Have you watched season after season of The Voice, but felt there was something off about
the entire show?
Don't worry, plenty of people feel the same way, and with good reason.
The Voice might be a hit series for NBC, but it's bad news for anyone wanting an authentic
singing competition.
From the way the show treats its contestants, to the format itself, here are some reasons
why The Voice is totally fake.
Coaching for the cameras
Isn't it amazing that these megastars with established music careers, upcoming albums,
and arenas to fill can take time from their busy schedules to work with dozens of Voice
contestants?
Well, if it seems unbelievable, that's probably because it doesn't actually happen.
Just ask Season 6 contestant Ddendyl Hoyt, who told The Washington Post that much of
the "coaching" comes from a team of staff members — not the celebrity judges.
"What [Voice producers] don't show is all the coaching that comes from the staff.
The vocal coaches, the band director, the producers — everyone has notes for you."
Though Hoyt was on "Team Shakira," she revealed she only met with the Latin pop princess for
taped portions of the show.
Otherwise, she and the other contestants were left to figure it out for themselves.
Judgy judges
If the rumors are to be believed, the friendly banter we see in each episode may be an outright
lie.
The Voice judge Adam Levine reportedly had a long-running feud with former judge Christina
Aguilera, and rumor has it Aguilera quit the show over an alleged beef with Gwen Stefani.
That sounds like a lotta drama.
There are multiple reports that Levine is also feuding with judge Miley Cyrus.
You wouldn't know it on TV, but a source told Us Weekly the two "totally butted heads" when
she was a guest mentor, so her promotion to the role of a season-long coach was probably
not something Levine supported.
Supposedly, Cyrus and Levine are too similar.
"They both have short attention spans.
They find each other annoying.
Adam would get agitated when Miley would interrupt him, and she enjoyed getting under his skin."
Television roots
On its surface, The Voice seems very similar to other singing competition shows such as
American Idol or X-Factor, yet there's one very big difference: the main forces behind
those other shows have ties to the music industry.
X-Factor creator Simon Cowell and American Idol creator Simon Fuller are men with decades
of music industry experience and relevant connections.
The show runners behind The Voice are centered on television and have almost nothing to do
with the music business — which helps explain why even the winning contestants have had
trouble forging successful mainstream music careers.
And while we're on that subject…
Winning means little
Quick, how many superstars has The Voice produced?
That's right: Zero.
The series hasn't even produced a flash-in-the-pan or a one-hit wonder.
For all The Voice's early boasts about what separated it from similar talent shows, the
one defining factor to date is its lack of lasting musical careers.
While there are still starry-eyed hopefuls competing on The Voice, desperate to make
something happen, the trend thus far has been a short stint in the spotlight, followed by
an unceremonious fade into obscurity.
Heck, a person has a better chance of blowing up via YouTube than The Voice.
Just ask Justin Bieber.
Votes?
What votes?
If you really believe you have the final say in who actually progresses or wins on The
Voice, you've been duped.
According to the New York Daily News, contestants and audience members actually have very little
power.
The iron-clad contracts that Voice contestants eagerly sign in pursuit of stardom put the
power entirely in the hands of Voice producers.
They can decide to eliminate a contestant whenever it pleases them, even if they're
"winning with the public."
That revelation makes the need to phone in to save so-and-so rather pointless, doesn't
it?
How do you know if a contestant survived due to the will of faithful viewers or the whim
of Voice producers?
It takes the real out of "reality."
Contestants are an afterthought
The Voice claims to be about the contestants, but the show actually devotes most of its
time to showcasing its lineup of superstar judges.
According to Billboard, "the show's greatest use" has been "taking established artists
and making them bigger — much bigger — while showcasing a celebrity chemistry using high-caliber
names that usually don't tread in prime-time reality."
That might explain why no new hit performers have emerged from the show — because the
network is more concerned with promoting their big name mentors rather than their no-name
pupils.
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