NBC's "The Voice" has hardly produced a memorable winner with a mainstream music
career. And with several contestants reporting behind-the-scenes controversy of the show,
one has to wonder if it's worth it for the contestants.
Would you sign your life away for the chance to win it all on "The
Voice?" According to leaked documents obtained by the New York Daily News,
participants kind of are. They’re subject to the show changing the
rules at any time. This includes eliminating contestants who are favored by the public.
It goes on to detail that the show can ignore votes, and even force contestants to go through
psycho-evaluations, which could be released to the public. Aspiring "Voice" contestants must
prepare for the court of public opinion. The contract states that a contestant's portrayal,
"may be disparaging, defamatory,
embarrassing (and) may expose me to public ridicule, humiliation or condemnation."
Signers are also subjected to removal from the show at any time based on the production's
discretion. That stipulation could be to blame for Judith Hill's shocking upset elimination in Season
4, as viewers speculated whether her departure was a ploy for dramatic effect. It also could
explain away voting discrepancies, which has had the network tossing out "inconsistent" votes more
than once. Contestants who divulge any contract details could be liable for up to $1 million.
Tensions flared in the Season 22 semifinals of "The Voice" when the show was accused of
racism after it narrowed it down to its top four contestants. According to USA Today,
Judge Blake Shelton had his way—per usual—when his team members Bodie,
Brayden Lape, and Bryce Leatherwood were advanced to the next round.
"Stand up. Let's stand together. Let's do it together. We're in this together."
John Legend's three performers Kim Cruse, Parijita Bastola,
and Omar Cardona duked it out in the bottom four against Gwen Stefani's last remaining
team member Justin Aaron. Cardona eventually advanced, but not before igniting a firestorm
of public opinion. The top four performers were white, while the bottom four contestants were
black—causing many Twitter users to speculate on the show's motives. One user tweeted,
"The demographic who watches 'The Voice' is definitely racist and favors the young,
white, country male singers. They're not even
the most talented. Let a POC get the spotlight they deserve. #TheVoice."
Despite the criticism, some disagree with calling out the network. One viewer tweeted,
"Why was this racist? Clearly not everyone enjoys Broadway singers…voice is and always has
been diverse despite poc being less than 13% of population..quit with the gaslighting #TheVoice."
Life for a contestant on "The Voice" is heavily controlled — and that includes
the songs they’re able to sing. Former Season 1 contestant Frenchie Davis went on to win her
battle round with Beyonce's famous track "Single Ladies," but she never understood why the song was
handpicked for her to duke it out against Tarralyn Ramsey. Davis told Cosmopolitan.
"It's always hysterical when the judges say,
'I don't think that was a good song choice for you,' and I'm thinking, You picked that song.'"
Despite it being the norm for battle round songs to be out of the contestant's hands—it's
not always the case on the show. Season 16 winner Maelyn Jarmon told Country Living that
collaborating with her coach John Legend made all the difference. Jarmon revealed,
"Those song choices are everything. I think the advantages [of working with John] were
that he knew how to pick songs for me and he knew once he heard my voice what would work."
The winner told the magazine that once a mutually agreed upon song was reached
with her coach, legal steps followed. Legend said,
"I'd do calls with her just to go over song ideas and we would have the person in charge of going
out and getting licenses on the phone to make sure we could actually pull off the requests we had."
When Judith Hill was shockingly eliminated from Season 4 of "The
Voice," nobody was more surprised than her coach Adam Levine. So much so,
that the Maroon 5 singer was caught saying, quote, "I hate this country," thanks to his hot mic.
"I'm very much okay with who I am. I'm comfortable in my skin enough to embrace that,
even though I don't say everything the right way."
Levine first addressed his comment by tweeting the definition of "humorless,"
seemingly taking a stab at his critics. He went on to make an
official apology statement per The Hollywood Reporter, saying,
"I obviously love my country very much and my comments last night were made purely out
of frustration. [...] Last night's elimination of Judith and Sarah was confusing and downright
emotional for me and my comments were made based on my personal dissatisfaction with the results."
Despite his apology, the "Moves Like Jagger" singer received mixed
reactions from Twitter users. One user tweeted,
"@adamlevine OWN your s***! We all have disappointments but u don't blame your
country! #disgraceadamlevine you basically said voters suck!??"
Others, however, seemed just as upset at the unforeseen upset elimination. Another user wrote.
"@adamlevine you are not alone brother. so unbelievably shocked
and saddened and MADDENED at what happened last night too."
It may be "The Voice," but that doesn't mean every voter has one. The show has run into its
fair share of voting glitches over 22 seasons it has been on the air. As per Billboard,
the first controversy occurred on Season 4 when Host Carson Daly admitted to the
audience that inconsistencies in that week's online and text votes had led to
the network tossing out all votes cast online or via text. Daly asked onstage,
"Telescope certifies that removing those votes did
not affect the outcome for any team. Is that correct?"
The Telescope representative replied that it was, quote, "100 percent correct."
"With today's media, it's pretty transparent. I
mean the worst thing you can do now, is like, try and cover something up."
The show found itself in the middle of another voting controversy in Season 6,
involving that season's winner, Josh Kaufman. Viewers were able to cast votes by downloading
a contestant's song on iTunes, but Kaufman's was difficult for voters to find during the
broadcast because it had been located under the albums section and not the song section,
ultimately affecting his number of downloads. The network decided to resolve the controversy
by not counting any votes cast by iTunes, and Daly once again tried
to resolve viewers' skepticism by promising the outcome wasn't changed by the tossed-out votes.
