G-Eazy with rapper Tory Lanez on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last year. (NBC Photo)
And, as always, there will be time in the hour-long festivities for a guest performance.
So, did The Voice turn to Season 10 winner Alisan Porter to fill the spot? Alisan just announced she’ll release her first post-show music next Friday.
Nope.
How about Blake Shelton’s tour-mate RaeLynn? Earlier this month, she became just the second former Voice contestant to debut an album at number one on the Billboard country chart.
Nope.
How about the Swon Brothers? Or Adam Wakefield? Or Jake Worthington? All former finalists, each has released new music lately.
Nope, nope and nope.
Not even Dia Frampton, the Season 1 runner-up, who released a superb new album earlier this year? I mean, she’s based in L.A., for crying out loud.
Nope.
The Voice instead has decided to shine a spotlight on G-Eazy. He’s described as “multi-platinum superstar” in the show’s Friday press release. Which sort of tells me he doesn’t need any help selling his music.
This is nothing new, of course. The Voice Season 11 finale featured performances from The Weeknd, Sting and Bruno Mars, none of whom had anything to do with Season 11. The Voice didn’t bring a single past contestant to perform, despite all the great music Voice alumni had released in 2016.
Look, if there was any evidence that Voice ratings shot into the stratosphere when a guest like G-Eazy shows up, I’d understand the show’s stubborn resistance to using every available guest spot to promote a past contestant.
But since there isn’t, it just seems to me the show is turning its back on its own. These singers releasing new music are, after all, the performers who helped draw viewers to The Voice in seasons past.
And most of them are releasing their music independently, without the help of a record label, meaning they could use the boost a televised performance in front of millions of viewers would provide.
Oh well, perhaps I’m expecting too much. The show has finally started posting full YouTube videos of performances that are montaged on the show. And it’s taken a tiny step in the right direction by posting “After the Voice” videos featuring past contestant on its YouTube channel.
Maybe two miracles in one season is all we can expect.
But I’ll keep hoping. After all, there are more elimination shows to come.
Tuesday’s show also will include a special announcement from the family of Christina Grimmie, the Season 6 Voice standout shot to death following a concert in Florida last summer.
Christina’s family and management team released a four-track EP of her music on Friday. A full album, “All is Vanity,” including those songs and more, is set for release on June 2.
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3 Comments
Alisan will be performing during Top 11 week. She’s already rehearsed with the band.
Absolutely fabulous news. And a step in the right direction. Doesn’t change fact that the G-Eazy spot could have gone to any of a couple of dozen deserving former contestants who have new music out this year.
Unless the contestants are signed with Republic in some shape or form, they won’t be featured. The Voice wants to make money and if the artist is independent, they don’t gain anything from the show. They care more about ratings and giving the coaches more air time than anything else.