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"The room is filled with people, but everyone is dead silent. And all we can hear is footsteps as they walk out on stage. All they hear, of course, is *thump*thump* *thump*thump* from their heartbeats. And then, right before the music starts, there's this sharp inhale…"
Danny O'Donoghue, coach for The Voice UK

The Voice is an International Talent Show (based on The Voice of Holland, a Dutch talent show) with a twist. Four coaches — who are, typically, incredibly popular musicians — are each competing to pick out the best singers, whom they will then train to compete for the overall title… but during the auditions, they are seated with their backs to the stage, forcing them to select solely based on... well, the voice. It is shown in multiple countries across the world.

The full format of the show is as follows:

  • The Blind Auditions: Artists selected to compete in the Blind Auditions are sent on stage one-by-one to sing their chosen song, with the coaches seated backs to the stage. If, during the song, any of the coaches decide that they like what they're hearing, they can press their button, their chair will turn around, and the contestant will take a place on their team. However, if more than one coach turns around, the contestant will choose which coach's team they want to join. Season 14 added a new feature which allows a coach to block another coach from getting the same artist.
  • The Battle Rounds: After several weeks of coaching with a celebrity mentor of the coach's choosing, each coach pairs up the artists on their team to sing the same song head-to-head on the same stage. They are then forced to eliminate one artist in each pair. Season 3 added a new rule that says each coach can steal 2 contestants who lost their battle round and add them to their team. If more than one coach tries to steal an artist, the artist chooses which coach they want to work with.
  • The Knockout Rounds: This stage, added on season 3 of the US version, is a mixture of the blind auditions and the battle rounds. Two contestants on the same team face off for a spot in the live shows, but they choose their own songs and perform them alone (one artist watches while the other performs). In season 5, a new rule was added, stating the coaches could steal one losing contestant (just like in the battles). Season 6 introduced the Key Advisor — a celebrity mentor who works with all four teams.
    • Season 16 replaced this with the Cross Battles: Like in the Knockouts, artists go one-on-one and choose their own songs; but here the battles are between teams instead of artists on the same team: each coach, in turn, chooses one of their artists for the battle and challenges another coach, who then gets to choose one of their own artists in response. The battles are then decided by audience vote as in the Live shows. Coaches are still allowed to steal one losing artist as in the previous rounds, but are also allowed one "save" that keeps an artist on their own team from leaving. This was scrapped the following season.
  • The Live Performance Rounds: The traditional Talent Show voting stage — first, each team is whittled down to one contestant, and then these last four face off in the final voting round. Once again, in season 3 there was a rule change so that, once each team had 3 artists left, the 2 contestants with the lowest amount of votes would go home each week, regardless of team. Season 5 introduced the Instant Save — at the end of the results show, the three artists who received the lowest amount of votes are revealed, and after each performs again, viewers have five minutes to use Twitter to vote for who to save.

Does not actually involve The Voice.


    Coaches 
The coaches for the American series are:

The coaches for the British series are:

The coaches for the Australian series are:

The coaches for the Brazilian series are:

  • Lulu Santos: Season One to Present.
  • Carlinhos Brown: Season One to Seven (plus The Voice Kids).
  • Claudia Leitte: Season One to Present (plus The Voice Kids season Three to Present).
  • Daniel: Season One to Three.
  • Michel Teló: Season Four to Present.
  • Ivete Sangalo: Season Six to Present (plus The Voice Kids season One and Two).
  • Iza: Season Eight to Present
  • Victor & Léo: The Voice Kids season One and Two.
  • Simone & Simaria: The Voice Kids season Three to Present

The coaches for the Russian series are:

  • Dima Bilan: Season One to Two, Three and Five to Six (also The Voice Kids season One to Four).
  • Pelageya: Seasons One to Three, Six and Nine to Present (also The Voice Kids season One to Three, Five to Six and The Voice 60+ season One to Two).
  • Alexander Gradskiy: Seasons One to Four and Six.
  • Leonid Agutin: Seasons One to Three and Five to Six (also The Voice Kids season Three and The Voice 60+ season One).
  • Grigory Leps: Seasons Four and Five.
  • Polina Gagarina: Season Four to Five and Eight (also The Voice Kids Season Seven to Present).
  • Basta (Vasily Vakulenko): Season Four and Seven (also The Voice Kids Season Five and Seven to Present).
  • Sergey Shnurov: Season Seven to Present.
  • Konstantin Meladze: Season Seven to Present.
  • Ani Lorak: Season Seven.
  • Valeriy Syutkin: Season Eight to Present.
  • Maxim Fadeev: The Voice Kids season One to Six.
  • Nyusha: The Voice Kids season Four.
  • Valery Meladze: The Voice Kids season Four to Present (also The Voice 60+ season One).
  • LOBODA: The Voice Kids season Six.
  • Lev Leshchenko: The Voice 60+ season One to Two.
  • Valeriya: The Voice 60+ season Two.
  • Mikhail Boyarsky: The Voice 60+ season Two.

