The Blind Auditions - The Voice Primer
First of all, I love American Idol. But with the premiere of The Voice next week -- we get to extend our obsession with singing Reality Shows for a few more weeks! What's not to love? Here's a primer to get us all ready.
There are 3 parts to The Voice:
1. The Blind Auditions - The 4 coaches select 8 singers to join their "team" in a blind audition which starts off with the coaches' backs turned away from the singer. If they like what they hear, they press a button and their chair turns around. If more than one coach likes the singer - the singer gets to select who he/she wants to be with.
Just like The X Factor, the coaches ("judges") compete with each other -- but unlike the arbitrary 'groups' or 'under 16' categories of The X Factor, the teams on The Voice are singers who want to be with their coach. Also, auditions are in front of an audience - just like The X Factor!
2. Battle Round - The coaches then trim down their 8 singers to 4 singers each (to bring to the live shows). This is done via head-to-head matchup in a boxing-ring like arena. Two singers from the same team sing-off to the same song - and the coach selects who they want to keep. It's so brutal! We are going to get a diva-off!
During this stage, the coaches get guest "advisors" to help them with their decision of who to keep.
3. Voting Rounds - The Top 16 then compete for America's vote in the live shows for four weeks only (I guess one member gets eliminated from each team every week, and the last week a winner from the 4 finalists).
Somebody tell me this "gimmick" isn't good? The drama from The Blind Audition should be awesome as the coaches fight for a singer on their team. The drama from the Battle Round is even more fierce as the singers sing the SAME SONG to see who sings it better. The live shows we've seen before on American Idol and X Factor, so we all know the drill there.
The only "issue" I see is that because The Voice had auditioned to get "mature" talent that can sing well -- the talent pool is a bit older. I don't think we will see a Justin Bieber on the show. But that's OK right? You guys complain all the time about how someone is "too young" to be on American Idol, etc. You finally got your wish: it's The Voice.
Here's an example of the Blind Audition to get you guys familiar with the show. Patrick Thomas sings "Live Like You Were Dying."
Watch the video here:
