Pop stars, Shakira and Usher are filling in for The Voice coaches, Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera on the 4th season of the popular NBC competitive singing show. The 4 coaches, including Adam Levine and Blake Shelton recently taped blind auditions, and some members of the press were invited.
At the audition we saw some friendly competition between Usher and Shakira over one contestant, and when Usher bested Levine for another vocalist at the audition, he playfully taunted his fellow judge.
According to Rolling Stone, the coaches, this season “mean business.” Here are some choice quotes from a recent junket featuring all 4 coaches, and show creator, Mark Burnett.
“I would say the competitiveness is up,” Blake said. “We’ve replaced Cee Lo with somebody that’s just that much more aggressive. And Christina was always competitive, [but] now you’ve got four that are just killers up here.”
Reportedly, Shakira is very tough.
“You have a pregnant, hormonal Colombian,” Adam says. “She’s ready to bust some heads. She ain’t messing around.”
Shakira e describes her coaching style as very involved, “Besides being a singer, I’m also a producer and writer. Once I’m in the recording studio, I am so hands-on,” she said. “While I’m coaching my team I tend to focus on the detail. I don’t know if it’s maybe because of the female condition, but men are more focused on the general aspects, and women tend to sort of focus on details a lot. And so when I’m giving directions to my contestants I’m particularly focused on details.”
“She plays the female card quite a bit,” says Adam of Shakira.
“You can’t really compare my style to anybody,” Usher said of his approach to coaching. “My style is more military than anything, because I’m all about the preparation and have always been. I rehearse a million times to be prepared. My style is to make them understand the seriousness of the craft and that they have the very best opportunity to be the greatest or the worst, depending on how you take it.”
And in a rather interesting about face (Watch Adam assert, rather defensively that The Voice doesn’t need superstars to establish its legitimacy) Adam admits that Usher could be key, having mentored Justin Beiber to stardom. “As much as I hate to say this about another coach in the beginning, Usher has done what this show has yet to do,” he says. “You have launched a superstar, and that’s our goal. That’s the show’s goal. That’s something we want to do as an institution.”
“The one thing that I hope is to come into this show and be able to score an incredible entertainer that people will talk about for years and years and track it back,” said Usher. “I am kind of a living example of that. I started on Star Search, and my career kind of launched from there.”
Yup. It doesn’t matter how successful The Voice becomes ratings wise, Idol will always trump them if they continue to be the gold standard for creating successful alums.
Via Rolling Stone
