The Voice is an Australian singing competition television series. It premiered on the Nine Network on 14 April 2012, before moving to the Seven Network in 2021. Based on the original Dutch singing competition The Voice of Holland, and part of The Voice franchise, its first nine seasons aired on the Nine Network, with its tenth season commencing on the Seven Network on 8 August 2021.
The show aims to find currently unsigned singing talent (solo or duets, professional and amateur) contested by aspiring singers aged 12 or older, drawn from public auditions. The winners receive a recording contract with Universal Music Australia or EMI Music Australia, as well as A$100,000 and other prizes. Winners of the fifteen seasons have been: Karise Eden, Harrison Craig, Anja Nissen, Ellie Drennan, Alfie Arcuri, Judah Kelly, Sam Perry, Diana Rouvas, Chris Sebastian, Bella Taylor Smith, Lachie Gill, Tarryn Stokes, Reuben De Melo, Alyssa Delpopolo, and Yung Milla.
The series employs a panel of coaches who critique the artists' performances and guide their teams of selected artists through the remainder of the season. They also compete to ensure that their act wins the competition, thus making them the winning coach. The original panel featured Delta Goodrem, Joel Madden, Seal and Keith Urban; the panel for the most recent fifteenth season featured Kate Miller-Heidke, Ronan Keating, Richard Marx, Melanie C, and Tones and I. Other judges from previous seasons include Ricky Martin, Kylie Minogue, will.i.am, Benji Madden, Jessie J, Joe Jonas, Guy Sebastian, Kelly Rowland, Boy George, Rita Ora, Jessica Mauboy, Jason Derulo, LeAnn Rimes, and Adam Lambert.
Format The show is part of the television franchise The Voice and is structured as three phases: blind auditions, battle rounds and live performance shows. In 2017, the show added another phase: the knockouts between the blind auditions and the battles. The winner receives a recording contract with Universal Music or EMI (2019) as well as A$100,000 and other prizes.
Blind auditions Four (five in the fifteenth season) judges/coaches, all noteworthy recording artists, choose teams of contestants through a blind audition process during the auditioner's performance. If two or more judges want the same singer (as happens frequently), the singer has the final choice of coach. Each coach must recruit a number of artists (12 in seasons 1, 4-9, 11-12; 14 in seasons 2 and 3) to their team in the blind auditions to move on to the next phase of the competition. In season 10, coaches can complete their teams without a specific number of members.
A new element was introduced in season 9: the Block. Aside from the main button, each coach has three other buttons with the names of their fellow coaches. When a coach wants to get the specific contestant but does not want another coach to do so, they may press the block button to block them from getting the contestant. The coach who wants to use the block and the coach who is being blocked have to turn before any block can be used. They have two blocks to use in the entire phase of the blind auditions and 2 coaches can be blocked in a single audition. In season 11, a coach can block another coach at any time, even during their pitch. In season 12, coaches are allowed to block before a coach turns their chair.
Also, in Season 11, a Battle Pass was introduced, where in each coach can send one artist immediately in the battle rounds by pressing their silver button. This can be used only once in the entire blind auditions. This is axed in the next season.
Knockout and battle rounds Each team of singers are mentored and developed by their coach. In the second stage, called the battles, two members from the same team battle it out and perform a duet together. After the battle round, coaches must choose only one to advance. In season 2, a new element was featured in the battle rounds: The Save. Each coach can save one losing artist to join them to their team and reinstating them in the competition. Starting from season 3, the coaches can save two artists instead of one.
Next in the battle rounds was the showdown rounds (which was also introduced in Season 2). In the showdown rounds, each team is grouped into two groups of four artists and will perform a song. One will be saved by the public, the lowest-voter will be immediately eliminated, and the remaining two will be sent to the sing-off. In the sing-off, the artists will sing a reprise of their blind audition and the coaches can only select one artist to advance to the finals. This was slightly changed in season 3, wherein three groups of three artists will perform a song. From each group, one will be saved by the public, the lowest-voter will be immediately eliminated, and the remaining artist will be sent into the sing-off. Those artists that are sent to the sing-off will have to perform a reprise of their blind audition and coaches can only advance one of them to the finals.
In season 4, the showdown round was replaced by the Super Battles. Each coach chooses two of their artists to go straight to the live shows via a Fast Pass. The remaining six artists from each team will be grouped in two groups of three artists. Each artist will sing a different song and coaches can only select one artist to the Live shows. This was slightly changed in season 5, where in each coach must group their team into two groups of four artists each. Those four artists sing an individual song following a theme picked by their coaches. Only two from each group will be able to advance to the live shows.
