Carson Daly introduces NBC’s The Voice as a singing competition that actually spends all of its airtime focused on talented, rather than outlandish, singers. Compared to its biggest competition currently on air, Voice does an outstanding job of focusing more on the ability of the performer to sing, and less on the ability of the performer to amuse.
While I have certainly enjoyed the recently reconstructed judge’s panel on Fox’s American Idol, including Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Latina pop star Jennifer Lopez, they lack much of the chemistry, or tension, of the old crew, and often the focus is on things other than pure talent. Often, we find Steven and Randy teaming up on Jennifer to vote in a singer based on her outside appearance rather than her inner vocals.
Voice’s four “coaches” include Adam Levine, the lead singer of Maroon 5, Cee Lo Green, that man petting the fat white cat in all of the commercials, Christina Aguilera, who will never hesitate to let you know that she has been singing since she was four, and Blake Shelton, the cute innocent country boy who has attained the majority of his fame from marrying a country superstar, Miranda Lambert. The snappiness between Christina and Adam sparks viewer’s interest just as unrealized sexual tension always does. Cee Lo’s unpredictable antics (i.e. the white cat scandal) surprises viewers at every turn, and Blake’s innocent comments (“I known I’m a country boy, but I just couldn’t understand a word you were sayin’” in response to a performance in Italian by a male opera singer) make girls around the world smile and swoon.
The format of the series also improves on the basic elimination rounds that wind themselves through most other reality competition shows. Each coach chooses twelve performers to be on his or her team via blind auditions, in which the coaches sit in Star Trek chairs with their backs to the singers and are forced to evaluate ability simply on vocal talent rather than with appearance. Once each coach has selected the members of their team, they must take turns pitting the singers in their entourage against each other. Later, the coaches choose who won the duel round, narrowing their teams down to a respectable six. Moving into the live rounds, the coach’s motivate, teach, and help the performers move through until only one singer is left per team for the finale. From there, America gets to choose America’s “Voice.” The quick-moving style of the show entices me to keep watching because I am not bored by watching too many singers advance to live rounds to be eliminated one each week. I don’t ever find myself wondering why “that one guy who wore a purple beret during Hollywood week” is still on the show. I can establish closer relationships with the competitors.
Another important feature of The Voice, once again involves the judges. During the first season, not only did we enjoy respectively amateur performances by the non-famous competitors, but we also saw the impressive combination of four very different voices in several different tributes by the four coaches. In the finale and sporadically throughout the live shows, we were also treated to duets, triads, and quartets between the mentors and their mentees. These brought up the level of the show because I know that I am part of a large percentage of viewers who simply watch in the hopes that the judges will do one of two things: make a fool out of themselves or perform.
In conclusion, the Voice wins my vote for the best singing reality competition currently on air for its ingenuity in style, chemistry between judges, actual talent of performers, and quality of songs. The only thing the show is lacking is a host on par with Ryan Seacrest, but I’m sure Carson Daly will continue to hone his emceeing skills as time goes on.