The coaches for the French series are:

  • Florent Pagny: Season One to Seven.
  • Jenifer: Season One to Four and Eight (also The Voice Kids).
  • Louis Bertignac: Seasons One and Two (also The Voice Kids season One to Two).
  • Garou: Seasons One to Three and Five (also The Voice Kids season One).
  • Mika: Seasons Three to Eight
  • Zazie: Season Four to Seven
  • Matt Pokora: Season Six (also The Voice Kids season Three to Four)
  • Pascal Obispo: Season Seven and Season Nine to Present.
  • Soprano: Season Eight (also The Voice Kids season Five to Present).
  • Julien Clerc: Season Eight.
  • Marc Lavoine: Season Nine to Present.
  • Lara Fabian: Season Nine to Present.
  • Amel Bent: Season Nine to Present (also The Voice Kids season Five to Six).
  • Patrick Fiori: The Voice Kids season Two to Present.
  • Kendji Girac: The Voice Kids season Seven to Present.

The coaches for the Philippine series are:

  • apl.de.ap: Seasons One and Two (also The Voice Teens season two to present)
  • Lea Salonga: Seasons One and Two (also The Voice Kids and The Voice Teens)
  • Sarah Geronimo: Seasons One and Two (also The Voice Kids season one to two and four to present and The Voice Teens)
  • Bamboo Manalac: Seasons One and Two (also The Voice Kids and The Voice Teens)
  • Sharon Cuneta: The Voice Kids season three (also The Voice Teens season one)

The coaches for the Chinese series are:

  • Yang Kun: Seasons One and Three
  • Na Ying: Season One to Five and Eight to Present.
  • Liu Huan: Season One
  • Harlem Yu Chengqing: Seasons One to Two, Four to Five and Seven to Present.
  • Wang Feng: Seasons Two to Five
  • "A-mei" Zhang Huimei: Season Two
  • Chyi Chin: Season Three
  • Jay Chou: Season Four to Seven.
  • Eason Chan: Season Six
  • Liu Huan: Season Six
  • Li Jian: Season Seven
  • Nicholas Tse: Season Seven
  • Li Ronghao: Season Eight to Present
  • Wang Leehom: Season Eight to Present

The coaches for the Irish series are:

The coaches for the Quebec series are:

  • Marc Dupré: Season One to Five and Seven to Present (also La Voix Junior)
  • Jean-Pierre Ferland: Season One
  • Marie-Mai: Season One and La Voix Junior.
  • Ariane Moffatt: Seasons One and Four
  • Isabelle Boulay: Seasons Two to Three and Five
  • Louis-Jean Cormier: Season Two
  • Éric Lapointe: Seasons Two to Seven
  • Pierre Lapointe: Season Three to Five and Seven to Present
  • Alex Nevsky: Season Six to Seven (also La Voix Junior)
  • Garou: Season Six and Eight to Present
  • Lara Fabian: Season Six to Seven
  • Cœur de pirate: Season Eight to Present

The coaches for the German series are:

  • Nena: Season One to Three (also on "The Voice Kids" Season Five to Six with her daughter Larissa)
  • The BossHoss: Season One to Three (also on "The Voice Kids" Season Seven and "The Voice Senior" Season One and Two)
  • Rea Garvey: Seasons One, Two, Four and Five, Nine to Present
  • Xavier Naidoo: Seasons One and Two
  • Samu Haber: Seasons Three and Four, Six to Eight
  • Max Herre: Season Three
  • Michi Beck and Smudo: Seasons Four to Eight
  • Stefanie Kloß: Seasons Four to Five (also on "The Voice Kids" Season Seven)
  • Andreas Bourani: Seasons Five and Six
  • Yvonne Catterfeld: Season Six to Eight (also on "The Voice Senior" Season One and Two"
  • Mark Forster: Since Season Seven (also on "The Voice Kids" Season Three to Present and "The Voice Senior" Season One)
  • Michael Patrick Kelly: Season Eight (also on "The Voice Senior" Season Two)
  • Nico Santos: Comeback Stage coach; Season Nine to Present
  • Alice Merton: Season Nine to Present
  • Sido: Season Nine to Present
  • Lena: "The Voice Kids" Season One to Four, Seven to Present
  • Tim Bendzko: "The Voice Kids" Season One
  • Johannes Strate: "The Voice Kids" Season Two
  • Sasha: "The Voice Kids" Season Four to Five and Eight to Present (also on "The Voice Senior" Season One and Two)
  • Max Giesinger: "The Voice Kids" Season Six, Eight to Present
  • Henning Wehland: "The Voice Kids" Season One to Two
  • Lukas Nimscheck & Flo Sump: "The Voice Kids" Season Eight to Present

