‘The Voice’ More Popular Than Ever, But Will It FINALLY Produce A Star?


The Voice is an award-winning program with a brilliant premise, famous coaches, and a well-known host.

Season after season, it features some of the best untapped talents in America.

Unfortunately, it’s seven seasons later and not a single career has taken off in a big way thanks to The Voice.

American Idol has gone so far downhill, it’s no longer on an incline.

But Idol can still make one boast that the Voice cannot: It’s a show that HAS launched multiple careers.

Early in the show’s history, fame came to winners Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Fantasia. Even non-winners Jennifer Hudson, Clay Aiken, Chris Daughtry, and Adam Lambert have found post-Idol success.

It seems that until only fairly recently that even when Idol contestants flopped, they still made more of a splash than anyone voted the “winner” on The Voice.

That’s very worrying.

How is it that a show full of industry insiders and talented contestants has yet to produce even a single person that Americans will spend money on beyond their appearance on the show?

The untreated Achilles heel of this series is that The Voice seems to be a vehicle for everyone associated with the show except for the singing hopefuls who audition.

Adam Levine and his band Maroon 5 have had multiple albums AND hits since he took a role as coach on The Voice.

One of the group’s more popular songs is “Moves Like Jagger,” which featured Voice coach, Christina Aguilera.

Both of this season’s newest Voice coaches, Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams, have new music out.

As did high profile guest coach Taylor Swift.

The Voice is FILLED with product placements for Kohl’s, among others.

Then there is all the money reaped by iTunes thanks to studio versions of songs selling like hotcakes.

Season 7 frontrunner Matt McAndrew earned a huge bonus this past week when his version of “Take Me To Church” peaked at #5 ahead of the live result show.

It seems impossible to argue at this point that The Voice has been good to anyone or anything BUT The Voice.

Will this season be any different?

It’s hard to say.

This seventh season of The Voice features your fangirl-friendly pop idols (Ryan Sill and Chris Jamison), your indie guys (Matt McAndrew and Taylor John Williams) and gals (Reagan James and Anita Antoinette), your “American Idol crowning vocal moment” (Damien, who interestingly enough did audition for Idol…), the blue-eyed soulsters (Luke Wade and DaNica Shirey) and a country rocker (Craig Wayne Boyd).

In other words…nothing that anyone would rush to say deviates from a formula expected of American singing competitions.

Which means the person who should win won’t, weaker vocalists will stick around longer than they should, and everyone will be left scratching their head at the point of The Voice and competitions like it.

One thing that The Voice still has in its favor is that it doesn’t turn over control to America too quickly. Part of what ruined American Idol was the terrible auditions. More people tuned in to laugh at the delusional than to listen for the talented.

The Voice forces Americans to develop an ear for people who can actually sing, and to understand WHY judges don’t turn around for the kind of people who would have gotten a gold piece of paper and a trip to Hollywood on another show.

At least by the time Voice viewers get to act on biases like looks, age, race, or musical preference, what few mediocre musicians DID make it through the auditions are gone.

Even though the remaining ten singers all fit a achingly familiar pattern for this type of series, it’s hard to argue against the potential in this group.

It would be an absolute waste if NO ONE associated with this show took the initiative to mold a star from any of the amazing talents featured on this season of The Voice.

At least one person MUST break this absolutely wretched “nobody goes anywhere on this show” mold as soon as possible.

Otherwise, the Voice may find itself deemed more of a dud than the now tragic American Idol.

[Image Credit: The Voice YouTube]

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