Winning combination: How “The Voice” coaches have become a ‘key factor’ in the success of the show

Key Points

• The Voice showrunner Audrey Morrissey tells EW on a recent set visit about choosing the right coaches for the show.

• Being a member of the ever-changing panel is a “team sport,” she says, with the goal of entertaining.

• Morrissey teases that another “Battle of Champions”-themed season is “possibly” coming.

Just a few hours into filming the new season of The Voice, the panel of coaches is already clicking. Veteran hosts Adam Levine, who won last season’s The Voice: Battle of Champions, and Kelly Clarkson, who lost to him, are handing out smiles and hugs to their new counterparts, rapper/singer/actress Queen Latifah and country star Riley Green.

When the Emmy- and Grammy-winner and Oscar-nominated actress for Chicago beats out Clarkson for a crooner who could one day rival Green — whose hits include “You Look Like You Love Me” with Ella Langley — Clarkson maintains an upbeat vibe. Yes, the “Since U Been Gone” singer points out that she turned around first, but she knows there will be many contestants sauntering onto the stage for the show’s signature Blind Auditions, in which coaches choose team members based solely on their vocals.

This camaraderie and focus on positivity from the coaches is essential to the success of the Carson Daly-hosted reality show, showrunner Audrey Morrissey tells Entertainment Weekly on a set visit earlier this week. The challenge is that the cast has, by design, changed regularly since the reality competition debuted in 2011. However, former coaches regularly return to serve as mentors during rehearsals — and some first-time mentors have eventually become coaches.

“It is key to the show. I don’t know that there’s any special strategy, except that it is a key factor,” Morrissey says of the role coaches play. “Being a Voice coach is a team sport, because you have to work together as a team to create the moments.”

For instance, on Battle of Champions, which concluded in April, all the coaches were stunned — in a good way! — after Alexia Jayy, who was competing for Team Adam, sang Adele’s “One and Only” during the finale. (There was a reason Jayy was so good — she ultimately won the title.) It was, yep, a moment.

Legend not only cried but had to fan himself.

“We’re just so proud of you, honestly,” the “Ordinary People” singer said of his competitor’s contestant. “You’ve just been remarkable every single time. You’ve just been a blessing to all of us, so thank you.”

Clarkson raved, too. “Wow! You’re like a vessel. Girl, that was so good!” she said. “And you felt it.” She noted that Adele was one of her favorite singers, but “damn!” On a post-finale visit to Clarkson’s talk show, the host (playfully) asked Jayy to vow she wouldn’t sing any of her songs — fearing she would sing them better than her (something, by the way, that many artists say about Clarkson’s covers on her show).

Levine, of course, had even kinder things to say about the contestant who prompted all three to turn their chairs during the audition round. After she won, he declared, “There is no one more deserving of this honor.”

There’s no way to ensure that coaches will connect so well that they’ll actively root for each other, yet still make for good TV banter, but Morrissey says producers have determined a few loose guidelines for the people who work with artists during rehearsals, perform with them on the Voice stage, and often keep in touch with them afterward.

“We try to find people from different genres, for sure,” Morrissey says. “We want people who artists coming through the show would want to be on their team, someone that they look up to and respect. We also think about their personalities. Do they have a little bit of a funny bone, a little bit of comedy in them? Do they have big energy? Are they gonna roll with it when they don’t get someone on their team? Are they gonna be able to withstand the good-natured ribbing that comes with the Blinds?”

She acknowledges that the people behind the scenes are also going into the show blind with each cast. By now, they have staples who come in and out — Clarkson, Levine, country star Blake Shelton (Levine’s faux nemesis), and soulful singer/EGOT winner John Legend, among them — but they regularly try out new personalities.

“You never really know, of course, until they’re all together,” Morrissey says. “But the truth is the format’s really strong, and it’s worked with every combination of people we’ve ever put in the chairs. So that gives you a lot of confidence, too.”

So does she foresee another Battle of Champions-themed season, comprised of coaches whose team has previously won?

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“Possibly. I think we probably won’t do it right away. It was a good sort of test,” Morrissey says. “People ask us, ‘Are you ever going to do an all-star season and bring back former artists that have been on the show?’ We talk about that. We’re thinking about some other cool ideas in the future.”

For now, they’ll keep cranking out episodes based on the tried-and-true formula, with good-natured coaches at the heart, and contestants whose stories tug at people’s heartstrings.

“You’re either crying because you’re so happy and relieved they got a chair turn,” Morrissey says, “or you’re sad that they didn’t.”

She recalls that a young contestant who didn’t get a chair turn the day before EW’s visit. The coaches were “all crushed, but it happens every season. It’s awful.”

The upside is that even if an aspiring artist leaves without a spot on the NBC series, they’re leaving with some advice from some knowledgeable — and affable — people.

The Voice is available to stream on Peacock. Season 30 will premiere in September on NBC.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly