Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Voice veteran coaches Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine will be joined by Riley Green and Queen Latifah for Season 30. (NBC Photo)

Before anyone gets offended by the headline on this blog, understand that I am not talking about the quality of contestants on The Voice.

Even as the show as faded to a shadow of its former self, The Voice’s one redeeming quality has been attracting talented artists to its cast.

But, folks, there’s no way around it. In terms of the show’s format, Season 29 was a flaming piece of crap. Let us count the ways.

1. For the first time in the show’s history, there were no live shows. Every single minute of Season 29 was pre-taped.

2. For the first time ever, fans did not get to vote on who won The Voice. Voting was done by the audience, a combination of superfans and past contestants.

3. There was absolutely no indication those voters were basing their decisions on anything other than the performances they saw on the night the voting was done.

4. Artists performed for the fewest times ever. Semifinalists were picked based on just two solo performances and their battle round duet.

5. The fourth spot in the finals wasn’t based on how well the contestants did, but who won an all-star competition of past contestants. That was possibly the worst wrinkle in televised singing show history.

6. For anyone who knows The Voice’s history, the outcome was predictable by the end of the first audition episode.

nd The Voice paid the price in terms of plummeting ratings and getting drubbed on a weekly basis by American Idol every time the two singing shows went head to head.

The Voice finale did not go head to head with an episode of American Idol. Still, it drew only 3.57 million viewers. Two years prior, the spring finale of The Voice attracted 6.11 million.

That means The Voice lost 42 percent of its audience in two seasons as its format got leaner and leaner.

Ouch!

All of which is history. As for the future, there’s reason to be hopeful.

First and foremost, fan voting is back and Voice producers are promising six weeks of live shows this fall.

Fans will be able to vote via text messaging and a pinned post on TikTok, much like the voting American Idol introducted in the spring.

Six weeks of live shows would be the most The Voice has had since … are you ready for this? … Season 12 way back in the spring of 2017.

Season 30 kicks off Monday with a two-hour audition show beginning at 8 p.m. One-hour audition shows will follow on Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 8 p.m.

If you’d like a sneak peek at many of the singers we’ll meet during Season 30, follow the links below. The majority of them have released music you can check out right now.

Allie Rae
Alt Bloom
Amanda Mikkel
Anna McElroy
Brandon Diaz

Nina Howland
Owen Uffens
Sophia Liano
Wade Turner