‘The Voice’: Why are none of the winners topping the charts?
Happy 10th Birthday to The Voice! – the singing reality TV show is officially ten years old! How are the winners celebrating? By spilling the tea on why the show hasn’t turned them into “big stars”.
TV Insider reported The Voice receives enormous viewership of approximately 7.7 million people, so why would a show with so many fans have a problem releasing “ big stars”? Strange, right?
Since the first season of NBC’s The Voice, the show has brought in fresh new celeb judges like Gwen Stefani, Nick Jonas and even John Legend, but as much as we love watching these coaches compete, the show’s winners aren’t receiving the recognition they clearly deserve. Let’s see why.
Struggle
According to The New York Post, the season 10 winner of The Voice Alisan Porter explained that she struggled to get her voice out into the music industry.
Porter explained: “It was sort of like, ‘I got this record deal, but what do I do now?’ . . . Once you win, they’re on to the next season within two months and you’re a has-been. And I was, like, terrified that I was gonna use this momentum to make it in the music business. It was definitely not what I had expected.” Oof.
The 2016 winner was coached by Christina Aguilera and received her $100,000 reward & contract by the end of the season. Though all looks glamorous, Alisan Porter is one of many winners who hasn’t had much of a boost since their last song on The Voice’s stage.
Winners
On the other hand, season 3 winner Cassadee Pope and season 4 winner Danielle Bradbery has reportedly had some form of success in the music biz. But only two winners out of ten legendary seasons . . . there’s definitely a problem with the show somewhere.
Season 8 winner Sawyer Fredericks told The New York Post: “Everybody thinks that the person (winner) should be set. That’s not the case.”
Record labels to blame?
The winners from the show receive a contract with the mega recording studio Universal Music Group’s Republic Records and have worked with extremely popular American artists like Ariana Grande, Post Malone, Lil Wayne, Amy Winehouse, and more.
Thankfully, The Voice has just announced that Big Machines Records will be added to the mix and will focus on representing all country artists that emerge from the competition. But will this solve the bigger issue?
The Voice’s O.G. winner Javier Colon claimed that the fact that the show’s preparing for the following season and having a form of “arranged marriage” could be the root of the show’s major problem.
Looking at these extremely successful record labels with internationally recognized artists, it can be tough to differentiate yourself from another, as Alisan Porter stated: “I knew I was gonna be the next Ariana Grande, but when you’re with a label who has Ariana Grande or people like that, that’s sort of their motivation.” Yikes.
“Ball’s been dropped”
Though each Judge has their own style of coaching, The Voice’s Blake Shelton who’s had a number of talented winners leave the show, told Entertainment Tonight: “One of the frustrating things for me as a coach on this show year after year is they win this record deal with Universal, and so many times the ball’s been dropped.”
According to Sound Digest, Adam Levine isn’t impressed with the situation and explained: “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. 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 Shelton added: “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.”
While winner Sawyer Fredericks said he agreed with The Voice’s setup, he stated: “I feel like they’re (the record label) trying to cookie-cutter every person that comes out of ‘The Voice’ cause they think they’re all the same. I don’t think they put the time into figuring out what kind of artist I was.”
Life after the show
Despite all the serious complaints, Javier Colon admits that his time on The Voice was a success and that he only has “love” for the show. He explained: “I’m just thankful that I’ve had my opportunity to continue doing music and to be able to support my family doing what I love to do. I’ve been blessed.”
Whereas Alisan Porter currently teaches vocal lessons to a private number of people via Zoom and added: “I had an amazing experience. I have an amazing fan base.”
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Do you think the record labels are to blame? Should The Voice judge continue their journey with their artist? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