The coaches for the Finnish series are:


    Season-by-season rundown — American series 
  • Season 1 — April 26, 2011 to June 29, 2011
    • Winner: Javier Colon (of Adam Levine's team)
  • Season 2 — February 5, 2012 to May 8, 2012
    • Winner: Jermaine Paul (of Blake Shelton's team)
  • Season 3 — September 10, 2012 to December 18, 2012
    • Winner: Cassadee Pope, the first female winner of the show and former frontwoman of the band Hey Monday (of Blake Shelton's team)
  • Season 4 — March 25, 2013 to June 18, 2013
    • Winner: 16-year-old country singer Danielle Bradbery (of Blake Shelton's team)
  • Season 5 — September 23, 2013 to December 17, 2013
    • Winner: Jamaican reggae powerhouse Tessanne Chin (of Adam Levine's team)
  • Season 6 — February 24, 2014 to May 20, 2014
    • Winner: Bespectacled soul singer Josh Kaufman, the show's oldest winner at 38 (of Usher's team)
  • Season 7 — September 22, 2014 to December 16, 2014
    • Winner: Southern rocker Craig Wayne Boyd (of Blake Shelton's team)
  • Season 8 — February 23, 2015 to May 19, 2015
    • Winner: 17-year-old folk rocker Sawyer Fredericks (of Pharrell Williams' team)
  • Season 9 — September 21, 2015 to December 15, 2015
    • Winner: Pop powerhouse Jordan Smith (of Adam Levine's team)
  • Season 10 — February 29, 2016 to May 24, 2016
    • Winner: Powerhouse vocalist and former child actress Alisan Porter (of Christina Aguilera's team)
  • Season 11 — September 19, 2016 to December 13, 2016
    • Winner: Soulful country singer Sundance Head (of Blake Shelton's team)
  • Season 12 — February 27, 2017 to May 23, 2017
    • Winner: Soul singer Chris Blue (of Alicia Keys' team)
  • Season 13 — September 25, 2017 to December 19, 2017
    • Winner: Alt-rocker Chloe Kohanski (of Blake Shelton’s team)
  • Season 14 — February 26 to May 22, 2018
    • Winner: 15-year-old pop singer Brynn Cartelli (of Kelly Clarkson’s team)
  • Season 15 — September 24 to December 18, 2018
    • Winner: 16-year-old country singer Chevel Shepherd (of Kelly Clarkson’s team)
  • Season 16 — February 25 to May 21, 2019
    • Winner: Ethereal pop-soul singer Maelyn Jarmon (of John Legend’s team)
  • Season 17 — September 23 to December 17, 2019
    • Winner: Country singer Jake Hoot (of Kelly Clarkson's team)
  • Season 18 — February 24 to May 19, 2020
    • Winner: Soft rocker Todd Tilghman (of Blake Shelton’s team)
  • Season 19 — October 19 to December 15, 2020
    • Winner: 15-year-old pop singer Carter Rubin (of Gwen Stefani’s team)
  • Season 20 — March 1 to May 25, 2021
    • Winner: Soulful pop singer Cam Anthony (of Blake Shelton’s team)
  • Season 21 — September 20 to December 14, 2021
    • Winner: Folk trio Girl Named Tom (of Kelly Clarkson’s team)
  • Season 22 — September 19 to December 13, 2022
    • Winner: Country singer Bryce Leatherwood (of Blake Shelton’s team)
  • Season 23 — March 6 to May 23, 2023
    • Winner: Pop singer Gina Miles (of Niall Horan’s team)
  • Season 24 — September 25 to December 19, 2023
    • Winner: Blues rocker Huntley (of Niall Horan's team)


    Season-by-season rundown — British series 
  • Series 1 — March 24, 2012 to June 2, 2012
    • Winner: Leanne Mitchell (of Tom Jones' team)
  • Series 2 — March 30, 2013 to June 22, 2013
    • Winner: Blind singer Andrea Begley (of Danny O'Donoghue's team)
  • Series 3 — January 11, 2014 to April 5, 2014
    • Winner: Jermain Jackman (of will.i.am's team)
  • Series 4 — January 10, 2015 to April 4, 2015
    • Winner: Indie rocker Stevie McCrorie (of Ricky Wilson's team)
  • Series 5 — January 9, 2016 to April 9, 2016
    • Winner: Pop singer Kevin Simm, a former member of Liberty X, a group formed by the runner-ups of another talent show, Popstars (of Ricky Wilson's team)
  • Series 6 — January 7, 2017 to April 2, 2017
    • Winner: Pop-soul singer Mo Adeniran (of Jennifer Hudson's team)
  • Series 7 — January 6, 2018 to April 7, 2018
    • Winner: R&B singer Ruti Olajugbagbe (of Tom Jones' team)
  • Series 8 — January 5, 2019 to April 6, 2019
    • Winner: Molly Hocking (of Olly Murs' team)


