The Voice



I know there are four judges,
but I like this one. Alright???

If you have watched anything on NBC for the past month, you’ve seen promos for The Voice. It’s billed as a new singing competition. Not exactly,  it’s new to us here in the States but it’s based on a successful show called The Voice out of Holland.
It ‘s a pretty convoluted set-up. There are four judges: Christina Aguilera, Maroon Five’s Adam Levine, Cee-lo Green and country crooner Blake Shelton. As the commercial you’ve seen a million times shows you, the contestants audition for the judges while their backs are turned. If the judge like what he/she hears, they can choose to turn their chair around.

The goal is for each judge to come up with a team of eight singers. If more than one judge wants the same singer, the singer gets to choose who they want to work with.

After that, each coach works with and mentors the singers on their team. Somehow each group of eight gets whittled down to four and that’s when the real competition for The Voice begins. Somehow I missed the sneak peek of the show, but the buzz it generated was really impressive. But the big question was, would I be impressed.

Well…

I liked it! Sure it’s another vocal competition but at least it has some originality going for it. First off, all of the judges are singers and performers which they proved when they opened with Cee-Lo’s Crazy. Then, all of the contestants were at least decent singers. There were no gimmicky performers or deluded faux singers. These were all people who could sing.

I enjoyed being able to see the singers before the judges could … And, speaking of the judges, I like the way they played off of each other, and play they did. It seemed like they were enjoying themselves and having fun. It made the atmosphere looser and more engaging.

As I prepare to watch Idol, I appreciate even more the fact that these contestants from their teens through their 40s were picked on talent alone.

We have one more week where they judges will finish selecting their teams, then the mentoring process and the competition begins.

I’m in. Look for recaps here!