Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keys take a seat in the show’s iconic red chairs
M-Net has great news for fans of the hugely popular reality show franchise The Voice. While waiting for the bigger and better second season of The Voice South Africa, which will hit our screens on Sunday 29 January, viewers can enjoy Season 11 of The Voice US on M-Net channel 101.
From Friday 23 December there will be triple episodes of the five-time Emmy award-winning US singing competition on Fridays and Saturdays at 19:30.
In this latest season of The Voice US, Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keys are showing their musical mettle in the show’s famous red chairs alongside longstanding coaches Adam Levine and Blake Shelton. Veteran host Carson Daly also returns to accompany the coaches and singing talent as they compete to win the prestigious competition. Viewers can also look forward to appearances from Joan Jett, Charlie Puth, Sammy Hagar and Bette Midler, this season.
The US version of The Voice comprises five stages: blind auditions, battle rounds, the knockouts, the live playoffs and, finally, the live performance shows.
As in previous seasons, the blind auditions feature promising singers who are judged purely on the sound of their voices, making this competition one of pure talent. This is where the chairs play an important role: in order to fill up their teams, coaches need to turn their chairs and give themselves quite a testimonial to persuade their selected contestant to choose them as a mentor, if more than one coach turns around. Of course, not everyone makes it through the blinds, so if no coaches swivel their way, those singers are eliminated from the competition.
Once the teams are set, the battle is on, and coaches dedicate themselves to developing their team of artists, giving them advice and sharing the secrets of their success, with additional help from their celebrity advisors. During the battle rounds, the coaches pit two of their own team members against each other in the true spirit of competition. After the vocal battle, coaches must choose which contestant will advance to the next round of competition, while the losing artist becomes available to be “stolen” by another coach. Each coach has two “steals” available during the battle rounds.
At the end of the battle rounds, only the strongest members of each coach’s roster proceed to the knockout rounds. Here, the artists are paired against a teammate once more, but this time, they select their own songs to perform individually, while their direct competitor watches and waits. It’s all in an effort to impress their coaches, and make it through to the live shows.
One superstar, universal advisor is on hand to work with all of the coaches and their teams as they prepare the artists for this challenge. But the coaches alone choose the winner, and the artist not selected is available to be “stolen” by another coach. Each coach has one “steal” available during the knockout rounds.
In the live playoff rounds, the Top 20 artists compete to secure a spot in the live shows. Artists perform live, and America votes to save their two favourite artists from each team. The coaches then save one remaining artist to complete their roster. The remaining contestants move on to the final phase of the competition – the live shows.
In the final live-performance phase of the competition, the Top 12 artists compete each week against each other during a live broadcast. Then, television audiences vote to save their favourite artists. The three artists with the lowest number of votes become eligible for an “Instant Save.” These artists each perform a new song that represents why they should earn the save. Then, America has the opportunity to save their favourite performer by tweeting #VoiceSave along with the artist’s name. The singers with the lowest number of votes are sent home each week. In the end, one artist is named “The Voice” and receives the grand prize-a coveted recording contract.
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