    Season-by-season rundown — Australian series 
  • Series 1 — April 15, 2012 to June 18, 2012
    • Winner: Blues singer Karise Eden (of Seal's team)
  • Series 2 — April 7, 2013 to June 17, 2013
    • Winner: Crooner Harrison Craig (of Seal's team)
  • Series 3 — May 4, 2014 to July 21, 2014
    • Winner: Pop vocalist Anja Nissen (of will.i.am's team)
  • Series 4 — June 28, 2015 to August 30, 2015
    • Winner: Pop vocalist Ellie Drennan (of Jessie J's team)
  • Series 5 — May 1, 2016 to July 10, 2016
    • Winner: Alfie Arcuri (of Delta Goodrem's team)
  • Series 6 — April 24, 2017 to July 2, 2017
    • Winner: Judah Kelly (of Delta Goodrem's team)
  • Series 7 — April 15, 2018 to June 17, 2018
    • Winner: Sam Perry (of Kelly Rowland's team)
  • Series 8 — May 19, 2019 to July 7, 2019
    • Winner: Diana Rouvas (of Boy George's team)
  • Series 9 — May 24, 2020 to July 19, 2020
    • Winner: Chris Sebastian (of Kelly Rowland's team)
  • Series 10 — August 8, 2021 to September 12, 2021
    • Winner: Bella Taylor-Smith (of Guy Sebastian's team)
  • Series 11 — April 18, 2022 to May 29, 2022
    • Winner: Lachie Gill (of Rita Ora's team)
  • Series 12 — August 6, 2023 to October 8, 2023
    • Winner: Tarryn Stokes (of Rita Ora's team)


    Season-by-season rundown — Brazilian series 
  • Season 1 — September 23, 2012 to December 16, 2012
    • Winner: Ellen Oléria (of Carlinhos Brown's team)
  • Season 2 — October 3, 2013 to December 26, 2013
    • Winner: Sam Alves (of Cláudia Leitte's team)
  • Season 3 — September 18, 2014 to December 25, 2014
    • Winner(s): Danilo Reis & Rafael (of Lulu Santos' team)
  • Season 4 — October 1, 2015 to December 25, 2015
    • Winner: Renato Vianna (of Michel Teló's team)
  • Season 5 — October 5, 2016 to December 29, 2016
    • Winner: Mylena Jardim (of Michel Teló's team)
  • Season 6 — September 21, 2017 to December 21, 2017
    • Winner: Samantha Ayara (of Michel Teló's team)
  • Season 7 — July 17, 2018 to September 27, 2018
    • Winner: Léo Pain (of Michel Teló's team)
  • Season 8 — July 30, 2019 to October 3, 2019
    • Winner: Tony Gordon (of Michel Teló's team)


    Season-by-season rundown — German series 
  • Season 1 — November 24, 2011 to February 10, 2012
    • Winner: Ivy Quainoo (of The Boss Hoss' team)
  • Season 2 — October 18, 2012 to November 14, 2012
  • Season 3 — October 17, 2013 to December 20, 2013
    • Winner: Andreas Kümmert (of Max Herre's team)
  • Season 4 — October 9, 2014 to December 12, 2014
    • Winner: Charley Ann Schmutzler (of Michi Beck's and Smudo's team)
  • Season 5 — October 14, 2015 to December 17, 2015
    • Winner: Jamie Lee Kriewitz (of Michi Beck's and Smudo's team)
  • Season 6 — October 20, 2016 to December 19, 2016
  • Season 7 — October 19, 2017 to December 17, 2017
    • Winner: Natia Todua (of Samu Haber's Team)
  • Season 8 — October 18, 2018 to December 16, 2018
    • Winner: Samuel Rösch (of Michael Patrick Kelly's team)
  • Season 9 — September 12, 2019 to November 10, 2019
    • Winner: Claudia Emmanuela Santoso (of Alice Merton's team)


This show provides examples of:

