Clarkson, Blake Shelton and Alicia Keys (NBC Photo)

The battle for viewers begins two weeks later when ABC launches its version of the once-mighty American Idol.

From the research I’ve done on rumored contestants over the past month, The Voice has assembled another talented cast of singers, many of whom have released music you can already stream or download. Just check out the contestant profile links to the right (or below if you’re viewing this on a mobile device).

That same research tells me American Idol is stressing youth in its search for the next Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood. And many of the contestants rumored to have done the best auditioned for The Voice at one point or another.

Here are some things to watch out for on The Voice Season 14.

¿Pueden cantar? Hell, yes! Latino artists haven’t enjoyed tons of success on The Voice. This might be the season that changes that.

Among the males, Johnny Bliss and Jorge Eduardo have competed on south-of-the-border shows like this and done very well.

Among the women, Genesis Diaz was showcased at Billboard’s Latino Music Festival last year.

Make It Pop: One of the most fascinating Season 14 contestants is Megan Lee, a former star on the Nikelodeon show “Make It Pop” about a teenage pop band, XO-IQ. She’s been performing since she was 10 and has released pop songs here and in South Korea.

And talk about a following. Check out these social media numbers. Twitter: 52,000 followers. Instagram: 150,000 followers. YouTube: 42 million views. Should she make the lives rounds, that could translate into lots of votes.

Not a gimmick: Season 14 will also feature The Voice’s first transgender contestant, Angel Bonilla, who says she started identifying as a female when she was a teenager growing up in the Philippines.

A former contestant on The X Factor, Angel writes on Twitter: “I’m not a gimmick, I’m a singer/artist that just happens to be a transwoman. And I’m proud of it!”

Yep, a gimmick: Monday night, we’ll be introduced to the block, a new blind audition twist that allows one coach to prevent another coach from landing an especially talented artist. Say a stellar country artist auditions and Adam Levine wants her for his team. He can push his block buttom to keep her from choosing Blake.

The show is billing it as a game changer. It’s more of a gimmick. And, sorry to burst your bubble Voice producers, but it’s unfair to contestants.

A singer talented enough to turn three or four chairs has earned the right to chose whomever he or she wants as coach, and shouldn’t be blocked from picking anyone who turned around. Here’s the block in use.

The strange case of Kyla Jade: Anyone out there remember Joanna Pacitti? She looked like she might be a front-runner on Season 8 of American Idol until she was disqualified because of a close relationship with two of the show’s producers.

Apparently, conflicts of interest are no longer a concern, at least not on The Voice. The Season 14 cast includes Kyla Jade, currently a background singer for Jennifer Hudson. Yep, the same Jennifer Hudson who coached on Season 13. Yep, the same Jennifer Hudson who’s now coaching the UK version of the show.

And, apparently, The Voice doesn’t give a damn about perceptions of favoritism either. The show has posted two sneak peek videos of auditions that will air Monday. One features — you guessed it — Kyla Jade.

The Kelly Clarkson factor: Apparently, some people think there’s been too much hype about Kelly joining The Voice as a judge.

Really? American Idol is back. Kelly had been courted by ABC to be an Idol judge. She was brilliant in a one-episode guest judging stint in Idol’s final season. She opted to coach on The Voice instead.

Of course, The Voice is going to celebrate that fact. Of course, they’re shouting from the rooftop of Universal Studio. They deserve to.

Bottom line: Between The Voice, Idol and The Four, there will be at least eight new singing coaches/judges on major networks this year. Here’s betting Kelly’s the best of the bunch and becomes one of the favorite female coaches The Voice has ever had.

The ratings war: Someone at ABC decided it would be fun to pit the revived American Idol head to head against The Voice for part of the spring.

Once upon a time, no one thought The Voice could top Idol as fans’ favorite singing show. By the time Idol’s 15 season run ended, that’s just what had happened. The Voice was drawing more viewers, and had been for several seasons.

But the shows never aired simultaneously. That’s about to change. Idol returns March 11, then comes back with a two-hour episode Monday, March 12, around the time The Voice blind auditions will be wrapping up. Idol will continue to air for seven Mondays before cutting back to Sunday only.

Who will win the ratings battle this time? It should be fun to watch.