American Idol, X Factor, So You Think You Can Dance, America’s Got Talent… with so many talent competitions in the entertainment industry, what makes The Voice any different? Actually, there are many reasons why it’s not only different, but has earned two more seasons after its third season (which is running through the fall on NBC).
Many of us watched Idol, only listening to the judges’ commentaries with anticipation of what Simon Cowell would say, however mean it was. The Voice has not just celebrity judges, but celebrity judges that are currently on top of the musical charts—Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, and Cee Lo Green. Plus, these celebrities are not really judges on the show, but coaches. To watch The Voice is to watch how successful artists guide other potentially successful artists.
The main process is the typical one: applicants audition for the show, and talents are filtered through for selection. However, every season of The Voice starts not with the auditions of the clowns and wannabes, but with great talent. What’s more, the auditions are not called the “blind auditions” for nothing. The saying “never judge a book by its cover” describes exactly what The Voice does. With their backs to the contestants, the coaches choose talent for their teams and hopefully find “the voice for America”. Not only do judges compete with each other to find “the voice”, they also promise beforehand to dedicate their time and effort to coaching the talents they select.
The coaches personally choreograph the contestants’ every performance in The Voice. The contestants have the chance to be critiqued by their musical role models, which gives them a sense of their talents. Coaches invest time with their contestants. It’s designed not only to help talents score a chance with a record label, but also to give them an experience they can use to their advantage in different ways.
If you’re yet to be convinced that The Voice is unique, let these awards remove your doubts: this year The Voice won “Best Reality Competition” at the Critics’ Choice Television Awards this year, “Best Music Reality Show” at the Billboard Mid-year Music Awards, and it has received several nominations at other award ceremonies since it first aired in spring 2011.