  • Blasé Boast:
    • On the British show the judges are fond of name-dropping the famous singers they know, sometimes as a way of seducing an auditionee onto their team, sometimes just out of habit. It's become a Running Gag that Tom Jones always wins because he is a Long Runner who knows everybody- he has a particular tendency to reminisce about hanging out with Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley in an As You Know manner. This was lampshaded in one episode of the British series' blind auditions, when Tom Jones cautioned about dropping too many names and started his advice with, "I was talking to Elvis, that would be Costello, not Presley, and I said, 'Elvis..."
    • There has been more than one contestant who turns out to be related to a famous singer or actor, though it usually doesn't come up after they are introduced. And then, of course, was the season when big name voice-over artist Elizabeth Daily competed in the 5th season of the American series. When asked why she looked and sounded familiar to the coaches, she immediately pointed out that she was in Pee-wee's Big Adventure and Rugrats. This returned during Season 10 with Alisan Porter, better known as Curly Sue and Lil Punkin from Pee-wee's Playhouse.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: In Season 4 of the American show, its revealed that, as a coach, Usher has some very... eccentric... ways to train his singers to be better. The best example might be when he gave singer Michelle Chamuel instructions to drop and do push ups, then jump up and start singing, as a means to increase her breath control. Also, he gave Chamuel the Cyndi Lauper classic "True Colors" (a song about never giving up and believing in yourself) for use in a Live Playoffs round performance, and during rehearsals instructed her to sing the song to herself in a mirror, as a way to get her to get her to open up to the audience more. It worked.
    • Likewise, Blake Shelton taking his team of would-be country singers to a Karaoke Bar, where they sang everything but country, was a means to get them to realize that the most important part of being a performing musician is loving the music itself and having fun with it. This also worked.
    • As a mentor and a coach Seal (one of the coaches on the Australian series) motivates his team by using a lot of pop-psychology slogans that might have come right off of the motivational posters you find in corporate meeting rooms.
    • In the Russian version, the coach Pelageya behaves like she has swallowed an Energizer battery: laughing, jumping out of her chair when happy, running on the stage to hug the trainees she chose at Blind Audition… Nonetheless, she's a great coach and a very professional singer.
  • Cliffhanger: Often when a contestant has to pick between multiple coaches, they will put off revealing their choice until after the commercial break.
  • Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Will.i.am from the UK version, especially with several of his nonsensical analogies. CeeLo on the US version and Carlinhos on the Brazilian version are in the same boat.
  • Confession Cam: Started being used during the results shows of Season 3. The confessions are rather light-hearted and all taken in jest, though.
  • Cool Chair: The Coaches' revolving chairs. Kylie Minogue's chair had to be retrofitted with steps due to the fact that she's so short (as in she's smaller than Christina) that she had trouble getting in and out of it.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Season Five was a good season to be Team Adam. Likewise for Team Blake in Season 4.
    • In some battles and knockouts it's really easy to tell who is going to win either because one of the contestants is clearly better than the other or one of the contestants has a bad day. It should be noted though that sometimes the coaches pick their favorite regardless of whether they performed better than their opponent.
  • Delayed Reaction: One of the contestants auditioning for Season 2 was Tony Lucca, who was in The Mouseketeers with Christina Aguilera. She didn't recognize him until after he'd left the stage, at which point her jaw dropped and she got up out of her seat—much to the confusion of the other coaches—and ran backstage to greet him. Any grownup Mickey Mouse Club fans watching must have Squeed.
  • Drinking Game: Courtesy of the Shields Brothers from Season 2. Drink every time:
    • Someone cries.
    • Shots of cleavage.
    • Awkward Dancing.
    • Coaches say they're going to steal before seeing a performance.
    • Carson Daly says "Let the battle begin".
    • Coaches make a steal. Take two if that person's opponent reacts favorably to the steal.
    • Christina uses her fan.
    • Blake points to himself.
    • Someone makes a joke about Usher's shoes.
    • Pharrell stands in his chair.
    • Gwen gives someone a shirt (or a hat in season 12).
    • Adam tells someone they could win. Take two if he says they sang his favorite song.
    • Kelly gives someone a jersey.
    • The playoffs result show ends with Adam agonizing over his coach save.
  • Dull Surprise:
    • Carson Daly. When Javier Colon won, Carson read the card with absolutely no emotion whatsoever.
    • The Voice fans and reviewers' reactions to Season 3's Cassadee Pope. We don't need to reexplain the Creator's Pet above, but it's been said that she turned from a dark horse competitor to a frontrunner after her "Over You" performance. When Amanda Brown and Trevin Hunte were eliminated before the finals, Pope's eventual victory was essentially guaranteed from there. This actually started in the top 6. Thanks to the iTunes multiplier rule all it took to know who was going home was seeing who was in the iTunes top 10.
