The Voice is a brand new spin on the music competition shows to find new singing talent that have been around for years like Pop Idol and currently The X Factor. However, having the same end point (a talented member of the British public is made a star), it is actually incredibly different. The most obvious change is the fact that the mentors do not get to see the contestant, this is created by each of the mentors being seated in what I like to think of as a glorified office chair! This means that the coaches can't see the person singing and another important thing to point is that they know nothing of the contestant about to perform. They don't know their gender, age, style, size or anything else for that matter. This really means that each contestant really really is judged on their voice.
Onto the 'Mentors'. The UK line-up consists of Danny O'Donoghue (of The Script), Sir Tom Jones (Legend), Jessie J (massive current artist) and will.i.am (the Black Eyed Peas, and incredible music producer). There is definitely no lack in talent or experience from the coaches and what is great is that they each bring something incredibly different to the table. The next stroke of genius in this show is that right from day one the coaches are up against each other to compete for the contestants that more than one of them wants on their team. This has brought endless bickering, numerous name dropping wars but most importantly a light-hearted comedic element to the programme. The other thing is that each coach only has 10 places in their team, so there is not room for being button happy. Another main difference from the other singing competition shows is that all of the people who are, quite frankly, deluded in their singing abilities or are not at an extremely high level are weeded out by producers. So if you, like me, enjoy having a giggle at the rather 'unique' voices auditioning on The X Factor or Britain's Got Talent you won't find that possible here. In the first programme, I have to admit, I missed wondering if the person walking out was going to be amazing or a singing car crash but after that I appreciated that the programme simply would not work with that in it and in fact, would be incredibly boring if there was no possibility that the mentors would ever turn their chair around for that person.
The show also lined up well known and loved presenters in Holly Willoughby and Reggie Yates. In my opinion, they are wasted on the programme. Yes, they have a quick chat with the contestants before they go on stage and offer encouragement to the family back stage while the contestants are singing, but I really don't think you would miss them if they weren't there at this point in the competition. Which in a lot of ways is good, it means that the main focus is where it should be on the contestants and mentors. However, we are only just through the auditions so hopefully they will be utilised more in the later rounds.
I have to say that I am loving this programme so far. I think that the added features brought to the table have breathed a new breath of life into singing talent competitions which I was getting a little tired of. Also, I really do think that the mentors make the programme. It has proved itself in the war of the talent show contest by making Britain's Got Talent move to a later time slot to avoid viewers having to make the choice (and more viewers choosing The Voice). I hope it continues to take its own road apart from that previous programmes have forged for programmes of this sort and I really am interested to see where it is going to go from here. Next week each coach has to chose only 5 out of their 10 singers to go forward, which should be interesting when the contestants are put up against one another.
What do you guys think? Do you think The X Factor can come back and retain it's audiences or is TV only big enough for one singing competition? As always, I would love it for you to leave your thoughts below.
Keep watching
Katie
images from http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s154/the-voice-uk/ No copy write intended
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