Despite what viewers see on television, the beloved celebrity coaches on "The Voice"
may not be as hands-on as they seem. Though the production team wants you
to believe these big stars take time out of their jam-packed schedule to hand down
tokens of hard-earned wisdom to their team members—it's just not the case.
Former contestant Ddendyl Hoyt told the Washington Post that her coach Shakira wasn't as present as
skillful editing led viewers to believe. Hoyt revealed she only met the "Hips Don't
Lie" singer for taped coaching sessions. The Season 6 contestant also revealed that much
of the constructive criticism comes from team members that never appear on-air. Hoyt confessed,
"The vocal coaches, the band director, the producers—everyone has notes for you."
Not every former contestant had the same coaching experience. Season 1 contestant
Dia Frampton told Cosmopolitan that her former coach Blake Shelton always texted
back when she was worried about something. Kat Perkins had a similar experience on Season 6,
recalling that her coach Adam Levine was available by a "Voice" specific
email and phone number that was managed by his assistant. She said,
"I could email Adam literally 24/7 and he was really great about responding and
making sure I felt comfortable, even during the night before."
Former Season 1 and 2 contestants also revealed
Shelton opened his house for parties and barbecues.
As much as "The Voice" wants you to believe that contestants are all given a fair shot,
think again—this is an edited television program after all. Singer Adam Weiner said
as much to Digital Music News when he revealed that one of the casting agents
for the show contacted his agent Stu Walker. Weiner is the frontman for Low Cut Connie,
an American rock and roll band based out of Philadelphia. Weiner said,
"After some emails back and forth between them, with Stu not showing a huge amount
of haste or passion for the idea, she let him know that someone had dropped
out of season 9 and that they wanted to fast-track me onto the current season…"
Ultimately the musician declined the offer, not wanting to drop tour dates
and get wrapped into a binding contract with the network. Chloe Kohanski had a
similar experience on Season 13 of the show. The former contestant went on to
win the competition and later revealed that she didn't even have to audition.
The singer told Parade magazine that she was handpicked to be a contestant.
The idea of an everyday average Joe turning into a superstar overnight
is something that drives American pop culture—and television ratings. Given
mediums like Instagram and TikTok, it seems like everybody has a fair shot.
On shows like "The Voice," however, the network capitalizes on the fame of its
celebrity judges more than the amateur singers that it seemingly promotes. Judge
Adam Levine has the show to thank for his career uptick, launching a Kmart deal and
two fragrances after he initially signed on for a three-year contract with "The Voice."
"It was, like, a life-altering experience to be on that show."
His album "Overexposed" which was his first release post "Voice" debuted at
number two in the United States and number
one in the United Kingdom. With the great ratings and big-name judges,
why is it that so few artists have achieved mainstream success after winning the show?
In over a decade of "The Voice" being on-air, it has yet to produce a star
similar to "American Idol" winners Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood. The problem,
according to Levine, stems from mismanagement with Republic Records,
the company that signs the winning "Voice" contestant. He told the Howard Stern Show,
"No one knows what they're doing."
"The Voice" hardly ever props up artists with the best talent. Will.i.am,
who has been a judge on the show's UK program, revealed that the network seeks to produce
good television—not fulfill an artist's expectations. He revealed to Switched On,
"It's typical TV. They rarely vote for the person with the best voice. It isn't
really the best voice that wins, even though the show is called 'The Voice.'"
Season One's runner-up Dia Frampton revealed to HuffPost that her backstory
was taken out of context by the production team. She confessed.
"I was introduced as the children's book author,
which was something I very lightly touched upon when we were doing interviews."
Frampton went on the show to promote her and her sister's indie-rock band "Meg & Dia,"
which was never mentioned on the show. Though she signed with Universal Records as a solo artist,
her fame fizzled out shortly after it began. Post "Voice" Frampton found herself back to square one,
working minimum wage and helping write songs for other artists.
Adam Levine has had his fair share of hiccups on "The Voice." The "Animals"
singer came under fire yet again in Season 15 when he favored one of his team members
over the other. The issue arose when Levine's team members DeAndre Nico and fan-favorite
Reagan Strange were both in the bottom three, but Strange was sick and unable to perform.
As per USA Today, the "Sugar" singer encouraged viewers to vote for Strange over Nico,
even though Nico had sung and she had not. He told audience members,
who ultimately opted to save Strange, that he had a, quote, "special relationship" with Reagan.
"I love you. I appreciate what you've done here tonight and honestly I think
you should both be there but I gotta to fight for my girl."
Nico spoke to 12 News Now about the elimination sharing that he
felt like Levine sold him out. He added,
"We did our job,
sick or not... I just got over laryngitis, and still, when I came back I still sang."
Nico went on to say he felt cast aside by his own coach. Levine
addressed the controversy on a later episode saying,
"It was a strange week, but it's over now, DeAndre's my boy. I love him. We talked."
Not all viewers were convinced, however, with one tweeting,
"Lost all respect for Adam Levine in this moment. His lack of respect for his other
contestant was despicable! He could have shown grace,
respect and courtesy to DeAndre then put in a plug for Reagan."