  • Even the Guys Want Him: Dez Duron; the three male coaches have all gushed over how good-looking he is.
  • Freudian Slip: Carson announced that the married Terry McDermott was going to perform "I Love Your Wife." He laughed and quickly corrected himself.
  • Girl on Girl Is Hot: Lampshaded with Pharrell's extreme reaction to Christina and her contestant Kata Hay making out in Season 10.
  • Head Pet: Cee Lo's pet bird in Season 3's confessionals, Lady, sometimes perches on his head.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Christina Aguilera and Shakira are the Tiny Girl to Blake, Cee-Lo, Usher, and Adam's Huge Guys. Kylie Minogue is the Tiny Girl to Sir Tom Jones, Ricky Wilson and will.i.am's Huge Guys.
  • Hopeless Auditionees: Completely, totally, and utterly averted. The various celebrity musicians involved take great pride in the fact that they never ever humiliate a hopeful singer, no matter how badly they do. Even those singers who get a huge case of stage-fright and literally stop singing in the middle of their acts are given constructive criticism, a chance to calm down (and often literally hugs and hand-holding if they seem to need it), and friendly advice on how to be better singers. The best of these Hopeless Auditionees are told that they should try again once they've worked on whatever problems they displayed.
    • The closest thing they've had to a Hopeless Auditionees on the US show is this guy who decided to start off by dancing during the Blind Auditions.
    • Alys Williams originally auditioned for the UK show and her voice literally stopped in the middle of her song. Naturally, none of the coaches hit their buttons and turned around. The four coaches complemented her on her voice, were very understanding of her being nervous (with Will.i.am. commenting that, "If this is how you sound nervous… Wow… I'd love to hear you sing when you're calm"), and gave her advice on countering nerves and improving her performance. She came back the next year, conquered her nerves, and this time caused all four coaches to turn around.
    • Likewise, Season 4 (US) contestant Garrett Gardner auditioned for Season 3 but didn't make it on because (in the words of Blake Shelton) he needed to learn better breathing and control. Cut to a season later, and Gardner returns, and this time he makes it on. He even thanked Shelton specifically for the advice, which he said he took to heart.
    • Stephan Marcellus (US season 13) stumbled so badly at the beginning of his audition he tried to signal the musicians to start over, which they didn't. Fortunately he found his place and kept singing, and Jennifer Hudson hit her button for him, saying she could relate to his struggles and commending him for not stopping.
    • It's likely that there are Hopeless Auditionees who apply for The Voice; it's just, unlike The X Factor or American Idol, those auditions are not recorded for television broadcast. The singers who make it onto The Voice therefore would have already been approved by a different panel of non-celebrity judges off-screen. People who can't sing might be humiliated at these early stages, but said-humiliation won't be televised nationwide / worldwide.
  • Incredibly Long Note: British choral singer Ruth Brown auditioned for The Voice UK with "When Love Takes Over". The apex of her audition includes a single, perfect note held for a full 17 seconds. Don't think that's very long? You try it.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Christina has been criticized many times for being overly harsh to some contestants or for making the critiques all about herself. And yet some of the people critiquing her for this admit she does tend to offer good advice to people she likes.
  • Lame Pun Reaction: Adam's reaction to Blake's "Swon" puns in season 4's blind auditions.
  • Music Is Politics: The Blind Auditions are an attempt at avoiding this; the judges have their backs to the stage so they can focus on the contestants' singing, not their image or anything else.
  • My Greatest Failure: Will.i.am. (one of the coaches for the UK series) called himself an idiot for not hitting his button during seventeen-year-old self-trained opera prodigy Shansel Husayin's note-perfect performance of "Nessum Dorma", and profusely apologized to her for not doing so, stating that he realized too late that she was an opportunity to "reinvent pop radio." As late as a mid-2013 interview, he's apparently still kicking himself in the butt for letting her slip through his fingers.
    • This may be part of the reason why, during the second series blind audition by opera divas Barbara and Carla, Will turned his chair some four seconds into their audition.
  • My Greatest Second Chance: Several times, a singer has auditioned, not made it onto the show, and then come back in a later season and made it.
    • Jared Blake is an odd case. In Season 1, his first audition didn't lead to a coach turning around. However, when everyone had auditioned and they didn't have enough people to continue, he returned, nailed his Second Chance audition, and made it to the quarterfinals.
    • Sam Alves auditioned for season 4 of the U.S. version, with no one turning for him. He later auditioned for the second season of the Brazil version, where he turned all four chairs and won the season.
    • With Season 5's addition of steals to the Knockouts, coaches can steal back an artist they let go in the Battle rounds.
    • During Series Two of The Voice UK, Jessica Steele auditioned singing "Don't You Want Me Baby", but her nerves turned her audition into a hot mess. She was off-tone and at one point got screechy, all because of her nerves. She returned for Series Three, singing "She Said". All four coaches turned for her this time.
