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‘The Voice’ Season 11: Do The Contestants Even Matter?

By Toni Matthews
Published on: 10:24 PST, Sep 22, 2016

The Voice premiered earlier this week, returning for Season 11. But things are different — slightly. There are two new Voice judges, Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keys. The two women bring gender balance and new perspectives. At least that’s what we’re being sold.

And yet there’s a good reason to be skeptical about this supposed “new” era of The Voice. For the longest time, the focus was almost entirely on the judges. And one week into the all new season, this is still pretty much the case.

Sure, we got the standard fare of talented teens and second-chance older singers. Every single person had a sob story. And of course, we had a few show-stopping blind auditions. But it’s still pretty much a show all about helping famous people get even more fame and attention.

I just shake my head when I see Voice contestant after Voice contestant go on about how this show is their “big” chance and it will change their life. I can’t help feeling as if (1) they’ve never actually watched the show or (2) they were confusing it with the now-defunct American Idol.

The cold hard truth is this: The contestants don’t matter. No matter how talented or mediocre they are, the result is always the same. Unless people watch The Voice, these people continue to be largely anonymous. And after several seasons of The Voice, minus a few exceptions, the dozens of singers who’ve appeared on the show over the years are forgotten.

It’s a sad and unforgivable turn of events. It can largely be blamed on the show’s set up. The Voice fails miserably at selling the contestants and encouraging people to care about them beyond the season they’re on.

Instead, so much work goes into product placement selling the judges, and also selling famous guest stars. Time is even taken to feature famous guests in the audience who are on other NBC shows. To be fair, American Idol did this as well. American Idol also had its fair share of product placement.

And yet American Idol also had Simon Cowell and serious music industry connections that it used to churn out stars. What exactly does The Voice have?

Well, according to The Voice‘s official website, none of the producers running the series have any ties to the music business that I can see. They’re all television producers with ties strictly related to the television industry.

Compare that to American Idol, which was the brainchild of Simon Fuller. According to The Guardian, Fuller previously managed The Spice Girls among dozens of others. It earned him the nickname “Pop Idol creator.” Idol also had Simon Cowell, a music mogul with an eye for talent, and a mouth for biting criticism.

In other words, The Voice doesn’t have the strong connection to music and promotion of musical talent that American Idol had. It makes sense that the television producers connected with the show don’t have a vision for contestants. At least nothing beyond using them to keep The Voice going.

It’s deceptive to look at the judges on The Voice and assume that they have that much of a say in how things go. Ultimately, the careers of the contestants are at the mercy of showrunners. The fate of seasons worth of contestants should indicate just how well that’s worked out.

But it is a new “era,” and just maybe The Voice will be encouraged to do SOMETHING with its winners. Season 9 champion Jordan Smith sang the theme for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Season 10 winner Alisan Porter is currently working on an album. She also mentioned attempts to network with other singers. We can only hope her networking attempts bring her exposure as aside from a one-off appearance on a future season of The Voice, I don’t anticipate much help from the show.

Unless The Voice steps up its efforts, I anticipate another season of hopeful singers who are ruthlessly forgotten.

What do you think: Do the contestants even matter? Share your thoughts on why or why not below!

[Featured Image by NBC’s The Voice]

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