The Voice season 13 completed in December, crowning Nashville’s Chloe Kohanski the winner. But. before you know it, Season 14 will be starting up. On Monday, February 26, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson and Alicia Keys will be taking seats on the coaches panel to to do it all over again.
But, can we expect any changes for the upcoming season?
In a recent interview with the Huffington Post, Executive Producer, Audrey Morrissey teased a brand new twist:
This upcoming spring season, we’ve added a new element that I can’t quite talk about yet that will be a new exciting twist. There are also changes like new coaches, updated design packages, and updating the sets that keep the show fresh.
I wonder what that twist could be? Show tapings are well underway, with The Blind Auditions completed back in October and the Battle Rounds are set to be filmed at Universal studios on January 23 and 24.
UPDATED: From Idol Forums. Apparently, the new twist involves a coach “blocking” a contestant from joining a rival’s team.:
Ok, I found out about the new twist: each coach has one block that they can use during the blinds. They can block another coach from having a contestant on their teams. My source told me Kelly used hers to block Alicia from competing to get a 4 chair turn girl who sung If I Ain’t Got You (a strategic move). The girl ultimately picked Kelly. So in other words, it prevents the contestant from picking a specific coach.
As far as making changes to the show, Morrissey told HuffPo:
There’s no magic formula, but I think we are very self examining. We hold the mirror up to ourselves after every season. We look at what worked, what didn’t, and what little twists and changes we can make without “jumping the shark” so to speak. We are always thinking of ways to keep the show feeling fresh while still remaining “The Voice”. A few seasons into the show, we added a format element called “The Steal”, and “Battle Rounds”. When we launched the show, those things were not part of the format.
More will be revealed, I’m sure. Meanwhile, in a press conference held right before the finale, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton criticized Republic records. Again. A record deal with the label is part of the winner’s prize package, and the veteran coaches have been on record criticizing the label’s lack of support post show.
“We work with these artists and give them this tremendous workshop and get them to the end of the show, and I think the work that we do on the show is amazing,” Adam Levine told reporters at a press conference for The Voice‘s season finale. “We give these guys this incredible platform and this really rare thing, a lot of exposure and air time. Once we pass the torch, it is the record label that completely destroys that.”
Blake chimed in, “My last two winners never even had an album released.” Oof! Adam went on to point out how the record label squanders the winner’s built in followers.
“They have a fan base by the time this show is over and the hardest thing, as all four of us [coaches] know, is to have fans,” he continues. “Every single one of those guys have fans and [the record label] manages to take a gimme and completely ignore it and do it the wrong way. It is their fault.”
Same song, different day…