Starting in season 6, the battles and the knockout rounds were swapped. In the knockouts, coaches pick three of their acts to go against each other in a sing off, with a theme. They all have different songs, after which the coach chooses which act will advance into the next phase, the battles. Once the coach has made a choice, the other coaches have an opportunity to steal two losing artists that were rejected by their coach. Starting in season 8, the coaches can save their own artists. After the knockout rounds is the battle rounds, where artists perform a duet together. Coaches must choose only one to advance, while the other one will be eliminated. Starting from season 7, coaches can select one losing artist in the battles to be a wildcard and might advance to the live shows. However, only one from the four wildcards will advance to the Top 13. In season 8, the coaches’ wildcards are immediately advanced to the final.
In season 9, the battle rounds happened after the blind auditions. The same rules were applied in the earlier seasons, with two saves available, and the coaches can save their own artists as well. After the battle rounds comes the playoffs, where each coach pairs two of their artists together, with each artist singing an individual song following a theme. After all their team's playoffs were done, the coaches chose one of their losing artists as a wildcard and moves on to the Showdowns. In the Showdowns, all artists in their teams will performs and coaches can only takes 2 of them through to the semi-finals.
In season 10, there were no battle rounds and only the knockout rounds were implemented. In that season's knockouts, each artist must perform to their coach. After each act performs, the coaches have three options: to either send the artist straight to the semi-final, send the artist home, or decide at the end of the show when all artists have performed. Each coach can only take two artists through to the semi-final.
In season 11, a new round was introduced, the Callbacks. Coaches will reduce their teams from twelve artists to six, consisting of five artists and one Battles Pass artist. Some artists will be required to perform their blind audition songs, while others will perform during the sing-offs (with coaches choosing a theme, similar to the knockout round in seasons 6 to 8), or they may need to do both. Coaches have the flexibility to advance one, two, or all of their artists in the group, as long as they save at least five of them. Next come the battles, where coaches will pair six artists, comprising five from the Callbacks and one Battles Pass artist. The same rules in the battles applied, with only one from each pair to advance, however, there are no saves available. The artists who win their battles will progress to the Singoffs. Following the battles, coaches will choose one artist from the winning battle artists to advance directly to the semi-finals, while the remaining artists will need to perform another song, with only one of them advancing.
The Callbacks were slightly changed in season 12. Coaches are required to organize their artists into four groups, with each group consisting of three artists. The coaches gave a theme for each of the groups (similar to the singoffs in season 11). In each group, one will go straight to the battles, one will be eliminated, and one will be going to the Ultimate Callbacks for a final cut decision before the battles (a format similar to the showdowns in season 3). During the Ultimate Callbacks, coaches create two groups, each comprising two artists who didn't advance from the callbacks or get eliminated. In a make-or-break sing off, one artist from each group will advance to the battles, while the other will be eliminated. The same battle and sing-off rules last season were applied this season.
In season 13, there were no more Callback rounds.
The Cut In season 10, this new phase was introduced and consisted of coaches cutting their teams to just five artists. This phase replaced the "battles" phase typical of past seasons. In this stage of the competition, the coaches divide their teams in groups of a specific theme and the contestants battle it out singing the same song. Each coach can only take five artists through to the Knockouts.
Finals and live shows In the final phase, the remaining contestants (Final 8) compete against each other. The audience and coaches have equal say in deciding who moves to the Final 4 phase. With one team member remaining for each coach, the (Final 4) contestants compete in the finale with the outcome decided by public vote.
Production
In May 2011, The Daily Telegraph reported that the Nine Network would broadcast The Voice in late 2011. However, two months later, it was reported that the show would instead air in early 2012, and that the Nine Network were in talks with signing at least one international artist (especially an American) to lead its panel of coaches on the show, which were rumoured to be Christina Aguilera, George Michael, Usher, Pink and Gwen Stefani. In September 2011, the Herald Sun reported that the Nine Network were planning to sign Australia's Got Talent judge Dannii Minogue as one of the coaches. Anthony Callea, Vanessa Amorosi and former Pussycat Dolls member Ashley Roberts all publicly expressed interest in coaching roles. However, Keith Urban, Delta Goodrem, Seal and Joel Madden were ultimately confirmed as the four coaches for the first season. On signing the four coaches, Michael Healy, the Nine Network's Director of Television, said: "To secure such world-class coaches has been a coup for this show and the network. The mix of talent and unique format will, we truly believe, be a captivating experience for our viewers."
Darren McMullen was announced as the host of the program in January 2012. Additionally, Ricki-Lee Coulter (with Seal), Darren Hayes, (Goodrem), Megan Washington (Urban) and Benji Madden (with brother Joel) were signed to pair up with the coaches as mentors for their contestants during the "Battle Round". On 10 May 2012, Faustina Agolley was announced as the show's social media correspondent during the live shows.