Will.i.am Says Universal Destroyed ‘The Voice’ Winners Album With Late Release


Will.i.am is not happy with the treatment The Voice winner Leanne Mitchell has received from record label Universal.

Leanne walked away with the season 3 title on the popular singing competition, but her album refused to reach the top 40 and in fact missed the top 100 all together.

Will.i.am has acted as a coach on the popular NBC series, and he says Universal didn’t quickly enough capitalize on the winners rising star.

The Black Eyed Peas founding member tells The BBC: “The record company should be freakin’ embarrassed. Somebody should be held accountable.”

He adds: “These singers are on television every week. So you’ve already accomplished things that stars don’t accomplish.”

Will.i.am believes record labels who pick up finalists in singing competitions should be ready with a new record to release within a matter of days.

Universal took nearly a full year to release Leanne Mitchell’s album to which Will.i.am responded: “Do you wait a year later? Somebody should get slapped because you waited too long.”

While speaking with The BBC, Will.i.am also adamantly denied that he is currently working with Simon Cowell.

In the meantime, Will.i.am is enrolling in a computer science class this year and is working on a new reality TV show that is based around technology.

Will.i.am’s statement about The Voice winners unfortunate album release date arrives on the same day that season 4 of The Voice will draw to a close.

Perhaps the new winner of The Voice will see better results now that Universal has been called out for slowing the album release schedule.

This is hardly the first time an album has been delayed after a major competition win; many American Idol contestants have suffered the same fate.

Do you think Will.i.am is right about the slow release schedule for winners of singing competitions?

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