This weekend saw the UK premiere of The Voice and I have to say I loved it. 

The concept is simple: Four celebrity coaches (Tom Jones, Jessie J, Will.I.Am and Danny O’Donoghue) sit with their back to the stage, a contestant comes out and sings to win. If a coach likes what they hear they turn their chair around and the act becomes part of their team, but if more than one coach wants the same contestant it’s then up to them to decide whose team they want to be on (cue lots of bragging and name dropping from the judges to persuade the contestant that they’re the ones to choose). 

Sounds good, right? And it is. Here’s why: 

The coaches are a great mix of talent from different genres and generations. I liked the banter between them as they try to convince the contestant to pick them and for once there doesn’t seem to be the typical ‘mean one’ or the ‘one who sits on the fence’ as is normally the case on these kind of shows. 

I also like the fact that the audition process is a lot kinder than that of say X Factor or Britain’s Got Talent. First of all the auditions are blind, meaning that all contestants are judged by their voice and their voice alone. Also there’s no (or at least there hasn’t been yet) scathing comments from coaches, if contestants have not been chosen, the coaches offer constructive criticism explaining why they didn’t turn around. Not to mention the fact that a chair not turning around is a lot less humiliating than a big red X illuminating above the stage. Finally the people auditioning all have some talent as they’ve all made it through initial producers auditions before making it in front of the coaches. I have to say it’s somewhat refreshing to see and hear people who can sing instead of cringing as delusional contestants humiliate themselves in front of the nation. Some people may say that’s one of the best parts of talent shows, but after seeing it for so many years, it’s nice to have a show that’s focused on talent from the beginning. 

I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the series unfold.

Picture: DigitalSpy