    • For Billy Gilman, contestant on season 11 of the US version, this trope is his admitted reason for competing; a country music star at the age of 11, Billy enjoyed a fair amount of success until he reached his teens and his voice changed, and he found his career stopped dead in its tracks. He auditioned in the hopes that the exposure of competing, and hopefully winning, would allow him a second career. Ultimately he came in second place.
  • Navel-Deep Neckline: Christina's dress during the Battle Rounds of Season 2 had a plunging neckline.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Seal came down hard on contestant Kiyomi Vella for having a "backup plan" in case her musical career didn't pan out (Vella was attending university to get an environmental science degree, something that would give her an income while she pursued her musical dreams). The scolding shamed Vella so much that she quit college to concentrate on music at his urging. And then she was eliminated from the competition. As of this writing, neither her musical career, nor her attempts to get back into college, have been all that successful. Good job, Seal. Really good job.
  • Nuns Are Funny: Cristina Scuccia, a Sicilian Ursuline nun who won the 2014 season of The Voice Italy. She has had a fairly successful singing career since then, though this did not get in the way of her vocation.
  • Offer Void in Nebraska: The fifth season of the American Version introduced the Twitter Instant Save, in which the audience could save one of the bottom three from elimination by using Twitter to vote to save. Unfortunately, due to time zone issues, the show is only really live for people in the Eastern and Central Time Zones. So anyone living in the Mountain or Pacific Time Zones, as well as Alaska and Hawai'i, is SOL.
  • Pornomancer: The Voice UK's coach, Tom Jones.
    • Christian Porter, one of the contestants in season four. He even got Coach Shakira worked up. Just with his voice.
  • Product Placement: In the American series, there's a Starbucks in the waiting room. Carson Daly once made a joke about it with one auditioner, who was a Starbucks barista as his day job.
    • During the blind auditions, the various versions of the show itself will often go on location to profile this or that contestant. When they do this outside of the US, the lead in to these profiles will be various shots of the contestant in their home ground, interacting with their family, and so on. In the American version, it's shots of the Kia Sorrento that Carson Daly drives to the location. There are lots and lots of lovingly framed shots of the car. To the point that it's almost Car Porn.
  • Put on a Bus: CeeLo after the fifth season.
  • Readings Are Off the Scale: When a young Latina singer who lost her job in the business performs in Season 3, the judges were unable to press the button. Why? Because the judges themselves deemed her as way too incredible and were fans of her singing talent. Fans. However, during the blind auditions the coaches try to be as positive as they can with their feedback so people don't feel that bad if they're not picked. So this was more likely just an example of blatant lies rather than actual praise.
    • Sometimes the judges don't press the button simply because none of them are familiar with the genre of the singer (e.g. If you are a fantastic operatic singer, you probably won't be picked—you can be, but it's less likely—purely because none of the judges may know much about opera and would have no idea how to begin coaching you); conversely, in the British series at least, the judges have been reluctant to pick people who are too close to their own styles, especially if they feel the singer is specifically trying to get their attention by copying them (since the show is about finding your own voice). They might also not pick you if they already have singers with a similar style to you on their team, even if you are every bit as good (maybe even a bit better). On other occasions, they really do regret not turning, or didn't turn because the singer was more suited to one of the other coaches (who in the end, also did not turn for whatever reason). And they really do prefer to go for people who they think they can do something with, so a singer who not only has a great voice but has already mastered the art really might not get picked for that reason- there is nothing the judges can teach them, and if they can't challenge the singer or give them any direction its not going to be much fun for either of them.
  • Right-Hand Cat: Cee Lo Green stroked a white cat several times during the confessionals of Season 2. He's his pet cat, Purrfect. Taken to memetic levels with Twitter and in the montage in the finale, where Christina says "Purrfect is the brains of Cee Lo's team."
  • The Runner-Up Takes It All:
    • Team Christina's Chris Mann finished 4th on the second season but he's probably that season's biggest success story. He released a Christmas EP and a full album before any of the other finalists (both of which charted on Billboard), performed before the President and on the NBC Tree lighting event and even recorded two PBS specials.
    • Folk/Rock duo Midas Whale were eliminated in the Season Four knockout round. Their self-released album Sugar House consistently outsells the album released by that season's winner, Danielle Bradbery.
    • Melanie Martinez was a contestant, who, despite not winning the show, used her appearance to kick-start a successful music career and arguably has amassed quite a fanbase.
    • Max Giesinger from the German version came in 4th in the first season and managed to land two top-ten hits two years later.
