It’s just lost it’s Voice…

The weekend before last saw the much-anticipated final of _The Voice_, which has graced our screens since March. The finale saw Leanne Mitchell seize victory from Vince, Tyler and Bo Bruce. But it hasn’t all been plain sailing, and the show has seen its fair share of controversies, complaints and falling ratings. So what went dreadfully wrong? Was it Tyler’s awful moustache? Or did the nation get bored of Tom Jones and his constant name-dropping?

_The Voice_ was born in Holland originally and has since immigrated to the US and the rest of Europe. TV of late has been saturated with talent shows promising to display the good the bad and the SuBo for the nation’s entertainment, and if you’re like me, you’ll have wanted to cause someone harm whilst watching them. _The Voice_, however, promised to revolutionise the tired old talent show with a brand new format and plethora of glitzy music industry celebrities. Viewers were spared the weeks of auditions because the acts have been selected by talent scouts. The ‘auditions’ have a twist; the judges cannot see the act, they can only hear them. Therefore it is only the quality of someone’s voice that allows them to progress in the competition. Gone were the mundane, sour-faced judges of the _X-Factor_ and _Britain’s Got Talent_: instead, this year’s judges comprised of Jessie-J, Danny from The Script, will.i.am and the legend that is Tom Jones. After the auditions and the teams were formed, the battle rounds commenced and acts were pitted against each other in a fight to the (figurative) death.

This new format and the selection of judges promised great things for _The Voice_. Its viewer ratings started off strong, the Broadcaster’s Audience Research Board (BARB) puts the viewing numbers for the first show at 9.44 million, only being beaten by Eastenders – a heinous crime. It was being hyped on just about every media platform you can think of, probably because of its runaway success in Holland. However, things took a sharp downwards turn as the series went on. Will.i.am was being constantly told off for tweeting during the show: even during the final the Black Eyed Peas front man was tweeting “Yes I tweet in the sky”. He was also accused of spending too much time on other projects, rather than coaching his team. Jessie-J’s private life was brought into the media frame as well, with so-called ‘newspapers’ running articles on her sexuality rather than her musical talent. You might think that all the attention the show was getting would boost ratings, but it was not meant to be as the semi-final viewing figures fell to just 4.5 million according to _the Guardian_.

So where did it all go wrong? Having promised to render all other talent shows obsolete, The Voice became a little too repetitive. After the tension of the blind auditions and the battle rounds, it felt like the producers were playing it safe. Instead of acts competing each week, two teams performed and the week after the remaining two teams performed, so it dragged on for longer than necessary. There have also been claims that the judges won’t be hired again for the next series because they were too nice with their comments. Sure, they didn’t tear into acts like a hungry cheetah, but this was not the _X-Factor_, and Cowell’s comments would have been an unwelcome addition.

It may have made good TV, but it would have undermined the integrity of a show predicated on finding talent. I think this is one of the problems people have with the show, we’ve become so indoctrinated by Cowell’s style of talent show that we are bored if an act doesn’t flood the stage with tears. The judges were there as music industry professionals; to coach their acts, not destroy their self-confidence. Another nail in the coffin was probably the fact that the strong favourites of the competition were voted off in the public vote. Ruth Brown and Jaz both gave equally electrifying performances during their time, but they made a swift exit.

That said, _The Voice _has certainly brightened up my Saturday nights during the revision period, and when the judges performed a mash-up of their respective hits, it was, quite frankly, mesmerising. Personally, I think it started out on too much of a high, and it’s viewers came back to the ground sharply when it turned into the _X-Factor_. Having bought the show for two series _The Voice_ will return to our screens at some point, and this time hopefully the producers won’t allow the show to climax before it even gets going.