    • Morgan Wallen was eliminated in the sixth season’s Playoffs but has since become a staple of country radio and by far that season’s most successful artist. Sadly subverted with Christina Grimmie, who in third place probably would have outranked Wallen had it not been for her assassination in 2016. Both of them did far better than winner Josh Kaufman, though. Even indie pop singer Madilyn Paige (who was also eliminated in the Playoffs) has a larger following today than Kaufman.
    • Despite finishing fourth, season 8’s Koryn Hawthorne has become one of the biggest names in modern gospel music.
  • Running Gag:
    • "My boo" in US Season 7. Originally a pet name between Pharrell and Gwen, it caught Blake's attention and he kept trying to use it despite admitting that he has no idea what it actually means.
    • The judges' (especially Adam's) continual frustration with how Blake always, always gets the country singers.
  • The Smurfette Principle: On the American, Australian, UK, Russian, German and Brazilian versions, with the judges being one girl and three guys.
    • Was true for the first season of the Irish version, but the second season threw that out by adding Jamelia.
    • Averted on the American version from US seasons 11-15, and again in season 17, with a balanced panel of two women and two men.
    • Inverted by Kelly Clarkson's original team on US season 18: nine women and one man.
  • The Unfavorite: Season 2's Katrina Parker seemed to be this for Adam. He not only outright told her she wasn't one of his favorites, but during the semi finals he gave most of his points to Tony Lucca instead of her, thereby kicking her out of the show even though she had received a higher share of the popular vote than Tony.
    • Meanwhile, Tony himself was The Unfavorite contestant for his former Mouseketeers co-star Christina. Christina started making comments towards him during the judging that many fans (and even the other judges) thought were oddly harsh.
    • Season 5's Will Champlin appeared to be this for Adam during the finals. He declared Tessanne (Will's teammate) the winner of the season after her performance while he gave Will a speech that amounted to "you should be proud of getting to the finals".
    • Will may have also have been the producer's The Unfavorite. During the final result show Tessanne got to duet with Céline Dion, Jacquie Lee with Hayley Williams from Paramore and Will with the virtually unknown Aloe Blacc. And to make matters worse, he performed a song that another contestant had already done earlier in the season.
    • Season 6's Kristen Merlin seemed to be the producers' unfavorite, having both of her battles montaged and having her mic go out in the live shows.
  • Sassy Black Woman: In Season 3, one of the contestants brought so much sass that she let Blake sweat as he continued Digging Himself Deeper until he just told her to hit him and get it over with - she then walked over and hugged him, choosing him as her coach. Cee Lo commented afterward that he's had to deal with that his entire life as that's basically every woman he knows right there.
  • Security Blanket: During the Battle Rounds in Season 3, it's revealed that MacKenzie Bourg isn't used to performing without playing acoustic guitar or piano (mostly guitar). When he shows up for the final rehearsal, MacKenzie immediately puts the guitar strap around him, which prompts Cee Lo to ask him if it's like a pacifier to him.
  • Sexy Mentor: Pretty much all of the mentors except for Cee Lo, who's more Big Fun instead.
  • Shirtless Scene: There was a shirtless guitarist up on the stage when Blake and Cassadee performed together on the Season 3 finals. You don't even need to see the performance to know who he was.
  • Singing Voice Dissonance: Season 11's Wé McDonald's speaking voice is very different from her singing voice. The coaches are surprised when she introduces herself, to say the very least.
    • Similarly, when the Australian version's Karise Eden introduced herself, Joel told her she wasn't allowed to talk like that when she'd just brought the house down with a blues song.
  • Stupid Sexy Flanders: Male dancers appear to have this effect on Blake.
    • Adam occasionally has this effect on Blake as well.
    • During the season 3 Blind Auditions part 8, one of the rejected (male) contestants complimented Adam and made him get all kinds of flustered.
  • Take a Third Option: In Season 8 of The Voice of Holland, coach Anouk pulls this off in the Battle Rounds. She wasn't satisfied with the performance of both contestants in a battle, so she simply elected to take neither to the next round. This triggered multiple Flat "What" reactions from the audience and other coaches.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: The four coaches seem to have this kind of relationship on stage. Especially Adam and Blake.
    • Christina and Adam seem to go back and forth between this and actually hating each other, especially during Season 2 when they battled over Tony Lucca, with Christina going out of her way to bash him and Adam stepping up to defend him, which culminated in a really awkward, borderline ugly, confrontation during finals week after Tony's performance of Jay-Z's "99 Problems." Yikes. You could visibly see the discomfort and awkwardness on Carson, Blake, and CeeLo's faces as Adam and Christina got into their argument. Adam then momentarily defused the situation by revealing a "Team Xtina" t-shirt under his other shirt and assuring Christina "You know I love you." Of course, things got awkward again when Christina made an oblique insult towards Tony later on after Chris Mann's performance.

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